At some point in your nine ball experience you have graduated (or will) from playing with ball beaters to playing with players capable of handing you defeat. The game goes from one of just trying to make the most balls to one of complex strategies.
All of these strategies have one common denominator – they are all tools used to gain and retain control of the table. Safeties, two-way shots, offensive charges all are elements that help you keep the table away from your opponent. The premise to controlling the game is that it is difficult for the other guy to win if he is sitting in his chair or coming to the table with no opportunity to win.
Control begins with the first shot, the break. This is where many novice players fall short. In every poolroom there are otherwise good players who just wind up and slam the rack as hard as possible. After all, the pros hit ‘em hard! Yes, we do. But we have the experience to hit the rack very hard and still control the path of the cueball. That is what we must do in order to continue shooting after the break. So rule number one in breaking is ‘hit them no harder than you can control’.
That does not mean that you just accept having a wimpy break. You do need to hit the rack hard. So you need to learn to control the break shot. This is one of the easiest things you can do to improve your game. Here is the drill that will improve your break in 15 minutes:
Rack the balls in numerical order as shown. You want to know where the balls wind up after each break and see how their patterns change with different breaks. So the one ball is on the spot as usual, the two and three right behind, the four ball on the rackers left and the five on the right of the nine, then the six and seven in the next row and the eight becomes the anchor.
You want to begin with the most popular breaking position. If you are right-handed this means on the head string with the cueball just far enough off the right-side rail to allow you to form a solid bridge. Left-handers shoot off of the left rail. From here you can accomplish three things.
1. You can cause the one ball to ricochet off the rack and go in the side pocket.
2. You can make the corner balls (four and five ball) go into the corner pockets and
3. You can park the cueball in the center circle after the snap.
Look at the diagram below.
Beginning from this position, break the rack with normal shot speed and hit the one ball full with enough draw (try a quarter-tip) to pull the cue ball back to mid-table, ideally somewhere within the circle shown on the diagram. This gives you the best chance to have a shot after the break.
Break at this speed until you leave the cueball in the circle reliably. Then pick the break speed up a notch. Keep increasing your break speed until you reach a point where your speed has you out of control and you can no longer park your rock where you want. This will be that point where you can no longer hit the cueball right where you wish. Back down a notch and you have found your current break speed. Your goal is to pick that speed up every month until you are crushing the rack and parking the rock in center table.
Break rule number two is “keep moving around until you find the ‘sweet spot’”. Every table breaks differently. You want to break from the far edge if possible, but if that doesn’t work you must begin to move the cueball across the head string until you find a spot where the balls begin to fall for you. Watch where your opponent breaks from. If his spot is working, then move there and use it to beat him. For you to control a set of nine ball you must begin by controlling the breaks. If not you surrender control to your opponent and have assisted in your own defeat.
Break rule number three is simple: don’t accept bad racks. Doing so means your opponent is controlling you by denying you the opportunity to complete a solid break shot. If the racker says he can’t get a good rack then ask to rack them yourself. Demand that the balls be frozen, especially at the front of the rack, and try to get the two ball racked as the anchor ball. That is the ball with the greatest likelihood of getting away from the other balls, rebounding off of the foot rail, and heading out towards center table where your properly parked cueball is waiting.
