2024 AZB Ghost Challenge - Official Thread

JABSolstice said:
Great shooting! I am curious about the racking. I noticed it is the same order every time. Do you notice a difference in score when randomizing the rack?

I'm not asking to be contentious, you are a much better player than I am. I just wanted to hear your perspective.
Click to expand...
I didn't interpret your question as contentious. It's actually a good question. The rules permit pattern racking, and this pattern is very good for a ghost challenge. I think I got it from Corey or one of the other pros that pattern rack. I find that it can improve run out percentage slightly.

But, honestly, the template rack is more important because you can make the wing ball every time and are only playing 8-ball run outs. And you start with ball in hand, so getting shape on the second ball is pretty trivial. So you are only playing 6 ball shape at this point. Also, the 9 rarely moves, so you know exactly where it will be, so then maybe only a 5-ball game. It turns out I was making an extra ball almost every time this set (once two extra!), so playing 6/7 ball game with ball in hand AND the 9-ball where it started is very advantageous. And that would be the case without the pattern as well. It goes without saying, but needing to play good position on 5 balls is way easier than 9!

To me, the best part was holding it together for 10 games! That's 90 balls without missing [well, considering the break in that, but still... without the breaks, it was still 74 balls.]

-td


[edit: break results
Rack 1: 2 balls on break [1, 8 (wing ball)]
Rack 2: 1 ball on break [8]
Rack 3: 1 ball on break [8]
Rack 4: 2 balls on break [4, 8]
Rack 5: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 6: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 7: 2 balls on break [4, 8]
Rack 8: 2 balls on break [1, 4, 8]
Rack 9: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 10: 1 ball on break [8]]
 
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td873 said:
I didn't interpret your question as contentious. It's actually a good question. The rules permit pattern racking, and this pattern is very good for a ghost challenge. I think I got it from Corey or one of the other pros that pattern rack. I find that it can improve run out percentage slightly.

But, honestly, the template rack is more important because you can make the wing ball every time and are only playing 8-ball run outs. And you start with ball in hand, so getting shape on the second ball is pretty trivial. So you are only playing 6 ball shape at this point. Also, the 9 rarely moves, so you know exactly where it will be, so then maybe only a 5-ball game. It turns out I was making an extra ball almost every time this set (once two extra!), so playing 6/7 ball game with ball in hand AND the 9-ball where it started is very advantageous. And that would be the case without the pattern as well. It goes without saying, but needing to play good position on 5 balls is way easier than 9!

To me, the best part was holding it together for 10 games! That's 90 balls without missing [well, considering the break in that, but still... without the breaks, it was still 74 balls.]

-td


[edit: break results
Rack 1: 2 balls on break [1, 8 (wing ball)]
Rack 2: 1 ball on break [8]
Rack 3: 1 ball on break [8]
Rack 4: 2 balls on break [4, 8]
Rack 5: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 6: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 7: 2 balls on break [4, 8]
Rack 8: 2 balls on break [1, 4, 8]
Rack 9: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 10: 1 ball on break [8]]
Click to expand...
Awesome, thanks. I might give it a try. I always do 'blind' racking with a template and can consistently win, but not nearly 10-0. I'm going to give your pattern a try to see if I can see any difference there. I appreciate the detailed reply.
 
Flakeandrun said:
Getting a 4" Rasson?
Keen to hear your thoughts on them. I like them a lot.
Click to expand...
I now just installed Rasson. It is with 4 inch pockets.
It is playing very nicely.
Tested it 2 hours.

First rack on Rasson. New kamera. I Will also soon have Rode audio system for good sound.

1000001994.jpg
 
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Poolmanis said:
I now just installed Rasson. It is with 4 inch pockets.
It is playing very nicely.
Tested it 2 hours.View attachment 791420
Click to expand...
I like that the pockets are flush. A majority of the 4" tables at my hall were added for the Yuan8 open, and those pockets were adjusted from existing 4.25" rassons (about 15 of them), leaving them with a slight overhang. Maybe it's in my head, but the adjusted tables play tougher and more varied than the 10 tables that were fitted like this from the start. I much prefer the pockets that have a flush fitting like this.

Happy shooting! Look forward to seeing you conquer it. I just figured out how to use the camera APP in my local hall, so will try to figure out how to put up some ghost video myself soon hopefully. Just cannot use YouTube here, so need to find a place to upload the videos I take from there.
 
td873 said:
I didn't interpret your question as contentious. It's actually a good question. The rules permit pattern racking, and this pattern is very good for a ghost challenge. I think I got it from Corey or one of the other pros that pattern rack. I find that it can improve run out percentage slightly.

But, honestly, the template rack is more important because you can make the wing ball every time and are only playing 8-ball run outs. And you start with ball in hand, so getting shape on the second ball is pretty trivial. So you are only playing 6 ball shape at this point. Also, the 9 rarely moves, so you know exactly where it will be, so then maybe only a 5-ball game. It turns out I was making an extra ball almost every time this set (once two extra!), so playing 6/7 ball game with ball in hand AND the 9-ball where it started is very advantageous. And that would be the case without the pattern as well. It goes without saying, but needing to play good position on 5 balls is way easier than 9!

To me, the best part was holding it together for 10 games! That's 90 balls without missing [well, considering the break in that, but still... without the breaks, it was still 74 balls.]

