The break

T

theCANNON

New member
Here is a question that since 9 ball has been around has been up to interpatation. The question is (who has the best break in 9 ball?)
The interpatation part has many factors like how many balls go in, best position of cue, the biggest smash and so on. Everybody has thier personal faverite including my self. I have been told by many people including quite a few pro's male and female, that i have one of the hardest hitting breaks in the world. I have two problems with this, one i don't pocket alot of balls (1 or 2 most of the time) the other problem is that i think (The Hillbilly) Charly Bryant has a harder break. Like i said its all about interpatation.
so i will leave it up to the forum to deside. WHO HAS THE BEST BREAK?
 
How do you have one of the hardest hitting breaks in the world and you have trouble pocketing a ball? For overall power plus control I think Alex Pagulayan would be a top contender.
 
theCANNON said:
Here is a question that since 9 ball has been around has been up to interpatation. The question is (who has the best break in 9 ball?)
The interpatation part has many factors like how many balls go in, best position of cue, the biggest smash and so on. Everybody has thier personal faverite including my self. I have been told by many people including quite a few pro's male and female, that i have one of the hardest hitting breaks in the world. I have two problems with this, one i don't pocket alot of balls (1 or 2 most of the time) the other problem is that i think (The Hillbilly) Charly Bryant has a harder break. Like i said its all about interpatation.
so i will leave it up to the forum to deside. WHO HAS THE BEST BREAK?
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Corey Deuel. He makes balls, controls the rock and gets out. Archer, the same.

I think what makes a great break is being able to accomplish these rudamentary feats consistently. When you see them accomplish this over and over again, it really is quite remarkable. Personally, I feel break speed means almost nothing. A lot of players CAN hit the balls hard. Concern over control makes them tone it down a notch.
 
There are several guys that are a toss-up as far as the best 9-ball break.

Johnny Archer: Breaks hard with great timing and the most exagerated follow through I've seen (the tip of his stick practically reaches the 1-ball at the rack; amazing to watch a slo-mo of his break). In addition, one of the best at parking the cue ball in the center of the table for a shot after the break. Spends a lot of time down on the shot with practice strokes, body alignment, etc.

Bustamante (one of my favorite players; I'm a quarter Filipino myself): Breaks so hard you'd think the cue ball would explode; awesome. Not quite the cue ball control as Johnny, though. Back swing so unbelievably long that the tip of his cue actually goes several inches behind the fingers of his bridge hand before he explodes forward. I've heard of stories years ago of Efren offering anyone in the world the 7-ball as long as Bustamante was allowed to break for him; no one then or since has taken Efren up on the offer :)

Neils Feijen: Not mentioned too often when discussing this subject, but I've been really impressed with his improvement in this area over the past several years. Several years ago he came in second to Efren in a big money tournament in Japan. I happen to own a copy of the Accustat tape of the match, and I can't help but compare his break then with his break that I saw during the Skins tourny on ESPN they had several months back. Excellent combo of power, control, follow through, flat ball hit (cue ball doesn't jump up in the air too much if at all), and consistently getting a good first shot. Plus, I like his focus at the table and his desire to constantly improve. Most players just think by playing the game more and more that they will improve as a result. Neils on the other hand works relentlessly on drills and what a lot of players would consider "basic" shots, and as a result he improves all the time and dogs less shots than others.
 
I really thought that Hohmann was breaking masterfully in the two matches of the BCA Open that were telecast, against Mika and Archer.
 
drivermaker said:
Miko, I think you could have strung any 3 names together and nobody would have know the difference or remembered it. How about...Chow-Min Lieu; or Yow-Mi Chang...or One-Hung Low....or (well, you get the picture)

(and for others...DON'T start a racial flame...it's just an observation)
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C S Yang is known by anyone who follows pro pool. He has been one of the favorites to win the WPC the last five years though he hasnt done it. From 99-2003, he had the best record in the WPC. He is considered the best player in Taiwan. I disagree with your observation.
 
theCANNON said:
WHO HAS THE BEST BREAK?
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There are several players with a great break & some of them aren't Pros. A 30mph break may be exciting to watch, because of the speed, however the game is Pocket Billiards & position play is everything. The Break Shot is the first shot & the most complex. Many good players start their game with a controlled break shot stroke. We see it on TV & in Pool Rooms across the country.

