This whole thing about being able to rack a little high or low on the spot is complete BS garbage and anyone peddling that is ignorant or a con man. Straight pool requires the rack outline be drawn on the table in order to see if break balls are in the rack area. The rack can only go within that drawn outline. Case closed!Schmidt has also told (wrote it to me) me the same thing as has one other 14.1 aficionado.
I was told it’s a “gray area”.
So in other words, they do rack high, rack low.
Which is why Schmidt’s 626 has come into question.
LolNeither the BCA rule page, nor its (wpa,) definitions page define foot spot as a miniscule point.
In reality, racking areas change shape as a result of use and time. It may be impossible to rack the balls on exactly the same spot today or tomorrow.
If head balls were required to be on that tiny intersection point, it would be extremely difficult to comply with this in the real world.
The WPA definition of the foot spot is "where the foot string and the long string meet." And the "strings" are said to be lines. In geometry, lines have no thickness. Of course, the strings drawn on the table have to have some width or thickness in order to be seen. Two lines meet at a point -- a specific location, not just somewhere close to where the lines meet.Neither the BCA rule page, nor its (wpa,) definitions page define foot spot as a miniscule point.
In reality, racking areas change shape as a result of use and time. It may be impossible to rack the balls on exactly the same spot today or tomorrow.
If head balls were required to be on that tiny intersection point, it would be extremely difficult to comply with this in the real world.
This whole thing about being able to rack a little high or low on the spot is complete BS garbage and anyone peddling that is ignorant or a con man. Straight pool requires the rack outline be drawn on the table in order to see if break balls are in the rack area. The rack can only go within that drawn outline. Case closed!
Let's just hope it covers all the salient points. Otherwise, we could still see some maneuvering.Look on the bright side for all of this drama the last few years.
There will be fully documented rules and equipment criteria for future exhibition record attempts once the BCA publication comes out.
All a TD, sponsors have to worry about then is following it to the letter.
These spots are notoriously difficult to work with. They peel up and get in the way, and some times they make racking MORE difficult, rather than less. I would understand removing it, in normal cases, but in this particular case I'd have to be a lot more sceptical of the motivation. Also, the problems with the spot usually materializes much later in its lifespan.
Anyway, a lot can be said about JS' ethics and track record based on earlier runs, but very little can be said about the previous world record run, until it can be properly reviewed by unbiased experts. I mean unbiased, too, not people with personal grievances, and preferably not ancient hottub salesmen with the visual acuities of concussed hedgehogs. The best thing would be to release the video, if he has nothing to hide. Its value is now mostly gone, anyways. For all I know, it may be perfectly legitimate. Just because he has behaved <ahem> questionably in some cases doesn't mean he did so on this occation. One of Azb's most trusted and knowledgeable members has signed off on this run, saying he could see no fouls or other infractions. That does count for something, quite a lot for me, personally. It's maybe not enough now, that suspicions have arisen, but it certainly merits some caution in claiming shenanigans.
This whole thing about being able to rack a little high or low on the spot is complete BS garbage and anyone peddling that is ignorant or a con man. Straight pool requires the rack outline be drawn on the table in order to see if break balls are in the rack area. The rack can only go within that drawn outline. Case closed!
The outline drawn on the table should match the rack being used. I don't think that's too much to ask for a world record setting run. Otherwise, what's the point?I would agree with you as a general statement. However the rack john is using is totally different from the drawn outline for a rack. Either they drew around the inside of that very thick rack or marked the table using another rack. The outline still serves the same purposes including positioning the rack without an apex ball. It might require a little trial and error since the line may be hidden by this thicker rack. When you remove the rack it is very easy to see if the balls are in place properly or not. It was very obvious that this one rack of balls was moved to gain unfair advantage. It would seem to be unsportsmanlike and cause for ending that high run attempt at the least.
Nowhere in the rules or the equipment specifications is any "spot sticker" mentioned. It is not part of the game, according to the rules.
The foot spot is a single point without breadth. It is the intersection of the long string and the foot string. (See the definition in the rules, here: https://wpapool.com/rules-of-play/#Definitions )
That having been said.... On tables with old cloth and for games with smash breaks like eight ball and nine ball, the foot spot often has a crater due to the head ball being repeated struck into the cloth on break shots. This often makes it hard to get a tight rack with a triangle. The head ball keeps rolling into the crater and away from the rest of the rack leaving a gap. The "right" way to fix that problem is to take off the sticker, fill the dent in the cloth very carefully with something, such as a glue/lint mixture, and putting a new sticker on.
Instead of fixing the crater, the standard way to deal with the problem is to move the rack up the table a little so the head ball is tight. Often it ends up on the edge of the crater pressed back against the next two balls. But that is just a stop-gap measure and not in the rule book. Anyone who quotes such a rule might be referring to a tournament or event on old cloth where the TD said, "It's OK to push the rack forward a little to get it tight," but I have never seen a written rule allowing this.
