suki said:
I agree with other posters on inside english. Your diagram really does not show that. You must just inside English or your cue ball will not stay on side rail where you want to freeze cue ball 1 1/2 diamonds up table. Also if you can consistently do it , I find the more English the more chance of making a ball on break but depending how table is playing sometimes not worrth the risk. But a lot of tables break different. The corner ball will give the opponents a shot very easy if you are not careful.
There is another diagram that shows the whole break -- the detail is just to focus in on
where you actually contact the rack. The whole thing is under 'Getting Started'
http://onepocket.org/getting_started.htm -- you'll need to scroll down to get to the break paragraph.
The main point of the break detail diagram is that
it is safer to err a little on the side of hitting too much of the head ball, than to miss the head ball entirely. Yet, IMO you get the best action on the break the thinner you hit the head ball -- therein lies the dilemma!
Bottom line in my opinion, if you are a strong enough player to consistently hit the head ball really close to simultaneously with the second ball -- without missing the head ball -- and you can do that with the necessary inside english to manage the cue ball, then go for it, because that is the strongest break. You might want to take a little power off the shot, though, to leave the cue ball a tad lower on the side rail -- because you can sometimes get away with a miss-hit if you hit a little soft, while you will almost never get away with a miss-hit if you hit a little hard!
If you don't execute those thin inside english shots quite so consistently, then don't try to hit quite so simultaneously -- to ensure you will hit the head ball first.
The other point of the diagram is to clarify what direction you would be trying to cut the head ball if the rack wasn't in the way -- for a reference point of aim.
