Help
Posted 01 November 2008 - 10:32 PM
4-24-04, 7-20-05, 10-30-06, 12-29-06, 11-01-08, 15 Pages CR, Fast Larry Guninger, all rights reserved published in DC, Bpn, czm, upp, ppt, flp, rsb, btt.
Q: A player writes:
________________________________________Last night I broke 57 times. I had 7 chances to run out. Just seven.
Of those 7 opportunities there were 2 spreads that needed perfect cue ball placement, just too tough for me. Perhaps Efren could have done it.
Once I ran out. Once I got hosed when the '7' ball skidded on me and missed dropping. Three times I just messed up, although once the last 3 balls were in kinda difficult spots, somewhat close together.
Seven (7) times out of 57 breaks.
I dunno, does that seem like a normal percentage? Not in my mind it doesnt, oh well. I watched so many times balls roll into my way, or leave the cue ball in the middle and no shot. I was smiling, laughing, and happy all the way through it though! Didnt throw or break anything either.
A: FL Responds. The above was an internet question, but a good one. How do I know if my break is good or not, most frankly do not have a clue. Our guy is realizing his break is his problem. Most rarely ever figure that one out, so let’s give him a real big pat on the back. Most APA 5’s do not become 6’s, or 6’s do not become 7’s because they have a poor break. That is the main thing holding most of you back. You just do not realize the break is the most important shot in pool.
You can’t run them if you break them bad and the balls do not spread. Most of the league breaks I see after the balls spread are so poor God could not run the table. All the balls are down on one end and all clumped together. I spend a lot of time and space on this one because this skill is so important. With out mastering the break, you go no where.
One of the biggest problems lower level players have to blowing the CB, cue ball off the table on the break. They don’t know why? The shorter the table, the less room the CB has to stay on it if it begins jumping, so a 7’ bar box jumps the balls off the most because of this. Also, they all have ¾” slates, and the thinner the slate, the more the CB jumps and comes up. On commercial grade 9’ tables, you have a 1” slate that jumps less; on a billiard table 2” slate the ball does not jump at all. So a 9’ tables jumps the ball less and you have 2 more feet to contain the CB. You may have to take some power off your break on some bar boxes.
You do not want your CB jumping on the break. Yes, you see pros driving the tip into the cloth and bending the shaft. I think that is stupid. They get by with it because they are pros and practice it all the time. You will never perfect it. In many cases their CB is flying in the air and landing on the one ball without even touching the cloth after impact and launch, or landing a half a foot in front and skipping up into the one. Go to any pro tourney and you can see these landing divots and that proves what I just told you. You are losing the cue ball probably because of this because you can’t control it like they can.
To stop it, you do not let your tip touch the cloth after impact. You want to hit the CB with a level cue and follow through it level so a foot past the impact point the tip is still up in the air off the cloth at least an inch. When you hit down on the CB you are creating the jump shot which you don’t want.
Lay your cue on the rail, you hand on top of it, and coming in drop your elbow and level the cue through the ball. This will take some practice to do this right. Drop and push down the line.
Jumping the CB is also caused by hitting the ball too low, which kills your power, but usually by hitting it too high. Never hit the CB above center. I usually begin about a half tip below center and then adjust as I go along just trying to bring the CB back up to center a couple of feet to park just past the side pockets.
The main reason you lose the cb off the table is you do not hit the one square. No matter how hard you hit, if you hit is square, even if it’s jumping some, it comes back up the middle of the table. Miss the one ball an inch to the right and it flies off the table a lot.
To keep the CB on the table, you will have to back off on some of your power and stress a more accurate hit. The break is all about accuracy any way. You can hit the one ball pure in the middle with 50% power and have a perfect spread and make 2 or 3 balls. You can hit it with 100% power, miss the one an inch to the left or right, and leave a bad table nobody can run out from.
If you are using a house cue, it has a thick spine and a hard ferrule and you have the cue that deflects the most. That means if you aim at the middle of the one and miss the CB, hit it 1” to the left, your cb arrives 1” RIGHT of the target, and off the table. If you plan to use 1 tip left, then you have to aim left of the target and how much depends on how much your cue is deflecting. Unless you are a pro breaking off the left side rail is never going to work for you. Trying to hit the one square, is just too tough.
Break down the middle, and never more than a half diamond left or right of it. You will get more full ball hits, and a better spread and fewer balls going off the table. I do this on both 8 and 9 ball.
Learn to break using no English, just center of the CB, l/2 tip below center and watch your accuracy increase. You just removed the deflection problem.
Also, if you don’t see the cb last, and are looking at the one last, you will never ever hit the center of the cb. You will always miss it outside center, and then deflect and miss the one’s center. So trust your stroke, look up and down, at the one, center of the cb, one, then focus your eyes on only the cb for 2 or 3 strokes and then pull the trigger. At impact, you do not see the one, or the rack, just the CB impact point. A golfer with his driver is also looking at the back of his ball last as well and never to his target down the fairway. Same principle.
Your aim on the one is usually the pol, points of light; you will see the table lights in the middle of the one ball. That is your aim point.
Few know what a successful break is. You must accomplish 4 things:
(1) Make a ball and stay at the table. You can’t win sitting in the chair.
(2) Spread the balls well so no 2 balls are touching, move at least 7 balls up table past the side pockets at 8 balls.
(3) Get a shot so your run can begin. At 9 ball you must control the cue ball and one ball together putting the both up table.
