Where do you hit the cue ball on your break

[lll]

We all know inside spin is nessesary
but where do you cue it??
Does it change on where you place the cue ball??
pms excepted

 

[NH Steve]

We all know inside spin is necessary
but where do you cue it??
Does it change on where you place the cue ball??
pms excepted

For me it is either 10 o'clock or two o'clock depending on which pocket I am breaking toward. I hit a little more accurately with my sidespin when it is on the top half of the cue ball versus the middle or bottom half (because I seem to get less squirt or deflection or whatever you want to call it on the top half, I presume).

 

[beatle]

it changes with the tables, balls, humidity etc. i use high inside and vary speed, english and tip placement and ball placement depending on what it takes to hit the pack and get my cue ball over about two and a quarter diamonds up on the long rail. and even that spot changes with conditions. so how do you like that for an answer larry.

 

[SJDinPHX]

We all know inside spin is nessesary
but where do you cue it??
Does it change on where you place the cue ball??
pms excepted

I always used ONLY a little straight inside english (center ball, neither high or low)..I found it easier to control both speed and direction, by NOT creating multi-orbital spin on the cue ball, (as 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock will do)...I usually broke from about 4 to 6" away from the side rail..Rarely sold out the corner ball to my oppo, and felt I could shoot a little firmer, and push balls toward my hole better. The most important thing, is making a good hit. ie; grazing the head ball, and fairly full into the second ball !

I always stayed consistent with side/center english. Every table breaks a little different, but I would only experiment with speed, or distance away from the side rail..never with where I struck the cue ball. This method seemed to work pretty well for RA too !

 

[tylerdurden]

For me it is either 10 o'clock or two o'clock depending on which pocket I am breaking toward. I hit a little more accurately with my sidespin when it is on the top half of the cue ball versus the middle or bottom half (because I seem to get less squirt or deflection or whatever you want to call it on the top half, I presume).

For me, I get more deflection when I hit below center as you say, but I get more swerve when I hit it high (and soft to medium). For me, I would say it is easier to be accurate with low, in general, for me. I know I said for me twice :heh

I also think you get more spin for a given amount of off axis hit with low. I have this all figured out, and many don't agree with me (and I don't really care), but here goes .....

To explain all of the above, I think the reason there is less deflection with a high ball (for a given amount off axis) is that the tip is pushing the cb down into the cloth, heating up the cloth slightly. That is where the extra energy is going, to the cloth. For a low ball, that "cloth energy" goes to putting spin on the ball/deflection. You are losing spin with a high ball though. This makes sense to me theoretically and on the table. I get more spin with a low ball, less with high; more deflection with low, less with high. A kind of trade off; one that makes sense too.

I hit the ball low in general, on the break and other shots. I think it is a much more accurate spot to hit the cueball because tables change when it comes to masse/swerve, but they don't (as much) when it comes to squirt. In short, tables change, but deflection doesn't (at least not as much). This is why I think the PI players favor the low part of the cb too. In PI, it is so humid, they just can't afford to be letting the cb swerve off on their average shot. Low ball creates deflection, but we can learn to compensate for this from practice. Nobody in the world can compensate for a table becoming 30% more moist as night falls.

If you understood all that, you are probably doing better than I am with it all :heh Really though, that is what I have always thought, and nobody will ever change my mind because I think it is correct, so prove me wrong

 

[lll]

it changes with the tables, balls, humidity etc. i use high inside and vary speed, english and tip placement and ball placement depending on what it takes to hit the pack and get my cue ball over about two and a quarter diamonds up on the long rail. and even that spot changes with conditions. so how do you like that for an answer larry.

beatle I like your detailed answer
could you explain where your starting point of high inside is and what you expect from different adjustments??

 

[lll]

I usually break with side spin ie 2 tips at 3 or 9 oclock
because it helps me get the most spin and keep the cue ball coming off the foot rail flat so the cue ball
stays close to the long rail
(with high inside I was losing some spin when the cueball hit the rail so I just started using side spin and didn't give it much thought)

a good player noticed that I break with sidespin and
said side spin is just "skimming" off the side of the stack when it clips the first 2 balls as opposed if I had some follow the cue ball would go into the stack some after contact with the first 2 balls and therefore push more/spread more balls to my side

I never thought about that so that's why im curious to what our members do

if some of you are "shy" about revealing what you do pm's gratiously accepted

 

[beatle]

as dick said moving where you place the cueball and speed are most important. the more you move it toward the pack the more it skims and will move toward your opponents hole. and the closer to the rail you break from the more chances it will open the pack and also sell out by having the bottom ball go towards his hole.

close to the rail can make it easier to make a ball as well. but that is more determined by where you hit the pack.
on a slow table i like to hit higher on the pack as i can hit harder. but if i hit lower the greater the chance of sending balls over his way.

then also your opponents ability comes into play. against a very weak one i might break easy to not give him a shot as he is going to sell out soon anyway. against a good player i must get more balls open on my side but hiding him is more important.

still my primary goal is to put the cue ball where i want and let the balls go where they go as long as none go his way.

i vary the english only when necessary i use as that can make it easier to keep the cue ball going off the lower rail where i want it. but not often do i put excessive spin as that leads to sellouts.

