Learning How to Break Out Clusters
I play a lot of 8 Ball, it’s probably my favorite game. Something that comes up all the time in that game is the need to break up clusters. Knowing if and when to do so, while critically important to winning the game, are strategy issues and here we’re going to talk about tactics only. We’ll save the deep thinking for another day.
Another valuable skill related to cluster busting, and half way between strategy and tactics is playing a safety, hiding the cue ball and sending the object ball off to break the cluster. We’re not going to cover that here either.
Chicago is a fun way to acquire the single most critical skill to effectively break up clusters with your cue ball: pinpoint cue ball directional control.
So, what are we going to talk about, you ask? It’s a fun way to acquire the single most critical skill to effectively break up clusters with your cue ball, namely pinpoint cue ball directional control. You simply have to be able to move your rock along the correct trajectory to hit the cluster. And of course, hitting the cluster in the right place is also important, but here we’ll focus on hitting what you want; you can learn where to hit later. Pool is complicated, learn one thing at a time, starting with the things that give you the greatest reward.
To develop and refine this skill, I suggest you play a game I learned as Chicago but which has many other names depending on where you’re from. In this very unusual game, you do not hit the cue ball with your cue, you use object balls as the cue ball and billiard (kiss) them off the actual cue ball to scratch them into a called pocket. You can play this either as solitaire or against an opponent. You may not find many who want to play, but you will often have to answer questions from the people who come up to you asking what the heck you’re doing.
Chicago is a fun way to acquire the single most critical skill to effectively break up clusters with your cue ball: pinpoint cue ball directional control.
You can just throw all the balls out on the table, or break like in 8 ball. If you choose to break, the cue ball goes at the top of the rack and you break with the one ball.
The shooter can select any colored ball to use as their cue ball for that shot (can change every shot), and tries to scratch it off of the cue ball into a called pocket. If balls not called go in, spot them at the head spot. If the cue ball goes in, spot it on the foot spot, or center spot if the foot spot isn’t clear.
The purpose of this game is to help you get really accurate at the direction you move whitey in, and you can’t pocket balls until you do.
There are many kinds of shots, including thin cuts, stun shots, stun run-throughs (a fat hit with follow) one rail banks after the billiard off the cue ball, drawing off a ball into the pocket, etc. I’ve included a number of different examples in the CueTable diagram below.
Chicago is a fun way to acquire the single most critical skill to effectively break up clusters with your cue ball: pinpoint cue ball directional control.
Most people find this game very awkward at first, and find it unusually difficult. It doesn’t take very long though, before you improve the accuracy of your “cue ball” trajectory quite a bit.
I suggest at first you just throw the balls out on the table and play solitaire until you get the feel of it. Run a few racks and keep track of how many shots it takes you to clear the table. Don’t get discouraged! Many people start at 100 or more, with only a small percentage able to clear a rack in fewer than 50 shots their first few times. Work on it awhile every day for a week or so and you can get it down into the 20s and you’ll thank me for your new found cue ball control.
Once you begin to learn how to move the cue ball accurately, you’ll begin as well to learn where you can move it and (at least as important) where you have to be to be able to move it there off each of the possible target balls.
This game isn’t magic, it won’t solve all your cluster busting problems. It will, however, help you immensely at directional control, a crucial skill you need to master.
Page 1
Remember that on a stun shot (cue ball still sliding when it hits the object ball) the cue ball and the object ball separate at a 90 degree angle. Just shoot the object ball along the 90 degree line from where you want the cue ball to go.
Page 2
Here are 3 examples of using soft follow to make the cue ball go past the 90 degree line. You could use a little draw to keep the cue ball on the other side of the 90 degree line.
Page 3
When you’re hitting the object ball nearly full, the cue ball won’t veer off line very far. With a little practice you’ll quickly get the feel for how much.
Page 4
You can use draw to pull the ball back into a pocket. When the path is straight you must hit the object ball in the center. To come back on a slight angle, of course, you have to hit just a touch off the center of the object ball. This only works for very nearly full hits, because the cue ball doesn’t actually come back on a straight line, but moves off the collision along the 90 degree line and then the draw kicks in and curves the ball. The harder the hit, the more pronounced this is. Before you start to try to get precision control on these much trickier shots, first master the simpler ones.
Page 5
If you use high left english and hit the object ball full, you’ll throw the object ball to the right and move the cue ball straight ahead. Remember, if you hit with a level cue, right or left english won’t affect the path of the cue ball until it hits the rail.
Page 6
To some, this one looks like a trick shot. You’ve got two balls frozen together, and one of them is dead in the way of the pocket. Hit that ball full with follow. The two blockers separate and quickly get out of the way. Your “cue” ball pauses for a moment, then heads for the pocket
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One Response to “Learning How to Break Out Clusters”
bob
- February 28th, 2009
I never knew there was a game for this but part of my practice is exactly this. Not only is it a great tool for cueball control but it’s a great way to add carom shots to your pool game. Being able to see simple, natural caroms adds a whole new dimension to play. Frequently, clusters can be hit first to carom in a hanger giving you some great double duty.
I play in the APA where we don’t need to call these shots. I get accused of getting lucky all the time — I just smile and let them stew.
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