-td


[edit: break results
Rack 1: 2 balls on break [1, 8 (wing ball)]
Rack 2: 1 ball on break [8]
Rack 3: 1 ball on break [8]
Rack 4: 2 balls on break [4, 8]
Rack 5: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 6: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 7: 2 balls on break [4, 8]
Rack 8: 2 balls on break [1, 4, 8]
Rack 9: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 10: 1 ball on break [8]]
Click to expand...
Great stuff. What’s your Fargo?
 
mjantti said:
10-ball ghost standard rules. Won 7-3. Table is 9’ Predator Apex. No video available. First real match against the ghost this year. Fargo not robust enough to reveal 🥸☺️
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How do you like the table? I hit a few balls on one at the Philadelphia Expo and loved it.
 
iusedtoberich said:
How do you like the table? I hit a few balls on one at the Philadelphia Expo and loved it.
Click to expand...
I really like playing on them but have to admit that the rails play quite differently compared to any other table. I find that some angles I need to relearn. But somehow after a dozen sessions on a Predator I like the rail consistency even though I still tend to overrun my positions just a few inches on certain shots. Also, the pockets are not really forgiving, especially playing down the rail. And the middle pocket is cut in a way that when the object ball comes in an angle, you have much less room for error with a little bit of pace compared to a Diamond. Hitting the back jaw makes it very prone to rattle the ball out entirely.
 
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mjantti said:
I really like playing on them but have to admit that the rails play quite differently compared to any other table. I find that some angles I need to relearn. But somehow after a dozen sessions on a Predator I like the rail consistency even though I still tend to overrun my positions just a few inches on certain shots. Also, the pockets are not really forgiving, especially playing down the rail. And the middle pocket is cut in a way that when the object ball comes in an angle, you have much less room for error with a little bit of pace compared to a Diamond. Hitting the back jaw makes it very prone to rattle the ball out entirely.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.
 
td873 said:
I didn't interpret your question as contentious. It's actually a good question. The rules permit pattern racking, and this pattern is very good for a ghost challenge. I think I got it from Corey or one of the other pros that pattern rack. I find that it can improve run out percentage slightly.

But, honestly, the template rack is more important because you can make the wing ball every time and are only playing 8-ball run outs. And you start with ball in hand, so getting shape on the second ball is pretty trivial. So you are only playing 6 ball shape at this point. Also, the 9 rarely moves, so you know exactly where it will be, so then maybe only a 5-ball game. It turns out I was making an extra ball almost every time this set (once two extra!), so playing 6/7 ball game with ball in hand AND the 9-ball where it started is very advantageous. And that would be the case without the pattern as well. It goes without saying, but needing to play good position on 5 balls is way easier than 9!

To me, the best part was holding it together for 10 games! That's 90 balls without missing [well, considering the break in that, but still... without the breaks, it was still 74 balls.]

-td


[edit: break results
Rack 1: 2 balls on break [1, 8 (wing ball)]
Rack 2: 1 ball on break [8]
Rack 3: 1 ball on break [8]
Rack 4: 2 balls on break [4, 8]
Rack 5: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 6: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 7: 2 balls on break [4, 8]
Rack 8: 2 balls on break [1, 4, 8]
Rack 9: 2 balls on break [1, 8]
Rack 10: 1 ball on break [8]]
Click to expand...
When TAR 1 10 ball match was live, Corey was soft breaking and Shane was smashing. After the break, Shane was playing 6-7 ball, while Corey was playing 9 ball. Billy and Grady brought that to the audience's attention quite quickly in the match. No one had ever seen Shane's break at that time (besides his locals).
 
Got finally my new laptop + other new gear. I have now trying to get all settings good to start making proper videos and maybe stream too.
I was playing the snooker ghost after night shift to test my recording. Got very nice break from it but still had some audio settings wrong on Webcam so audio sucks. Anyway I decided to upload it just because it was pretty crazy hard break. I try make some pool ghost videos with my new setup where i can have very good video quality + audio after my Rode audio system cable arrives.
 
3-7 against the 9-ball ghost last night. Had 2 run outs and a 2-9 combo. Fargo 488. I was actually up 3-1 then got excited and started making mistakes. Still 3-7 is a tie for my PR. Posting for posterity. Next year!!
 
I often play the ghost on 9’ diamonds, 4.5”shimmed pockets. I end up roughly even mostly. I think the thing that makes it especially hard/frustrating is the rack. I don’t use a template and these are old ball sets, almost impossible to get a consistent rack and I’m often changing where I break just based on the day and ball set.

This day I decided to film a set and won 7-2, which was especially interesting because I was not making balls on the break. I was breaking from some goofy area on the table just because I was getting less clusters, so all but a couple racks were full 9 ball runs as I recall. I have the video but YouTube said it was too long to upload maybe I can find a work around.
 
mjantti said:
Wow. You are really putting on an effort here! I always manage to focus only for one set…
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It was a perfect day! The gf was with her family, I had the house to myself. I drove my "new to me" sportscar for a couple hours in the morning. Then I played a few sets, the first ghost sets in probably a month or more. Then I ate prime rib, slicing it right on the plate and putting it right in my mouth with my fingers. No one to give me a hard time about not being "civilized". Plus no dishes to clean. Then a few more ghost sets. Then I took the sports car out again from about 10pm to midnight. Then I ate ice cream when I got home.
 
Got a couple of 9 ball sets in this evening. Nothing groundbreaking. I didn’t warm up. Lost the first set 6-7 and won the second 7-6. I rushed the editing, so hopefully I didn’t accidentally delete any sections of the sets. 😂

Merry Christmas AZ ghost busters!

 
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