(4) Park the cue ball between diamonds 4 and 6 which prevents scratching and not allow the cue ball to hit a rail.
If you do not do these four things your break failed. It does you no good if you break and spread them perfectly.
If you fail and do not make a ball. If you are playing a strong 6 or 7, you just lost because he ran out on you.
If you do not make a good table spread even if you make a couple of balls you cannot run out if the table is a mess.
You lose control of the match as your opponent now has equal opportunity to beat you.
You need to go into each play session and record your break stats. How many times a night did you break, now many times did you perform all 4 perfectly, produce the run out table, how many times did you actually run out. 2 out of the 3 is no good, you must learn to do all 3. You need to chart these 3 stats so you can see if your break is improving and if your run outs are getting better as well. How many of you are doing that now, actually have a gauge, how you are you doing, going up, going down or stuck in place.
The facts are the vast majority of you are flat stuck in place in the mud where you are now. Don’t shoot your messenger, I am telling it like it is here not trying to make you mad, the truth does sting, but I am trying to help you get out of the mud and get this game of yours moving forward. For the vast majority of you reading this message you must study your break and realize what I just told you, pal, and your break probably is terrible and you don’t know it. Now accept that. Now do something about it. If you are like most you are only trying to hit the rack as hard as possible and if you do that you think you are doing the right thing. Wrong. This is totally wrong.
Run outs are a different subject so I will not go into that here. Your stats are higher when you lay out a run out table in hew haw practice because no pressure or heat is on you. Under the gun for money or in league competition those run out stats will be less of course. Part of your problem is you putting heat on your self. You guys are breaking so bad and producing so few run out tables during a night what happens when you actually pull one you panic and choke and screw it up. You feel you have to run out, you must. You are putting too much pressure on your self. Just go into that easy table with no expectations and have fun.
Stats on 9 ball tell us the pros will get out from a run out 9 ball table 86% of the time. Your stats will be far below this but you want to see them climb. If they don’t then you need a lesson with me or somebody like me.
It was a shocker to me to find out even the pros does not know what a correct break is. I am watching ESPN and Allen Hopkins goes holy cow, what a break, 4 balls fall, that is fantastic. I am going Allen, the guy scratched so the break was not fantastic. Allen goes wow, he made 3 on the break, that was great, but he does not have a shot. I am going Allen, having no shot is bad. Allen does not even have a clue what a successful break is. Most of his fellow pros are clueless as well. Most feel if you blast them hard, that is a great break. El Wrongo.
I then went and studied 100 accustat tapes featuring the best players of the PBT and what I learned was again very shocking. In a race to 12 they only produce the run out rack twice in a race to 12. The two times they do that they always run out. Their perfect break performance 2 out of 12 is 17% and few get any better than 25%. The very best in the world when they are on fire never post any better than 32%. These stats are about the same on both 8 and 9 ball. They fail 75 to 80% of the time.
Even the break of the top pros could be much better. Mr. amateur who was 7 out of 57 produces a 12%, half what the pros are doing which would be reasonable. He is probably at or about the normal amateur club level of performance so what he is doing may not be that bad.
Winning on the snap at 9 ball, making the 9 on the break, the pros do it one in 32, I do it one in 10, when I am on, and when I am really on, I am one in 7. Some times I do it back to back, 2 or 3 times in a row.
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((***))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))\HOW TO OPEN THE OLDER WEI TABLE. Put your mouse on the far right end of the HTML code, left click, drag to gray in, right click, and hit copy.
The code may look something like this.
START ( %AN7O5%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%Ph5Z0%QB3Z9%UP4P0%Vg4Y6%eC3a7%_D1Z5%`E5X2%aL3O5)END
Put the mouse over the cue table .com with the line under it below this, now left click and hold at the same time to open the table and hold down ctrl and shift together at the same time on your bottom left keyboard. The blue table appears, at the bottom, hit paste, and then OK twice, and you now see the shot.
http://cuetable.com/WeiTable/
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((***)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
(1) The pro break diagram at 9 ball:
http://cuetable.com/WeiTable/
START( %AN7O5%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%Ph3Z5 %QA9[7%RB3B5%Sq4W4%Tb2O2%UX2D1%VO3O0%Yp7V8%ZY0C6%[D8E2%\J9M8 %]D5Y8%^K0P7%eB0a8%_P5P3%`a1W9%ag0Z2%ba5O9%cZ6O7%dO4O4)END
You want to force and pot a corner ball into A and or B. You cross bank the one ball to die in front of corner pocket C and you bring up and kill the cue ball at or around D. This is done with a little low left or center ball no English. The spin break is a little low right, or a lot of English 3:00. The only objective here is to spin the 9 ball out of the rack towards A. You are trying to make the 9 and get it close to the pocket to attack it later. The problem with this break is you lose control of the cue ball and where the one ball goes. If you are playing a weak opponent then this does not matter.
(2) THE AMATEUR 9 BALL BREAK:
http://cuetable.com/WeiTable/
START( %AN7O5%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%Pm5P2 %Qo0O5%Rn6R4%Sq4W4%Tc7P2%UX2D1%VO3O0%Yp7V8%ZY0C6%[D8E2%\J9M8 %]D5Y8%^K0P7%eB5a6%_P5O6%`a1O4%al3P0%bc1P6%cZ9P0%dO4O4)END
(3)….. 8 ball break Center break
START( %AN7O5%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%JK9Q4 %KJ5P5%LJ7Q9%MJ2N4%NK5M6%OJ2M2%Pm0R3%Qo1Q9%Rb7O1%eB5a6%_P5O6 %`a3Q0%as2R6%bb1O6%cY5O3%dO4O4)END
Cue flat on rail shooting from A, one half diamond over from center using a little below center English to bring the cue ball back up table to B. I break using no side English.
