Yes, it is easy to “cheat,”if you want. But it is also easy to behave honorably by actually paying no attention to the placement of the balls (other than the 1and 9). I always follow the rule when pattern racking is banned because honor trumps winning in my value system. But hey, that’s just me. Your values may vary.
Why do some top players blatantly pattern rack (cheat) when on a live streamed table?
- Thread starter GB Basher
- Start date
It would be pretty easy to solve this problem by having a tablet or phone present with an app that randomly generates a racking sequence for each new game.
What if its rack your own 
..............1
.............47
............395
.............86
..............2
..............1
.............47
............395
.............86
..............2
The simple way to fix all this is to assign each ball a specific place in the rack.
Stop pattern racking by pattern racking?
1) it's unenforceable. Pattern racking is about high balls and low balls. It's not about exact spots. So, you could swap the 7 and 8 ball every rack and it's the same pattern... spots in the rack have low and high ball spots. How can you enforce that? You can switch balls every rack if someone has a problem.
2) many of your opponents are doing it. Are people just supposed to show up, pay their entry fees and lose because you have some illinformed idea of what cheating is. Ponder on this for a while, there's never been a truly random rack of nine ball... there's always a pattern to some degree, conscious or not. Who's the thought police? Unenforceable.
3) people need to get over pattern racking, or change the rules. Simple. It's not that hard to change rules to make them good. So do it. Don't complain about the players who are just out there trying to win games of pool. Make good rules or shut you mouth.
An interesting caveat to this situation is Mike Siegel, buddy hall and many others pattern packed for their opponents (in loser racks) for decades. Nobody seemed to have a problem then. Mike Siegel even came out and said he did this to his opponents in video. Still nothing. But now it's a problem all of the sudden because guys are putting together six packs all the time. Ooh wow, pro pool players putting down six packs. In short, people are morons.
2) many of your opponents are doing it. Are people just supposed to show up, pay their entry fees and lose because you have some illinformed idea of what cheating is. Ponder on this for a while, there's never been a truly random rack of nine ball... there's always a pattern to some degree, conscious or not. Who's the thought police? Unenforceable.
3) people need to get over pattern racking, or change the rules. Simple. It's not that hard to change rules to make them good. So do it. Don't complain about the players who are just out there trying to win games of pool. Make good rules or shut you mouth.
An interesting caveat to this situation is Mike Siegel, buddy hall and many others pattern packed for their opponents (in loser racks) for decades. Nobody seemed to have a problem then. Mike Siegel even came out and said he did this to his opponents in video. Still nothing. But now it's a problem all of the sudden because guys are putting together six packs all the time. Ooh wow, pro pool players putting down six packs. In short, people are morons.
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Not if they have used that pattern for hundreds or thousands of games and you are just seeing it.
It would be easy to develop a cell phone or tablet app that generates random ball placement every game... Problem solved.
Are they random beers? If not you’re breaking the rules
I rack my 9 ball rack the same every time, could that be considered pattern racking?
I’ve always done it that way. If there is a “pattern” racking violation, then wouldn’t it
be fair for me to demand that my opponent have a random preshot routine? I would think
that the belief that pattern racking is cheating is more superstitious than science.
It seems to me that the real violation that might result from pattern racking is when you get to rack your own.
Make the opponent rack and the violation goes away
I’ve always done it that way. If there is a “pattern” racking violation, then wouldn’t it
be fair for me to demand that my opponent have a random preshot routine? I would think
that the belief that pattern racking is cheating is more superstitious than science.
It seems to me that the real violation that might result from pattern racking is when you get to rack your own.
Make the opponent rack and the violation goes away
That's just it, isn't it? Recognizing that the rack can be manipulated effectively leads us to not play rack your own.
I have only one demand of my opponent: "Play Pool. Shoot shit later."
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And you confirmed that the Kremlin Cup specifically forbids pattern racking in their rules?
KMRUNOUT
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Here are "the rules"...what rules? WPA? Which of the 100's of tournies across the country use WPA rules, and which don't? Every tourney specifies which rules it uses (or should).
KMRUNOUT
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The 1 rarely goes to the bottom of the table on the break.
Sounds like you are breaking from the wrong end. Yoo should know better
The one time I saw this and would have called it a violation there wasn't a rule preventing
it, so, no violation, just maybe a little dirty.
Corey Deuel was playing and always racked the 2 and the 3 in the same place. He really
controlled his break and would generally make one of the wing balls or the one, use the
2 to get shape and the 3-9 combo in the bottom left corner just about every time.
I thought it was clever, but not terribly sporting. I guess your responsibility as a player is
to win, within the rules of course. I suppose to win you would try to remove the element
of chance, ie - if you can control the game, you can control the outcome. He did just that.
Within the rules, yes, but maybe not within the spirit.
it, so, no violation, just maybe a little dirty.
Corey Deuel was playing and always racked the 2 and the 3 in the same place. He really
controlled his break and would generally make one of the wing balls or the one, use the
2 to get shape and the 3-9 combo in the bottom left corner just about every time.
I thought it was clever, but not terribly sporting. I guess your responsibility as a player is
to win, within the rules of course. I suppose to win you would try to remove the element
of chance, ie - if you can control the game, you can control the outcome. He did just that.
Within the rules, yes, but maybe not within the spirit.
I hate rack your own tournaments for this reason. Great players like John Morra and SVB are using the rack your own to their advantage by almost turning the racks into a system that they can shoot over and over again. John Morra put huge packs together at the Texas open and the Houston open this way. Years aga I watched Shane put a 5 pack together in 10 ball and probably more as I got tired of watching him shoot nearly the same rack each time.
On the other hand with opponent racks I dont mind so much about pattern racking to make your opponent have to work for it. If he misses you are shooting the same rack.
On the other hand with opponent racks I dont mind so much about pattern racking to make your opponent have to work for it. If he misses you are shooting the same rack.