DrCue'sProtege said:

Ok, thanks for the info.

But I must ask - what shade of grey? Or is there only one shade of grey by CPBA cloth?

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Brah....go to their website.

No matter what color you play on....you won't be a rack runner.

lfigueroa said:

Just curious what the consensus was on racks.

I know there are the Diamond racks, the titanium racks, (way back the Sardo's), and the custom wood racks... so, do they really do the job better than your average house plastic/wood rack?

Lou Figueroa
don't care
about the templates

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I have a delta 13, and I think I prefer it to the plastic racks. I wonder if the wood racks would get indentations over time. I am choosing to not worry about it and use my delta-13.

Personally, I can't stand the noise of the delta-13 without some kind of insert (even a bad insert works wonders).

kollegedave

Plastic racks = junk

The Diamond wood racks are excellent, but previous comment about goop/crud brings it down a notch.

I’ve got a Delta 13 for home and never a bad rack, period.

Racks aren’t always the issue; good luck racking in commercial settings where balls are worn, mismatched, clingy/dirty, and where the cloth is deformed from dozens of people racking over hundreds of times in slightly different spots.

This looks cool and it’s a nice restoration but it’s not playable anymore.
As he said at the beginning, the customer has sentimental feelings for the cue so it’s nice that it was repaired but I would not use it anymore

Yeah the rack matters for sure. A good solid triangle enables you to push the balls tight together compared to the ol' flimsy and springy black triangles in most clubs. Additionally, as most (recretional) players slide the rack to the correct spot, the bottom of the rack should be made in a way that it doesn't damage the cloth.

DieselPete said:

And the national anthem being performed by some dude they pulled from the third row when he volunteered.

"Yeah, I think I can do it. Ya'll got the lyrics on a teleprompter? Ok. I'm in."

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The harmonica player at the open ceremony nailed the National Anthem. I asked Emily to put it on youtube but she said that was not her department. They need to figure out whose job it is and get it out there. Americans will hit that link for years it was done so right.

jtompilot said:

Can’t help you there, I’m looking the trade my new Defy 3 shaft for the SMO. The Defy is just too different from my Revo to get use to it. I’d like to hear more about the SMO shaft but I’ll probably just blindly get one.

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I have the SMO 12.5 and it’s a great shaft. I like it better than the Cynergy or the Rhino. I also have the Revo 12.9 which I really like.

Badpenguin said:

Well, maybe it will take a bunch of deranged Texans to get it done, who knows! I wish you luck and keep up the good work

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Thank you! I am closing in on 1% if my goal of 25,400. While at the US Open I meet Doc, he knows Dallas pool. I showed a lot of people my game, passed out a bunch of stickers and a few balls. Ran with Max Eberle for a little bit and had one of my Texas One Shot balls signed by Emily!

I learned about the Texas Bar Table Championships in Temple, a BadBoys event. I was blown away by 42 7" Diamonds filled with people playing Scotch Doubles. Everyone was decked out in team colors and having a blast. Eleven year old "Red" signed my petition! Shirts were cheap and admission was free. The local pool halls were hopping too- Future Cuez and Charlie's Cuez. I am outing myself- these are my people. Families and friends from all over the Texas play Scotch Doubles today(Monday). The event goes thru Sunday, stepping all over the Texas Open and I can't get enough of it. I will still bring my petition to the Texas Open but I will miss some days for Temple, only an hour north.

They were breaking three racks of template 9ball for $20 a set and who ever has the highest total number pocketed balls off the breaks won the pot($20 set Buy-in). It had to be a big pot and I can't wait to find out how much the payout was. Saw a guy get a six, 2 on each of the breaks. He had a 2 and a 3 put the cue off the table for a zero on the third break so only a 5 in his second set.

lfigueroa said:

Just curious what the consensus was on racks.

I know there are the Diamond racks, the titanium racks, (way back the Sardo's), and the custom wood racks... so, do they really do the job better than your average house plastic/wood rack?

Lou Figueroa
don't care
about the templates

Click to expand...

Yes
Doesn’t have to be a fancy rack, but the plastic ones don’t freeze the balls.

Frosty said:

You know, there are a LOT of elite players both past and present that have things in their form that aren’t textbook, the list is quite long. It’s like Jeremy Jones told me once, if you’re playing 6,8,10 hours a day, you can make almost anything work.

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3 of the last 4 WNT big event winners, i would argue. shane, grabe, FSR.

shane with the hitch and non existing follow through, grabe with the lateral elbow drop. in FSR's case it's mostly not staying down after cue contact sometimes, other than that his form is quite good

Bump

I agree with many of the comments.

Diamond Wooden Racks are good, but they can get beat up. Also, it is common in my experience for them to get gummy at the point the balls touch them, which often causes balls to stick to the rack (thus unfreezing when you pull the rack away). This crud can be scraped off, and that helps.

The Diamond plastic rack is excellent. I can’t compare it to the Delta rack because I have never had one.

I have not had success with the new fangled Predator rack. I could not get the balls tight. I’ve also noticed many bad racks at Predator events. That said, a guy I know who owns it likes it and seems to get a tight rack for a second ball break in 8b. Maybe it just takes practice to train your hands to manipulate the balls in it.

Cheap plastic ones suck and are a sin against the pool gods.

As [mention]iusedtoberich [/mention] said, the quality of the balls are key. With new balls and new cloth I can get a tight rack with any decent rack. When the balls are old, or heaven forbid mismatched, good luck getting a tight rack. If it’s a full rack and I am free to arrange them as I please, I might be able to find a limited number of good balls and freeze those ones to give a good break.

I also have views on templates.

With bad or mismatched balls, I like the Taom MaxRack (the poop emoji looking rack). I find the extra bits of plastic (more slots for balls) help corral the ones that are reluctant to freeze. The only downside is the extra bits are more things for balls to rest on post break, making it harder to remove the template.

I haven’t tried the new Pagulayan rack, which also has extra bits.

For a full rack with good balls I like the magic rack and the Perfect Rack (simple triangles) because you can still get a good rack and don’t have anything except the triangle shape for balls to sit on post break.