Nice alternative breakball

T

tommy84

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Opponent played this one against me 5 out of 5 times
http://CueTable.com/P/?@1AADT4BCpA3...NBal3OBJl3PQbu4YFbe4YdWs4Ydft3kQbu3kEkp3kEDs@

Can't remember the exact aiming point on the rack, but it works so frequently that it's really a weapon you must have in your arsenal, especially if you come to the table late in the rack with no real breakball around

But the table must be tapped so that the rack is perfectly straight and all balls frozen to each other. We were playing on a GC III with Simonis 860. Tapped rack and tighter pockets
 
I've been trying to figure this one out. I have made it a couple times but I am in no way consistant at it.. Anyone want to explain exactly how to do it??
 
It really depends on the level of player your opponent is. If he's a 7 ball runner ... then I guess have at it. But if I did that against my buddies, I could count on loosing at least 30 and maybe more, odds are I'd return to the table locked up tight as a drum with nothing to do but try to return a safety if I'm lucky enough to be able to.

IMO, I'd forget that even goes now and again and play a good firm safe off the 13 ball. Open up some balls and freeze your opponent right there.

That move is just as good as pocketing the ball with nearly a 100% positive outcome on the safety. My guess for a favorable outcome on trying to pocket that ball would be around 20%, perhaps even less. It's suicide.
 
3andstop said:
It really depends on the level of player your opponent is. If he's a 7 ball runner ... then I guess have at it. But if I did that against my buddies, I could count on loosing at least 30 and maybe more, odds are I'd return to the table locked up tight as a drum with nothing to do but try to return a safety if I'm lucky enough to be able to.

IMO, I'd forget that even goes now and again and play a good firm safe off the 13 ball. Open up some balls and freeze your opponent right there.

That move is just as good as pocketing the ball with nearly a 100% positive outcome on the safety. My guess for a favorable outcome on trying to pocket that ball would be around 20%, perhaps even less. It's suicide.
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Agreed; It may go on a regular basis is the perfect situation but I don't want to see if I have that situation. Safe is the shot in my opinion.
 
But you talk about a normal table where the balls are racked with a triangle.
Here in Germany we mostly play on so called "tapped" tables where you have a template for the rack and hammer little dents into the cloth, so that you always have a perfect rack. And that shot depends on a perfect rack, so you'll never see it when the balls are racked with a triangle
But many players here in Germany take this shot on under those modern conditions
 
tommy84 said:
But many players here in Germany take this shot on under those modern conditions
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OK, I've never been to Germany, so I'll take your word for it ... but, I will beg to differ once again on referencing dinging up the table to rack balls as modern conditions. I like to think racks are a pretty innovative way to make a triangle out of the balls.

IMO dinging a table to make a rack is like is like putting your shoes on with a pneumatic staple gun when you can use shoe laces instead. :shrug:
 
tommy84 said:
Here in Germany we mostly play on so called "tapped" tables where you have a template for the rack and hammer little dents into the cloth, so that you always have a perfect rack.
Click to expand...

Do balls moving over those little dents ever behave funny?

Drift to the right or left or slow down when you don't expect it?
 
Dennis: I tapped my AMF & then my Kim Steel tables and I have NEVER seen any artifact from it...other than fair racks over & over. I've hit 10,000's of balls on them.

Tapping is the only way to get a consistently fair rack for 14.1. The quality of the rack in 14.1 is FAR more important than most give it credit for.

The 1-in-a-million roll-off caused by tapping is far outweighed by a single bad rack. If you're like me, you get a few of those per day.
 
If one of the by-products of tapping is that it produces anything close to a sure-thing on this shot, then sadly it's a game-killer. Call me a purist but the day I see this shot in anything resembling top-flight play is going to be a sad day indeed.

Just like the Sardo killed 9-ball by actually removing the randomness of the break, so too will a tapped 15 ball rack kill straight pool if this shot becomes available. Both were good ideas which were cut down by an unanticipated side effect.

