What's the best break against the 9 ball ghost

I have the same problem

The other night I switched to a break that can make the 1 and the wing ball and beat the ghost 7-3. However, I have had trouble replicating this success since then. I get cluttered/clustered racks all the time when breaking 9-ball.

I have trouble satisfying the 3 point rule even if I hit it as hard as I can (maybe 1/3 of the time I satisfy it). With 10-ball and the same speed break I easily send 3 balls past the head spot.

I would buy a new magic or accurack but I don't think that's possible right now because of the lockdown. :frown:

Guess I'm pretty much screwed for a while...
 
One thing I have noticed.

I have noticed that where the one ball ends up makes a big difference on how easy it is to get out in ghost 9-ball. Mainly, the last place you want it to end up is on or close to a rail because if it does your options are severely limited. This means that hitting the ball as hard as you can is pretty much out as far as I can tell because the one ball commonly ends up on the head rail. Besides limited options it seems harder to judge speed off these type of shots if you need to move the ball a long distance.
 
The solution

I learned this from poolmanis in another thread:

Break from the rail and break head on into the one ball with heavy backspin. The backspin keeps the one ball from going up to the rail.


For me this made a HUGE difference and once I started doing this my 9-ball run-outs went from like 5-10% to 35-40% vs hitting high on cue ball and the one ball going to the rail every time.
 
OK gang, I'm a new man, here's what I learned for breaking off the rail with the 9 on the spot and a template rack.

You want to hit the one mostly full, but cut it just slightly so the cue ball floats back to the 3rd diamond on the side rail nearest the rack on the same side you broke from. Then it rebounds towards the middle of the table. If you happen to hit it too full it's generally better than cutting it too much and having the cue ball bounce below the rack area. That results in massive clusters.

I'm playing the wing ball, I can often make it directly, time it in with the ball behind the wing ball which also moves that general direction, or even make them both. The one heads towards the side and often goes as well.

Speed wise I was breaking pretty hard. But here's where the breakthrough came. There's a feel to the break. When I was just smashing them hard I wasn't getting the right spread or making those balls. Somehow I developed a feel for the wing ball, and it felt like I was shoving it in the corner, and then just adding speed to my shove. I can't explain how feeling it could change things, but I have a theory. Either I was really dialed in to the optimal speed, or the difference was I was able to hit them so the cue ball was fully on the table at impact and make sure I got full force into the one ball and not a bounce. Glancing off the one with a bouncing cue ball may kill the action I need to shove the wing ball in.

Each morning before my match I would warm up and come up dry a few times, but after 5-10 practice breaks I had it dialed in again. As a result I was able to get a lot of 8, 7, and even some 6 ball runs with ball in hand. For example today we did a 'speed pool' ghost run, and in the end it came down to sudden death. We both had to play until we ran a rack, whoever pocketed the first 9 ball won. I broke in the wing ball, the ball behind it, and the one ball, and had an easy 6 ball run. My team was shouting at me that he still had 5 balls on the table when I had 2 remaining so I had time to smooth out and win easily.

So in the end, practice was all that was needed. That and I used a laser to pin point exactly where my balls should be racked and I marked the table with dots to view through the magic rack to ensure it was perfect every time. Hope this helps, and thank you all for the help as well!
 
I watched Pia some.
I thought her break was great for the bih ghost but not so great for a real game. She definitely gets out with bih.
Her break seemed to be the weakest part of her game against the one guy she was playing in an earlier stream.
 
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