Kansas City’s professional pool player Paul Gerni knows the importance of having a strong, powerful and explosive, yet controlled, opening break shot. Here he tells you how to make your opening breaks work for you instead of against you.

"It's not all the power you can muster, but all the power you control that really makes the difference in 8-ball and 9-ball." ---Paul Gerni

A good break shot determines the outcome of a 9-ball game or an 8-ball game, often influencing your chances of running the rack, or stringing consecutive racks. Just how important is your break shot? Without question, the break shot is the most important part of an 8-ball or 9-ball game. It looks so simple, doesn't it? Just splatter the balls with one monstrous, earth-shattering blow, right?

Wrong. A successful break is more complex than casual observation reveals. Just how good can your break shot be if you don't get the most from each segment of the shot? And how good can it be if you don't control the cue ball to land in the middle of the table for your next shot? It is obvious now that the best players are increasing their playing efficiency in 9-ball by approaching the breaking of the balls as an exact science which deserves, and even demands, much more concentration and attention.

There are several key factors for making a consistent and efficient break shot:

1. Watch the balls carefully as they are racked. You may spot occasional movements in the rack that can affect the performance of your break. Since you are allowed to check the rack from above, look for spaces and contact points that affect the transfer of energy to these balls, as well as their relative speeds and paths.
   
   
2. The mental game is important in preparing yourself. Before you make your break shot stroke, and after you have paused in your stance, relax, take several warmup strokes, then stop the cue tip close to the cue ball before you give it your final stroke and follow-through. In your "mind's eye", you must be able to "see" the cue ball hit the precise point of your aim. (when you do these mental exercises before such a shot, be sure not to leave out any details in this creative imagery....."see" the proper path and control of the cue ball, "see" the object balls exploding out of the rack and heading for certain areas of the table, "watch" yourself chalk up and take your stance, "watch" yourself use all the critical fundamental mechanics, "see" the hit, "watch" the cue ball land right where you want it, in the center of the table after the break, with no hits from other balls, giving you the ultimate control that every successful game needs.)
   
   
3. Your stance. The right stance for breaking not only gives you the right balance, but used properly, will find you more speed, allowing you to concentrate on your cue ball control. Keep your feet spread apart, slightly wider than your shoulders---no less, no more. This will give you a stable stance that will survive the "shove" test, and give you a stronger, more consistent break. (The shove test: If someone can shove on your shoulder when you are down in your playing stance, and can push you off your balance, then you'd better square up and find a more stable stance.)
   
   Remember to stand with your feet at about a 45 degree angle from the imaginary line of the cue ball and the head ball or 1-ball. Relax. You'll see the center of the cue ball better now, since your proper break shot stance allows you to position your head, and your dominant eye, directly over the cue stick, though usually higher above the cue stick than your head is during the game. You may prefer to bend both knees slightly, so your weight can be easily shifted toward the shot on the follow-through. I'll not encourage you to "lunge" at the cue ball, because you'll likely lose the very control we're trying to find here. Don't push off the back foot (let the baseball pitchers do that), but concentrate on the proper follow-through. You'll find this weight-shifting from the back foot forward to the front foot can find you extra power without sacrificing the cue ball's accuracy and control.
   
   You really don't need to get your stance "down" for a break shot. Some players do that, just like they are carefully sighting a critical shot during the game, but they lose power which they will need for the break. The lower stance and head position are really best suited for those smooth, accurate game shots, not for the break. For the break, though, a more erect stance can actually help give you more freedom of movement, and help you collapse your body weight into the stroke to build cue speed. Drawing the cue stick back quickly does not make your cue speed any faster, and it will usually have a negative effect on your accuracy and control. Because
   of this, you should concentrate more on your stroke and follow-through, with cue speed. You can do all this without excessive head movement and lunging, and you'll do well because of that, since we don’t want massive, uncontrolled power, but rather controlled, increased cue speed.
   
