Can The 9-Ball Be Made On The Break Consistently?

An interesting pool break question today, about scoring the 9-ball on the break, from a devoted website reader. The fellow writes in to ask:

“...Thank you for all of your help with pool, Matt, I'm a pool fanatic myself and I'm constantly searching for an edge.

I'm writing you today because I want to learn something and hopefully you can assist me with it. The 9-ball on the break consistently?

I have run across a couple of players back home in the Dallas, Texas area that could make the 9-ball on the break a lot, in fact they did it to me with me racking 8 times in a row until I said I quit... what can you do for me?”

First off, mathematically speaking, the other players are cheating!

I’m in my 40th-plus year of pool playing, (I know, I know, I don’t look too old according to my About.com photo; you’d be amazed at what proper lighting can accomplish in the photography studio) and I’ve yet to see anyone breaking in more than 3 or 4 times running, in person or on video site like YouTube, to instantly win multiple games of 9-Ball.

Giving a player very liberal odds of 1 in 4 at chances to sink the 9-Ball on breaks, (we’re closer to 1 in 30 or 1 in 35 for a professional 9-Ball tournament, by the way) it would still be a nearly 400,000 to 1 chance against 8 successes in a row. Move to the 1 in 25 opportunity range or higher and you’ve just witnessed a 1 in 1 Trillion (with a "T") event!

Were the racks you were preparing tightly placed as per my instructions at this About.com expert site? I can see how the nine would be disappearing far more often from loosely racked balls.

...Or there may have been a rare grooved track on the cloth of the table and/or pocket conditions that helped the 9-ball sink with ease. Or they could have been cheating, perhaps by manipulations with miniaturized equipment inside controlled-motion gyroscopic spy billiards balls, like Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 used in Get Smart, episode 18, “The Dead Spy Scrawls”...

**
Maxwell Smart: You see, I happen to be an expert at this game. As a matter of fact, I happen to be the pool champion of the entire East Coast. Would you believe it? The entire East Coast.

"Willie" (Mosconi!): I find that hard to believe.

Maxwell Smart: Would you believe the West Coast?

Willie: I don't think so.

Maxwell Smart: How about Stubensville, Ohio?

**
I will give you a fresh tip, though, on getting that 9-ball moving out of the pack when you hit it from a tightly racked, fairly racked 9-Ball game break.

1. Place your cue ball for the break approximately ½ diamond from the head spot along the head string (see the accompanying diagram and use "A" if you're right handed and position "B" if you're a left handed shooter).

2. Let ‘er fly at the pack. This break is designed to fly the balls around at speed, and on certain tables I can break in two to three or even four balls of the rack with a high degree of consistency.

3. Per your request, this break also gets the 9-Ball rolling to one of the four corner pockets (the left half of the table for right-handed shooters and vice versa).

I added some more 9-Ball break tips below also. Thanks for raising the question!

**
Maxwell Smart: Well, I'm your man, Chief. This is my assignment.

Chief of Control: Max, this is extremely dangerous, you'd be on the spot, walking a tightrope. Possibly facing a violent death.

Maxwell Smart: And... loving it!

The Power 9-Ball Break In Stop Action Photos

9-Ball Racking And Break Strategy

Two Moves For An Enhanced 9-Ball Break