I think the practice of pushing the rack forward tends to make the crater slowly walk up the table. I've seen tables where you had to rack a quarter-inch high.
I've seen the "rule" mentioned on AZB but never in print. I'm pretty sure it has never been a part of the written rules. It may have been in the add-on rules for some specific event or series in order to deal with the crater/trough issue.Bob, I was reading some rules awhile back, I don't even remember if they applied to straight pool. These rules said the head ball had to be positioned somewhere on the foot spot sticker. I remember this because it struck me as odd at the time. Can you recall any set of rules like that? ...
Technically Jayson DID NOT break the record live on camera. And Bobby didn't make the run freely available for everyone to watch as he insinuated that he would.To test this grey area theory out, he should try it in the next 14.1 tournament he plays in. I’m sure his opponent will accept that explanation.
I love that documentary. Someone should totally do this.
If Jayson weren’t already an established top player it would even be a similar premise. Dude sets a high run behind closed doors and then new guy breaks record on live on camera.
When I played in Europe the racks were always marked out on the table. The balls were always racked according to the rack outline and nowhere else.The WPA definition of the foot spot is "where the foot string and the long string meet." And the "strings" are said to be lines. In geometry, lines have no thickness. Of course, the strings drawn on the table have to have some width or thickness in order to be seen. Two lines meet at a point -- a specific location, not just somewhere close to where the lines meet.
The definition of the foot spot in the CSI Rules actually calls it a point: "The point at which the long string and the foot string intersect."
What you say about the practical difficulty of always racking the head ball on the foot spot is certainly true. So liberties are sometimes taken by moving the rack slightly to get the balls tight. But in 14.1 "the outline of a triangle" is to be drawn on the table regardless of what method is being used to actually rack the balls -- a triangle, gummed doughnuts, tapped dimples, a template, or anything else. The rack used to draw that outline would place the apex ball directly on the intersection of the foot and long strings, and consistent racking locations would result. To think that it would be okay to shift the rack forward or backward to help the shooter in professional high-run attempts is absurd. But for anyone who wants to do that, you have to pick the right gummed spot; they are not all the same size. The Tefco Master Spots are only 1¼" in diameter. The Simonis Table Spots are a little better at 1 3/8" in diameter. But the AtLargeSuper14.1 Spots are 6" in diameter, and guaranteed to raise your personal high run within the next 3,000 attempts.
That is how we did it in Germany. We played 14.1 in league and in many tournaments. There is no ambiguity in where the balls are racked in 14.1 if the table is properly marked.This whole thing about being able to rack a little high or low on the spot is complete BS garbage and anyone peddling that is ignorant or a con man. Straight pool requires the rack outline be drawn on the table in order to see if break balls are in the rack area. The rack can only go within that drawn outline. Case closed!
There is no head ball in 14.1 except the opening break shot with an opponent. The table John was playing on had brand new cloth and the spot doesn't wear out for a long time and when it does after several months then just replace it. The rack should be placed exactly in the same place every time, simply put just follow the outline. The Balls were racked high to make room for the break ball and that is 100% cheating.Nowhere in the rules or the equipment specifications is any "spot sticker" mentioned. It is not part of the game, according to the rules.
The foot spot is a single point without breadth. It is the intersection of the long string and the foot string. (See the definition in the rules, here: https://wpapool.com/rules-of-play/#Definitions )
That having been said.... On tables with old cloth and for games with smash breaks like eight ball and nine ball, the foot spot often has a crater due to the head ball being repeatedly struck into the cloth on break shots. This often makes it hard to get a tight rack with a triangle. The head ball keeps rolling into the crater and away from the rest of the rack leaving a gap. The "right" way to fix that problem is to take off the sticker, fill the dent in the cloth very carefully with something, such as a glue/lint mixture, and put a new sticker on.
Instead of fixing the crater, the standard way to deal with the problem is to move the rack up the table a little so the head ball is tight. Often it ends up on the edge of the crater pressed back against the next two balls. But that is just a stop-gap measure and not in the rule book. Anyone who quotes such a rule might be referring to a tournament or event on old cloth where the TD said, "It's OK to push the rack forward a little to get it tight," but I have never seen a written rule allowing this.
I think the practice of pushing the rack forward tends to make the crater slowly walk up the table. I've seen tables where you had to rack a quarter-inch high.
He, js, had already fouled by picking a ball from the side pocket and testing for racked balls clearance by placing that ball onto the right side corner ball dot.
He then asked for the racked balls to be pushed upwards toward the kitchen to provide the clearance necessary to continue.
I watched until 3:30 am, until the FB feed shut down.Technically Jayson DID NOT break the record live on camera. And Bobby didn't make the run freely available for everyone to watch as he insinuated that he would.
Just keeping it accurate.