   
4. Placing the cue ball. Occasionally I will move the cue ball to another point along the line (the head string) to place it for the break, though I often break from the right near the middle of the head string. I only move the cue ball if I feel that the rack will "open" better with the cue ball coming at it from a different angle. Like other players, I am looking for the "sweet spot", that mystical point of contact from which the rack will explode and give me a pocketed ball or two and the cue ball control I need. No matter where I place the cue ball, I still shoot directly at the middle of the 1-ball with a center ball hit on the cue ball. Since I want to transfer all the cue ball's energy to the rack of balls, a full hit is needed, and a glancing blow won't do the job. So I try to strike the closest point of the 1-ball that is on the imaginary line of the centers of the cue ball and 1-ball, which gives me that full hit. While today’s pros are often required to break from a “breaking box” or zone, some amateur players break with the cue ball placed near the rail on the head string, feeling they can increased their percentages of popping the 1-ball into the side pocket on the break, or finesse the corner ball of the rack into the corner pocket. This is preference, not gospel. You may experiment on your own and find something else that works just as well.
   
   
5. Doing the deed. Now you are ready to make it happen. Visualize a line through the 1-ball from the center of the cue ball. Take your stance, with your front elbow bent just slightly (about 150 degrees, not the 180 degree straight arm), shift your weight to your back leg, and then shift forward into the stroke, getting more speed. Don't try to kill the cue ball. Instead, use only 75% of your normal power, and concentrate on an accurate and solid hit on the 1-ball. You will maintain your accuracy by keeping your cue level. Now hit the 1-ball in the center, and stay away from using spin or english. No follow, no draw, just center ball. This will help the cue ball slam into the rack and jump back with no energy left after your solid hit on the 1-ball absorbed the cue ball's energy. The cue ball then "dies" in the middle of the table, and is likely in the best place to avoid hits from other balls, and get you the best look at your next shot.
   
   
6. A helpful aiming hint. You may not feel completely comfortable or confident in your ability to hit the 1-ball full in the face. If you want to be sure to hit the 1-ball as squarely as possible, maybe this method is for you: Aim at the bottom (or base) of the 1-ball where it touches the cloth. This method can help because you may feel it is easier to see that small target, instead of trying to focus on the center of the 1-ball. The results will be the same, since you will hit the 1-ball full, and this will transfer the most of the cue ball's energy to the rack. In this situation, the final point you should see when you begin your swing is the point where the 1-ball touches the cloth.
   
   
7. Break sticks. Some cuemakers in past years have sold a lot of heavier "break cues" to amateur players, allowing them to keep on believing that a heavier cue was just what they needed for a crunching break shot. Dear friends, this is just not true. Happily enough, nowadays, scrupulous cuemakers, armed with new knowledge and logic, are changing their position on break cues. Most top players prefer to use the same weight cue or lighter-weight cues for break shots. They have found that a stable, rigid joint and forearm can withstand the force of the break's impact, and that a separate tip used just for the break can save the "game tip" and its accuracy by helping to keep the game tip from losing its shape due to high impact contact. These are the main features which go with the latest innovations for breaking cues. Using a lighter cue, rather than a 25-30 ounce "warclub", will help you find more cue speed. A bigger, heavier stick will be slower and more sluggish, though it may not be noticeable to the naked eye. It may give you a lot of power, but it is uncontrolled power, since you may be just a bit more erratic with your stroke using the added weight. Remember, the ball you are hitting is only 6 ounces, and is moved very well, thank you, with a lightweight cue. You are NOT hitting all 9 balls in the 9-ball rack, or all 15 in the 8-ball rack, with your stick! Therefore, bigger and heavier is just not better. Give up your heavy break cues for a lighter cue, and you’ll find that you'll have more cue speed and better control. That alone is much more important than the weight behind a heavy stick.
   
   
8. Transfer the full force of the cue ball to the rack. Hit it solidly, square in the face of the 1-ball. A glancing blow here is only a waste of energy, and doesn't solve anything, no matter how hard you hit it. Not only is it inefficient, but you may lose control of the cue ball, and you don't want that, or you wouldn't be reading this article! How good can your break shot be if you make 4 or 5 balls on the break, but also cut the cue ball loose to fly carelessly around the table, possibly leaving you "hooked" or without a decent starting shot? So take care of your game, and that of course starts with your break shot. Control is most important, which is why we say, "Your break shot is only as good as your next shot!"