Billiards Digest — House Pro Tony Robles

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BD House Pro
Tony Robles

A longtime teaching pro at Amsterdam Billiard Club in New York City, Tony has dozens of regional and national titles to his name, including the 2004 BCA Open Championships.

Instruction Articles:

Body Language & Breaking

May 2009

LAST MONTH we discussed the first step toward incorporating body movement into your break. Once you feel confident hitting the center of the head ball with the center of the cue ball moving only your back arm, you are ready to experiment with a few movements that might up your power.

Before we start, though, it is absolutely imperative that you continue to control the cue ball on your break. A thundering break is useless if you can’t control it. So if you ever begin to lose accuracy, slow down and make sure any new movements are not knocking you off line.

Once you are locked in with the arm-only break, there are several ways to throw your body — which one you prefer is more of a personal preference than one being “right” and one being “wrong.”

Johnny Archer and Francisco Bustamante are two of the game’s greatest players, but they break using completely different styles. Look at a guy like Archer, who will throw his arm so far forward that it looks like he is about to touch the 1 ball. He lifts his back leg, pushing his whole body toward the cue ball. After cue-ball impact, the cue flies out of his bridge hand, so he finishes with his grip hand holding the cue high in the air (like in the photo on the left).

But then there’s a break like Bustamante’s. He creates a powerful break without letting his cue out of either hand. He still uses his back leg to push his body forward, but Bustamante uses more of a hip movement. He is almost like a boxer throwing a punch. He stays compact during his break, throwing his hips into the cue ball. He keeps his cue on the table, and follows through in such a straight line, it’s unbelievable.

Try both methods, you’ll find out which one works best for you. It might even be a combination of both. Just remember: Accuracy first, then power.

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