Too much emphasis on power

Cdryden

Cdryden

Pool Addict
Silver Member
not enough emphasis on control.

All this talk lately about how to break harder but not much about how to break with more control. I think most on here would agree that when you hit the rack with 100% of your power your control drop drastically. So, why do it? Do you really think you'll get in more balls at 21 mph than you do at 19 mph? I have found that if I hit it a 100% power not only does it make very little difference in how many balls I make, I rarely have a good shot on the one.

I can make just as many balls and sometimes more, hitting with a nice controlled break speed. For those of you who like to break extremely hard try breaking a 60% power and see if your overall game improves.

I guess if you can break at 100% and still have complete control over whitey than by all means do it. But most of us mortals can't whether we want to admit it or not.

I would like to hear some peoples comments on how to control the CB better off the break. I'm always looking for good tips on my break, especially for my 8-ball game. I hold the record in my league for the most eight balls on the break in one session, but I still think my break could use allot of improvement. I am more concerned with getting a quality break rather than sinking the 8.
 
That

is all fine and dandy unless you have 2-3 balls constantly stopping a couple of inches in front of a pocket on the break, then it kind of works the other way.

If you want to know what I mean, just watch some women players break!
 
Cdryden said:
not enough emphasis on control.

All this talk lately about how to break harder but not much about how to break with more control. I think most on here would agree that when you hit the rack with 100% of your power your control drop drastically. So, why do it? Do you really think you'll get in more balls at 21 mph than you do at 19 mph? I have found that if I hit it a 100% power not only does it make very little difference in how many balls I make, I rarely have a good shot on the one.

I can make just as many balls and sometimes more, hitting with a nice controlled break speed. For those of you who like to break extremely hard try breaking a 60% power and see if your overall game improves.

I guess if you can break at 100% and still have complete control over whitey than by all means do it. But most of us mortals can't whether we want to admit it or not.

I would like to hear some peoples comments on how to control the CB better off the break. I'm always looking for good tips on my break, especially for my 8-ball game. I hold the record in my league for the most eight balls on the break in one session, but I still think my break could use allot of improvement. I am more concerned with getting a quality break rather than sinking the 8.
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Never sacrifice accuracy for power.

I cover this extensively in my book, Lessons in 9 Ball. I am sure that if you look hard enough, you can find that section of the book posted somewhere on the internet.

As far breaking in 8 ball, I have a few secrets on that as well - hidden somewhere online. If I can find it, I'll send it to you.
 
I think the most important factor in the break is hitting the head ball 100% full. That and hitting with center English (not too much follow or draw) will lead to a good break.

You can get away with hitting off center at low speeds, but you will fly the table when you amp up.

I believe a full hit on the head ball with little/no English and you can hit them as hard as you want. That's the biggest problem with people hitting too hard. When you start moving more parts you aren't doing these two things, unless you start slow and over time build up to higher speeds.
 
Snapshot9 said:
If you want to know what I mean, just watch some women players break!
Click to expand...

OUCH, thats harsh! I understand what you mean but in my experience with my break a few inches doesn't seem to be a big issue.... most of the time. (my wife would argue that a few inches is a world of difference!)

I think my time is better spent developing a break that is successful at pocketing at least one ball and leaving the cue ball in the center of the table consistently. If you can do this then I think the power of that break is irrelevant.
 
Funny, I was just thinking about this last night at the local 8-ball tournament. Some of this might be experience. However, I never put the full power on the break. Usually, land a couple balls in the holes and the cue ball isn't on the other side of the pool room. Many of the "power breakers" don't even make a ball on the break. Which is good for me, but I always wonder about it...... just my humble opinion.....
 
Remember that the break is essentially a stun shot. No draw, no follow, no spin. Any of these will cause you to lose power as the best way to hit the rack is with a dead cue ball (stun shot). I achieve this best with hitting a 1/16 below center on the cueball and the stroke calls for a "jab" of sorts at the cue ball with an extened follow through. Make sure you don't go beyond 1/16 below center, then draw will creep in. Also, as mentioned, hit the head ball full. Once you get your aim and control down, increase speed incrementally.
 
