Try breaking this 9-ball Rack! Solves pattern layout.

336Robin

Multiverse Operative
Silver Member
I was playing around with a 10-ball rack yesterday and tried this.

Guaranteed to solve same patterns after the rack!




9ballrack.jpg
 

336Robin

Multiverse Operative
Silver Member
I shot this several ways and nearly all the racks there was a problem to solve. I shot the cue ball to replace where the head ball used to be.
I hit it a little to one side. I stunned the cue ball, drew the cue ball and hit hard with a little top. Virtually every time there was a problem to solve.
 

JC

Coos Cues
Shouldn't the one ball be up front in one of those spots to allow for a legal break?
 

336Robin

Multiverse Operative
Silver Member
Shouldn't the one ball be up front in one of those spots to allow for a legal break?

The current rules. It might be. I was trying to find a rack and a racking pattern that would stop the rack stringing and making the break the
most important shot in pool.
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The current rules. It might be. I was trying to find a rack and a racking pattern that would stop the rack stringing and making the break the
most important shot in pool.

So why not just play 10 ball? 9 ball is it's own thing, when players thing it's no good, there is 10 ball to play that does away from many (personal idea) negatives like wired balls or slop counting. If we try to change 9 ball to be more like 10 ball, what's the point of that instead of just playing 10 ball.

The break will always be important at the higher skill levels, even in a game like one pocket a good break can create an advantage, same thing in straight pool. You can't take away break skill from being a large factor in pool, like the tee shot in golf. Did they change the rules when Tiger and others started to hit constant 300 yards with good accuracy? There is a benefit to playing white in chess, to be on the pole in car racing, etc... In pool it's the break.
 

336Robin

Multiverse Operative
Silver Member
So why not just play 10 ball? 9 ball is it's own thing, when players thing it's no good, there is 10 ball to play that does away from many (personal idea) negatives like wired balls or slop counting. If we try to change 9 ball to be more like 10 ball, what's the point of that instead of just playing 10 ball.

The break will always be important at the higher skill levels, even in a game like one pocket a good break can create an advantage, same thing in straight pool. You can't take away break skill from being a large factor in pool, like the tee shot in golf. Did they change the rules when Tiger and others started to hit constant 300 yards with good accuracy? There is a benefit to playing white in chess, to be on the pole in car racing, etc... In pool it's the break.

I wasn't interested in anything other than formulating a different break. I don't make the rules anyway so....what's the point right?

If you look at the men vs. the women its the physical differences of strength and maybe size that separates them. When it comes down
to finesse and skill a break that equalizes the play some rather than a spot being given might be a consideration instead of a spot.

Its just me experimenting. Pool will go on just like it always has. Don't fear the breaker! lol
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I wasn't interested in anything other than formulating a different break. I don't make the rules anyway so....what's the point right?

If you look at the men vs. the women its the physical differences of strength and maybe size that separates them. When it comes down
to finesse and skill a break that equalizes the play some rather than a spot being given might be a consideration instead of a spot.

Its just me experimenting. Pool will go on just like it always has. Don't fear the breaker! lol
How about racking it sideways with the 1 still in the front, then 9 directly behind it.
I am actually going to try this and see how it opens up LOL

side9.jpg
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What makes you think the proposed rack eliminates racking problems?

It only does so until a player figures out the idiosyncrasies of the arrangement- wired balls/ where they go, etc...- and then we are right back to where we started.

Pool: a game that creates incentive to not get better.
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
The racking problem has already solved in competition. Tight pockets, referee racks with the triangle. Rack your own is already on death row, and as far as I'm concerned, it can't die fast enough. If you think anyone can overpower the table playing this way, re-watch the 2021 World Pool Masters, a candidate for the best tournament ever staged.

I don't mind 10-ball, as long as it's not call shot. Played Texas Express, as it is at the Derby City Bigfoot Challenge, 10-ball is a great game. With call shot, it's a step down from nine ball. I have always and will always believe that call shot, which required a referee to announce the shooters intent before every single shot, was a significant factor in prompting the end of the straight pool era nearly forty years ago. No call shot game should ever replace nine ball. Snooker, a far more difficult game than pool, does not require calling your shot, so why on earth do we need it in pool?
 
Last edited:

336Robin

Multiverse Operative
Silver Member
The racking problem has already solved in competition. Tight pockets, referee racks with the triangle. Rack your own is already on death row, and as far as I'm concerned, it can't die fast enough. If you think anyone can overpower the table playing this way, re-watch the 2021 World Pool Masters, a candidate for the best tournament ever staged.

I don't mind 10-ball, as long as it's not call shot. Played Texas Express, as it is at the Derby City Bigfoot Challenge, 10-ball is a great game. With call shot, it's a step down from nine ball. I have always and will always believe that call shot, which required a referee to announce the shooters intent before every single shot, was a significant factor in prompting the end of the straight pool era nearly forty years ago. No call shot game should ever replace nine ball. Snooker, a far more difficult game than pool, does not require calling your shot, so why on earth do we need it in pool?

