Maybe Magic Pro Rack shouldn't be for winner break

Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
Maybe the Magic Pro 9/10-ball rack shouldn't be used in a winners break format,...on a BB anyhow. This morning all my breaking practice in 9-ball came together. I made 6 on the break, then 5, then 7 ( a first for me), then a few 2's and 3's and then another 5. I never broke any harder than slo-med speed. I have the Ridgeback Rails on a Valley and if you break too hard chances are 50/50% the wing ball gets rejected unless center pocket. I really wish they had Valley BB tournaments in the Tampa area.
I got this break down from watching Donny Mills on TAR about 50 times...at least lol. Now I need to watch Corey's 10-ball break. Johnnyt
 
I'm going to try it on Diamond 7' next week and see how I break on that. Believe it or not I had only a jump-shot for the first shot after the 7 on the break...which I missed badly. Johnnyt
 
haha that rack is disgusting huh? It's amazing how once you get consistent results, you can actually "steer" balls into the holes with little changes. If you get to a tournament I'm sure they won't let you use it after a few of those 5-ball breaks. They'll say it's cheating somehow.

Worse is if you use it and some other guy makes 5 every time and leaves the same 4 ball runout every time. O_O
 
A friend brought one into the pool a couple of weeks ago.

"There's only one problem with it..." he said.

"Let me guess...the wing ball is dead, just like the Sardo"

He set up a nine ball rack, and of course the wing ball smacked the back of the corner pocket. I honestly think Mills, Shane, or one of the Filipinos might run a 20 pack given a dead wing ball guaranteed every break.
 
bud green said:
A friend brought one into the pool a couple of weeks ago.

"There's only one problem with it..." he said.

"Let me guess...the wing ball is dead, just like the Sardo"

He set up a nine ball rack, and of course the wing ball smacked the back of the corner pocket. I honestly think Mills, Shane, or one of the Filipinos might run a 20 pack given a dead wing ball guaranteed every break.
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I agree that they probably could run a 20 once they get use to it. When I park the QB in the middle of the table I almost always runout even if I just make 2 or 3. Once you get the break down with the Majic Rack and they let you use it, if they give you the breaks with it, most strong B's and up would be the favorite against anyone IMO. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Maybe the Magic Pro 9/10-ball rack shouldn't be used in a winners break format,...on a BB anyhow. This morning all my breaking practice in 9-ball came together. I made 6 on the break, then 5, then 7 ( a first for me), then a few 2's and 3's and then another 5. I never broke any harder than slo-med speed. I have the Ridgeback Rails on a Valley and if you break too hard chances are 50/50% the wing ball gets rejected unless center pocket. I really wish they had Valley BB tournaments in the Tampa area.
I got this break down from watching Donny Mills on TAR about 50 times...at least lol. Now I need to watch Corey's 10-ball break. Johnnyt
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Good luck with that. If you ever figure out the exact millimeter to which he spots that ball, please do us all a favor and let us know, because good gravy, it works. I watched a video of him playing Dennis Hatch maybe, and he took 30-45 seconds to spot the ball before each rack he broke. And his success rate was crazy good.
 
I was going to buy one of these racks because Im so sick of being at pool halls and spending a 30-60 seconds, or more to rack the balls properly...In most cases they still don't rack tight.


More so after reading this post, I realize you truly need that inconsistency when playing a run out player. Unless as someone stated, its a alternate break rule.

Do you guys actually carry these racks with you when you go out to other halls?
 
they make 9ball more pathetic then it already is.

At the UBTC the people i saw using them(not everyone) were breaking in 2-3 everytime. wingball always.

Wasn't even fun to watch.
 
Donny was getting the wing ball every time in TAR17, but he was not running out every time. Wing ball doesn't = automatic out, even if a second ball happens to drop. There's still enough randomness to keep it challenging. I think the highest package I saw was 6.

I noticed he seemed to fall thin on the 1 in the corner a lot, and probably he's tried different things to prevent that. I think to play the break soft you sort of have to settle for that problem, because the CB and 1b are travelling about the same distance.

I can't say for sure about Corey's 10b break but I copied shane's ball placement and got the balls very close to the side every time. I managed to drop one maybe 40%. The placement that worked for me (which may vary table to table) was about 1 ball's width of air between the CB and the edge of the box.

John: yes, I do carry it to other pool halls. It's very light. It's like carrying in a sheet of paper (though I keep it in the cardboard backed cellophane sleeve it came in).

You shouldn't think of it like relying on the rack to get good breaks. You're relying on it to get a fair rack. The good breaks happen automatically on a fair rack because that's just the way the 9b diamond-shaped rack is. Donny was getting his 70 wing balls in a row without it (using a Delta-13). I would rather have a fair rack and let the best player win than have an unfair rack with little gaps and leave more to chance.
 
Magic rack

Maybe just decide you dont like nine ball . When I practice I get the newest set a good rack and take my time racking the balls . I make the wing just as often as with the magic rack . When I play someone else thy either dont know how important the rack is , are lazy , or trying to get an unfair advantage . I do not have much time in , playing ten ball , maybe it is a more skillfull game but I grew up playing nine ball and I like it . The magic rack just makes my opponent more honest or cures there laziness .
 
CreeDo said:
Donny was getting the wing ball every time in TAR17, but he was not running out every time. Wing ball doesn't = automatic out, even if a second ball happens to drop. There's still enough randomness to keep it challenging. I think the highest package I saw was 6.