We break right down the middle with the cue laying flat on the end rail from A. If that does not yield results move over to B, one half diamond left or right of center. Keep moving until you find a spot that produces results. Every table will break and yield different. Use No English, center ball and a tad below center. This will give you the best spread and chance of a run out.
(4)_ 8 BALL SIDE BREAK
http://cuetable.com/WeiTable/
START( %AN7O5%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HL5O5%IM6N9%JK9Q4 %KJ5P5%LJ7Q9%MJ2N4%NK5M6%OJ2M2%Ph4Z3%Qi3Z4%RZ2A6%UZ0D3%VL5O1 %eA9a9%_O5Q1%`_9W0%af7Y6)END
Hit the 2nd ball down on the left, the 5, as full as possible. Use low left, breaking from A, spinning the 8 out of the rack to pot in B side pocket.
Hit the 2nd ball down on the left, the 5, as full as possible. Use low left, breaking from A, spinning the 8 out of the rack to pot in B side pocket. You can use low right or even center. Experiment and find the one that works for you.
I can teach a spin break that produces this on an older cloth which is really cool when gambling or trying to hustle a weaker opponent so your wins look lucky. This break does not work on a new 860 Simonis.
At 8 ball hitting the side 2nd ball down on the left side I put the 8 ball in the right side pocket 1 in 7 when on, 1 in 10 normally. Please, I am not bragging here, but these stats of mine are real and that gives you a gauge to know what is possible so you can widen your expectations. On of my students called me last night excited that he made the 8 in the side twice in a row during a league match. I have done that several times my self. I have heard of a couple of people doing it 3 times in a row.
When I was an APA 7 in the leagues in the 80's before I turned pro I used to use this break and it can be very effective. You make the 8 in the right side pocket every time if you do it right breaking off the left long rail 2 diamonds down from the head rail. It never goes in any other pocket unless it gets a freak kick in.
I would win the lag, then bust them right down the middle, or a half diamond left of there for a spread and try and run a couple racks on you and if I did and got up 2-0 I know even on the pro tour such a lead wins 90% of the time. I would not keep coming to the well because I know what happens is you come up dry, don't make a ball and leave a wide open table and the opponent runs two racks back on you and you lost all momentum.
So I would then stop being aggressive and sit on my lead and would go to the side break. This does not usually produce a run out table which frustrates the other guy who needs to run on you. I would run 3 or 4 and duck driving him nuts totally preventing him from making a ball. If I get up 3-0 doing this in a race to 5 he is toast. Usually around the 5th or 6th game I would bang in the 8 for another win and he would be done, stick a fork in him. Being a 7 I had to win 6 which gave me a lot of time to make the 8. In upper level competition back then I played to 7 games.
This is a very tricky shot because it is very speed sensitive, too hard or too soft fails, it’s a soft medium hit that works. Experiment using low draw, one tip right or left to see which one moves the balls around. You draw the ball off left into the left side rail and it goes back right into the stack.
The danger is if you hit the one coming in you scratch. The key to the shot is hitting the 2nd ball down very full which is very hard to do. Remember you are jacked up and if you are using one tip low left that will deflect the cue ball right so if you aim to hit full on the 2nd ball you will instead clip the one coming in. Your aim just account for this deflection. It moves the 8 ball out a foot towards the side pocket and it gets then kicked in so it’s a planned luck shot, half skill, half luck.
This is like in Tennis where you come out and blow the guy away with power 6-0 and then come back in the 2nd set and dink him with slow junk to throw him off his game winning easily so when you get to the 3rd set, he folds like a cheap card table.
Pool in the leagues is war; most there do not observe the Geneva Convention so the gloves to me there were off and winning is all that matters. Any way to win that does not shark or is cheating goes in my book.
On the pro UPA 9 ball tour I don't play that way and none of the top players do. We just bust them and try and run out on each other. The guy who runs the best and the most times wins not to say we don't do a few safes when the shot makes sense but we don't dink or screw with each other.
Break cue, they are now selling the fast cue; my cue is faster than another so buy it. That is rubbish; I am what make the cue fast, not the cue. You want me to post a fast mph; I do it with a 14oz cue, no problem.
I use a 21.5 oz cue, post about 23 mph and own all the break records. I am 270 lbs, 6’ l”, 52” chest, 17” arms, I can swing a big cue. You want me to post a 28 mph, hand me a 15 oz cue, no problem. Frank Hernandez a big guy on the tour also uses a 21oz cue. Charlie Williams a little guy uses 17 oz. Like in golf, your cue should match your size. Wonder Dog is bigger than Nick Varner who is 5’ 1” tall and 105 lbs and the size of a child. He needs a 16 or 17 oz break cue. Match your size and strength to your cue.
You hear all the pros are using 17 oz cues, look at these guys, most of them are really small, and that is why. Ignore break speed and mph, Miz and I both agree that is not where it is at. Speed is useless without mass behind it. In golf I have been hitting 300 yard drives for many decades. You need 3 things, club head speed, the perfect weight of the club, a pure square hit and the most weight you can swing until the swing slows down.
With me being big and strong I can swing more wood than Varner. Third, the last two are useless unless a perfect pure hit is performed, so accuracy is the key which is why all good golfers never swing more than 80% of their strength and power on any driver. In fact most of their biggest drives they just loafed into and hit it pure and perfect. What do I see the pool players doing on the break, hitting with 150% of their power, leaving nothing in their back pockets. Where do I see the cue ball going, all over the joint, into the walls, across the room? Why, because no body has a clue what they are doing and nobody is teaching them how to do it right until I came along.
OK, tattoo this under your eye lids. From now on, when I break, I will leave 20% of my power in my back pocket. I will only use 80% of my power. Accuracy is my fore most objectives; power is not where it is at.
I assumed when the IPT had all the top pros playing 8 ball for the first time that their break stats on 8 ball would be higher than 9 ball and I was astonished when they came in the same. Because the pro tour does not play that game.
The 9 ball break, unless you are Archer playing 14 hrs a day, 24/7, forget breaking like Archer. Forget breaking off of the left long rail that rarely works so just admit this. They only do it to force the corner ball. For you it rarely produces a spread or a run out table. Some think that when the cue ball goes off the table it has climbed over the top of the one ball. Yes, that is possible. If you go to any tourney where the pros are just look at the cloth.
You can see where the cue ball launches from and see the little impact craters where it is landing. They are jumping the cue ball in the air several feet and it is landing a foot in front of the one ball and skipping into it. You just do not have the time or the 10 years to perfect this extremely difficult shot so give up on it.
What most of you are doing is using one full tip left English and you do not realize how far right that cue ball is now deflecting and squirting off of your aim line. You are aiming at the middle of the one ball and the cue ball arrives at a half or quarter ball cut and off into the wild blue yonder whitey flies, four right is what you should say. If you use left English, you have to aim left of the center of the one ball. Just realize this break is not going to work well for an amateur player and you normally don’t even get a shot. Get smart, break off of the short rail, almost right down the middle, or put your cue ball in the D and break from there.
When I do this, I make 1 or 2 balls on the snap a lot; get a run out spread many more times than off of the left long rail. When I can kill the cue ball in the middle of the table I now have a run out table and only 7 balls to run. I am 90% out on that table. My stats on this far exceed what even the pros are doing. I am no longer playing 9 ball; I am in reality playing 7 ball which is easier. 7 balls are on the table for me to run. Now and then I am playing 6 ball.
The 8 ball break, again, I break almost down the middle again and off of the short rail. I go one half diamonds left of the middle of the table. A week ago I dropped 7 balls on the break on a 9’ gold crown 4 with slow old house cloth. I do that about every two months and have been doing that for decades. When I am on I make 2 balls on the snap every time, move 7 or 8 balls up table past the side pockets and produce a high percentage of run out tables. A week ago I moved 12 balls up past the side pockets on the snap. That was not good, but it shows you my power and precision. Study most of your breaks, especially on bar boxes, you leave all the balls down table in clusters and nobody has a chance to run out.
Please, again I am not bragging here but trying to show you what can be done and come see me for lessons and I’ll show you now to do this also. I began play during WW 2 so it should also be pointed out this power is coming from a senior citizen. This proves it is not all power because most of you younger guys now have twice my strength. I out perform you because I have twice the knowledge and technique you do. I am hitting the rack perfect and you are missing the rack. I get the full propagation of energy through all of the balls which are how I get my results.
Everyone wants more power on their break. We teach it and can take most students and double their power of their draw, follow and break in an hour. No brag, just fact. Most of this is acquired knowledge and advanced level techniques any one can learn and master. Here is how we do it.
By showing you how to work out with weights and exercise which muscles, in a few weeks you pick up the other 25%, you’re now up 50%. With our stroke techniques others pick up another 50% and see a 100% increase in their break power and results. We show you how to align the wrist into a power slot which will increase your speed into the ball. We show you which finger to use to power the shot and where all fingers should be on the cue.
We always break off of a rail, never on the cloth.
We teach you a perfect follow through which ends up in the power slot and angle. We teach you how to keep the tip on the cue ball
We teach you the POL and a new cue ball aiming method
We train you on the new breakrak device.
We teach you to make a 9 rail bank which will train you to take that power to the break.
We teach you to stroke with your wrist and not your forearm.
You get all of this only in the school and not over the internet.
Some tips to help you on the break. Learn to break using center ball and on impact do not slide off of the ball but keep going right on through the middle of it which can double your power over a hit and glance off blow. You do not realize the huge amount of deflection that is caused by using just one tip of English and jacking up just a little.
The reason to break off of the short rail with your cue on the rail and your bridge and all 5 fingers over the cue is it levels the cue so it does not jump on you. You need a dedicated break cue, one that produces results. Call me, I sell one for a very reasonable price and I install on it the XX Talisman tip, or I sell them for $7.50 each. This is the top break tip on Earth, bar none. The break you get out of this tip is fantastic. Email me at fle@fastlarrypool.com
Never ever break hitting above center or the equator of the cue ball. You have to find the spot which is a half tip usually below center where the cue ball hitting the one ball or head ball in the rack bounces straight back up table not hitting any side long rails and lands one diamond up above the side pockets, or coming up table 3 diamonds. Do that and it can never scratch going directly into the side pockets. I don’t want it coming up table one or two diamonds because the cue ball gets kicked in the sides a lot. When I bring it back up 3 diamonds it rarely scratches. Also I am free of most of the congestion down table so I usually get a shot if I pot a ball. Controlling the cue ball is the key to the break that is the fine art of it all.
After every snap you should perform an obit. If the cue ball went forward on the next snap lower your tip aim point. If the cue ball draws all the way back up table raise your cue tip aim point. If the cue ball fly’s off of the table you are hitting above center and jacked up or you missed the one ball right or left and you must know why and begin watching. Lower your cue at impact. If the cue ball goes right or left after impact and you missed the aim point on the one ball make that correction next time up. If you are using one tip left and the cue ball goes off right then the cue ball deflected way right of your aim point. You now have to aim left of your true aim point to account for this huge deflection taking place. Use center ball and you can now ignore this. Where you aim is where you hit.
Where is that pure point to aim at? If your joint has a light fixture hung right down the middle of the table and has 3 lights, notice those 3 light spots, the pol, points of light appear on the one ball.
That is your aim point. You do not see anything but that single bottom or top point of light, that is what you focus on and aim at. Hit that, the cue ball bounces straight up table which is your new goal. The beautiful part of this is no matter where you put the cue ball, the point of light stays the same, and it is always your aim point.
Hitting the one ball head ball pure is the key to the spread. You don’t have to hit them hard to spread them well, just hit them perfect. If you hit them perfect the cue ball comes straight back up table. That is very hard to do which is why I train my students with the break rak device which saves time racking. A tip, when you are on the break, look at the CB, OB, CB, OB, then trust your stroke. Once you are lined up then only look at the exact spot you intend to hit the cue ball at and at impact your eyes are glued on the cue ball and you never see the rack when you strike the cue ball. Your accuracy will really jump up from this method.
The rack, none of this works if the jerk you are playing does not know how to break or is slug racking you. The Sardo rack helps some rack tighter. I have seen many rack with one and I can still find two balls not touching so it’s not perfect. Short of that, use a high quality heavy wood rack. I sell them also from $12 to $30. The top end one will rack as good as the Sardo.
The thin wood racks come in next. The cheap plastic models are useless and will never freeze the rack, I will rack by hand before using one of them. You solve the slug rack shark by simply insisting winner racks his own balls as we now do on the UPA men’s 9 ball tour.
Without a tight rack you are not going to spread them. When I play, the only way I match up is the winner gets to rack his own balls then that entire slug BS is over with then.
I get in before a match and tear off that paper spot. The installer never ever has it right and it’s always off. I measure and find the right spot and then make an X with a pencil and deep tap the one in place to mark where the rack of balls will go behind it. I don’t want my one ball or any ball sliding or skidding off of that paper spot it which is what it allows it to do. That spot is never, and I repeat never in the right spot anyway. When I am done playing, a carry spots in my case and I replace their spot for them, or they get pissed off.
I can hear it now, he creates a little crater. Oh no, room owners are passing out everywhere. What do you think the Sardo rack does, that is how it works? That spot will pull out and rise back up and hard to see the next day and you won’t be able to find it a few days after that. No it does not damage the cloth, trust me on this. No it does not bust up fibers and a hole results later, that is total rubbish. I have been pounding deep craters into my home studio cloth for 15 years and never, not once has a hole emerged from one of these. Some kid comes along and practices his jump by scooping under the ball and the ferrule makes small digs and holes that do widen and the room owner blames them on me because he saw me tapping balls in.
I do this for a living and everything I do on trick shots is tapping in and setting balls in little holes. I hard tap in the next two balls under it. I then soft tap in the rest of the rack making sure I am forcing in all of the balls to be froze. I remove the rack and sometimes some corner balls roll off and I hand tap them in to freeze them. Now later when I rack, all I have to do is find that main hole the one ball rolls into and when I rack I move the balls around in the rack until I see it settle in and I then push up the rest of the rack from behind and the other 14 roll into their little holes as well.
Now you have the same thing a sardo rack does which is press down all of the balls into the cloth to freeze then against each other. Now when you break you get the spreads and the run out tables on my rack. If I am forced to have the other guy rack I am down there and when the rack lifts up my face is over the rack and If I see gaps no matter how tiny between those first 3 to 5 balls I insist on a re rack. If corner balls roll loose I want them taped in to freeze. I will not accept a slug rack. When the guy shows me he does not know how or will not do this, I then say the match does not go forward until you rack them right or you give me the rack and I’ll do it for you. It is vital those first 5 balls are froze or the propagation of energy is all lost and it’s like cutting the links in a chain.
I now tap the 15 balls into place and once that is done I never use the rack again. I just roll the balls into the little holes and use the cue ball to lightly tap and freeze a couple that does not touch. When I am done, all 15 are touching and I produce a perfect rack ever time with out using a rack. Leaning how to make such a perfect rack is worth $50 for the lesson right there.
On the snap put all of your fingers on the cue and hold the cue lightly. Bend back and snap your wrist and let your body move and flow into the shot like you hit tennis serve or strike a driver at golf. Gets some rhythm going? On the snap you cannot follow through long enough; my tip can end up on the cloth a diamond above the one ball if I really want to bust them. Normally my follow through is shorter than this wanting to be under full control.
My follow through down table again can be a full 6 diamonds of length or 6’ past impact of the cue ball when my only object is to grip it and rip it. I prefer a more controlled and intelligent break that this. In my mind I am saying, I only need to make one ball, so hit them pure and perfect and that will happen. I usually break holding back about half of the power I posses but I have power to burn.
I hold the power break records of making 8 balls on the break at both 8 and 9 ball and those records have stood even UN tied for 43 years. I do not teach a power break now. I used to come in to my home room and make 5 balls on the snap at 9 ball 5 times a day and I lost that game 95% of the time because I did not get a shot. I now realize I only want to make one ball on the break, if two falls that’s nice, produce a perfect spread, control the cue ball.
I want it to go one diamond up from the center of the table and get a shot. The best place to stop the cue ball is past center table between diamonds 4 and 6 which is a 2’ area. You may need to break with just a tad below center to achieve this. When the cue ball parks there it rarely scratches as you took the center pockets out and you now only have the 2 corners to worry about and it rarely gets kicked in there.
Most of the pros who do not study this leave the cue ball after the snap one diamond below the center and they leave 4 pockets to scratch in. A lot of balls are coming up table to run into the cue ball and it gets kicked into the sides a lot or gets hit full ball and driven up table into the 2 corners.
Practice breaking where you never hit the long rails and you take out a lot of the side pocket scratches. Just learn how to hit the one ball full and that happens. When I do that, you are racking my friend. If you want to learn how to do that then come see me and I can build you a break that will out perform the breaks you are seeing on TV which won’t be hard to do because most of these pros frankly do not have a clue what they are doing.
The men pros are hitting the break too hard using English and the ladies break just awful which is why you see them on TV play races to hill hill and not one rack is ran between even Lee and Fisher, because they are screwing up the break and playing safe the majority of the time because they have a lousy spread or no shot after the snap. That is what I see when I watch the match. If you get your eyes off Lee’s hooters and tight pants and study the game they play, you will then see what I am looking at.
We are the source for power, which is why the pool school is called the power source. If you want power, come to the source. Every one should take a dedicated lesson on just the break and nothing else. Learn all there is on the subject and get it all filmed. There is just too much to know and learn to ever learn it over a forum or out of a book. You have to get on the table with a professional teacher and have him model and explain the moves.
Everyone wants more power on their break. We teach it and can take most students and double their power of their draw, follow and break in an hour. No brag, just fact. We teach an accuracy perfect break, not some blast away with all your beef and pray a Hail Mary for a shot. That is the break of a fool. Our break rarely ever flies off the table or scratches and doubles the balls you are now making and the shots you are getting. COME GET IT. We have it waiting for you.
Here is one last tip for free that may help you. Most of you when they are stroking and making their normal shots have the thumb parallel to their body and the tip of the thumb are pointing to the floor. This has the wrist cocked out right. Now pull the hand back so the wrist and hand are now in a straight line with the forearm, imagine a wood splint on the top and bottom of your forearm going up to your finger tips, now everything is in one line. To get the feel of this, put a 12” ruler on the top and bottom of your wrist and hold them in place with rubber bands.
Now you are in that straight wrist line which means if you had a long ruler it would lay on the end of your finger tips and up to your elbow and its now all one straight line. Bend the wrist straight back maintaining that same straight line and release it. There is your power because everything is in sync and where the wrist can generate the greatest power. When you off cock it, you lessen its power. You will also note that before the thumb was pointing straight down at your right foot now it’s angled out 45 degrees to the left pointing at or above your left knee.
Set up your break, bridge on the rail, get ready to stroke, now look back right at your grip, pop your wrist back left in a straight line and let your thumb angle out left at that 45 degree and begin your strokes and make a natural wrist whip into the ball. Some will find this helps them to increase their power into the shot. You will have to look and set this angle up on every break because it’s vital you set up this perfect straight line and you will never be able to just feel it without looking because it is now so strange to you.
You can also experiment hitting force follows on the table and you will be amazed at the power increase this will have as well, the cue ball just blows through the object ball. I would not recommend playing pool this way because I think you lose over all feel of the shots with this hold and method, but on the break we are after power more than feel. The break is not a finesse shot, it is a power shot and I think it deserves a different hold and technique. You must blend in power with accuracy.
The head weighs 17 lbs and where it goes, the body follows. Don’t hold it down low on the rail like a normal shot. Get quite high and upright. When you try and perform any athletic move, like drive a golf ball or break at pool and try and hold that head in one spot you destroy all natural rhythm and co-ordination. Let your head and body rock back and forth some and flex your knees. Let your entire body go forward with the shot. I see a lot of players breaking with just their arm only which only weights 11 lbs. When I snap it I shove 240 lbs in behind my break. Throw everything you have into the shot.
There is just too much to know and learn to ever learn it over a forum or out of a book. You have to get on the table with a professional teacher.
Everyone wants more power on their break. We teach it and can take most students and double their power of their draw, follow and break in an hour. No brag, just fact. If you want power, then come to the Power Source. The power source pool school and spend an 8 hr day on just this course. It’s the most important shot in pool and most of you are doing nothing to improve it. The few who do take lessons, never take one on the break.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((***)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
)))))))))))))))))))))))))
FLE POOL INC
Phone 770-381-6609 email fle@fastlarrypool.com
BILLIARD SUPER STORE, lowest prices on pool tables, cues & accessories. We will meet or beat
any price on the net. You want it, we have it or we will get it.
www.billiards-superstore.com
We are a Ebay power seller, business verified and have our own store.
http://stores.ebay.c...e-lowest-prices
TALK POOL, www.poolchat.net
1,000 members, polite people, no flame wars or bozos. Contests have recently given away free pool tables, cues and ten thousand dollars of pool cues, racks, balls and DVD’s. It’s now the 4th largest pool chat site in the USA and been in business for 6 years. These two sites, pool chat and Fastlarrypool each generate 10,000 hits a week from 37 countries. FREE POOL LESSONS FROM A GRAND MASTER LEVEL INSTRUCTOR, BILLIARDS EXPERT, CURRENT 9 BALL TOURING PRO AND FORMER ARTISTIC WORLD CHAMPION. In the ask the pros forum.“Fast Larry” Guninger 770-381-6609.
PRO POOL TOUR PLAYER.
Larry plays on five pro pool tours. His tour cards are: the UPA, the men’s main tour; where he has ranked between 35th and 50th for the last three years, the Florida 9 ball tour, SE pro 9 ball tour, the Senior Tour and the APTSA (Artistic Pool and Trick Shot Association.
POOL SCHOOL. Book a lesson from a touring pro and master level instructor. Bring in a trick shot show
by a World Artistic champion. See world class trick shots steam live. Just click the trick shot show tab. Natural pool, simple techniques, dramatic results. Video taped lesson. You get what you come for or the lesson is free.
THE POWER SOURCE POOL SCHOOL "Fast Larry" Guninger. POOL LESSONS FROM A MASTER LEVEL INSTRUCTOR AND WORLD CHAMPION. 770-381-6609, fax 770-381-1916 web site www.fastlarrypool.com
Rates for lessons are: http://www.fastlarry.../getlessons.htm
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA. The total learning center. Explore the Encyclopedia section where there are
226 instruction articles and its all free access. Enough pool knowledge to fill 4 full books. Simply click the link,
hit enter, hit the tab at the far left which says Encyclopedia, then register free and read and advance your game.
Virtually every question you can have is answered there.
www.fastlarrypool.com
TRICK SHOT SHOW. Bring Fast Larry in to perform his mind boggling 100 shots. See him perform the
World famous legends show. See the greatest trick shots made that the greatest players performed. Very affordable
Rates. See the former world champion and Ripley’s believe it or not legend blow your socks off.
To see my shots Go into www.fastlarrypool.com and at the upper left click the trick shot show.
http://www.fastlarry.../trickshots.htm See Fast Larry play. Here it is: a growing collection that will continue to increase, so keep stopping in to see it. http://www.youtube.com/fastlarryg Click the link, there are my shots, enjoy. It’s the fastlarryg channel, our own internal site for our shot collections. We are proud to be listed as number one in hits as pro trick shot artists by both Google and U Tube in both 2007 & 2008.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((***)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
))))))))))))))))))
Pool is being taught wrong by almost everyone but me and a small group who actually know. Very few actually do know and have the knowledge to take you there. Most of what you know and paid for is dead wrong which is why you are reading this now, it did not work for you. You thought it was you. It never dawned on you. You had a bad teacher that did not know. If you want the truth and methods that do work come see me.
All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as being self-evident. - Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
Do not reprove the fool lest he hate you. Reprove the wise man and he will love you. Proverbs 9:8.
Those who seek me seek inside knowledge and receive it from a high end finisher and Grand Master level instructor who can actually play. Those who seek it from big names writing books receive bull crap from a guy who can’t run 3 friggen balls and they get what they paid for. Big time Bull crap that does not work which leads them into paralysis by analysis. They live on the premise that a sucker like you is born every minute and you will keep buying their crap. Come to me, I’ll give you the straight story on every facet of the game.
Power in pool does not come from muscles. It comes from the know how to produce a shot. Most power shots are from advanced knowledge and using acquired special techniques, or secrets to these shots which can be learned by almost any one in time with practice and determination.
Therefore: Knowledge is Power….
Originally quoted by Sir Francis Bacon in Meditationes Sacrae (1597).
Seek out an advanced level teacher, who has this advanced knowledge. Never waste your time or money on beginner teachers. Become a student of the game.
The more knowledge a player possesses, the more power he acquires. The more shots he knows, the more chances he has to get out on you. The more he knows, the more confident he becomes. The more confident he becomes turns him into a champion and a winner.
A beginner in pool is like a golfer playing 18 holes with just one club. I can easily defeat Tiger Woods with my 14 clubs if I make him play with just 1 club. I have many options and shots, he only has a few. When I graduate a student, he has 30 clubs. His quiver is full of many arrows to shoot. There is no shot he does not know about and cannot produce.
The better players are defeating you because they simply know more than you and have greater experience. You are in the 3rd grade, the best players beating you just graduated from College and are about to begin their MBA’s. You can cut this distance down between you two fast with a good coach, study, practice and hard work. It won’t happen by you just beating balls around. It will only happen if you acquire knowledge by expanding your repertoire of shots.
May God bless and peace be with you. May there now be peace between us. If you are a real pool player, then fast truly loves you. May the wind be always on your back and all 9 balls fall.
VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. “ Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all. Yes I really did do it all and you can believe it, or not. If you don’t believe it, C’est La Vie. " Shoot straight, innovate, never give up, just run out on the other guy then there is no way for you to lose.
Either lead me, follow me or get the hell out of my way. Do one of the three please. Come celebrate the wonder of this beautiful game with me and become a student of it.
Be my friend, walk my way, flow with what I teach you and you will soar like the Eagle into levels of excellence you never dreamed possible. Play by feel, not by systems, do not make a simple game complicated. Go with what you know, go with what is natural.
"Winners make things happen. Losers let things happen." In the words of Vince Lombardi, "When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened." Vince said you’ve got to pay the price. Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all the time thing. Winning is a habit, unfortunately so is losing.
Vince Lombardi once said, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of profession or endeavor. FL says: You can choose to be a ball banger, or a student of the game. You can go through life with a high run of 5, or learn how to run racks. The choice is yours, but to become a winner, a champion, you must pay a price for that success. It does not come free.
You must become a happy person. Champions are happy, losers are sad people. You cannot achieve happiness without love. Worldly feelings lead to ties and passions. For everything we acquire there is a price to pay. For every attachment there are freedoms to give up.
You must learn the difference between animal passion and true love. In the end, you lose whatever you love. It is all fleeting. You cannot hang on to anything for long. Everything around you is constantly changing. That is why you experience pain, there is loss. If you do not wish pain of the heart then do not seek love or attachments. The longer you live, the more you lose. To love, means to suffer pain. For some who are lucky in love, they experience more love than pain. Others are not so lucky.
The only other option is to reject worldly possessions, passions, all family ties and live as a monk or priest and seek purity and enlightenment. There can be love in that quest.
Those are the only two paths to happiness. The third one is to become a predator who only takes, who gives no love, and only leaves sorrow in his path. That is the path to hell. When your judgment day comes and your book is read, it is empty of love and that condemns your soul. To free yourself of life's passions and possessions is where total freedom lies. It then puts you on the path of enlightenment which the only way to pure peace in your heart.
An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.
How do you get to Carneigh hall? Practice practice practice...
"Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect"
You must practice with a plan and practice to hit perfect shots. Anything less than perfect is then no longer acceptable.
There are only two types of players. Winners, and losers. As most are losers, that is why it is so easy for the winner to dominate them. If you want to be a winner, you first must learn now to think like one and stop thinking like a loser.
"A single conversation across the table with a wise teacher is worth a month's study of books" - Chinese Proverb
This is a feel game and a mind game. When the mind is pure, pure perfect pool will follow. Perfect pool comes from being taught how to practice perfect. Being in dead punch is the ultimate trip and reward from that. “FL”
God gave us 12 year old Scotch, and a hard Willie with a mission, which IMHO, is total proof he loves us and wishes us to have a good time.
If you can dream it, see it, believe it, you can be it and perform totally out of the box. Then you are a person with no limits who can achieve anything he can imagine that a human body is capable of producing. “FL”
77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Rack em sausage, Go play fast and loose. Ride em hard, put em up wet, leave the ladies smiling. Live free, die well with your boots on owing no man nothing. May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you’re dead. In time, it’s all dust in the wind anyway. Don’t take yourself, or anything too serious, just be happy and healthy. Laughter, good whiskey and song is the best medicine. If you have a library, a garden, a good woman and a barrel of Scotch, 4 to 6 good dogs, you have all you need. Be sure to take the time, to smell the flowers along the way.
Aristole said “ Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” People will forget what you did, what you wrote, what you accomplished. People are like Elephants, they will never forget you if you are rude or cruel to them, also, they will never forget you if you are kind and loving towards them. Each person you meet, give them a warm smile and show them the love you have for everyone no matter what their status or position in life is, treat them all the same. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us. So live this day, like it is your last one, who knows, it just might be.
Die happy and you lived a good life. God bless American, the land of the free and of the brave
THE POWER SOURCE POOL SCHOOL GOES ON THE ROAD. Email us at fastlarrypool.com to see if the school is coming to your town in the near future. As you can see from last years schedule, we do teach all over the country and were in 40 of the 48 states.
You can take your game to that next level you have dreamed about. Come to our work shop and learn
from a former world champion and master level instructor Fast Larry Guninger. Two days of intense all day training on the weekends Saturday and Sunday.
The best price of any school. Only $237 a day, or $29 an hour. The
two day course is $475. No cattle car crowds where you get ignored. We
have the lowest amount of students per instructor of any school.
January 15-17, Kauai, Hawaii
February 7-9, New Orleans, La
March 10-12 Philadelphia, Pa
April 14-15 Atlanta, Ga
May 5-6 Washington D.C.
May 26-27 St Pete, Fla
June 16-20 & 24-25 Las Vegas, Nevada
July 7-8 Orlando, Fla
August 13-18 Denver, Colo
August 19-31 San Diego, Calif
Sept 17-30 Miami, Florida and the Bahamas.
October 20-22, Chicago, Illinois
November 16-18, Houston, Texas
December 20-22, Bali
You can have the pool school come to your home room by simply getting
your entire league team to buy in for the 2 day course or get others in
your league or school to take part. You will have to get 5 players
who will put up small advance good faith deposits and then no matter
where you live, Oregon or Maine, we show up. You can now book the pool
school any time between January and July 2007. If you bring in five to the school
Then your lesson is free and you are the 6th student at no charge.
The pool schools have sold out for the last three years they have been
offered. As the number of students allowed is very small these slots
sell out very fast. Snooze and you lose. You can reserve your spot
today with only an advance deposit of $50 which is totally refunded if
you cancel out within 2 weeks of the school date.
For more details or to sign up and reserve your spot
You may call 770-381-6609 to discuss it.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((***)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Click the picture to have it come alive....
Attached File(s)
-
blow_horn.gif (44.72K)
Number of downloads: 1
