breaking advice

Eric H.

Eric H.

Registered
Hey guys,


Im a lurker mostly, but I need a little advice, I read the forums everyday and know you can point me in the right direction.

I'm 6'4" and have a lot of leverage on the pool stick when I'm breaking. The problem is when I hit the balls too hard (which is every time) The Cue ball goes off the table. I try and concentrate to keep the stick level and hit with a little draw but no matter what i do the ball will shoot straight up into the air, and im about 50/50 to either bounce off the table or come straight down and stay on the table.

thanks for any help you can give me.


Eric H.
 
Bouncing up and staying the center of the table is a good thing!
If it goes off the table that means that you didn't hit the top ball dead center, either you miss-aimed or added some side spin...

I would suggest to try a softer break but more accurate and build the speed back up once you get your aim right.
 
Take a little off of the break. You aren't trying to pulverize them, you are looking for good energy transfer. Your fundamentals are probably breaking down when you hit as hard as you can. Try the same break at 85% and see if that doesn't solve the problem.


:cool:
 
Break

lower your stroke arm seems your hitting down into the Q, as it is already airborne when it hits the rack, causing it fly off the table. I would also move to the center of the table and work towards a rail as control improves.
 
Your break will be more productive with a little less speed. In fact if you are breaking from the side in nine ball watch where the one goes. You will find on harder breaks it hits lower on the rail. Back off the speed and you will find the one making it to the side pocket. Try it....
 
There are lots of posts about the Break Shot... take the time do a search for this knowledge.

SKOR was correct when he analyzed the miss-hit of the lead ball. If you hit the lead ball SQUARE, with the cue ball, the cue ball loses lots of energy & limply dies close to center of the table.

Good Luck.
 
Shooting down on the cue ball will cause it to go off the table. Also, does this happen on any table, or just your home table. What happens with playing on the same table and breaking from the same spot, there are divets or worn in spots where you are breaking from. So that may cause the Qball to skip across and go off the table and you're back to what the last poster suggested.

Also, make sure to check the rack, you might be able to use a much softer break and the balls will splatter.

And...practice breaking from all areas of the table..side, back rail, close to the center.....Johnny Archer has a book out and he lines up diamond to diamond off the rail and that's what I found works for me. Keep the stick level and it's almost like a stop shot..just harder...

Christian
 
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If you ever watch a power break in super slowmo, you will see that the cue ball leaves the table like a jump shot, maybe 1/4" or so. It usually hits about a foot or two in front of the 1 ball and bounces again. Which is why when you hit the 1 ball (square or not) the cueball with bounce straight up. Just like a jump shot. If its not a square hit, the chances are good of going off the table with a lot of speed.

I had the same problem when breaking from the rail.

One thing that helps me, is using a slip stroke (letting go of my cue before I contact that cue ball) on my break. You can still hit the balls just as hard, but your stroke will be much straighter.

Tony Robles showed me a good drill for my break.

Put the 1 ball on the spot and the cueball where you normally break from. Start at a lower speed and just try to hit a perfect stop shot. Dont worry about where the 1 ball goes, just focus on stopping the cue ball dead. Then ramp up your speed until you find you can no longer stop the cue ball.
 
cleary said:
Tony Robles showed me a good drill for my break.

Put the 1 ball on the spot and the cueball where you normally break from. Start at a lower speed and just try to hit a perfect stop shot. Dont worry about where the 1 ball goes, just focus on stopping the cue ball dead. Then ramp up your speed until you find you can no longer stop the cue ball.
Click to expand...


That is some good info.

I have the same issue, 6'2 and in the gym 6 days a week. I can smash the cue pretty hard. It is your aim. The stop shot drill quoted above will be your new best friend, or your most hated task.

PS soft breaks are boring, but predictable and constant. Thats why some pros use it (see corey deuel)
 
I see a lot of Player Breaking Ball like King Kong, and they never sink anything. Guess who get the table.

There was a guy at the Predator at the 8 Ball thing in VEGAS, who said not to Break Faster than you could control you fastest shot from the Kitchen Line in the Cener of the Line shooting as fast as you can to a Cornor Pocket at the foot of the Table, Sinking the Q Ball 10 out of 10 times in a row. That should be your fastest break speed.
 
Thanks for all the good advice, i will be spending the next couple of weeks working on my break.


Eric H.
 
Eric H. said:
Hey guys,


Im a lurker mostly, but I need a little advice, I read the forums everyday and know you can point me in the right direction.

I'm 6'4" and have a lot of leverage on the pool stick when I'm breaking. The problem is when I hit the balls too hard (which is every time) The Cue ball goes off the table. I try and concentrate to keep the stick level and hit with a little draw but no matter what i do the ball will shoot straight up into the air, and im about 50/50 to either bounce off the table or come straight down and stay on the table.

thanks for any help you can give me.


Eric H.
Click to expand...
You're probably about the same size as Colin Colenso, so you should definitely watch his breaking tips video. Even if you're not the same size as Colin, there's a lot of good information there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW1tsONEI_U

If I could add anything, I think that when hitting the power break, your cue should be relatively flat at contact. Most top players will have a pronounce angle on their cue at set/address and final backswing, but will drop the elbow down and get it to a flatter position.

Some players like Johnny Archer start fairly flat, and keep it flat the whole way.

So, when watching Colin's video, and listening to his "break up" description, marry his words with the idea that at contact, you'll get the most power out of the stroke if they cue is relatively flat at contact.

Fred
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
There was a guy at the Predator at the 8 Ball thing in VEGAS, who said not to Break Faster than you could control you fastest shot from the Kitchen Line in the Cener of the Line shooting as fast as you can to a Cornor Pocket at the foot of the Table, Sinking the Q Ball 10 out of 10 times in a row. That should be your fastest break speed.
Click to expand...

The major problem with this is a pocket is much wider than a ball. So yea, you may be able to pocket a cueball at max speed, but you need to be able to hit the 1 ball DEAD. In my opinion, the stop shot is a much better way of learning your break speed.
 
More good information.
grouphug.gif
 
FYI, there's a good collection of break technique advice (with video links) here:

Regards,
Dave

Eric H. said:
Hey guys,


Im a lurker mostly, but I need a little advice, I read the forums everyday and know you can point me in the right direction.

I'm 6'4" and have a lot of leverage on the pool stick when I'm breaking. The problem is when I hit the balls too hard (which is every time) The Cue ball goes off the table. I try and concentrate to keep the stick level and hit with a little draw but no matter what i do the ball will shoot straight up into the air, and im about 50/50 to either bounce off the table or come straight down and stay on the table.

thanks for any help you can give me.


Eric H.
Click to expand...
 
I too have this issue and I know why. The reason my ball comes off the table is always one of two things. Either I lofted the cue ball by hitting too low with a hard stroke or I didn't hit the head ball firmly. I have a very hard break and when I don't pay enough attention to hitting the cue ball properly the end result is almost always the cue coming off the table.

One way to practice that is putting the headball on the spot by itself and try hitting that ball squarely over and over gradually increasing the speed of the stroke.
 
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