Magic Rack + Sardo Rack, we don't need them

Paul Schofield

Paul Schofield

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Let's say the Sardo Rack and the Magic Rack are the standard because they give us perfect frozen racks every time, and as a result, the wing ball goes in 90% of the time. We are demanding a perfect rack and if we don't make the wing ball (or some other ball in 10-ball), we feel cheated. We can easily fix everything. Let's just pretend we are all using them! That's right! After all, we are entitled to a perfect rack resulting in a guaranteed ball on the break. Think through it and take the next step. We don't need these racks at all. Really! Let's all just pretend we make a ball on the break because, after all, we are supposed to if the balls are racked properly. With "breaker shoots after a legal break", everyone is made whole every time. It's fixed. We don't need the gadgets. The gadgets could fail but the rule would not.

I am challenging the concept that these racks serve a useful purpose. I am saying that there is a more sensible solution. I am not making a joke.
 
Paul Schofield said:
Let's say the Sardo Rack and the Magic Rack are the standard because they give us perfect frozen racks every time, and as a result, the wing ball goes in 90% of the time. We are demanding a perfect rack and if we don't make the wing ball (or some other ball in 10-ball), we feel cheated. We can easily fix everything. Let's just pretend we are all using them! That's right! After all, we are entitled to a perfect rack resulting in a guaranteed ball on the break. Think through it and take the next step. We don't need these racks at all. Really! Let's all just pretend we make a ball on the break because, after all, we are supposed to if the balls are racked properly. With "breaker shoots after a legal break", everyone is made whole every time. It's fixed. We don't need the gadgets. The gadgets could fail but the rule would not.

I am challenging the concept that these racks serve a useful purpose. I am saying that there is a more sensible solution. I am not making a joke.
Click to expand...

you should have
 
Sitting here at the open watching Higgins. We need another thread about this?

Enough already.

Paul contact mike zuglin of the joss tour and Barry of us open fame. If you can convince them to change their format then I will take you off ignore.
 
Dude, seriously - how many threads are you going to start standing on this soapbox?

We get it, you dont like the break, you think you have a fix for the game of 9-ball. That's great. Most people don't agree; please stop shoving it down our throats and you might get less "get the F outta my face with this S" responses.
 
There's one particular thing that I'm concerned about. If it's rack your own and the opponent isn't allowed to inspect the rack, the rack might be often still too loose on the bottom and in 9-ball the 9-ball will go towards either corner pocket. Now, I understand that the money ball is spotted if it goes, but the trouble is that in these situations it often doesn't go, but instead stays close to either corner pocket. It makes a lot of combinations and caroms on the 9-ball available.

I say this because I vividly remember those days when I played 9-ball in dodgy clubs where the equipment was poor and the opponents made sloppy racks. The nine would go or it would stay near the corner pocket.

These "no conflict" rules then still reward making racks where the bottom of the rack is loose. That's why I think we need some racking method that guarantees a good rack. Other than that, I think these rules are a good idea. I don't know whether they will ever gain popularity, but I for one think they are worth trying out at least.

One final point: I think you've misunderstood the point of things like magic rack. The idea is not to get everyone make the wing ball, that's just the side-effect of having a perfect rack every time and racking so that the one ball is on the spot. It's an exploitation of the configuration that some players found out (Corey Deuel perhaps?)

What players want is a reliable racking process, ie. that everyone gets the same rack, but which doesn't have a easy soft-break that guarantees that you make a ball. I don't know if it's possible, but it's not the intention that everyone should be able to make the wing ball in 9-ball. The ideal thing would be that everyone had a perfect rack every time and that you'd have to break real hard.
 
Weird- I don't know where the 9b went (but it wasn't pocketed on the break!), but on the first, it was at foot end of the first pic and on the spot for the 2nd.
 
Tony_in_MD said:
Paul contact mike zuglin of the joss tour and Barry of us open fame.
Click to expand...

My concern is not zuglan or barry. They do what they do.

I have been in business 32 years. If I do what everybody else does, I am out of business. I contiunue to press because every so often, someone comes up with a really smart idea. And every once in a while someone will bring something up that I did not realize. I press for that and I look for that.

I will continue to do so. You don't need to read it. I don't want or need people to agree with me.

As a footnote: I really do like the break in 8, 9, and 10 ball.
 
Last edited:
Racking,racking,racking..............racking my brains. lol
Okay.....here's an idea.........since one complaint is mechanics slugging a rack and the opposite complaint that the perfect rack mechanisms nearly insure a ball made on the break and one solution that falls short of solving the problem is rack your own............how about a rack like magic rack that is made to rack a slugged rack everytime and use rack your own ????

Would this work???:grin-square:
 
One of my employees showed up at the pool room with a magic rack. He proceeded to show me a "trick shot" - wing ball in the corner... EVERY TIME!
 
The way you keep creating more threads covering the same stuff, I figured you wanted some perspectives of two men who have run successful events.
 
Paul, you need to stop posting about racks. Whenever I see your name it has something to do with the rack. From what I read, I think you are just promoting the "no conflict rules." You might change some peoles minds but not the majority. Please stop posting about rack problems and making a ball to control the table; its just getting old.

Maybe you should post something about aiming systems?
 
You sorta contradicted yourself. You said the racks should be racked properly, yet you don't want a rack that is frozen everytime (magic rack). Then that means normal racking isn't proper because you cant get the balls to be frozen each time and the racks will be inconsistent through out the game.

There should be a statistic thing done. Get some guy to rack 1000 racks with the magic rack, and get a machine to break and see how often the balls that are supposed to go in gets in. If it is a high percentage, then it shouldn't be a bad thing.
 
Paul Schofield said:
Let's say the Sardo Rack and the Magic Rack are the standard because they give us perfect frozen racks every time, and as a result, the wing ball goes in 90% of the time. We are demanding a perfect rack and if we don't make the wing ball (or some other ball in 10-ball), we feel cheated. We can easily fix everything. Let's just pretend we are all using them! That's right! After all, we are entitled to a perfect rack resulting in a guaranteed ball on the break. Think through it and take the next step. We don't need these racks at all. Really! Let's all just pretend we make a ball on the break because, after all, we are supposed to if the balls are racked properly. With "breaker shoots after a legal break", everyone is made whole every time. It's fixed. We don't need the gadgets. The gadgets could fail but the rule would not.

I am challenging the concept that these racks serve a useful purpose. I am saying that there is a more sensible solution. I am not making a joke.
Click to expand...




Ok! Lets just throw all the balls on the table and shoot whereever the cueball lies. Nuff said! LOL!!!:grin:
 
There are contradictions everywhere in his posts.

When I get back home I will list them all. Doing this on a phone is painful.

vincentwu817 said:
You sorta contradicted yourself. You said the racks should be racked properly, yet you don't want a rack that is frozen everytime (magic rack). Then that means normal racking isn't proper because you cant get the balls to be frozen each time and the racks will be inconsistent through out the game.

There should be a statistic thing done. Get some guy to rack 1000 racks with the magic rack, and get a machine to break and see how often the balls that are supposed to go in gets in. If it is a high percentage, then it shouldn't be a bad thing.
Click to expand...
 
Lets rack 15 balls in random order. Pick up 10-15 after the break. If you made a ball then you keep going. Hey, you really gotta break hard then!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top