<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Brian T. and I were talking a little about light versus heavy cues on the break. Here is a passage from Ron Shepard's "Amateur Physics for the Amateur Pool Player" paper:<div><br></div><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; ">In the last few years, many professional 9-ball players have switched from heavy<span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; ">break cues to lighter break cues. These players may still use a typical 19-20<i>oz</i> cue for<span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; ">their normal strokes in a game, but they break with a lighter 15-18<i>oz</i> break cue. Break<span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; ">cues of this weight are consistent with the above equations, elbow pivots rather than<span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; ">shoulder pivots, and slim to medium body types. The actual breaking technique used by<span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; ">these players is more complicated than that considered above, and involves pivots about<span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; ">both the shoulder and the elbow.<span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> </span></div><div><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I'm including Ron's pointer to the full paper below, in case anyone is interested.</div><div><br></div><div>Paul</div><div><br></div><div>ps: I don't think Brian's forearm mass falls in either the light or medium category, so according to Ron's analysis, a heavier break cue might be most appropriate for him.</div><div><br></div><div><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>From: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Ron Shepard <<a href="mailto:shepard@tcg.anl.gov">shepard@tcg.anl.gov</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Date: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">October 31, 2008 3:03:22 PM CDT</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Paul Hovland <<a href="mailto:hovland@mcs.anl.gov">hovland@mcs.anl.gov</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Subject: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>Pool Physics Paper</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> </div><div>Hi Paul: Here is a link to Amateur Physics for the Amateur Pool Player.<br><br> <a href="http://www.sfbilliards.com/Shepard_apapp.pdf">http://www.sfbilliards.com/Shepard_apapp.pdf</a><br><br>You might be interested in chapter 5 in particular. It discusses some the statistics, markov analysis, and game theory.<br><br>-Ron<br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>