Bryan’s Lag Secrets

Bryan’s Lag Secrets

 

Before you break, you must win the right to break. So let’s start at the beginning. In most matches, you will start out by flipping a coin or lagging for the break. Because the break is so important in most pool games, you should learn to win as many lags as possible. If given a choice, between a coin flip and a lag, always lag for the break. If your opponent is someone who outclasses you on the table where the lag will take place, you might want to flip a coin.

For example, if you are playing on a 9-foot table, and this is your opponent’s favorite table, but you usually play on a 7-foot table, you are an extreme underdog to win the lag. Therefor you should flip a coin to decide the break. All else being equal, you should lag; because I am going to teach you how to win most lags.

           I have not kept detailed records of wins vs. losses in my lags, but I can tell you that if I did, my success rate would have to be in the 80% range. The points I cover here have been refined over a five year period. Some of these points have been shared with me by top players and other I have developed on my own. The resulting cocktail, is a very powerful system for winning lags.

            I am going to teach you my five steps to winning most lags. Focus only on what I ask you to do, and not why it works. Getting into why using a break-cue, or a cue with a harder tip is better, will not help your lag; therefore I will not get into all of those details.

            To prove to yourself that these techniques work, try lagging the ball five times, and measure your distance from the rail on each lag. Then add up all of these inches to use as a base. After reading the five steps below, try the same exercise, adding up your numbers again to see your improvement.

 

1)      Use a break-cue with a phenolic tip, or a playing cue with a hard tip. If you have a hard tip on your playing cue, that’s fine. But avoid using a soft tip.

 

2)      Do not use a cue-ball to lag (Unless the rules state that you must). Use an object-ball, and use one of the striped balls for your lag. Turn the ball so that the number is facing you dead center. You are going to strike the striped object-ball with a follow stroke, hitting it at the top of the stripe.

 

3)      If you are right handed, try to get on the left side of your opponent during the lag. He will most likely move over to his right, giving you more space and the use of the middle of the table.

 

4)      When you are both down in position to lag, do not count down with him; three, two, one. This counting down thing is an amateur move, and not a very smart move. There is no rule that you must both strike the cue-ball at the same instant. Count down in your own head. This way, you are hitting the cue-ball when YOU want to hit it, at the pace, YOU want to go.

 

5)      Rather than thinking to yourself, “I am going to come close to the bottom rail”, think to yourself, “I am going to hit the bottom rail softly.” The object is to have your lag return to the rail and bounce just a little. This is much easier than trying to simply come close. You will at times win the lag without actually hitting the bottom rail. But the bottom rail is still always your target.

 

Send me a tweet @PhillyPoolShark or message us on Facebook at NWQPool, and let us know how this worked out for you.