 

[stedyfred]

Suppose that you are in a poolroom that you are unfamiliar with and when you go to get the balls, the cue ball is not red or blue circle, nor a measles ball, but rather a light cue ball with no markings. How does this alter your approach to breaking?

 

[beatle]

if you are fun playing who cares. if for cash you are a fool not to shoot for a few minutes to understand the table you are playing on.

 

[Richard S]

One Pocket Break Tradition

One Pocket Break Tradition

Approximately 54 years ago, I was taught to break using high inside, 10:30 - 1:30, by a Mr. LaBiche who was an old timer who got many of the younger players at the time interested in One Pocket. He set up his bridge on the rail at the head string and instructed us to barely graze the head ball and deliver most of the impact to the second ball, which is what we see most today. The object was to drive balls toward your pocket and leave the cue ball behind the stack on or near the rail. Mr. LaBiche was a really nice man who patiently taught and coached all of us youngsters who would listen.

He was also a proponent of extreme english on some shots and a big fan of trick shots. He had long experience playing and watching the best players in the New Orleans pool community, many of whom were "lights out" One Pocket players with national reputations.

 

[Tom Wirth]

OK, Here is my take on this issue. The answer is: it depends on several factors.

First, speed of the table: The goal in every case is to leave the cue ball on the side rail approximately between the second and third diamonds so as to use the widest portion of the stack to block view of the breakers pocket while producing the greatest spread possible without selling out. The faster the table plays the lower you can cue the cue ball and still hit with the same speed of stroke. If you can safely hit the stack firmly without selling out, the more powerful your break will become.

Second, cue ball breaking location; if you prefer to place the cue ball 6 inches or so from the side rail you will be making a thinner hit on the stack than if the cue ball is 2 or 3 inches from the rail. That thinner hit leaves more action on the cue ball following the breaking of the balls. So to end up in the same desired location on the side rail you must either hit softer or strike lower to help kill some of the speed after contact.

Bottom line; experiment with the break from table to table and day to day to exact the most out of the break possible. What do you do when playing 9 ball and you continue to come up dry on the break? I move the cue ball to a new location and try from there. You probably do too. Why not use the same thinking when breaking in One Pocket? New placement locations for the cue ball and new locations for the tip of your cue.

JMO, take it or leave it,

Tom

 

[wgcp]

The Break

The Break

if you want to know how to break, watch Grady Mathews tapes, or Willie Joplings... both tell you to aim for a full hit on the second ball which will automatically give you a hit on the head ball... I use top inside... which swerves the cue after the hit just enough to miss the corner ball and parks the cue on the second diamond... usually breaks 5 balls out from the rack...I am a student of the game...

B

PS Working on a break on a diamond, the cue aligned with the outside of the corner facing on the long rail, directly into the second ball seems to give the best chance of making a ball on the break...if you don't believe me ask JTOMPILOT, just how many times I can make the ball...

 

[Fatboy]

i use 4:30 on the clock dial,-inside. I break torward the right pocket . It works for me, My break is by far the best part of my 1P game, and the only game i break good at anyways. I work on it often, and can adjust to wet or dry tables by how far off the cushion I place the CB. It's one of the few things in pool that has came naturally to me-the 1P break. I can lay it down pretty good.

One thing I think is the break is over rated, if you cant play after the break it dont matter. I hear guys stronger than me say all the time how big the break is, funny thing is I can break better than some of them do and I have ZERO chance to beat them, I been around enough years to know this. I'd trade my break for many guys games.

 

[fred bentivegna]

if you want to know how to break, watch Grady Mathews tapes, or Willie Joplings... both tell you to aim for a full hit on the second ball which will automatically give you a hit on the head ball... I use top inside... which swerves the cue after the hit just enough to miss the corner ball and parks the cue on the second diamond... usually breaks 5 balls out from the rack...I am a student of the game...

B

Willie and Grady have given everyone great advice.

Beard

 

[WhatWouldWojoDo]

We all know inside spin is nessesary
but where do you cue it??
Does it change on where you place the cue ball??
pms excepted

I just started playing this year and my break was really bad. So I went in and practiced it for over an hour one day. I found what works great for me and my stroke. I place the cue ball about 1 1/2 to 2 ball widths off the side rail (typically left side). I use a predator shaft so less adjusting for aim. I aim at the base of the 2nd ball with high inside. This barely clips the first ball. And speed I think of the hit as slightly harder than lag speed. For me I get fairly good results.

When I have time I will find other breaks that work for me.

 

[FastEddieF.]

the break

the break

New cloth you put the cue ball between the spot and side rail, old cloth you put the cue ball close to the rail. high inside practice it first on any cloth, different cue balls act differently.