Corey's done it again, this time with 8b.

[westcoast]

The question is why should it be legal? There is a magic rack that pretty much comes very close to guaranteeing a tight rack. Why should guys be allowed to rack their own?

The goal in professional pool should be to attract fans. Fans are not interested in pattern racking- seeing the same basic runout over and over. It is especially bad when allowed in 9 ball. In 8 ball, it should be alternating stripe, solid ,etc. except for the back two balls- must be one stripe, one solid.

Again, I've always been a fan of Corey, but I don't think this should be allowed. It is bad for pool.

 

[daphish1]

Eight ball is a game where probably 99.9% of people who play rack the balls exactly the same way every time. I didn't get a chance to watch any matches but I'd guess that every player racks them the same way for every rack they do. The patterns vary per player but they typically stick with the same one.

 

[BRussell]

The question is why should it be legal?

It's probably not. But someone has to call it on him.

 

[gxman]

I think it was one of the TAR matches with shane and efren, they wanted efren to re-rack in 8b?

 

[sjm]

Whatever you think of this, Corey is definitely one of the most creative and insightful players I've ever seen.

 

[JCIN]

The question is why should it be legal? There is a magic rack that pretty much comes very close to guaranteeing a tight rack. Why should guys be allowed to rack their own?

The goal in professional pool should be to attract fans. Fans are not interested in pattern racking- seeing the same basic runout over and over. It is especially bad when allowed in 9 ball. In 8 ball, it should be alternating stripe, solid ,etc. except for the back two balls- must be one stripe, one solid.

Again, I've always been a fan of Corey, but I don't think this should be allowed. It is bad for pool.

Do you honestly think racking is whats stopping pool from gaining fans?

I don't.

It does give us a never ending topic to talk about though so its not all bad.

 

[westcoast]

Do you honestly think racking is whats stopping pool from gaining fans?

I don't.

It does give us a never ending topic to talk about though so its not all bad.

it's not the only thing, but it sure doesn't help and in my opinion it is an easily solvable problem with the magic rack being used.

 

[sixpack]

I just want to say that racking in 8-ball so that one group sucks and the other runs out is not new and Corey didn't invent it. Maybe the magic rack makes it work better but OFDs were doing that in the early 80s AT LEAST. Once the BCA made the rule that only the bottom two corners had to alternate, then it became rampant in all leagues that I played in.

Problem with league players (and non magic rack) is that if you don't make a ball and you rack that way you're up the crick. And league players don't make a ball every time. Or even a lot of the time.

 

[gregcantrall]

I already have my new line of cocobolo buckets in production as we speak. Though ivory monograms will obviously command a higher price point diue to new regulations.

I've even got one accented with a carbon fiber rim to increase dump speed. I am going to try to get mike dechaine as my player representative for it.

Don't invest too much in the bucket just yet. I have already applied for a patent on "The Magic Bucket".:wink:

 

[DogsPlayingPool]

BCA only mentions that the back end balls be opposite and the 8-Ball in the obvious place.

These BCA rules say "The fifteen object balls are racked as tightly as possible in a triangle, with the apex ball on the foot spot and the eight ball as the first ball that is directly below the apex ball. One from each group of seven will be on the two lower corners of the triangle. The other balls are placed in the triangle without purposeful or intentional pattern."

Just to be clear, The BCA rules BRussell quoted are the Billiard Congress rules which are nothing more than the WPA World Standardized Rules.

The USBTC I believe is played under BCAPL rules, though these also prohibit pattern racking:

2-2 8-Ball Rack

The balls are racked as follows (see Figure 2-1):

a. in a triangle with the apex ball on the foot spot (AR p. 78);

b. the rows behind the apex are parallel to the foot string;

c. the 8-ball is in the middle of the row of three balls;

d. the remaining balls are placed at random, except that the ball at each rear
corner of the rack must be of a different group from the other rear corner
(left/right orientation those two balls does not matter). (AR p. 96)

The applied ruling on p.96 does allow for this exception:

2-2 8-Ball Rack

For the purposes of Rule 2-2-d, the common practice of alternating solids and stripes
around the outside of the rack is permissible, provided the pattern is altered so there is a stripe in one rear corner and a solid in the other and that the position of any particular ball is not consistent between racks.

 

[Bigtruck]

pretty sad that every time a great player figures something out , be it breaking, racking, soft breaking, pattern racking, etc. ad people got something negative to say about it, as long as its legal, whats the problem?

