Break techniques

mr_griff

mr_griff

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know there are entire videos dedicated to improving your break, but I really like one I got watching a Youtube clip of HillBilly Bryant. I figured trying to copy his break would be useless mainly cause the guy is so much stronger than most players.

I can't necessary replicate his technique (hip rotation and standing upright is way too much movement for me) but one tip has worked very well for me. Start your weight forward as you are taking the cue backwards. His point was the your body is much slower than your arms so your body needs a head start. I don't rotate my hips as much and shift my weight straight forward. Ive been able to get my weight through the shot which has me killing it lately. Im a big guy and I dont need a ton of movement, I just need to use my size without too many moving parts.

Anyone else got any other little break tidbits that don't involde too much crazy movement. Obviously if you could copy someone who is 130lbs and breaks a ton you could magnify the results, but if you're 6'5" 250 that is probably too tough to produce consistent results with parts flying all over the place.
 
Hey man, I think your timing is a little off. I used to use the same technique but I found a better way for me and it might work for you. I bring my cue back slowly and once I'm at the end of my backstroke, then I bring my body forward. Since I've been doing this my break has dramatically improved. My accuracy and power has increased. Let me know if it works for you.
 
personally.. I like to keep my body still... I workout my bicep.. to make it move faster...

but at the end of the day pool is about accuracy..

how hard you hit is not as good as how square you hit...

Lo Li Wen;... barely averaged 20mph in a 10 ball tourney...

against the strongest field there is...

and mowed them all down...

if we have to pick a side... I'll take accuracy... you can have speed...
 
Move your grip hand up. This way you are using the short muscles of the arm more. More snap in the break.
 
I tried what Colin Colinso suggested in his video and it really helped with power. I was maxing out at 23+ but when I toned it down I was breaking harder than normal and controling it. going from 17.5 mph to 20 has made a huge difference in my break and it was only a few little things (standing taller and wrist flick as he calls it)
 
I break for control and not power. If hte rack is good and tight you dont have to power through the balls. I hit them somewhere in the middle.. Not too hard and not too soft :thumbup:
 
I should mention

I play 8 ball almost exclusively, so a slow break isn't really a great play. A little 9 ball for fun, but not much. I feel like I can control the ball pretty well with a little weight shifting forward. Not so much like Archer, where you really fly through the ball and leave the ground, but a bit of a well timed weight shift. I am pretty comfortable with the sacrafice in control because I'm not flying all over the place by any means. It was a nice little tidbit that has allowed me to make a strong stroke without having to come out of my shoes. It worth a try if you need to pick up a little speed.
 
When i switched from playing 9-ball to 10-ball i really struggled with the break. I always used to break from the side rail playing 9-ball and had a very hard break with good control but i found that that break didn't work that well for 10-ball so switched to breaking from around the head spot area and i couldn't get anywhere near the power or control i had previously.

What i ended up doing was basically re-designing my break for 10-ball. I re-watched Colins video to see when i might be able to improve the power to my break and then i watched as many videos as i could find of SVB breaking. For me he has one of the best 10-ball breaks on the planet and when watching him i found it was quite a simple break to try and copy/adapt to myself. Now my 10-ball break is probably even harder than my 9-ball break ever was, there still some room for improvement in control but its getting there.
 
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