Today, this situation came up: the break ball was hanging by a side pocket, my opponent racked the balls, and I noticed the 11 wasn't quite frozen to any of the balls around it in the rack (common with our crummy racks at the club), so I played this:
I played hard and "dry", and center ball. I figured:
- if I hit the break ball dead on, playing hard would prevent the cueball from rolling into the pocket,
- if I hit the break ball slightly off center, the cueball would go up table or stay behind the footline, depending which side of the break ball it hit,
- if I really missed, I'd still have a chance to get the break ball doing a rail first,
- the rack would be busted enough that I most likely would have a shot after the break. But I'd have a fair chance of scratching if the cueball goes flying around the table, and if I missed, my opponent would have a field day.
As it turned out, the cueball stopped dead in front of the pocket, the break was spectacular, and a playable ball ended up near the opposite side pocket.
Did I get lucky, or is this something I can do intelligently if the situation arises again?
I played hard and "dry", and center ball. I figured:
- if I hit the break ball dead on, playing hard would prevent the cueball from rolling into the pocket,
- if I hit the break ball slightly off center, the cueball would go up table or stay behind the footline, depending which side of the break ball it hit,
- if I really missed, I'd still have a chance to get the break ball doing a rail first,
- the rack would be busted enough that I most likely would have a shot after the break. But I'd have a fair chance of scratching if the cueball goes flying around the table, and if I missed, my opponent would have a field day.
As it turned out, the cueball stopped dead in front of the pocket, the break was spectacular, and a playable ball ended up near the opposite side pocket.
Did I get lucky, or is this something I can do intelligently if the situation arises again?