Willie Thone - anyone can make a 50 break

[dannyd0g]

I remember The Great WT saying a few years ago "give me any player and I can turn him into a 50 break player". That always seemed like such a bold statement to me, and i remember thinking, as a 30 break player, shame i'll probably never get the chance to meet you and see if you can do that for me !

To be fair to WT and to put it into context he was talking about club players, and saying any player without much talent can be taught how to make a 50, but teaching alone is not going to help anyone make a century unless they have real talent to go with it. I think thats what he was saying if i remember correctly.

Does anyone agree with him that virtually anyone could make a 50 given enough practice and the proper coaching ?

If that is the case then its pretty sad to think of all the millions of struggling club players who never get past twenties and thirties when all they need to do is get some pointers from WT.

I've also mentioned this in the 'TSF event' thread, but started this new one, so hopefully we can expand the discussion withoot taking the other thread off topic.

[robsonj]

i suppose given unlimited time then yes i agree, but somepeople would take a lot longer to get up to the 50 break standard than others

[CTquick147]

I agree with WT to a certain extent, but I've known some club players who I think were just too stupid to improve no matter who was giving them advice. One player I can think of, who had an excellent looking stroke but no sense of what to do with it, and a limited intellect, couldn't be made into a 50 break player no matter what. I've also seen some potential 50 breakers who are just too absorbed with safety to work up to any real break building, and they are too negative to change their style. So on the whole I guess I have to disagree with WT. Perhaps because I've seen some of the worst players to ever live.

[TreeeFitty]

I agree with him to a certain extent but like you said CT you can't change everyone, I work in a snooker hall and some of the idiots that try and play snooker, its painful.

How much do you think talent plays apart compared to just hours and hours of practice? obviously it isnt 50/50. I have seen some people play for hours and hours and never improve, some people play for hours and gradually improve...and others who play hardly ever but who are extremely good considering.

[steedee]

im a below average player, my highest break is 29, which i've managed a number of times however in a session of maybe 8 frames i'l only break 20+ 3 or 4 times.

more often than not my break will come in the early stage off the frame when most of the reds remain,but the balls are nicely spread. in this circumstance, any decent snooker player could expect to clear up or at least score quite heavily. for me reaching 30 has become a mental challance moe than any thing else my last game of snooker i had a straight black off the spot whilst on 26 which jawed and stayed over the pocket but discussing this with a friend in a snooker league (highest break 80+) he said that given that im scoring whilst the balls are spread if i can pot 7 or 8 balls on a run in making 20 plus providing the balls remain spread there is no reason why i cant at least double my score and once i hit a 30 plus break he wouldnt be suprised if it happened more often.

so i agree with WT. i think continuing with a break once there are only a couple of reds remaining is much more difficult because positioning playes a much bigger factor hence my freind having difficulty getting further than 80 odd, but 50 should be possible, even for me, given the right circumstances!

[thinsy]

If WT said this in the sense of he can get any player to make a 50 break, then this is very possible. I've seen players barely capable of making a 20 break knock in a 50 or 60 break, but they've only ever had and only ever will have the one break over 50.

If he meant he could make any player into a regular 50 break player then i would disagree...

My generalisation on the standard of players highest breaks is this:

HB of 20ish... A player can string a few balls together but have a very basic idea with position.

HB of 50ish... A player will be a good potter who can control the cue ball to some extent.

HB 0f 80ish... A player who is a consistent potter and good positional player.

HB of 100+... A player who has learned the art of 'break building'. This player will be 'looking' for the oportunity to get balls into pottable positions.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a GENERALISATION based on how my game has progressed through the years and I AM NOT judging any playing standard of TSF members!

[atm147iwish]

id love a 50!!!

im stuck on 48, regular 20s and 30s and once fortnightly 40s...

my only practice is against fellas in the club who struggle to get 3 in a row, then match nite its one game only.
i feel that willie thorne could hypothetically improve mine and anyone else's game, but it comes down to taking a coach's advice and PRACTICING...

my problem is trying to maintain a good cue ball... and until i start practicing properly i will never improve.

