Back to normal!

So, since last Friday, I've been playing terribly.  My stroke has never once felt right, I'm not getting good action on the ball - and I'm missing everything.  Use to be, I could blame it on throw - but not so much anymore. Everything is just "off".  Well, today I tried something to get it back. I played considerably slower than usual. I didn't do any drills at all. I just shot.  First I tossed the balls on the table (all 15) and basically played a loose game of 8-ball against myself. I did that twice.  Then I played 2 rounds of straight pool, reshooting those I missed and/or lost position.  Then I played 9-ball the rest of the day. I broke, and took ball in hand to get started if I didn't have a shot on the 1b.  I made some really good shots, including one rail rider past the side pocket even. :)  I also missed some shots that I shouldn't have.  I made some good combos, not so good banks, and one jump shot even.  The jump shot was even a cut shot! It was a short jump and I only need to get over half a ball, but I jumped, and made the ball - extra lucky was I got position on the next ball. 

Overall the day was good.  The best part of the day was when I realized I was trying to stab the ball. I had lost my follow-through.  As soon as I made a mental effort to "push the ball", my accuracy went up 15-20%.  Things, I think are good again.  If I play well the rest of this week, I'm buying my spot in the tournament in 2 weeks.

Break Cues

Yesterday while at the hall I decided to try a few jump/break cues.  These three were what I tried:

Nick Varner NV23-5JB
Cuetec Jump/Break Cue - CT-99296
Action ACT56

The Nick Varner has a phenolic tip; which gives a harder hit but is harder to control.
The Cuetec has a fiberglass shaft which is warp resistant, leather tip and softer ferule.
The Action cue is traditional maple with an extra hard leather tip, but with what appears to be a carbon fiber ferule.

I can't seem to decide at all. I mean, I liked each of them almost equally. The Cuetec is the same same shaft width as my playing cue, whereas the others are 1mm wider.  The Cuetec has a very flat tip, the action has a nickel-radius tip, as did the NV.  I really don't do any jumping, but then again, I've never had the opportunity to try.  Yesterday was, in fact, the first time I've ever *properly* jumped a ball.  All three seemed to give similar results, but I think the Cuetec gave me the best results jumping.  The NV seemed a bit harder to control - which makes sense due to the tip.  The Action cue seemed almost identical to the Cuetec, aside from the butt-width.

The reality is that I will be able to adjust any of these equally as well in time, so I'm not sure there's any real way for me to decide.  I'm just wondering if there's any one which I should absolutely avoid?

The Break

As it turned out, I did not get a chance to practice anything new today.  One of my pool buddies was there, so we played some 9-ball.  I lost count exactly, but I think the final score was something like 9-4 in his favor.  This is pretty typical.  He's just a bit more consistent, and he can slice those balls into places that make my head spin.  Definitely a weak point in my game.

However, just before I left, I watched this video on How to Break and thought I'd give it a try.  This is more about body movement and getting good power behind your stroke.  The few times I got to break, I tried that technique - with varying results.  This is, of course, expected - but it's promising, I think.  I'm in the market for a break-cue now anyway, so before dropping cash on a specific cue, I should learn how to break properly.  I know I have some defects in my break stroke, but if I can work out a decent form, I can start to focus on controlling the cue ball after the break.