Break Building Development

[Starsky]

Don't think three shots ahead, 'see' two shots ahead on every shot, you'll find there's a difference between thinking about a shot and actually 'seeing' it where no conscious thought through words in your head is neccessary, then the break will flow.
Remember this, Selby isn't thinking about the next shot or two or three when he's taking a long time, he's already seen it but just wants to put his opponent off by delaying and faffing about; there is no granite like concentration going on, he knows all the shots and all the angles and sees them the same as all the other top players do.

Side isn't just about the cue ball coming off the cushion, you change the trajectory of the cue ball when using side and that is usefull in keeping the right side of a ball on a shot where the cushion isn't used, it's a very subtle change but can be used to advantage. The term 'helping side' isn't a misnomer, it's quite real, so play a few side shots without using the cushion, see where the cue ball goes in relation to the same shot using centre cue ball striking and use it to advantage when it's needed, helping side on a soft screw shot to stay half ball instead of quarter ball on the next one is usefull.

Best advice though is to develope a repeatable cue action so that strength of shot is consistant. Once you've become a good potter, strength of shot is THE most important aspect of break building and hitting shots too hard or too soft and getting out of position means you're always having to start again with seeing two shots ahead and this frustration is when your concentration starts to wander.

Some good points there .

Personally I wouldn’t suggest introducing side until your consistent enough without using it . Your spot on though about using side to control the cue ball and create an angle . I use it a lot on stun shots to deviate the cue ball to my advantage.

I think Steve would learn more than anything read on here just by playing better players.

[Starsky]

I need to get down to this club... would be great to watch in practice!

He was only visiting I believe to see his coach, it was at Frames in Coulsdon.

[vmax]

Personally I wouldn’t suggest introducing side until your consistent enough without using it .

He said he had been having coaching from Steve Barton about using side so I suppose he knows what happens to the cue ball, why you have to compensate your aiming etc etc unless of course that Steve didn't tell him any of this, which I very much doubt having seen his youtube video on side which was quite extensive.
Side is neccessary in snooker, IMO any coach that says you should wait until you've mastered centre line cue ball striking is someone who doesn't understand side themselves and therefore can't teach it.

Side is actually quite easy when you understand that the cue ball will deflect and slightly swerve and therefore you have to aim to miss the pot, something that some people can't get their heads around. I was playing with a young bloke in my local snooker team last year when he said he couldn't play with side, so I made him play a shot with side and he missed it thin. I told him to aim thicker to miss the pot, he did and potted it and I then explained why and he understood. He's now knocking in 50+'s, had a top break of 62 in the league last season which is pretty good for a 20+ handicapper.

[Danger Steve]

I’m very much aware of side and it’s effects, I would say most shots tend to need a little side here and there, it must be difficult once your so use to playing with side to actually try centre ball striking and making a decent break from it? For example those off straight blacks were you have to come off the bottom and side cushion to get position on the next red is almost impossible without some running side.... you can just hit the ball with less power making the pot slightly easier? I think the hardest part to learn when getting to grips with side is that the power of the shot throws it off less or more as well as adding top and backspin having an effect!

I think my problem is definitely lack of match practice, the line-up is great because subconsciously I know all the shots through repetition. It’s when there’s suddenly 15 reds in a group my mind gets all confused and I start missing simple shots while trying to play position, it’s like I’m playing a different game suddenly...

[Starsky]

My bad as I didn’t pick up on Barton showing Steve side . I didn’t mean you have to master hitting the ball without side I meant just get more consistent .
Each to their own, every coach has different ways of coaching as every player has different ways of learning.
There is no right or wrong way of learning , most learn things without a coach anyway myself included .

[Starsky]

I’m very much aware of side and it’s effects, I would say most shots tend to need a little side here and there, it must be difficult once your so use to playing with side to actually try centre ball striking and making a decent break from it? For example those off straight blacks were you have to come off the bottom and side cushion to get position on the next red is almost impossible without some running side.... you can just hit the ball with less power making the pot slightly easier? I think the hardest part to learn when getting to grips with side is that the power of the shot throws it off less or more as well as adding top and backspin having an effect!

I think my problem is definitely lack of match practice, the line-up is great because subconsciously I know all the shots through repetition. It’s when there’s suddenly 15 reds in a group my mind gets all confused and I start missing simple shots while trying to play position, it’s like I’m playing a different game suddenly...

I agree Steve, I see you’ve put up a post again for practice partners.
I think that’s a great idea and I wish you the best in finding somebody as I know it can be frustrating trying to find people.

[Danger Steve]

I agree Steve, I see you’ve put up a post again for practice partners.
I think that’s a great idea and I wish you the best in finding somebody as I know it can be frustrating trying to find people.

It’s a lonely hearts ad if that doesn’t work! Lol

[vmax]

I think my problem is definitely lack of match practice, the line-up is great because subconsciously I know all the shots through repetition. It’s when there’s suddenly 15 reds in a group my mind gets all confused and I start missing simple shots while trying to play position, it’s like I’m playing a different game suddenly...

Forget the line up for a few weeks and simply smash the pack of reds from the top cushion on the break, replace the pink (and blue if neccessary) and make breaks from there. Unlike the line up the balls will never be in the same place, and you'll have to bridge over balls, pick off reds that are in the way of colours, move reds off cushions etc. The line up is far too easy compared to actual frame play break building and should only be used by beginners to develope their cue ball control and for the more advanced players to oil their cue arm.

