What the heck is "Tracking?"

T

todd2000

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So I was playing so pool online, I scratched and gave my opponent BIH on the 2 ball, he placed the cue ball all the way on the other side of the table and gave himself a hard shot on the 2 instead of putting it right next to the 2. I asked him why he did that, and he said it's called "tracking". I responded that I had no idea what he was talking about, and he said and I quote "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DONT KNOW WHAT TRACKING IS IT'S THE MOST COMEN THING IN POOL." Then he preceded to call me names, I called him something that I shal not repeat and left. :) So was he smoking crack or something? Is there such a thing as "Tracking?" If so what is it? Google didn't find anything.
 
todd2000 said:
So I was playing so pool online, I scratched and gave my opponent BIH on the 2 ball, he placed the cue ball all the way on the other side of the table and gave himself a hard shot on the 2 instead of putting it right next to the 2. I asked him why he did that, and he said it's called "tracking". I responded that I had no idea what he was talking about, and he said and I quote "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DONT KNOW WHAT TRACKING IS IT'S THE MOST COMEN THING IN POOL." Then he preceded to call me names, I called him something that I shal not repeat and left. :) So was he smoking crack or something? Is there such a thing as "Tracking?" If so what is it? Google didn't find anything.
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Been playing since 1961 and never heard the term, EXCEPT in games like Virtual Pool. If he was using tracking when playing you he's cheating. Playing Virtual Pool in practice you will see a tracking line from the cue ball to the object ball and the object ball to the pocket, if I remember correctly. I don't have on my computer now, as Vista made it stop working. Again, never heard of it in the real world.
 
I have not heard of that either. Two guesses:

1. He was tracking your speed by slightly handicapping himself with his shot selection to see if he could still beat you.

2. He was messing with your head just to see what you would do.

Kelly
 
Jim Wych will use it in commentary sometimes. Like that ball is tracking towards the pocket which just means its in line to go in the pocket.


I think the guy is a douche bag lol. The guy you played NOT Jimmy Wych.
 
Never heard the term used in pool. Used to adjust it on my 1987 VCR though. :)

Don't sweat it.

Next time someone does that to you, remember the phrase - "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Seems to me that dude removed all doubt.
 
todd2000 said:
So I was playing so pool online, I scratched and gave my opponent BIH on the 2 ball, he placed the cue ball all the way on the other side of the table and gave himself a hard shot on the 2 instead of putting it right next to the 2. I asked him why he did that, and he said it's called "tracking". I responded that I had no idea what he was talking about, and he said and I quote "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DONT KNOW WHAT TRACKING IS IT'S THE MOST COMEN THING IN POOL." Then he preceded to call me names, I called him something that I shal not repeat and left. :) So was he smoking crack or something? Is there such a thing as "Tracking?" If so what is it? Google didn't find anything.
Click to expand...


Most definately!
Grey Ghost
 
I believe the first response was correct. In Virtual Pool you can turn on a feature called "tracking lines" which shows you exactly where the object ball will go, making every shot easy. Also, it will tell you where the cueball will go too, depending on if you hit it high, low, left, hard, etc. It's pretty fun to play around with.

KMRUNOUT
 
todd2000 said:
So was he smoking crack or something?
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If he thinks it's the most common thing to see lines on the table while playing pool,he must be smoking something. :rolleyes:
The person in question is obviously an idiot who has probably never played pool in his or her life.
 
They probably think that is the name for a bank shot or other similar shot that requires alignment off a rail.
 
What he was doing is

Hitting the harder shot so that the cue ball then followed the "tracking" line for the next shot position. That way if you hit it too hard or too soft it is still in position. It is hard to visualize without someone showing you but when hitting shots you don't want to cross your "tracking" lines you want to stay on them. That is why you see the pros hit some wierd shots on TV that you think to your self "Why didn't they just xxx, why did they put inside english and go 2 rails" etc. It gives them the most options on any shot. Just my 2 cents.

Chris
 
sebas said:
Hitting the harder shot so that the cue ball then followed the "tracking" line for the next shot position. That way if you hit it too hard or too soft it is still in position. It is hard to visualize without someone showing you but when hitting shots you don't want to cross your "tracking" lines you want to stay on them. That is why you see the pros hit some wierd shots on TV that you think to your self "Why didn't they just xxx, why did they put inside english and go 2 rails" etc. It gives them the most options on any shot. Just my 2 cents.

Chris
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Looks like you got lucky and the guy you played is answering the question:sorry::D
 
Sounds like hes referring to the cue balls path, but hes putting a term to it that is not part of the vocabulary. There are a ton of D players out there that like to act like they are big shot players.... :grin:
Chuck
 
Huh? I'm fanibulating the shot this way. What? You've never heard of fanibulating? You don't know how to fanibulate? HAHA, Wow, OMGzer!
 
LOL, there are no tracking lines in the game I play, so i guess the guy was just being dumb. He was probably 10. :)

P.S. Can anyone recommend a good Virtual Pool Game that works on a Mac? I used to play PoolStars, but they merged with some other game which is Windows only, and sucks :)
 
The original poster said he was playing pool online, the tracking lines were probably like Virtual Pool 3's that tells you the exact path the balls will go. Either that or maybe another term for the tangent line.
 
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