That's just it Ray. It wasn't legal.

Since it was not allowed in the finals and not enforced in earlier matches is there now an asterick (*) on the win?

Ray H

 

[sixpack]

That's just it Ray. It wasn't legal.

Since it was not allowed in the finals and not enforced in earlier matches is there now an asterick (*) on the win?

Ray H

If I was one of the guys that lost to him I would feel upset that they didn't enforce it sooner.

At the same time once you realize someone is doing something wrong you have an obligation to stop it. So it wouldn't have been right for them to allow him to keep on doing it in the finals either.

 

[fathomblue]

I understand that what he's doing is somewhat illegal, by current rules. I don't feel it should be, but that's my opinion.

However, it reminds me of NASCAR. Great teams/drivers are punished for improvement. If they figure out something that gives them an advantage over other teams, they are summarily pulled back to the rest of the pack and smacked on the hand for possessing forward, intelligent, critical thinking skills.

Maybe The Bucket IS the way to go. God forbid Corey spend a week at the table to figure out a way to give himself a more consistent chance to win.

In my mind's eye, I can see Corey intently studying racks, breaks, and spreads. Finally, in a moment of Zen, he see's what he's been searching for. A broad smile across his face. An almost giddy sense of glee, as he quickly racks, breaks, and observes. More joy as he realizes that he's discovered something.

Thanks for pissing in a child's cereal, kicking his dog, and telling him Santa is no longer real.

What a bunch of Grinches.

 

[RackemBilliards]

I've been following his career since the beginning and find him to be not
only Intelligent, but a true Gentleman in all respects. He always has time to
converse with his fan base and actually speaks in grammatical terms which
exhibit a much higher education than the majority of his fellows pro players.

Go Corey !

I drew Corey first round in the one pocket, and I'd agree with this.

 

[pooladdict]

The solution to all this pattern racking is actually very easy.

A program which randomly places the balls in the rack, and projects the results as a hologram directly on the cloth. Then the racker can just put the balls over the corresponding hologram ball..

Can be used in 8ball, 9ball, 10ball and rotation. Any 14 year old computer geek can probably make that program. Free tip :idea2:

 

[voiceofreason]

There are 41 bar tables here. Tournament ran on average from 10AM to 9PM (some days till 1AM). So assuming one guy can rack for four tables without slowing down the event you would need ten rackers for seven days at say twelve hours a day.

Thats 120 man hours per day. Lets just say for six days since Sunday is pretty dead so you need 720 man hours of labor to rack the balls. At $10 an hour thats $7200 for labor. The USBTC events are $5.5K added. Adding more for ball rackers than a tournament probably isnt going to happen any time soon.

Personally I dont mind pattern racking and never understood the vehemence against it. My view is that if both players can do it then it still comes down to whoever runs the balls better. If it is against the rules at an event it should be enforced though. The question is how do you do it on a lot of tables with two or three staff? I GUARANTEE the players are not going go for a racker/ref fee.

One sure solution to the whole idea is the Bucket Break (Trademark). Completely random every time and no way to control any ball.

We don't have or need rackers here in the UK but when I run tournaments we adopt the rule "loser refs the following match", which includes racking.

Why other tournaments do not adopt this policy I really don't know...

 

[voiceofreason]

I do the same thing. This is one pattern I use that gets a pretty even spread on the balls, assuming I don't $#!7 the bed on the break shot

What an amazing coincidence, that is the world standardised placement for blackball also:

 

[justadub]

What an amazing coincidence, that is the world standardised placement for blackball also:

It seems to me that requiring everyone to use this layout would eliminate much of the foolishness.

Yes, then Corey or someone else will find a way to exploit that rack, but at the very least it will be consistent for every player.

 

[DallasHopps]

The solution to all this pattern racking is actually very easy.

A program which randomly places the balls in the rack, and projects the results as a hologram directly on the cloth. Then the racker can just put the balls over the corresponding hologram ball..

Can be used in 8ball, 9ball, 10ball and rotation. Any 14 year old computer geek can probably make that program. Free tip :idea2:

I would rather have a giant mechanized apparatus mounted over the table that drops a Sardo-like rack of balls onto the spot. Kind of like bowling pins.

 

[voiceofreason]

I would rather have a giant mechanized apparatus mounted over the table that drops a Sardo-like rack of balls onto the spot. Kind of like bowling pins.

That would be really cool. Someone could also invent a laser guided cue...

Hang on...