This shows how Shane Van Boening (who is famous for his break) hits a hard 9 ball break. His hard break is one of the best in the world and is also one of his biggest advantages in 10 ball and 8 ball.
Parts of it may be worth copying for anyone looking to master the break. When shane breaks he hits them extremely hard and the cue ball bounces up in the air about a foot, and also backwards a bit. When it lands it pretty much stops, or it might dive forward a hair before stopping right in the center of the table. This is known as squatting the cue ball and all top pros hope to do it, but few do it as consistently as shane, especially considering how hard he hits 'em.
Here's what I notice about his break. You may not be able to copy shane's unique stroke and ability to hit accurately with such a long bridge. But you still can learn some useful stuff about followthrough, timing, etc.
· Closed bridge, doesn't bridge off the rail. Bridge hand has middle finger and the last two all squashed together and pushed far sideways under the loop. This is similar to the style you see with 3 cushion players. I think it lets you see the CB as clearly as possible.
· Warmup swings are quite rapid.
· Aims at the base of the ball, lower than he's actually going to hit.
· Pause at the final practice stroke, then he goes back deliberately and starts to stand up a bit. Elbow is fairly still at this point. Hips and forearm start to swing forward almost at the same time.
· The actual swing has his elbow tucking in a bit close to the body, and it looks like there's a little sidearm action as he goes forward, though by the time he finishes it's pretty textbook. Legs stay still, no kick.
· Stick extends about half a diamond shy of the center of the table. By the time he's finished, it looks like the joint of the stick passes through the loop.
Overall impression is that he is hitting it slow and powerfully rather than with a quick snap. It's very mechanical looking. He pauses, draws back, stands a little, snaps forward with little wasted movement, it's all whipping arm and a little lunging body.
