Cluster with inside english
- Thread starter nrhoades
- Start date
Yes. The simple answer is that you're "spinning off of" the rack, in a direction where the spin itself has maximum effect (i.e. it's not canceled by the force or direction of the cue ball).
I think Bobby Hunter was mentioning in one of the DCC 14.1 Challenge streams (the he was guest commentator for) that John Schmidt uses low-inside on a lot of his standard side-of-the-rack breakshots, not only to avoid getting glued in the pile, but also to bounce out back to the long rail, and spin out to the center of the table.
I've been playing with this technique myself, and I gotta say, it works great! "I see, says the blind man!"
-Sean
Thank you. We aim... er... strive to please.
As to your question about "best zone for choosing the last ball," that's a very situational and subjective question. Situational in that it depends on your table layout (the way the balls broke), and subjective in regards to what type of break shot you personally prefer. The former is most important -- always play the table; try not to "re-shape" the table by bumping balls, etc. The latter is subjective in what you personally prefer, *if* you were presented a choice of what type of breakshot to use.
Personally, I like behind-the-rack breakshots, because I'm pushing/sending the balls into open space on the table (i.e. upstream, where it's more "open country"). Maybe it's my imagination, but it results in fewer "reclusterings" than if you're pushing the balls into a restricted space (i.e. towards the foot-end of the table), where balls tend to collide and recluster together. So as I'm picking away at the balls, if I see I'm presented a choice between a standard break shot, or a really nice behind-the-rack breakshot with a perfect keyball, I'm going for the latter.
But like I said, I always look at the pattern of the balls and let the table "tell me" what the best breakshot is. At least I try to. Sometimes, things happen, and you have to be prepared to alter your pattern on the fly. For example, if while pocketing a ball, you accidentally bump a ball into another and create a cluster, you need to take care of this cluster as soon as you can. (Don't wait. Don't go wild trying to break it up, either, but don't leave that cluster for last.)
Phil Capelle's latest work:
http://seyberts.com/products/Phil_Capelle_Break_Shot_Patterns_with_DVD-102529-310.html
...is probably your best reference for a "compiled list" of the types of zones and patterns and breakshots that the pros have used with great success.
And with any breakshot "type," make sure you PRACTICE them with different types of speed and spin, to try and commit them to your breakshot toolkit. For example, that revelation I mentioned earlier where Bobby Hunter said in the DCC 14.1 commentary that John Schmidt likes to use low-inside on many of his side-of-the-rack breakshots, to spin out to the middle of the table? I went right out and practiced that. And what's neat about this shot, is that it resembles the "3 rails and out" inside spin used on certain behind-the-rack breakshots (i.e. where the cue ball and the breakball are parallel with each other). So the stroke was the same.
Anyway, hope that helps!
-Sean
In addition to what Sean says (I agree), one also tends to cut the object ball ever so slightly more thinly using inside English, which means it comes off the object ball at a flatter angle, hits the stack in an ever so slightly different place (such as contacts the intended ball in the stack more thinly), and at a negligibly faster pace, retaining (perhaps) negligibly more follow or draw, too.
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
I'm confused about this. I'd think that English wouldn't make much of a difference in the contact point, especially if you've properly compensated for squirt/swerve. I can't imagine that spin induced throw matters much with cut shots, especially at higher break-out speeds. What do you mean by "more thinly"?
Danny Harriman also believes that the inside english on break shots has a tendency to send the ball to the head side rather than the foot side of the table. I am pretty much old school and use essentially just draw and a touch of outside or follow alone on side of the pack shots.
Shooting balls with inside English, there's a natural tendency to undercut (= cut more thinly) the object ball, mostly because all cues impart deflection opposite to the side spin one applies. Of course, if one compensates for this aiming for a thicker cut, the angle would be the same - but try it: put a chalk into one or the other side of a corner pocket (= against the shims), set up the exact same break shot, and shoot it with no side spin, inside and outside English a goodly number of times each, discounting of course all the attempts where you miss (fail to pocket the break ball), and count all the times you knock in the chalk along with the break ball (or which chalk, putting one against each shim), and on which side (the fat or the thin, as I call them, from the perspective of the break ball). Although one's usually trying to shoot a break ball in center pocket at higher speeds, especially given lots of angle, one usually doesn't. Additionally, try and do all this setting up object balls in e.g. numerically ascending numbers along the foot and side rails (omitting the rack of 14 balls, of course), a ball's width apart from each other in the area where the cue ball hits the rail using no side spin (= that's where you want to set up the middle ball of e.g. three), and see which one (= which side of the middle ball) you hit using inside or outside spin. The difference may be slighter using a modern low-deflection shaft, but should still be noticeable.
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
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I'm old-school, too, and I have a hard time believing experienced players truly use rules of thumb even if they say so, as when we we're talking about the stack, we're really referring to a rack of 14 balls, with the side of the rack alone consisting of four object balls, each one of which one may contact full, on the high or the low side, not to speak of the three gaps between those four balls where one may contact two object balls in the stack (= if so, need to pay attention to the order in which one hits one and then the other, if not simultaneously). Needless to say, no disagreement insofar as over the years, one will develop a certain feel for break shots, and when to use draw or follow and how much.
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti