How To Play Pool: The Break | Home Leisure Direct

How to Play Pool, with Gareth Potts, 4 times World Champion. In this edition Gareth explains how to break.

Video Transcription: Gareth Potts: All right. So now into the break off, which is probably one of the most important parts of the game. So I'm going to show you how to break off, where I would break off from, and probably one of the best places to break off from, which avoids potting the cue ball off the break. So, this is where I would normally break off from. As you can see, this the balk line that runs all the way across the table and you're allowed to put the cue ball anywhere behind this balk line. I find I have the most success making a ball from the break, breaking off from a quarter of the way across the table. So this is where the spot would be and I'm going to put the cue ball halfway in between the middle and the guardrail, which is roughly there. Roughly sitting on the line, which allows me to pull the cue back as far as I possibly can. If the cue ball is too close back here, you're limited to how much power you candeliver because you can't pull the cue back. If the cue ball is too far forward. In this instance it can't be because the line's here... but if the cue ball is too far forward on the table that you play on, and you pull it back here, you've actually run out of power when you get to the white. So that's where I would normally break off from. There are complications with that because you're hitting the pocket angle, you're hitting the front board angle, thengoing off into either corner comes into play.My advice is to break off from the middle, which then gives you more chance of getting the front ball into the middle, which then gives you less chance of going off in either middlewith the cue ball. The reason I break off from here is because I find I have more success potting balls from the break. So I address the shot the same, cue up to the shot the same. Pull the cue back in a straight line. Push down through the whites and lifting the cue in a straight line as hard as possible. The most important part of setting the balls up is to make that sure all the balls are touching. Now, whenever the top player's played ball, the most important part is that these five balls here around the black are all touching. Because if they're not touching, it creates gaps and it's why the balls don't spread quickly. It's the same with people just playing down at the pub with friends... if you don't get the balls touching, the balls don't break. When you put the triangle on top of the balls, what I would do is I would push my fingers into the back of the triangle... as you can see, there's a small gap which allows me to push my fingers in the back, which pushes the balls to the very top of the triangle. And now, all of these balls are now touching each other, which gives maximum contact when it hits the front ball, and that's what allows them to burst everywhere. If there are gaps, that's when... what will happen is the balls will just plant away from each other and that's when you get left with a big cluster sitting in the middle of the triangle. So fingers in the back of the triangle, and this is important again, of taking the triangle off. You see a lot of the referees knock the balls, and that's why all the racks get checked. So take the triangle off. You lift the back of it first. And then slide the front away. Which then allows you not to knock any of the balls. You see people playing in tournaments and... just in your local pubs, take the triangle off and knock the puck, and now all the balls are moved and there are big gaps. Andy: So we've got the white in the right place? Gareth Potts: Yep. Andy: So how do you work out whereabouts you strike the cue ball? Gareth Potts: Well, again, it's preference. But I strike the cue ball just below center, which allows the cue ball to hit the puck with maximum power. If you have too much topspin, the ball is just spinning forward so fast, it just takes all the power out. And obviously what you need to get the balls spread everywhere is maximum power. So I hit the ball just below center. The key thing to remember here is you need to push the cue through as far as you possibly can when you break it off. Okay? A lot of people will then hit the white and actually stop the cue there. What you have to do is push the cue, after you hit the white, all the way through which then keeps your tip on the white... probably in actual fact, it's only a quarter of a second in real time. So this is how I would normally break off. All right, just below center. Cue right the way through. Andy: For more videos from Gareth Potts featuring hints, tips and trick shots, visit homeleisuredirect.com