I haven't watched a lot of Pool the last year because I didn't want to be tempted to run to the room during the height of covid here.

How many racks get run in 9 vs. 10 ball when someone realizes where to break from and how to hold their ball in the middle of the table?
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
I haven't watched a lot of Pool the last year because I didn't want to be tempted to run to the room during the height of covid here.

How many racks get run in 9 vs. 10 ball when someone realizes where to break from and how to hold their ball in the middle of the table?
Not many racks are run on either if there is a neutral racker and the table is set up in a way that befits the world's best players.

In the qualifying rounds at the World Pool Championships, which was 9-ball, the loose equipment had everyone putting together packages, and it randomized the results, making the elite far more vulnerable than is usually the case. Contrastingly, the World Pool Masters 9-Ball was a 24 player single elimination format in which the equipment was tough, so it took 23 matches to cut the field down to its champion, Alex Kazakis. In those 23 matches, there was not a single four pack run by anyone, and just a few three packs.

Everyone got to shoot at the World Pool Masters, with the tough equipment ensuring that the cream would rise to the top, and the final four had an average Fargo of 818. At the World Pool Championship. the final four had an average Fargo of just 788, a huge drop in quality that made the last part of the event less memorable.
 
Last edited:

336Robin

Multiverse Operative
Silver Member
I love a guy that has a answer so thank you Stu.

I always get a lot from your perspective.


Not many racks are ruin on either if there is a neutral racker and the table is set up in a way that befits the world's best players.

In the qualifying rounds at the World Pool Championships, which was 9-ball, the loose equipment had everyone putting together packages, and it randomized the results, making the elite far more vulnerable than is usually the case. Contrastingly, the World Pool Masters 9-Ball was a 24 player single elimination format in which the equipment was tough, so it took 23 matches to cut the field down to its champion, Alex Kazakis. In those 23 matches, there was not a single four pack run by anyone, and just a few three packs.

Everyone got to shoot at the World Pool Masters, with the tough equipment ensuring that the cream would rise to the top, and the final four had an average Fargo of 818. At the World Pool Championship. the final four had an average Fargo of just 788, a huge drop in quality that made the last part of the event less memorable.
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Not many racks are ruin on either if there is a neutral racker and the table is set up in a way that befits the world's best players.

In the qualifying rounds at the World Pool Championships, which was 9-ball, the loose equipment had everyone putting together packages, and it randomized the results, making the elite far more vulnerable than is usually the case. Contrastingly, the World Pool Masters 9-Ball was a 24 player single elimination format in which the equipment was tough, so it took 23 matches to cut the field down to its champion, Alex Kazakis. In those 23 matches, there was not a single four pack run by anyone, and just a few three packs.

Everyone got to shoot at the World Pool Masters, with the tough equipment ensuring that the cream would rise to the top, and the final four had an average Fargo of 818. At the World Pool Championship. the final four had an average Fargo of just 788, a huge drop in quality that made the last part of the event less memorable.
Good stuff there, Mr...as always.

You don't like the looser equipment's effect of making it a free-for-all though. I think I feel otherwise. I'd like to think anyone in the final 16 or even 32 could win.

Irrespective of the fargo #s involved, the last few rounds are always a battle, imo.
 

336Robin

Multiverse Operative
Silver Member
Good stuff there, Mr...as always.

You don't like the looser equipment's effect of making it a free-for-all though. I think I feel otherwise. I'd like to think anyone in the final 16 or even 32 could win.

Irrespective of the fargo #s involved, the last few rounds are always a battle, imo.

When it comes down to the last of a tournament what would you rather see?

Someone break and run 7 racks or would you rather see them fight for it a rack and at time?

There are two perspectives here. There are some who want to watch racks run and there are those that like to see it more of a contest
and not a breaking contest of wired balls for 9 ball or show of sheer strength and straight stroke for 10-ball. Should the break be the
handicapper of pool skill?
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
When it comes down to the last of a tournament what would you rather see?

Someone break and run 7 racks or would you rather see them fight for it a rack and at time?

There are two perspectives here. There are some who want to watch racks run and there are those that like to see it more of a contest
and not a breaking contest of wired balls for 9 ball or show of sheer strength and straight stroke for 10-ball. Should the break be the
handicapper of pool skill?
Nice post, Robin. I think there is a little more to it, however, because easy equipment not only allows a long package, but it devalues the skills of the straighter shooter, and I don't believe that's good for the game. In my opinion, easy equipment levels the playing field in a way that, too often, obstructs the cream from rising to the top, and that's just how it went at the recent World Pool Championships, in which far too many of the elite fell to players that shouldn't beat them.

If done on tough equipment, I'd love to see a seven pack, but otherwise it's not what I'm buying a ticket to watch. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Any event played on loose tables should use alternate break.
 
Top