Making the break an advantage

[JD_Hogg]

How do you make the break an advantage to the player with the better break and still not make the game boring by making the wing ball every time? In tennis that answer is simple, in pool so far its not.

What if you get so many balls past the head string you get automatic ball in hand regardless if anything goes in or not. If you dont get the required number of balls past then you have to push out. ???

 

[JD_Hogg]

or maybe not ball in hand but you get to keep shooting? this would take having to make a ball on the break out of the equation.

 

[StraightPoolIU]

Play 10 ball, or 1 on the spot and break from the center (very small break box).

 

[smashmouth]

u need to learn to break with power when needed, serious serious power, think jeff de luna

 

[MitchAlsup]

How do you make the break an advantage to the player with the better break and still not make the game boring by making the wing ball every time? In tennis that answer is simple, in pool so far its not.

What if you get so many balls past the head string you get automatic ball in hand regardless if anything goes in or not. If you dont get the required number of balls past then you have to push out. ???

8-ball does not have that problem.

However, you can always lob the head ball of the rack into the side pocket if you hit it just right. And this is independent of where the rack is positioned horizontally or vertically on the table.

 

[sjm]

How do you make the break an advantage to the player with the better break and still not make the game boring by making the wing ball every time?

Neutral racker, break from the box.

 

[jamesjr1963]

Play 10 ball, or 1 on the spot and break from the center (very small break box).

How about from the foot spot?

 

[hang-the-9]

Neutral racker, break from the box.

You can't have a racker at every table at a tournament though, in some places there is just not enough space and what pro would agree to some guy racking their money for them unless it was an official ref? The way the 9 ball rack has been studied lately, it's just about impossible to make it "fair". Either someone makes it very easy to make a ball or comes up with some rule that punishes you for executing a good break if you happen to get unlucky ( that silly 3 balls past the line rule the euro matches like to use ).

Moving all pro events to 10 ball is the way to go. I would not even worry about "but it will confuse people that watch" because 90% of the people that would hunt down a match to watch already know what 10 ball is.