The player with the best break shot is the player who pockets a ball on the break & controls the cue ball's position. The commentators & the players are always mentioning their success of the break shot as a way of winning.
 
would any of you guys put mike davis up there with the best? just wondering because I saw him on ESPN playing at the world summit tournie and man he would just park the cb almost every time with just a little hop. The only thing that stopped him from winning after that was him....his breaks seemed perfect.
 
Breaking

Although he doesn't play very much anymore, I find George Breedlove to have a great break along with Alex Pagalion (sp). That being said, I don't think power can ever replace solid fundamentals holding the cue ball in the center of the table.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
Corey Deuel. He makes balls, controls the rock and gets out. Archer, the same.

I think what makes a great break is being able to accomplish these rudamentary feats consistently. When you see them accomplish this over and over again, it really is quite remarkable. Personally, I feel break speed means almost nothing. A lot of players CAN hit the balls hard. Concern over control makes them tone it down a notch.
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Agree on both. My problem is: Why are other players afraid to copy Corey's break when his break is successful for what he is trying to accomplish (winning that game(s))? I see this on accu stat videos and on espn. It must be the other players egos not to emulate his break or just plain stubborness.
 
I have no opinion on who has the best break. Just an observation for those who think slammin the balls makes a good break. In the womens BCA semis Ewa Laurance broke not much harder than a good firm stroke,she pocketed something each time I saw her break. Her last break she pocketed 5 balls...unfortunately the 5th ball to drop was the cueball. I think order of importance in a break is this
1. pocket one or more balls
2. leave the cue ball in a good play position
3. get a good spread on the balls
If you don't do these things then what's the difference how hard you hit the cue ball.

Terry
 
Where are the statistics that could answer this ("Who has the best 9-ball break"?) and many other questions, objectively. Aren't there stats on pros whose competitions are so public? How about stats such as Ball On Break Percentage, Average Balls on Break, Clear Shot After Break, Success Rate of Jump Shots, etc? Sure seems to be an opportunity for Accu-Stats or some other publisher...
 
Who has the best break is too subjective to say conclusively. For me, I think Earl has historically had the best break and Sigel is right up there. On a radar gun, for what that is worth, alot of players can probably get it to around 30+ MPH.
 
For a truly great break I would have to place an emphasis on CB control because a break is useless if you don't have a open shot after the break half the time. Power looks great but isn't a "must have" for a good break.

Someone who really impressed me with their break was Fong-Pang Chao, perfect control and plenty of power it really makes it easy for him to string them together, Yang breaks just as good but with a bit more power. My personal favorite is Archer, he seems to have the best combination of power and control, probably the most consistent too.
 
Tbeaux said:
I think we in the USA just have a problem keeping the asian players who almost never compete here straight. Not enough exposure. As to understanding and pronouncing foriegn words and names,yeah we have a problem.Kind of weird for country made up of every race and ethnic group on the planet huh? I'm partly of swedish and norwegian descent,have been doing genealogy research and have lots of trouble with the languages. Oddly for my research I asked a couple of swedish female players what certain job titles meant,they didn't have a clue either. :)

Terry
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That's what my main point was as well, lack of exposure of Asian players.

Well, Scandinavian languages are quite difficult, but Swedish and Norwegian go hand in hand with German for instance, many similar words. But, I can tell you, absolutely no body can understand Finnish. Estonians are the only people.

Also, the fact, that every one in America needs to speak English make things harder. I guess there aren't any mandatory foreign languages in schools in America ? Here in Finland every student gets education in at least two foreign languages in the mandatory 9 years of school, for most it's English and Swedish.

I agree with Sniper, Archer has a really good break, one of the best in the world without a doubt.

Hmm, interesting. I named 3 top breakers of choice: Yang, Archer and Bustamante. And they all are really skinny and quite short :)
 
mjantti said:
Also, the fact, that every one in America needs to speak English make things harder. I guess there aren't any mandatory foreign languages in schools in America ? Here in Finland every student gets education in at least two foreign languages in the mandatory 9 years of school, for most it's English and Swedish.
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Foreign languages are usually an elective here. It depends on the school district. We don't have a unified national school system (hmm... kind of like billiards) with the same "exact" requirements everywhere.

Terry
PS- any idea what a grufarbetaren(swedish) is?
 
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