[Danger Steve]

Forget the line up for a few weeks and simply smash the pack of reds from the top cushion on the break, replace the pink (and blue if neccessary) and make breaks from there. Unlike the line up the balls will never be in the same place, and you'll have to bridge over balls, pick off reds that are in the way of colours, move reds off cushions etc. The line up is far too easy compared to actual frame play break building and should only be used by beginners to develope their cue ball control and for the more advanced players to oil their cue arm.

Thanks VMax!

Over the weekend I’ve been playing pretty much 5 hours each day, in that time I’ve only played a couple of line ups and that was at the start just to get my arm moving... I had a couple of ‘real frames’ but I get bored to quickly I think, so today I went back to the 6 reds routine and actually got close to a clearance which is only the 2nd time in weeks of practice. As everyone has mentioned though it’s not about high break but consistency, which I have noticed over the weekend has improved slightly. The red and black routine has been very useful for learning all the different ways of getting from black back to a red between pink and black spot. Still struggling slightly with my accuracy and potting when trying to force the white around two cushions, that and the straight screw back with reverse side to get the white higher up the table.

cheers guys!

[mikee]

Since coming back to snooker over the last two years ,I can't knock a ton in any more ,to the point its now a problem in my head .Practice knocking in breaks with the reds spread all over and breaking down and not counting the score (I do this with videoing now ) but still the problem between my ears is there ,an example of this was last week ,I was on a break of 40 something and missed ,so I thought sod it I'll carry on .Because there wasn't a ton left on I cleared the table with an 83 ,which made me feel worse .I get the feeling its a case of being sloppy on position ,leaving too many straight shots with no angle ,or missing simple shots .Of course the longer this goes on the worse it might get ,missing an easy black on 98 was probably the highlight a few weeks ago .It's a hard game that can have demons in your head for sure .

[Starsky]

Since coming back to snooker over the last two years ,I can't knock a ton in any more ,to the point its now a problem in my head .Practice knocking in breaks with the reds spread all over and breaking down and not counting the score (I do this with videoing now ) but still the problem between my ears is there ,an example of this was last week ,I was on a break of 40 something and missed ,so I thought sod it I'll carry on .Because there wasn't a ton left on I cleared the table with an 83 ,which made me feel worse .I get the feeling its a case of being sloppy on position ,leaving too many straight shots with no angle ,or missing simple shots .Of course the longer this goes on the worse it might get ,missing an easy black on 98 was probably the highlight a few weeks ago .It's a hard game that can have demons in your head for sure .

Mikee,

If you’ve hit tons before why are you putting yourself under pressure to hit one again ?. I can remember the pressure that I put myself under the first time around that I played to hit one . Like you I got close a few time before I made one . I made a conscious decision to focus on what breaks I want to hit consistently this time as I’ve nothing to prove with high breaks .

Get rid of that pressure and you’ll find they will come anyway .

Ive set myself short term target of regular 50’s and long term to regularly be able to make a frame winning break in one visit.

[Danger Steve]

Mikee how old are you if you don’t mind me asking?

[Starsky]

Thanks VMax!

Over the weekend I’ve been playing pretty much 5 hours each day, in that time I’ve only played a couple of line ups and that was at the start just to get my arm moving... I had a couple of ‘real frames’ but I get bored to quickly I think, so today I went back to the 6 reds routine and actually got close to a clearance which is only the 2nd time in weeks of practice. As everyone has mentioned though it’s not about high break but consistency, which I have noticed over the weekend has improved slightly. The red and black routine has been very useful for learning all the different ways of getting from black back to a red between pink and black spot. Still struggling slightly with my accuracy and potting when trying to force the white around two cushions, that and the straight screw back with reverse side to get the white higher up the table.

cheers guys!

Well done on your improvement in consistency Steve . Glad your enjoying that routine I recommended .

It seems your like me and spend copious amount of time playing with one self ....
What I finds helps with motivation is setting a target on all my practice routines and recording what my results are. This way you can see in black and white your improvement in consistency over a longer period . This is helpful as improvement is never linear. Once you’ve reached your target give yourself a harder target. A example of this would be a target of 15 red and blacks. Once you reach that then add the colours. Once you can do that then try to do that twice in a session ....etc. . It’s interesting g to see over time how your bad day is better than your good day was a few months back.

Btw, never tell anyone outside of your snooker world that you do this as you will be accused of being a snooker obsessed nut job ..... which of course you are as you wouldn’t be on here in the first
place ......

[Danger Steve]

The customer where I’m working asked if I’d had a good weekend! Of course I couldn’t tell them I pretty much spent the entire weekend playing with myself...

I was thinking I might get a white board in the shed to record my results, maybe that’s a little too sad? How do you record?

Have you tried lining up all the balls between the middle pockets and seeing how many you can pot from the baulk line? I tried this on Saturday and only managed 8... tried again on Sunday and managed 10! Think pros usually hit into the high teens with this routine. I’ll keep a record and see how this improves.

I’ve managed to find a chap from Leicester to have a game at the weekend, so that will be interesting! Let you know how I get on! No it’s not Selby! He’s not ready for me yet....

[mikee]

Mikee how old are you if you don’t mind me asking?

About 10 years older than you mate ,I think me snooker rooms cursed as no ones done a ton yet there lol.To be fair I'm playing better these days .Years ago I thought I would never be able really play guitar at speed and play some of my favourite solo's but with decent practice over time it came ,playing in a band helped a lot too, which is I suppose a bit like snooker ,playing better players will up your game .