Can anyone who plays under such conditions please estimate the make-percentage of this shot? Is it the type of thing that even if it doesn't go, it always comes within an inch or so of the pocket?

Thanks,
Steve
 
Steve Lipsky said:
If one of the by-products of tapping is that it produces anything close to a sure-thing on this shot, then sadly it's a game-killer. Call me a purist but the day I see this shot in anything resembling top-flight play is going to be a sad day indeed.

Just like the Sardo killed 9-ball by actually removing the randomness of the break, so too will a tapped 15 ball rack kill straight pool if this shot becomes available. Both were good ideas which were cut down by an unanticipated side effect.

Can anyone who plays under such conditions please estimate the make-percentage of this shot? Is it the type of thing that even if it doesn't go, it always comes within an inch or so of the pocket?

Thanks,
Steve
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I think straight pool is in better shape than 9 ball with a perfect rack. You can't really outlaw making a ball on the break in 9 ball, but you could make a rule for straight pool that you can't call a ball from an undisturbed rack. What would you think of such a rule?
 
unknownpro said:
I think straight pool is in better shape than 9 ball with a perfect rack. You can't really outlaw making a ball on the break in 9 ball, but you could make a rule for straight pool that you can't call a ball from an undisturbed rack. What would you think of such a rule?
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If you can figure out how the rule would read exactly, I'm all for it. The wording of it might get unwieldy, as it might require both players to acknowledge whenever a new rack gets very slightly feathered.

- Steve
 
Steve Lipsky said:
Can anyone who plays under such conditions please estimate the make-percentage of this shot? Is it the type of thing that even if it doesn't go, it always comes within an inch or so of the pocket?

Thanks,
Steve
Click to expand...

Steve,

I did a similar experiment with a one pocket break and a perfect rack. I was making the corner ball 75% of the time and that's shooting from the other end of the table (which in my case has some small error). I believe a close straight pool shot like the one in this thread could be made over 90% of the time. And it would be close when it missed.

Andy
 
alinco said:
Steve,

I did a similar experiment with a one pocket break and a perfect rack. I was making the corner ball 75% of the time and that's shooting from the other end of the table (which in my case has some small error). I believe a close straight pool shot like the one in this thread could be made over 90% of the time. And it would be close when it missed.

Andy
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OMG this is horrifying news. Sigh. Well, thanks for the info Andy...

- Steve
 
It can be played really consistent, it's percentage is probably somewhere between making the wingball and making the 1 in the side on a 9-Ball break.

And the tapping does not affect the play at all. It's just a little dent deep enough that the balls roll together, but not big enough to influence even slow rolling balls. Actually you even have to rack them very soft and slow to find the dents. They are of course visible on a new cloth, but now after 6 months they are just 15 more marks which you'll have after some time from mass? and jumpshots
 
I've done this shot before, and usually ends in disaster if it doesn't go.

The only time I'll do this makeshift break shot, and the wingball in the side from behind the rack is if I'm on pace to make a record high run.

For me anyways, the odds of making the shot described above are about 20%, and a little higher for the wing ball in the side from behind. Put a better player in, and I'm sure the percentage goes up, but I'm not convinced this is a good shot to play.
 
20% may be for a traditional rack made with a triangle. Try it with a Sardo tight rack or on a tapped table - huge percentage boost
 
tommy84 said:
20% may be for a traditional rack made with a triangle. Try it with a Sardo tight rack or on a tapped table - huge percentage boost
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I'd rather not. I can't stand those Sardo things personally. Call me a purist I guess :)
 
unknownpro said:
I think straight pool is in better shape than 9 ball with a perfect rack. You can't really outlaw making a ball on the break in 9 ball, but you could make a rule for straight pool that you can't call a ball from an undisturbed rack. What would you think of such a rule?
Click to expand...

I dunno if I like that rule. You can call a few different balls from a full rack, like the rear corner ball straight-back, or the first example shown.
 
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