What Pro has that absolute best brake?

I think Corey revolutionized the break for both men and women so you'd have to say he's one of the best breakers ever. I mean, I heard that Earl called him a sissy or something when he was beating everyone because he broke so softly and now, evidently, even Earl is trying the finesse break. What do they say, impersonation or copying someone else is the greatest form of flattery?
 
Rickw said:
I think Corey revolutionized the break for both men and women so you'd have to say he's one of the best breakers ever. I mean, I heard that Earl called him a sissy or something when he was beating everyone because he broke so softly and now, evidently, even Earl is trying the finesse break. What do they say, impersonation or copying someone else is the greatest form of flattery?

Good point, Rick, yet we need to somehow factor in that two things, the Sardo rack and the break box, changed the science of breaking a little. As you noted, Deuel (and Karen Corr, too) made the adjustment best. Use of the Sardo rack at pro level is in great decline, and the break box may no longer be needed now that so many pro events (including all UPA and WPBA events) use an alternate break format. In a Sardo-less, breakbox-less world, which is where I think we're headed, there's still nobody like Archer, and on the women's side, Ga Young Kim would also be a clear cut above the rest.
 
mjantti said:
Ching-Shun Yang has a very good break. With lots of power, he still manages to control the cueball.

Have to admit that Cory Deuel has the best soft break by far...

in the RP vs taiwan, chin shun yang made 6 balls off the break. the 9 ball was among the 3 balls left and as expected, he won the rack.

i heard from a commentator that django made 7 balls out of 9 from a break in japan. but i haven't any video of that. and i don't know if the 9 was among the 7 balls.
 
django is so popular with his break because of the power that he puts in it. he's been in a slump so that's why we don't see much success even from his breaks lately. eventhough he puts so much power in it, often there's just a ball pocketed and sometimes, even none!

i saw a 15 year old player from taiwan, wu chia ching play against django. i don't the stats as to their cb speed when they broke in that match. there was no equipment available to measure the strength; i just used my ears to estimate the decibels. based on the sound, wu's break is far stronger than that of django. it was like the balls would be broken!

best break best on results regardless of strength, i think one of them must be from mika. while for many, the wing ball is the one that reliably sinks in, for mika ball #1 is usually made off the break in the side pocket. in an exhibition game where he was a coach, he made instructions to his player to make the one ball and the wing ball. so that confirmed to me that that's his aim and that he has the technique.
 
definitely!

Rude Dog said:
I've never been clocked with a radar gun but I think I break at about 220 mph. I know, I know, hard to believe, huh. But, the way I know this to be true is, my friend said to me one night, " Damn Dog, you gotta be hitten em over 200 miles an hour!" And he's never lied to me before. :D


with your physique, i definitely have no doubts that it's true! ;)
 
countessdracula said:
with your physique, i definitely have no doubts that it's true! ;)

Countess, the break is chiefly about timing and technique, and not so much about size or strength.

Tommy Kennedy and Sarah Rousey probably have a combined weight of under 200, and yet Tommy has one of the best breaks in men's pool and Sarah has one of the bests breaks in women's pool.

I will admit, though, that neither breaks at 220 mph. Then again, Rude Dog's the man!
 
Has anyone seen Angel Paglia break? When I saw her break it appeared to rival that of the best pros, men and women.
 
Sargo said:
Earl Strickland used a soft break in the recent WPC and was very effective with it. Balls were spread out well, hardly any clusters. Alex Pagulayan used a combination of soft and medium-hard break. He won. I guess they did what worked for the particular conditions.


Earl used a soft break? Earl using a jump cue can't be far behind. The world is coming to an end! :-)

John
 
henho said:
Has anyone seen Angel Paglia break? When I saw her break it appeared to rival that of the best pros, men and women.

I have, and, though she has a solid break, I must respectfully disagree. My top six, in order, on the WPBA:

Ga Young Kim
Helena Thornfeldt
Tiffany Nelson
Melissa Herndon
Sarah Rousey
Gerda Hofstatter

Still, by men's standards, I'd have to argue that none of these ladies have a world class break.
 
sjm said:
Countess, the break is chiefly about timing and technique, and not so much about size or strength.
hey sjm sometimes, you shouldn't take things seriously especially when it's my post! LOL
 
countessdracula said:
hey sjm sometimes, you shouldn't take things seriously especially when it's my post! LOL

Right on, Countess. Guess I have my lighter side, too. Have a good one.
 
sjm said:
Good point, Rick, yet we need to somehow factor in that two things, the Sardo rack and the break box, changed the science of breaking a little. As you noted, Deuel (and Karen Corr, too) made the adjustment best. Use of the Sardo rack at pro level is in great decline, and the break box may no longer be needed now that so many pro events (including all UPA and WPBA events) use an alternate break format. In a Sardo-less, breakbox-less world, which is where I think we're headed, there's still nobody like Archer, and on the women's side, Ga Young Kim would also be a clear cut above the rest.


RickW & SJM,

Corey Deuel was able to utilize the "soft" break at the 2001 US Open because the the 9-ball was racked on the spot where the one-ball would have been. And to further note, no other players at the us open could bring themselves to break them like corey (why? who knows). Ralf Souquet v. Deuel on accu-stats, broke them like corey, but hit the balls harder with very little results and Danny Dilaberto kept commenting why Souquet didn't hit them softer to get the results corey was getting...
 