[poolqjunkie]

I believe this is possible, if the player is willing to listen and practice.
I dont think WT is talking about a consistent 50 breaker, just someone who can make a 50 or more once in a while, right?
To make a 50, you need to make about 13 balls or so in a row. With the proper training in aiming, positioning drills and cueing technique, I cannot see why it is not possible especially if the black is on the spot open to both pockets.
The players you see who do not improve are either those who do not practice or do not know what they are doing even with all the practice.
I remember when I first started learning this game I could not make over 30, then I videotyped myself during my practice, and I noticed that I was making 40+ and even a 54 or something like that, with balls spread all over the place. I only started playing snooker for a few months back then, but I was practicing all the time, and I had a guy helping me to learn some kind of aiming system so to speak.
Knowing making a 50 is not magic really helped my confidence, soon I started making more balls in a real match. But I was not consistent, and still am not.
I used to practice much more but now I am getting lazy, which is bad.
I wish I had someone like WT to help me, I am sure I woudl improve much faster--and so would anyone with the desire to improve.

[RocketRoy1983]

id love a 50!!!

im stuck on 48, regular 20s and 30s and once fortnightly 40s...

my only practice is against fellas in the club who struggle to get 3 in a row, then match nite its one game only.
i feel that willie thorne could hypothetically improve mine and anyone else's game, but it comes down to taking a coach's advice and PRACTICING...

my problem is trying to maintain a good cue ball... and until i start practicing properly i will never improve.

ATM you are in a category of club player that is about 75% of club players. Youll get through it for sure with the right preperation and id recommend a bit of coaching on shot selection by the sounds of it.

[highbreak 8]

to the player stuck on 48 , what usually happens is most people increase there best break not by a few ,but by a lot ,your 48 with practice one day you will hit 60 , it allways happens that way . PS MY HIGH BREAK ,IS STILL 8 ........................HA HA HA .

[thinsy]

to the player stuck on 48 , what usually happens is most people increase there best break not by a few ,but by a lot ,your 48 with practice one day you will hit 60 , it allways happens that way . PS MY HIGH BREAK ,IS STILL 8 ........................HA HA HA .

This is actually quite true...

I went from 43 to 68
I went from 68 to 93
And after waiting for 8 years to hit my first ton, i ended up having 3 of them within 10 days

It's all about mental barriers, once you get over the 50 you will be feeling happy, relaxed and go on to add a few more pots to the break.

It was the same with my first century, from getting my 93 (and missing the black off the spot) to my first ton was about 2 1/2 agonising years but in that time i had so many chances and broke down in the 80's and 90's

Once i got one it wasn't a mental target anymore!! And, now it seems that around the 80 break mark the opposite happens now, and i seem to be spurred on to make it.

[poolqjunkie]

id love a 50!!!

im stuck on 48, regular 20s and 30s and once fortnightly 40s...

my only practice is against fellas in the club who struggle to get 3 in a row, then match nite its one game only.
i feel that willie thorne could hypothetically improve mine and anyone else's game, but it comes down to taking a coach's advice and PRACTICING...

my problem is trying to maintain a good cue ball... and until i start practicing properly i will never improve.

If you can make a 48, there is no reason why you cannot make a 50. May be try to play on a table with slightly bigger pockets.
I have seen some players practicing on very tight tables and they could not really make any big break and they feel very frustrated.
If you practice on slightly bigger pockets, you will learn to play your positions faster, and start to make more sizable breaks. Once you manage to play good positions to make more sizable breaks, you will do well on tigher pockets as well.

[highbreak 8]

Just to add , i was on 89 in a match , recently , with colours all on there spots i twitched on yellow , it went in , had to use rest on green , it went in , potted brown but with so much adrenalin it went near pink spot straight in line with blue , so im on 98 , was about to stun long blue in and the bl**dy table light went off , [ large groans all round ,] re adressed changed my mind tried to roll the blue in and it pulled away from the pocket I ll get over it ,,,,,, one day . Ps my Highbreak is 118 , 138 in practice , and i have had 105 on a small table with ten reds .

[poolqjunkie]

Just to add , i was on 89 in a match , recently , with colours all on there spots i twitched on yellow , it went in , had to use rest on green , it went in , potted brown but with so much adrenalin it went near pink spot straight in line with blue , so im on 98 , was about to stun long blue in and the bl**dy table light went off , [ large groans all round ,] re adressed changed my mind tried to roll the blue in and it pulled away from the pocket I ll get over it ,,,,,, one day . Ps my Highbreak is 118 , 138 in practice , and i have had 105 on a small table with ten reds .

138, that is very nice.

[varion2001]

i also agree wit wt, the hard part ist to play those breaks consistantly, i think a lot of people can pot quite well but just play the wrong shot for position, so it becomes more and more difficult to keep the brake going.