Trouble with 9-ball Break

P

pw98

Registered
I have serious trouble with my 9-ball break.

With a magic rack and 10-ball I can run out about 35-40% of the time with BIH.
With a magic rack and 9-ball I can run out about 5% of the time with BIH.

I attribute this to the fact that when I break 9-ball most of the balls are always behind the head string and also very often most of the balls are behind the foot string and in the corner that I broke from resulting in combinations and several shots in a row that need pinpoint position. I have tried breaking from other spots and some spots seem to get a better overall spread but the balls cluster on the rails.

I have no trouble making a ball it just seems like the layouts are much harder/different than what i see everyone else getting in their videos.

Two of the balls always seem to end up in the same place (breaking from the right rail): The ball behind the 1 on the right side seems to end up not moving much and stops right next to the 9. And the ball behind the wing ball on the left side moves about a foot or so and stops about a foot from the left or so from the left corner pocket.

Regardless if I hit very hard or soft I seem to get similar bad results. The only difference I've seen really is to break from the right rail and over-cut the 1 on the left side this seems to make the balls move a little better but then I seem to get clusters on the rail.

I'm very frustrated with this and have been working on it for months now and haven't been able to fix the problem. :mad:
 
Last edited:
pw98 said:
I have serious trouble with my 9-ball break.

With a magic rack and 10-ball I can run out about 35-40% of the time with BIH.
With a magic rack and 9-ball I can run out about 5% of the time with BIH.

I attribute this to the fact that when I break 9-ball most of the balls are always behind the head string and also very often most of the balls are behind the head string and in the corner that I broke from resulting in combinations and several shots in a row that need pinpoint position. I have tried breaking from other spots and some spots seem to get a better overall spread but the balls cluster on the rails.

I have no trouble making a ball it just seems like the layouts are much harder/different than what i see everyone else getting in their videos.

Two of the balls always seem to end up in the same place (breaking from the right rail): The ball behind the 1 on the right side seems to end up not moving much and stops right next to the 9. And the ball behind the wing ball on the left side moves about a foot or so and stops about a foot from the left or so from the left corner pocket.

Regardless if I hit very hard or soft I seem to get similar bad results. The only difference I've seen really is to break from the right rail and over-cut the 1 on the left side this seems to make the balls move a little better but then I seem to get clusters on the rail.

I'm very frustrated with this and have been working on it for months now and haven't been able to fix the problem. :mad:
Click to expand...

Have any video of it?
 
yes, a video would be very helpful.

If as you say, on your breaks most of the balls end up above the head string, can your problem be corrected by reducing break speed?

In 9b, the break is the most important shot and this is why players at the top (think svb) spend so much time perfecting it.

They say don't marry a spot, so if a particular break spot isn't working, experiment with the cue ball placement. There are so many other variables including changing conditions so we really have to stay hyper focused on every aspect.

Conditions (eg cloth, temp, humidity, speed, newness, etc.) along with break speed, break spot, spin imparted, yes cut/no cut, etc are all part of the formula

Trying to figure all of these kinds of things out is part of the fun of it, imo.

Those who don't play pool can not imagine how many puzzles there are needing to be solved in this game.

best,
brian kc
 
Last edited:
pw98 said:
I have serious trouble with my 9-ball break.



With a magic rack and 10-ball I can run out about 35-40% of the time with BIH.

With a magic rack and 9-ball I can run out about 5% of the time with BIH.



I attribute this to the fact that when I break 9-ball most of the balls are always behind the head string and also very often most of the balls are behind the head string and in the corner that I broke from resulting in combinations and several shots in a row that need pinpoint position. I have tried breaking from other spots and some spots seem to get a better overall spread but the balls cluster on the rails.



I have no trouble making a ball it just seems like the layouts are much harder/different than what i see everyone else getting in their videos.



Two of the balls always seem to end up in the same place (breaking from the right rail): The ball behind the 1 on the right side seems to end up not moving much and stops right next to the 9. And the ball behind the wing ball on the left side moves about a foot or so and stops about a foot from the left or so from the left corner pocket.



Regardless if I hit very hard or soft I seem to get similar bad results. The only difference I've seen really is to break from the right rail and over-cut the 1 on the left side this seems to make the balls move a little better but then I seem to get clusters on the rail.



I'm very frustrated with this and have been working on it for months now and haven't been able to fix the problem. :mad:
Click to expand...



Those results you describe seem like the consequence of a failure to hit the front ball square. Any chance you have a video? Pretty hard to diagnose otherwise.

KMRUNOUT


Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums
 
Here is a video of the problem

Here is a video. The two balls I point out that start behind the left wing ball and in front of the right wing ball are what I want to get moving better. At this point pretty much nothing I do makes these balls move far.

These attempts actually came out better than what I usually get (the balls didnt cluster in the right corner behind the footstring)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukaeiruw0wY&feature=youtu.be
 
pw98 said:
Here is a video. The two balls I point out that start behind the left wing ball and in front of the right wing ball are what I want to get moving better. At this point pretty much nothing I do makes these balls move far.

These attempts actually came out better than what I usually get (the balls didnt cluster in the right corner behind the footstring)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukaeiruw0wY&feature=youtu.be
Click to expand...

thanks for the vid. Nice work.

I only saw the first 2 racks, and both seemed very runnable, with BIH.
 
i only saw one rack where the balls were not just fine for a runout.

if you are really running out 7 times as much in 10 ball you havent ran enough racks to make a good sample or arent really keeping track.

or were just lucky at the 10 ball small sample and are not that good to begin with to run 35 to 40% which is huge after looking at your break inconsistency.
 
there is a lot stuff on break but i would try get draw on cue ball in your case. that should slow down the 1 ball so it wont go in end rail.
 
Poolmanis said:
there is a lot stuff on break but i would try get draw on cue ball in your case. that should slow down the 1 ball so it wont go in end rail.
Click to expand...

Solid advice

I generally have pretty good success with drawing cb to top of table. Seems the 1 likes to go to top rail, for me.
 
Poolmanis said:
Also re-clothing table would help a lot..
Click to expand...

Good advice , That cloth looks wore and it will slow down your break speed as well. My Cuzin just got his table reclothed a few months ago and it made a huge difference in all area's.
 
I found a solution

The solution is to break SUPER HARD (basically murdering the cue ball) using my playing cue (19.5oz) z3 with a medium tip instead of the 18oz Players JB cue I was using. The balls seem to be spreading out a lot better. I think the players is such high squirt that hitting the ball really hard was causing wild hits unless hit absolutely perfectly.

(The video was taken using my playing cue, and the post was written originally about the Players cue, but in the video even the hard hits weren't as hard as I'm hitting it now...)

I know I will probably ruin the z3 shaft breaking with it over time but I see no other solution right now.

I will recloth the table as soon as lockdown is over and I am convinced we wont be going into another lockdown quickly thereafter (because it would suck if they locked down with a clothless tablee with the rails in the shop...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top