One pocket breaks

[u12armresl]

Anyone have any input on why people haven't found a way to make a ball on the break more. We see with 9 ball and starting to see with 10 ball that people racking their own can consistently make balls on the break. You rack your own and can position them as you like.

Any comments?

 

[Andrew Manning]

Anyone have any input on why people haven't found a way to make a ball on the break more. We see with 9 ball and starting to see with 10 ball that people racking their own can consistently make balls on the break. You rack your own and can position them as you like.

Any comments?

A few reasons:

1) A rack of 15 balls is harder to manipulate.
2) It would have to be EXTREMELY consistent, since busting them open to make a ball will lose you the game every time you fail to pocket that ball.
3) You can't position them as you like. The rack is supposed to be tight (or at least close), and can't be noticeably tilted. Sure, there's some leeway to engineer the rack, but not enough to consistently make a ball, largely because, most importantly...
4) The side pockets don't count. Only a ball in the nominated corner pocket will do you any good, and a rack of 15 balls doesn't make it easy to consistently send a ball toward the corner pocket.

-Andrew

 

[Dudley]

From time to time the corner ball does go on the break..... However I would consider it extremely unethical to manipulate the rack in order to make a ball in this way. On a tight Rack without tilting on the spot it isn't possible. I have run 8 and out before making a ball this way but it wan't on my own rack so no guilt.... Pounding the break a ball can go in the corner but I would consider it luck and is out of the question if you care about winning consistently.

I think it is a better idea to learn how to freeze the rock on the siderail with as many balls on your side of the table as possible. This may seem basic but if you hit like this most of the time it is really hard for your opponent to get out of.

I'm no expert. This is just speaking from my personal experience.

Dudley

CueTable Help

 

[JoeyA]

On the break, a slightly thinner hit on the head ball will increase your chances of making the end ball closest to your pocket.

However, it often comes with a heavy price if you don't make it. Most of the professional one pocket players, don't try for this, although it happens to them on rare ocsasions as well.

It's fun to try it when you are playing for fun but avoid trying to do that for the cheese or you will be in pain more often than not.

JoeyA

 

[Pushout]

On the break, a slightly thinner hit on the head ball will increase your chances of making the end ball closest to your pocket.

However, it often comes with a heavy price if you don't make it. Most of the professional one pocket players, don't try for this, although it happens to them on rare ocsasions as well.

It's fun to try it when you are playing for fun but avoid trying to do that for the cheese or you will be in pain more often than not.

JoeyA

Yowzer!! I've made one on the break a few times but not enough to hope it will happen every time.

 

[houmatroy]

1 good reason is you have to hit em a lil firmer & you take a really big chance of opposite wing ball going to your opponents hole & selling out...Getting the break reversed right off the back is not a good thing.

 

[The Saw]

It's simple.... The rack has to be massaged right. If they're racked square there's not much of a chance making a ball, IMO. The tangent line on the bottom corner ball isn't right if they are racked square and tight.

 

[iusedtoberich]

If you hit the second ball full, you can sometimes make the wing ball (on a tight, legal rack). The problem with this is the cueball will react differently and will sell out shots to your opponents hole.

This usually happens as a mistake. The player will miss the head ball completely, and make the corner ball. It is not a smash break. Same speed as normal one pocket break.

 

[sfleinen]

On the break, a slightly thinner hit on the head ball will increase your chances of making the end ball closest to your pocket.

However, it often comes with a heavy price if you don't make it. Most of the professional one pocket players, don't try for this, although it happens to them on rare ocsasions as well.

It's fun to try it when you are playing for fun but avoid trying to do that for the cheese or you will be in pain more often than not.

JoeyA

Wiser words could not've been spoken or written. The master of "rack/break engineering," Corey Deuel, learned this the hard way in his early one pocket career, when he was trying to "engineer" an 8-ball style hard break for one pocket. He had some limited success with it (a couple notable matches recorded on Accu-Stats) where he was able to get "lucky" with post-break cue ball position -- i.e. cue ball near the end rail with no shot at either pocket -- forcing his opponent into a "shooting" game vs. a "moving" game, which is more Corey's style. But the "success predictability factor" of this endeavor is very limited, as Corey found out:

http://azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?id=1391

Corey's since abandoned the wide-open / try-to-make-a-ball-in-your-pocket break, and uses a traditional one-pocket break now.

HTH,
-Sean