How will Corey break 8 ball tonight?

iusedtoberich

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I predict Corey will soft break SUPER SOFT, softer than his 2001 9 ball break. His goal will be to NOT make a ball and leave lots of clusters for John.

That is my prediction. What do you guys think of it? Do you agree? Do you think he will smash the rack? Other breaks?
 
Illegal break...

Corey will have to drive 2-3 object balls and the cue ball to the rail to execute
a legal 8-ball break. A soft break will result in a foul.
 
iusedtoberich said:
I predict Corey will soft break SUPER SOFT, softer than his 2001 9 ball break. His goal will be to NOT make a ball and leave lots of clusters for John.

That is my prediction. What do you guys think of it? Do you agree? Do you think he will smash the rack? Other breaks?
Click to expand...

I'd think that would be an absolutely horrible idea in 8-ball. To drive a few balls to the rail and give your opponent the first shot? Unless he's perfected either sending the required balls back into the rack or gluing the CB into the rack, he'd only be asking for trouble, and even those options could backfire. I'd say he's better off with a medium/controlled break that leaves work to do. That way, he can either get a runout or pick his set and play hide-and-go-seek from there. Even those small packages can be deadly when you spend 4 racks of screwing around(and allowing your opponent to the table) for an hour just to get even.
 
I think Corey will bust em wide open. He is playing one of the best 14.1 players in the world. Trying to play ticky tack safeties around the rack will favor Schmidt in my opinion.
 
TheNewSharkster said:
I don't see a big positive to soft breaking if the 8ball doesn't count for a win on the break IMO
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It would be to counter the possibility of spreading them wide for an opponent. I think the idea is that by starting with safety play, you maintain some semblance of control over the game. With breaking open, you have a chance of scratching or simply giving up a friendly table.

Never stopped to consider John's 14.1 experience, but any time you have to face a player of a similar caliber(especially at that level), any chance you give them of taking control can turn into bad stuff. Like I said before, he'd either need to get the balls back into the rack, or the CB snugged up into the rack. Either way, it's a tough start and still doesn't guarantee anything but another chance at, most likely, a horrible table. I'll fall back on my original description of 8b - aggressive table management.

Edit: And when somebody finds a response to what you think you've figured out(ie- the 8b soft break), what then? 9b worked for sinking a ball and/or being safe.. not the same for 8b.
 
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Well, both players have been breaking wide open. Corey only broke twice so far, and he is losing 4-1. I think he "might" switch his break up as the match progresses. We shall see.
 
Nobody's soft breaking this match.

The wing ball in 9 ball is so wired you can hit it at almost any speed. This is not true of the target ball in 10 ball or 8 ball. For both those games you're playing to make one of the 2nd-row balls in the side, and force is required to do it. You can't soft break those balls in. You also wreck your chances of running out if all 15 balls are close together.

Both players seem to be making the ball semi-reliably, I haven't counted but I'd say 3/4ths of the time.
 
Corey broke more or less from the center of the table with a traditional hard into the head ball break and was quite successful. John seemed to struggle with the break the entire match. One game he even tried the 2nd ball break from the side rail that left the table in quite a mess. It resulted in a really awesome tactical game though.
 
Well, looks like my prediction was way off. LOL. I stopped watching the match tied at 11, and up to that point, Corey didn't soft break once.
 
Corey (and any player for that matter) will smash the rack second ball in with a bit of draw to hold the cue. Why in god's good name would he not want to string 4 or more racks together?? Just seems silly to not play this way at this level. Any type of playing it safe with the break at this level is just silly and will hurt either player :slap: <----- :lol:
 
Legal soft break

RunoutJJ said:
Corey (and any player for that matter) will smash the rack second ball in with a bit of draw to hold the cue. Why in god's good name would he not want to string 4 or more racks together?? Just seems silly to not play this way at this level. Any type of playing it safe with the break at this level is just silly and will hurt either player :slap: <----- :lol:
Click to expand...

As hinted at by another poster, the idea of the "safe" break is to virtually assure that you will get another turn at the table. Even the amateur can run a wide open table, and this is what happens far too often with the power break, - you hit a great break, nothing drops and you don't shoot again.

One of my old teammates won the Wisconsin BCA Singles title years ago, and he employed the "soft" break every time. Despite a strong field, he lost very few games and went undefeated. Our teams used the soft break most of the time and we won two state and one national title....

Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
 
Donny Lutz said:
As hinted at by another poster, the idea of the "safe" break is to virtually assure that you will get another turn at the table. Even the amateur can run a wide open table, and this is what happens far too often with the power break, - you hit a great break, nothing drops and you don't shoot again.

One of my old teammates won the Wisconsin BCA Singles title years ago, and he employed the "soft" break every time. Despite a strong field, he lost very few games and went undefeated. Our teams used the soft break most of the time and we won two state and one national title....

Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
Click to expand...


Ah yes you are right in some areas but you have to remember that pros like this indeed miss (not often but they do) or misplay position or miss cluster breakouts. On a bar box sure these two could string together 10+ racks but on the TAR table?? Im sure they'll both get there chances to shoot.


The soft break technique may work for BCA league players but at this level players will find a way to break out soft hit racks. So that being said there is no advantage or disadvantage to soft breaking for these two guys.

I mean why don't they just play straight pool 8 ball right?? Just saying...
 
There was a stat from BD years ago, if memory serves me, that showed the pros' chances of winning decreased to below 50% when being the breaker.

I wonder if that still holds true?

Jeff Livingston
 
Good points

RunoutJJ said:
Ah yes you are right in some areas but you have to remember that pros like this indeed miss (not often but they do) or misplay position or miss cluster breakouts. On a bar box sure these two could string together 10+ racks but on the TAR table?? Im sure they'll both get there chances to shoot.


The soft break technique may work for BCA league players but at this level players will find a way to break out soft hit racks. So that being said there is no advantage or disadvantage to soft breaking for these two guys.

I mean why don't they just play straight pool 8 ball right?? Just saying...
Click to expand...

Good points you make, but the fact remains that the soft break reduces the number of run-outs, even for the pros.
I once played a tourney that was race to 3, trailer breaks. I won the lag and hit a strong break (parked the CB and every ball was wide open). Needless to say, my opponent ran out.
Ditto the second and third games. I hit all three breaks well, and never got back to the table. Soft breaks would almost surely have given me another shot or two at the table...

Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
 
chefjeff said:
There was a stat from BD years ago, if memory serves me, that showed the pros' chances of winning decreased to below 50% when being the breaker.

I wonder if that still holds true?

Jeff Livingston
Click to expand...

I've posted quite a few threads over the past couple of years with break results from pro tournaments. You could pull up some of those threads to see how they did versus the 50% figure.
 
AtLarge said:
I've posted quite a few threads over the past couple of years with break results from pro tournaments. You could pull up some of those threads to see how they did versus the 50% figure.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

That would require work. It's Saturday and getting to the high 90's. I'm going swimming.

:smile:

Jeff Livingston
 
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