Improving Your Billiards Stance And Break Shot
If you are thinking about participating in any kind of billiard competition
, it is important that you are at the top of your game in every way. This includes improving your billiards stance and break shot.
Every player's stance will vary, however, there are a few things that everyone can keep in mind while trying to perfect this aspect of their game. These include head alignment, balance, and the angle and position of your shooting arm.
Where possible, a good billiard stance includes the alignment of the shooter's head with the aim line of their cue. Align the cue with the center of your head (via your nose) or slightly off-center biased toward your dominant eye.
You should also perform a quick check to ensure that your head is perpendicular to the floor, as opposed to tilted either to the left or to the right. You may not always be able to pick up on this on your own, so you can either have a buddy observe you, or you could videotape yourself during a practice session.
To achieve a proper stroke, you will also need to perfect your body's balance. Try to ensure that you have minimal body movement during your shot, with the exception of your swinging arm.
Proper balance will help you attain low body movement. Some players prefer a wider stance, while distributing their weight evenly on each leg.
Also, you should lead with the same foot as your arm used to bridge the cue. You should also avoid any unnatural stances, as they will likely throw your shot angle either left or right depending on the way your body moves to return to its comfortable position.
When shooting, there should be ample room for your stroke to occur without hitting the side of your torso. Generally, your body should be 25 - 35 degrees away from your cue.
Your upper shooting arm should begin at a perfect 90 degree angle (perpendicular) with the table's bed, as opposed to being angled to your left or right. The arm should remain this way for the duration of the stroke.
During the stroke, avoid movement from side to side so as to ensure a straight shot. Finally, you should ensure that your cue runs fairly level with the table's bed.
When you are working on your break shot, control is essential when breaking the balls, but most beginning, intermediate and advanced players attempt to drive the cue ball through the rack, obviously trying to see how hard they can hit the rack without scratching. During the break we should only use the amount of power we can control, which according to your skill level will vary.
Having the cue ball follow into the rack is reckless, because you do not know where the cue ball will stop. As it goes through the rack, it can ricochet off anything in its path, it can scratch, overall causing more damage than needs be.
Next, if you draw the ball, you increase your chances of having your cue ball not hit the contact point on the one, either slipping off of the one (as opposed to making contact with the one) and scratching in the closest pocket. If you do not hit the one ball at the proper contact point, you could draw the ball straight back towards either corner pocket.
You should place the cue ball in the center of the table because there are no pockets there, and you can expect a makeable shot on the lowest ball from there. Stroke the cue ball at about 1-1.5 tip below center (Not low enough to impart backspin).
Line up your body with the break angle that was mentioned earlier. Aim at the contact point which is the nose of the one ball.
The one ball is a round object that is just as round from any angle you wish to observe it from. Only the shape of the rack of balls is a triangle.
To assist your aim, look at the point that the one ball meets the cloth at its base. When my cue ball makes contact with the one, it should deflect from the one naturally coming to rest three to four inches behind the original location of the one ball, or the center of the table.
Your stroke should be a controlled fluid movement, not a jerking blast. The balls should spread well, rolling around to give me a decent chance at a run out.
If you take these simple steps, you can improve your game immensely. Now get out there and have fun with it!
by: Jack Landry
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