Squatting The Rock

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DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was watching a video from December 1994 of Reyes and Bustamante at the Sands tournament in Reno earlier tonight and I kept track of the number of times these two players parked the CB right in the middle of the table. Now bear in mind these guys were in their primes at the time and the match went 25 racks with Bustamante winning 13-12.

Having said that, only four times were they able to squat the CB near the middle of the table. A couple of other times they came close but it got kicked around. 4 times in 25 racks.

I hear a lot of people, in person and on here, talk about how you have to park the CB right in the middle if you want to consistently win. I have a bunch of other Accu-Stats videos and I am going to watch them and see how many times players such as Varner, Archer, Strickland, Hall, Wiley, Griffis, actually are able to park it right in the middle.

Romford Slim, Steve Davis, made a comment once that its almost impossible to do with all the balls flying around the table. Maybe my break shot isn't that bad after all.

r/DCP
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
I hear a lot of people, in person and on here, talk about how you have to park the CB right in the middle if you want to consistently win. I have a bunch of other Accu-Stats videos and I am going to watch them and see how many times players such as Varner, Archer, Strickland, Hall, Wiley, Griffis, actually are able to park it right in the middle.
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I think a lot of people overestimate both the importance of this and their own ability at it.

DrCue'sProtege said:
Romford Slim, Steve Davis, made a comment once that its almost impossible to do with all the balls flying around the table. Maybe my break shot isn't that bad after all.

r/DCP
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Is this not one of the reasons that someone like SVB (for example) has the cueball jump so much after contacting the rack? The time the cue ball spends in the air gives the other balls on the table some time to get out of the way.
 
What do consider the middle of the table? Mine is a 2X2 diamond area in the center. Keeping the cueball in this area, increases the CHANCES of having a shot on the lowest number ball. It is also the result of a solid hit on the rack.

Of course the cueball can be kicked out of this zone.
 
The main part is not having the cueball go of the side of the rack and start flying around the table looking or a hole to scratch in or end up on the rail or buried in a cluster. Many times, especially when using a rack like the Magic Rack or Sardo, you will want to get the cueball a bit lower than center since the 1 ball usually goes down to the opposite side of the table, and with the cueball bellow center, you have a decent chance of getting a shot at it. This is with a low speed break for those.

I thought your issue was balls not going in, not controlling the cueball?
 
Watch Mizerak play 9 ball...that man had the most accurate control of whitey on the break of anyone you can name.
 
I think squatting the cue ball in the center of the table after the break is really just a good consequence of making a full square hit on the head ball. If it gets kicked there really isn't much you can do about it, but I think it unwise to dismiss how beneficial it can be to a potential run out by saying "eh it's too hard to do".
 
It seems to me parking the cue ball at center table is a somewhat new technique, perhaps coming into favor with the soft break. Also, in regards to tracking how often the pros actually do this you really need to take into consideration how many times the cue ball gets kicked by an object ball. It's pretty hard to purposefully keep this from happening.
 
hang-the-9 said:
The main part is not having the cueball go of the side of the rack and start flying around the table looking or a hole to scratch in or end up on the rail or buried in a cluster. Many times, especially when using a rack like the Magic Rack or Sardo, you will want to get the cueball a bit lower than center since the 1 ball usually goes down to the opposite side of the table, and with the cueball bellow center, you have a decent chance of getting a shot at it. This is with a low speed break for those.

I thought your issue was balls not going in, not controlling the cueball?
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If you break below center of the CB 1 ball won't go down because it will take some follow...
 
I believe the goal is to try to do that for best results whether it remains there or gets kicked. Trying to park it will help with a full it on the rack.
 
peter_gunn said:
Ah sorry, my english sucks :shrug:
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It depends on how you read it, you were correct in seeing it your way also :) I could see how you got what you posted from what I wrote.

Even with draw, the 1 ball goes down table a lot, either straight down or off the side as a bank.
 
Every shot should have one (or more) objectives.

For the break it's 1) make a ball, 2) have a shot on the next ball, 3) DON'T SCRATCH!

It seems that squatting the Rock is pretty good advice for objectives 2) and 3), without detracting from objective 1).

What else would you advise me to do with the CB?
 
bdorman said:
... What else would you advise me to do with the CB?
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Spin it like crazy with lots of side spin and follow to waste energy and give yourself a better chance to scratch. Oh, and bet high when we play. Me, I'm a squatter, or try to be.
 
Being able to park the CB at mid table gives you the start of a consistent pattern. Now all you have to worry about is getting the 1 ball by a headstring pocket. Johnnyt
 
When I've played 9 ball in the past and could not make a ball hitting them flush I sometimes will put the CB close to the side rail and carom the CB off the 1 and into the rail. If hit correctly the CB will come off the side rail and back through the rack. It works pretty well on a bar box with fast cloth.
I prefer to squat the rock if I'm making a ball
 
I actually attempt to have the cue ball travel back towards me past the side pocket before "squatting" near the center of the table. I've noticed from slo mo video of 20 plus breaks of my own that the opposite side second row ball will typically come off the side rail and back across towards the side pocket and if I squat the cue ball center table it will typically collide with that ball causing it to scratch or end up on the side rail. It's the difference of a 1/4 tip lower hit on the cue ball to achieve this but when executed properly the cue ball goes untouched a high percentage of the time.
 
I hate when I park the cue ball in the middle of the table on the break and don't make a ball. I usually break the balls quite well (as far as spread is concerned and without clusters), but if I don't make a ball it is WIDE OPEN for my opponent.

You need the pool and luck gods to be on your side when you break the balls because it usually is a crap shoot.

I can't count the number of times I've parked the cue ball PERFECTLY and then a ball from Hell comes flying around and knocks the cue ball in a pocket or somewhere behind another ball.
 
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