For those of You that don't know... The BreakRAK is getting some attention...

[ceebee]

I purchased something that looks a lot like this well over 20 years ago.
I'll have to pull it out and see if there is a name on it. I only asked to see if the breakrak is a knock-off of that product.

Looking forward to see what you purchased. Were you able to use it regularly & did it help you learn something...

 

[fastone371]

I'm kind of in the same boat. For certain situations I think it would be the bees knees. Yes it saves you from re-racking.

But the break is SO much more than squatting the CB. This isn't knocking the device. Again, good for practicing certain aspects.

I'm not a great player but I'm flabbergasted that players don't know where balls trend on the break. Even really good players. You can manipulate the general area where the balls end up by changing CB location, speed and spin. It's all about observing. Even Dr. Dave has the diagram where balls trend. If you've ever replaced cloth you can see the track lines on the slate.

To me, this aspect is way more important than squatting the CB. Again, I'm not great at this game, but even for me it's dead easy to squat a CB. I'm a nobody but I can look at the numbers or colors of a rack and know where and how to break from for good results. It's not some analysis either, it's mainly from feel and paying close attention to the break for a month or two. It's a skill that is within anyone's grasp if they pay any attention and train pattern recognition. I'm doing this stuff by "feel" without any real conscious thought.

I may be dead wrong, maybe I have a touch of the 'tism or something but anyone near or over 500FR should know this stuff. The break isn't random. There should be about half a dozen to a dozen breaks you can use to get favorable results on the first 4 or so balls. The rest is gravy. Yes, there are more variations in where balls can go than a dozen but you should only need the first 3 or so balls to be able to get shape to run out.

I should write a booklet on it but I'm much too lazy.

This is kind of surprising, even players well into FR600's I have seen their cue ball flying around the table or going straight into the side pocket on 8 ball breaks. I have always wondered why they don't control the cue ball more. I have a Break-Rak and love it, sometimes I notice my cue ball start to get sloppy on breaks, I will set up my Break-Rak and practice 15 minutes a night a few times during the week, after that my cue ball is back to perfect break after break. That 15 minutes of break practice gets me at least 45 practice breaks if my stamina can hold out that long.

 

[ceebee]

The BreakRAK is what's called a CONSTANT... Any equation full of variables is really hard to solve, if not impossible. When using the BreakRAK, you have the CUE BALL & the BreakRAK as CONSTANTS, they do what they do, the same way every time, because of your input. Just using the BreakRAK to learn the SQUAT isn't all bad, but it falls way short of the intended use. After some study of where balls go, after impact, you can learn (with the BreakRAK) where you want the CUEBALL to be, when things stop moving. That isn't learned from a single spot in the kitchen or a single target on the RAK or a single hit on the CUE BALL. It's a study & rigorous controlled practice. But, there are only a few players, in the last 25 years, that are up to that.