Breakin' Bad

atthecat

atthecat

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi Shawn,

I've been playing pool for many years. In the last year I've been concentrating on relaxation, sighting and deflection. My game has jumped up drastically, however my break has gone down hill and I'm not sure why.
Can you describe how you approach the break? Do you hit the OB very low? Do you pull the ferrule past your bridge fingers? Do you lean into it?
I'd love to hear the detail about your break shot routine.
Thanks Bud!

Monte
 
atthecat said:
Hi Shawn,

I've been playing pool for many years. In the last year I've been concentrating on relaxation, sighting and deflection. My game has jumped up drastically, however my break has gone down hill and I'm not sure why.
Can you describe how you approach the break? Do you hit the OB very low? Do you pull the ferrule past your bridge fingers? Do you lean into it?
I'd love to hear the detail about your break shot routine.
Thanks Bud!

Monte
Click to expand...

Good questions, I'd like to hear perspective on this too.
 
Atthecat,

I went through a spell of breakin awful!!!!! in late 06, and finally a pool hall friend mentioned that i was leaning over / down too far in my stance.

So i started breaking more upright, and less knee bend. And BAM!! it worked.

I also started doing a few things to work on my break. First when I'd get to the pool hall or w/e you goto play hit balls for about 10mins or so to get loose. Then work on the break for about 30mins or so.

I'd start out breaking soft for the first 10mins and just work on controlling whitey.... you can still get a good spread from a soft break if you hit the rack right.

Then progressively add a lil bit more power, but you still wanna control whitey.

I usually aim about a 1/2 tip below center on the cueball when breaking. Some tables do break differently or have different sweetspots for breaking. So sometimes i use a cut break or break from the box.

But mainly i use a strong side rail break.

Even my friend who is a "BB" rated player and has a strong break finally broke down and asked me what i do to get the break i do lol... And I told hit its not all about power, but just being relaxed. I we even recorded video's of both of use breaking and I had very little body movement and still had a strong break and good cb control, while he was thrusting his body and having a leg kick and all that stuff and would have a good break but no cb control....

And he even noticed the instant different, I told him the big thing was to keep your feet planted in a strong stance and just use your arm with a good follow-thru. I should do a new video of me breaking and send it to you...
 
solid-controlled breaking

imo, the break shot is often the least practiced shot in a player's arsenal, but arguably the second most important shot since it starts the game.
the most important shot being the shot that wins the game/match :wink:
useful tips and advice. i'm going to try out some of your suggestions and see if my breaking results improve. thanks for the interesting read, -marlo
 
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Check out this video that has some solid ideas about breaking that really seem to work. It's not long. The vid quality is poor but the info is very good. There is no denying this guy snaps the snot out of the rack.

Power breaking

Hope this helps.
 
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Since I wrote this post I've been working really hard on my break. I have it to a place now that I like. I started to mimic SVB motions as best as I could and it taught me a few things. His break is outstanding because he looks as though he is using very little effort. I noticed that when I'm loose and think about following the stroke line with speed I crush the rack. As soon as I tense up a tad and try to hit hard my break is back to where it was. I've also choked up a bit on my cue and stand a little more upright as I'm going through the stroke. Hitting just under center ball helps me park the cue.
 
For the break-shot the same rules like for the *normal shot*.....
"It must be straight!"
This is the problem for the most people- they re not even able to make a straight shot with speed 3 or 4.....but wondering when they re hammering a breakshot with amazing speed and the result isn t what they expected.
Start slowly with your breakshot my friend- increase the speed step by step. Just if your accouracy is given you can think about high-speed breaks.

This no offense for players who are breakin hard- just a tip for the guys to think about :-)

lg from overseas,
ingo
 
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