I noticed he seemed to fall thin on the 1 in the corner a lot, and probably he's tried different things to prevent that. I think to play the break soft you sort of have to settle for that problem, because the CB and 1b are travelling about the same distance.

I can't say for sure about Corey's 10b break but I copied shane's ball placement and got the balls very close to the side every time. I managed to drop one maybe 40%. The placement that worked for me (which may vary table to table) was about 1 ball's width of air between the CB and the edge of the box.

John: yes, I do carry it to other pool halls. It's very light. It's like carrying in a sheet of paper (though I keep it in the cardboard backed cellophane sleeve it came in).

You shouldn't think of it like relying on the rack to get good breaks. You're relying on it to get a fair rack. The good breaks happen automatically on a fair rack because that's just the way the 9b diamond-shaped rack is. Donny was getting his 70 wing balls in a row without it (using a Delta-13). I would rather have a fair rack and let the best player win than have an unfair rack with little gaps and leave more to chance.
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VERY well said. Greenies for you. People keep complaining that the Magic Rack gives an unfair advantage since the wing ball tends to go more often than not. What people fail to realize is that is a result of a perfect rack, not some kind of device or crutch people should fall back on to play better. It's consistent, and it's fair. 'Nuff said.
 
Maybe someone should come out with "The Un-magic Rack". Have a little space between each ball...yeah, that's the ticket:rolleyes:. Johnnyt

PS:9-ball rules say rack the balls as tight as posibble.
 
CreeDo said:
You shouldn't think of it like relying on the rack to get good breaks. You're relying on it to get a fair rack. The good breaks happen automatically on a fair rack because that's just the way the 9b diamond-shaped rack is. Donny was getting his 70 wing balls in a row without it (using a Delta-13). I would rather have a fair rack and let the best player win than have an unfair rack with little gaps and leave more to chance.
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This little paragraph is pure gold. :thumbup:
 
Good stuff Creedo. :thumbup:

I still like 9 ball with the Pro Magic Rack. Yes, a perfect rack makes this game easier. But it does so for all players. Getting and keeping control of the table is the name of this game. Ice your opponent!

In my circles using Magic Rack, I see more people playing 10 ball because they don't like being iced in 9 ball. To each his own... I like both 9 and 10 ball and Magic Rack really accentuates the differences.
 
CreeDo said:
Donny was getting the wing ball every time in TAR17, but he was not running out every time. Wing ball doesn't = automatic out, even if a second ball happens to drop. There's still enough randomness to keep it challenging. I think the highest package I saw was 6.

I noticed he seemed to fall thin on the 1 in the corner a lot, and probably he's tried different things to prevent that. I think to play the break soft you sort of have to settle for that problem, because the CB and 1b are travelling about the same distance.

I can't say for sure about Corey's 10b break but I copied shane's ball placement and got the balls very close to the side every time. I managed to drop one maybe 40%. The placement that worked for me (which may vary table to table) was about 1 ball's width of air between the CB and the edge of the box.

John: yes, I do carry it to other pool halls. It's very light. It's like carrying in a sheet of paper (though I keep it in the cardboard backed cellophane sleeve it came in).

You shouldn't think of it like relying on the rack to get good breaks. You're relying on it to get a fair rack. The good breaks happen automatically on a fair rack because that's just the way the 9b diamond-shaped rack is. Donny was getting his 70 wing balls in a row without it (using a Delta-13). I would rather have a fair rack and let the best player win than have an unfair rack with little gaps and leave more to chance.
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Priceless qoute... :thumbup"
 
This is probably old news or a rumor, but I thought the larger pro tournaments quit using the Sardo rack...For the very reason that "it racked the balls perfectly" and obviously guys figured out how to make a ball every single time.

Im all about good tight racks and in less time. Im not sure how I feel about bringing my own rack with me to ensure I get those "perfect" racks. Although the magic rack is so cheap and thin, you can keep it in your car visor.
 
John Daminato said:
This is probably old news or a rumor, but I thought the larger pro tournaments quit using the Sardo rack...For the very reason that "it racked the balls perfectly" and obviously guys figured out how to make a ball every single time.

Im all about good tight racks and in less time. Im not sure how I feel about bringing my own rack with me to ensure I get those "perfect" racks. Although the magic rack is so cheap and thin, you can keep it in your car visor.
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To be totally honest, I think the only reason the pro tours used it in the first place was because Sardo was throwing money at them like crazy. In my opinion, the Sardo rack isn't worth the box it's shipped in.
 
You know what I've noticed that's funny? I'm watching the newest euro straight pool championships and theyuse NO rack. The opposing player just rolls the first two balls up and lightly grips them until they fall into place, then the next row, and then the next, and so on. It doesn't take as long as you'd think.

I assume they're using tapped tables. But I didn't see any funny rolls. I wonder how the players like it?

I never heard of the idea that they quit using the sardo cuz it racks "too good" lol. I can see big tournaments using something like a sardo rather than the magic ball rack because it's expensive and impressive looking while the MBR looks like something you picked up at Staples. But the MBR works great. There's no reason not to drop 10 bucks on one. If you get sick of making the wing ball, try imitating donny's soft break. The soft cut and low outside spin seemed to twist it off course just enough for a miss on several of my breaks.
 
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