9-Ball
Topic: When Will The Pro's Learn

When will they wake up & realise that the cut break DOES NOT WORK!, & before you start to bash me & call me an a-hole just see where I am coming from first, ok here goes:

Now as I write this I realise that I will have people (closed minded possibly) throwing things at their computer screens but I feel this has to be said & that is that the cut break the pros use does not and will never work because if you look very carefully you will see that yes 70% of the time they are making 1,2 or 3 balls on the break with the 1 ball going into the side (the reason for the cut break) but with that said even after they make a ball they are still stuck for position on the lowest numbered ball & why because the white is kicked around where it either ends up behind the rack or kicked into a scratch forcing BIH.

Now before Corey Deuel came along the top pros were absolutely killing the rack & running a table like it was nothing & why was this I hear you ask, because....you guessed it they were using power & controlling where the white went which made for a more exciting game. (Example Wu Chia Ching, Ronnie Alcano & Yukio Akagariyama winning the WPA world nine ball)

There was none of this tiresome & almost endless safety play but let me just clarify I enjoy a good safety battle as much as the next guy but there comes a point when it gets annoying & is somewhat detrimental to the game & this is what we are consistantly seeing with players when they use the cut break because as mentioned before the white ball gets lost in the shuffle so to speak & ends up down table behind the rack forcing the incoming player to kick to a safe most of the time.

But before you say it, no the reason we have these problems is not because of the 9 ball rack's shape but because people (especially the pros) refuse to learn to hit the one from the centre of the table dead on with power to get better results off the break i.e better spread, clearer look at the lowest numbered ball & control of the white & until they start doing this we will forever have threads like this arguing over the state of the game of 9 ball.

I do though think that 10 ball is the future but at the heart of the game of pool the major tournaments will always be conducted over a game of 9 ball shoot-out style because as Paul Newman said "9 ball is a game made for tv, it's fast & furious it's why people love it".

This in my opinion is what we have to do to get the game back to a fast & furious attack minded, jump shot making, bankshot shooting game that it once was.

Finally, just to finish you wouldn't believe the amount of "how can an armchair fan sit & say that you know better than the pros", even although I clearly stated that this was just my opinion.

What do you all think?.

If your not using a break box you can cut break without loosing the cue ball pretty easily

Its my opinion that the pros know what they are doing and that's why they are pros and we are not.

I don't like the cut break but what your saying is I'm afraid ridiculous.

Watch the SVB vs Donny Mills, 9 ball race to 130 and tell me the cut break does not work. Even SVB was trying his very hardest to replicate the perfect cut break. I don't think anyone in the whole world is a massive favourite to beat Donny mills playing rack your own 9 ball. The reason is because he has the break locked down perfectly. It's not entertaining but believe me it works.

Actually it's when you power break you need to get lucky. Like I said I don't like the cut break but the reasons you are giving are somewhat deluded.

I'm not sure what the answer is but SOMETHING needs to be done - 9 ball is crushingly boring to watch. Fast n furious it ain't. It's precision foreplay, without the main event!

Folks, A cetain mr hitman has been saying this for a long time now. This cut break and tapped balls is a way to level the playing field for all.
I tried to rack with the triangle and cut break...
It did not work at all.
I tried this and break from the middle, this had more success. But much harder to do.
With 10 ball there is no where to hide.
But i will say this, the cut break is used by all. To point the finger at pros only is not really fair.

try racking the diamond the other way ( rotation of 90 degrees), maybe this way the break is more random as im sure no wing balls can be made

Thats an interesting idea Gaz. The perfect system is one where the balls can be racked tight (tapped or magic rack etc) so tournaments can run quickly, but where the main advantage in how the break is hit rests with the player that hits em hardest.

Or suspend the foul on the 3 point rule. If they make a ball but not the required 3 points the player continues their turn at the table but should he miss the opponent gets ball in hand (similar to 7 ball). They can still play the cut break but the pressure is cranked up for the supposed 'easier' cut break as they know should they miss it could well be their last shot in the rack.

all these are great ideas.
but honestly, they are ideas to speed up the game. But really, they are ideas to level the playing field between pros and non pros.
There is no fixed solution. its an endless debate!!!!!