Well, folks, I guess the debate is settled- from the AZB front page, "Meanwhile, Charlie Bryant was breaking the balls with such force, that Paul and Lewis fined him twenty dollars for cracking two cue balls. Paul, then, hung a sign on the side of the table, which read, 30 MPH Speed Limit"

A fickin speed limit on felt...cracked balls...ow!!

-pige
 
Best breaks

> Back in the 80's,Mike Sigel had the best control of any of the pro's,without question. Earl,David Howard,and Wade Crane may have hit them harder,but not with the control Sigel had. He also hit them pretty hard,avg 26 MPH,about all you can do on slow napped cloth. Jon Kucharo lights them up for sure,and although I only watched him break about 30 racks practicing,he only scratched once,and never jumped the cue ball off either,even with the cue ball sometimes jumping 3-4 feet off the bed. Shannon breaks them sweet when he is on,with excellent control for as hard as he hits them and as much upper body movement as he shows. Danny Harriman is also a great breaker. Of course you have to mention Archer,Busty,and Alex,along with George. I have heard a lot of stories about Hillbilly,but haven't actually seen it yet. Back in the early 90's,Danny Cook was a force to be reckoned with on table #3 at The Rack in Memphis. He broke off the rail,on the right side facing the rack,due to being left handed. His cue ball jumped 2 feet in the air,in a dead straight line back towards him,and he hit them so pure there was maybe a 5 inch circle where the cue ball landed,bounced and stuck,perhaps turning in towards the middle of the table a tad. Over the course of several weeks,practicing,gambling or in tournaments,I watched him break close to 1000 racks,and only ONCE did the cue ball not initially land in that 5 inch circle,and that was due to landing indirectly on a ball that caught the side pocket point. It looked like a machine was breaking for him,and the results spoke for themselves,he broke and ran out an 8 ahead set,a race to 7 or 9 at least 6 times in front of me,and probably at least that many when I wasn't there. The single hardest rack I have ever seen broken was Earl at the 1993 PBT Tour Championship against Ellin. The cue ball came every bit of 10 FEET off the bed,and did not scratch. They showed an overhead view of it,and it looked like those jump shots on the cheesy Nintendo game Side Pocket,where the cue ball got visibly bigger in the camera on the way up. I used to have a picture taken by a friend of Tony Ellin breaking a rack at the Akron Open in the early 90's. If you look at the pic,all you can see of the cue ball is the bottom half,the top half is hidden by the soon to be shattered light tube above the table,as it was on it's way up,this pic was taken just below rail height,and you can clearly see 4 other balls airborne. Tommy D.
 
incredible break

jungledude said:
;) Even though he's been absent from the gambling scene for several years until very recently, George Breedlove was feared by many because of
his great break. Only guy who ever got away with spotting me the orange ball. :p ;) :p


I started watching George when he was 18 and he has an incredible break. Always loved watching him play. Danny Basavich also has a very strong break. As far as power and control Johnny gets my vote. Sam
 
I have to agree that George Breedlove has a great break. I watched him play in a tournament at my family's pool room when I was 10 years old. I watched every match and couldn't believe how hard he broke. Unknowingly he taught me how to break! Larry Nevel has a great break as well.

I have to go with sjm on this one and say that it isn't all about size (I know countess, you were joking about the size thing but he has a good point). Rudolfo Luat has an incredible break and he weighs about 90lbs soaking wet, same with Tommy Kennedy. The girls with good breaks also prove that point.

As for us girls breaking hard, it's not really all that necessary on the new cloth. It can sometimes work against you. I know my break has slowed down a little since I started playing on tour. SJM's list is pretty accurate when it comes to the women and breaking. Maybe we should set up a radar gun at one of the tournaments :) I got lucky and hit them 29mph once, but that definitely is not happening every time!

Sarah
 
Williebetmore said:
Surely someone here has the data. I've been told that the 2 hardest (yes I know that doesn't necessarily mean the best) breaks were George Breedlove and Francisco Bustamante - both clocked at about 32 miles per hour. Most of the other pro's at the venue with the radar gun clocked around 28 mph. This is just hearsay, surely some clever guy with a radar gun could fill us in on the real facts. They both have said there is some guy in Ohio who breaks harder than either one of them (I forget his name offhand).

I think George Breedlove has the best all around break. power and control being the composition of the break. i have no idea how he gets all of his energy into the break and then more often than not, squats the rock in the center of the table. two words: Designated Breaker.
 
henho said:
Has anyone seen Angel Paglia break? When I saw her break it appeared to rival that of the best pros, men and women.

I've seen her break before, she does have a strong break, but I wouldn't compare it to the likes of Bustamantes, Archers, Yang, Chao, etc.
 
Paglia spent a significant amount of time in a local pool room recently gambling with the locals and road warriors. During one session that lasted several hours, she was consistently popping the cueball 2 feet in the air, stopping it in the center of the table and sinking one or two balls. I was duly impressed. Of course she does not have the game of a Yang or Bustamante, but I walked away respecting her game and particularly her break after that session.
 
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