BREAK-BUILDING EVOLUTION THROUGH THE YEARS

Apart from making arguably the strongest semifinal lineup we've ever had at the Crucible, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Judd Trump and Ronnie O'Sullivan are great examples of different break-building techniques and how they evolved through the years, from Davis' style in the 80's to Trump's style in the 2010's, although they're all still very effective techniques in today's game.

All four of them are some of the best scorers you'll ever see in the game. Not by coincidence, Ronnie, Higgins and Judd are top three all-time in centuries made and, although Mark Williams is a few positions below that list (9th all-time), this year he equalled the record of most centuries made in a single Crucible campaign (16) (he shares the record with Stephen Hendry [2002]).

There's one particular thing about break-building that these four do differently, though, which is the way they split the reds open during a break. That's what we'll breakdown one by one:

John Higgins

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John has always gone about this one way: he will always look at clearing all the available reds, building up some points before splitting the pack when there's nothing else available, pretty much like Steve Davis used to go about it in the 80's. Often he'll have the angle to go into the reds, but he'll play for the loose ones instead.

Positives: If the split goes wrong, he'll have built some sort of lead in the frame. Being the great safety player that he is, he is always reliable to convert a 40-points lead into a frame win.

Negatives: He'll only get one shot at the pack, which makes him rely on a 50/50 shot to win frames in one visit.

Mark Williams

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Mark is a bit less conservative than John. Even if he's got a few loose reds, he's always looking for an angle to split the reds. He won't hesitate to play for a loose red if he's not got the angle, but preferably he doesn't leave it to the last shot.

Positives: He gives himself more opportunities to go into the pack with a good angle, consequently making his chances better than 50/50.

Negatives: If he gets unlucky when splitting the pack, what can naturally happen, he's got no lead to hold on to.

Judd Trump

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Judd plays the modern way. He's always looking at splitting the reds open as early as possible. He'll do it off his first shot if he can. It's as early and as fast as possible into the pack. 

Positives: When the reds split open well, you have a wide open table to score. That explains why he and Neil, who plays similarly, are the two most prolific century makers in the game (frames-per-century rate-wise).

Negatives: You rely on luck very early in the break. Although you can score heavy when it goes right, when it goes wrong you may award a frame-winning chance to your opponent. Although this might be the most prolific way of making centuries, it's not the most prolific way of winning matches.

Ronnie O'Sullivan

(video)

Ronnie's technique is quite unique. He's usually avoiding to split the pack if he can, he rathers playing delicate cannons where he can better predict the outcome of the cue-ball and the reds. that way he turns the chance into a frame-winning one shot-by-shot.

Positives: He barely relies on luck during his break-building, which may be the reason why he's made more 147's than anyone. And if things go wrong, he'll have built some lead for himself and not leave a straightforward scoring chance for his opponents. This is a more prolific way of winning - even though I can see Judd and maybe even Neil eventually surpassing his century tally, I can't see them winning as much as he has.

Negatives: It requires much more precision, which makes it a lot harder for you to score when you're not at your best. That's probably why you don't see any other players going for as many delicate cannons as Ronnie does during a break. It's really hard to replicate, but has also found Ronnie out and cause him to struggle a lot when he's not been at his best.

There's not really a right or wrong way to go about this, you just pick the one that fits better with your game - there you have four players that do it differently but are amongst the most successful players in today's game.

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It's the first time I do a blog about players' techniques and I hope you've enjoyed it! Of course I'm not a professional myself, but was a handful junior with a high-break of 140 and a few state titles. Let me know in your feedbacks if you'd like to see more technical analysis in the future!