Some simple things to try for good cue ball control on the break:

1) Do not lift your bridge from the table. I see lots of people throw their bridge hand up in the air, like Johnny Archer. Archer perfected the technique, but I wouldn't advise doing it that way. You will have a much *easier* time stroking straight through the cueball if your bridge hand is solid and motionless. This might cause a lot of pressure on your bridge hand. Get used to it.

2) Break for the head ball in 8 ball. The 2nd ball break can work OK for pocketing balls (sometimes) but you give up cueball control. There will be plenty of people who claim "oh no, I just hit it with a little low left and it comes right back to the middle of the table..." Yeah, maybe...sometimes. Bottom line is it is simply easier to control the cueball by *NOT* moving it, rather than by moving it. A dead square, stop shot type hit will work best. A *hair* of follow on the cue ball can give you that effect of a short hop and then the cueball plants itself center table.

3) Do not *try* to hit the ball hard. Be very loose, and focus your attention on a soft stop shot on the headball. Let your technique create the power, not the effort you put into your arm.

4) Don't break from the end rail. Its 1 in 100 people who have a quality break that break from the end rail. Learn to bridge correctly and break from the headstring, with your bridge hand planted on the table. From the center of the headstring, you are the closest you can get to the head ball in the rack. This gives you the best chance of hitting it accurately. If you don't make balls on the break *but are hitting the rack very well with control*, then move the cueball to 1/2 way between the center and the side rail. Try that spot. Then the other side. It is rare in 8 ball that one of these 3 locations will not put balls in given a good solid hit on the head ball. (assuming you are getting an acceptable rack)

5) Go buy the Break Rak. Best device ever for developing an excellent break. http://breakrak.com/ You can't realistically expect to develop a great break without dedicating some practice time to it. This is by far the best tool for doing that.

Hope this helps,

KMRUNOUT
 
Control is very important BUT you need enough power so that you are not on average breaking the balls apart and not potting a ball

I've done a bit of testing using the iphone break app speed and there is no doubt that every given table has a certain mph on the break which is required on average to pot a ball (given a nice clean hit on the head ball etc). and on average if you break less than that certain mph, sure you will pot balls now and then, but on average you will dolly up the table more often than potting balls.

Look there is no reason why you can't develop more than one break shot. A steady reliable one and an aggressive one when your feeling good and timing things well. Pool doesn't require that many different biomechanical actions to learn, unlike tennis where you need a forehand, backhand, backhand slice, volleys, overheads, 3 types of serve etc so it's not a stretch to learn two or more break shots

I have a primary break which serves me 90% of the time and is getting better and better. It delivers enough power to pot a ball most of the time BUT i do have a backup break shot because there is no doubt there is the odd day where my timing on my primary break isn't quite there and this backup break shot isn't as powerful but it also isn't as biomechanically extravagant which basically means it will never break down. It;s the equivalent of a pro tennis players kick second serve.
 
I believe in a balance between the 2 and this depends on table conditions. If playing on bad cloth or getting bad racks then more power. If on newer cloth and tighter racks, less power in more control.
 
KMRUNOUT said:
Some simple things to try for good cue ball control on the break:


2) Break for the head ball in 8 ball. The 2nd ball break can work OK for pocketing balls (sometimes) but you give up cueball control. There will be plenty of people who claim "oh no, I just hit it with a little low left and it comes right back to the middle of the table..." Yeah, maybe...sometimes. Bottom line is it is simply easier to control the cueball by *NOT* moving it, rather than by moving it. A dead square, stop shot type hit will work best. A *hair* of follow on the cue ball can give you that effect of a short hop and then the cueball plants itself center table.


KMRUNOUT
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That part I'm gonna disagree with (to a point). " The 2nd ball break can work OK for pocketing balls (sometimes) but you give up cueball control " - pocketing balls is THE most important thing on the break - if you can't make balls then it doesn't matter how well you control the cue ball. As for breaking second ball, you don't usually lose that much cue ball control IF you hit them well, the CB just hits the side rail and comes back into the pack. Sometimes you will lose the cue ball, but that's inevitable. No more than the chances of it getting kicked around after a perfect break where you squat the cue ball, especially in 8B where there's 15 balls flying around the table.
 
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