How long is too long to Rack..........?????????

I was wondering if a chess clock was ever implemented for pool? Say, each player gets 10 minutes per game. So, if your opponent takes too long, as in 12 minutes then he's punishing himself as he is taking out of his cumulative time, not yours. An incentive for the speedy player is, any significant time (rounded to minutes) could be accumulated for a single extension. Like rollover minutes on a cellphone plan.

Yesterday, one of my friends, who runs a neighborhood tournament had a match than ran until 10pm. The tournament normally finish up by 6pm. In the past, if the player is known to be slow, the tournament director will usually write the start time next to the match. Then follow up to check on the players if their scores haven't been turned in after an unusually long time. Unless its close, the TD may declare the match over and take the score as is.
 
randy maha said:
If a ref was being used in this tournament,they should have been called to rack and that's that.
Click to expand...

HI if a person tells me that the rack is no good and i rack them say 10 times. Then when he rack them i would tell him to rack the balls 30 times even though the rack is ok
 
randy maha said:
If a ref was being used in this tournament,they should have been called to rack and that's that.
Click to expand...


I agree here, if no Ref, then get a neautral racker!

As soon as you see your opponent f ing with the rack or taking way to much time, call over the TD!
 
Vanover could rack the balls perfect, all of them frozen.

Back then 70s 80s 90s everybody racked for their opponent, It would Take Tom 15 or less secounds to rack for his opponet.

But somehow or way Vanover had the best defence rack of anyone, nobody could make the 9 ball touch a rail!

Johnny Archer lost several hundred trying to make the 9 ball touch a rail with Tom racking.

Tom would never tell any of us his racking secrets!
 
When the old slow nap cloth was around racking tight was easier as the balls sunk in the cloth. With todays racetrack cloth there is nothing to sink into to hold the balls in place. It's like racking on glass. Johnnyt
 
All I know about freaking nine ball is going crazy for a tight rack is ridiculous. More balls go in when it isn't tight. Never could understand all that horse sheet.

I still like my idea of hanging a Chug - O - Luck cage over the table and simply spilling the balls on the table to start the game.
 
23 seconds with a magic rack, one minute 15 seconds with used balls and a Delta, 1:45 on an abused table with a wooden rack.

JMO. When the racker reaches that point of frustration of inabilty to get all balls to freeze, just take what you get and play. It's part of the game, nothing's perfect.

I saw Dechaine and ? at the Open 4 years ago play racking games for 20 minutes. Ref came over, tried racking. No one would agree on a rack. They refused to play on that brand new Diamond and waited a while to play on another.
 
Last edited:
I strongly suspect this was simply a sharking tactic. After all, the guy racking the balls had to endure the punishment as well and would likely not do so unless it was to his advantage.

If it was pervasive, I would have simply informed my opponent to get me at the bar when the rack was complete.

This would take away his incentive if it was sharking and still allow him to pursue "excellence" if indeed that's what he was looking for in a tight rack.
 
If I were down 9-3 in a race to 11 I would take about 4 days to rack. Every 3 minutes I would look up and ask "wanna split?".
 
If I played a guy and he took 12 minutes to rack the balls, that would have been my last game! :p
 
3andstop said:
All I know about freaking nine ball is going crazy for a tight rack is ridiculous. More balls go in when it isn't tight. Never could understand all that horse sheet.

I still like my idea of hanging a Chug - O - Luck cage over the table and simply spilling the balls on the table to start the game.
Click to expand...

There you go! When I used to gamble I didn't care how they racked them, even with the one ball loose! You could figure out how best to break any rack. I used to be able to read the rack real good before breaking. I could almost see the balls that would go.
 
Last edited:
jay helfert said:
There you go! When I used to gamble I didn't care how they racked them, even with the one ball loose! You could figure out how best to break any rack. I used to be able to read the rack well before breaking. I could almost see the balls that would go.
Click to expand...

Pros today want everything perfect...I'm surprised they all don't use perfect aim. Johnnyt
 
ctyhntr said:
I was wondering if a chess clock was ever implemented for pool? Say, each player gets 10 minutes per game. So, if your opponent takes too long, as in 12 minutes then he's punishing himself as he is taking out of his cumulative time, not yours. An incentive for the speedy player is, any significant time (rounded to minutes) could be accumulated for a single extension. Like rollover minutes on a cellphone plan.

Yesterday, one of my friends, who runs a neighborhood tournament had a match than ran until 10pm. The tournament normally finish up by 6pm. In the past, if the player is known to be slow, the tournament director will usually write the start time next to the match. Then follow up to check on the players if their scores haven't been turned in after an unusually long time. Unless its close, the TD may declare the match over and take the score as is.
Click to expand...

I think this would be a great idea for tournaments and leagues!!! A slow player/racker could use up his time allotted for a penalty. I dont understand why some people will study the table for 10 minutes, especially when there are only 3 or 4 balls on the table.:mad:
 
The chess clock is a great idea! lol. I play with a few guys that walk around looking at a four ball out like they are about change the pistons on a ferrari. Sometimes it bugs me at the house, but it really drives me crazy when they slow play a rack only when I'm way ahead, and then they don't actually hook me or get out anyway. One time a few years ago I actually went upstairs, microwaved a pizza, turned on the tv, and a little while later he comes looking. I asked him how a guy that has been playing the same balls the same way for 25 years could suddenly forget how? He took the hint and hasn't tried to slow play me since.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top