You should practice breaking as much as possible. You'll need to know how to hold your cue so that you have a forceful enough strike. Everything you've learned so far is important at this point, especially how you grip your cue and where to put your feet. The specifics of breaking are covered in detail in the chapters on specific games. Different games require different kinds of breaks. For now, let's just deal with the breaking basics.

A break opens almost every game. After the balls are racked in a triangular shape (or diamond shape, depending on the game you are playing) on the table, you “break” them apart by striking the balls as forcefully as possible with your break cue so that they scatter all over the table. Breaking signifies the start of the game.

Breaking may seem easy to you now, but once you give it a try you'll find that developing a technique is critical. Try breaking a couple of times. Get a feel for how hard you need to hit the balls so that they scatter the way you need them to. This kind of break is referred to as an “open” break. The goal is to hit the balls hard enough so at least one of them will wind up in a pocket.

You should also try breaking the rack gently in what is known as a “safe break.” This technique is used mostly in “straight pool” and “one-pocket” billiard games.