8 Ball - Rack High? Rack Low?

M

mattschinkel

New member
Hi guys,

From my understanding, you may rack with the top ball within 1 ball of the spot.

Assuming the spot is correctly placed, in 8-ball, is it better to rack high, on the spot, or rack low? Which do you think will allow you to pocket the most balls, or at least one ball consistently?

Does table size make a difference in where you rack?
 
mattschinkel said:
Hi guys,

From my understanding, you may rack with the top ball within 1 ball of the spot.

Assuming the spot is correctly placed, in 8-ball, is it better to rack high, on the spot, or rack low? Which do you think will allow you to pocket the most balls, or at least one ball consistently?

Does table size make a difference in where you rack?
Click to expand...

Table size never matters to me. I always rack high(could be a Colorado thing).
It seems that if I am most concerned with the first three or even six balls being tight I will rack a bit high so the balls up front want to lean back into the stack. When I do need to rack away from the divot it is usually less than .250 of an inch.
 
I put super glue between several of the balls.

That works GREAT and I win almost every game.



Jeff Livingston
 
mattschinkel said:
Hi guys,

From my understanding, you may rack with the top ball within 1 ball of the spot.

Assuming the spot is correctly placed, in 8-ball, is it better to rack high, on the spot, or rack low? Which do you think will allow you to pocket the most balls, or at least one ball consistently?

Does table size make a difference in where you rack?
Click to expand...

The ball goes on the spot. UPA rules allow you to rack within 1 dime's radius of the spot (the actual spot...the infinitely small point that is the spot, not what ever happens to be the spot sticker). A Simonis spot sticker, for example, is about twice as that tolerance, so if you're anywhere near the edge you're way off.
 
Cuebuddy said:
... It seems that if I am most concerned with the first three or even six balls being tight I will rack a bit high so the balls up front want to lean back into the stack. ...
Click to expand...
I think this is pretty much standard to get the front balls tight. The crater for the front ball gradually works its way up the table. One way to keep this from happening is to put a donut (paper reinforcement) at the correct place for the spot. You might not even need the usual spot sticker then.
 
Racking low at nine-ball favours the breaker....
...racking high at eight-ball favours the breaker.

Conventional wisdom from the past


pt...wonders if modern conditions have changed the value of this
 
This is why I never put the spot sticker on my home table. I asked my mechanic to put a dime sized spot at the head and foot.
 
pt109 said:
Racking low at nine-ball favours the breaker....
...racking high at eight-ball favours the breaker.

Conventional wisdom from the past


pt...wonders if modern conditions have changed the value of this
Click to expand...

No, it is still cheating. That doesn't change over time.

When an opponent does that to a friend of mine, he doesn't complain, when it's his turn to shoot he ask his opponent: "Which ball should I shoot so you are sure to win?" You guess how it goes from there.

Jeff Livingston
 
chefjeff said:
No, it is still cheating. That doesn't change over time.

When an opponent does that to a friend of mine, he doesn't complain, when it's his turn to shoot he ask his opponent: "Which ball should I shoot so you are sure to win?" You guess how it goes from there.

Jeff Livingston
Click to expand...

It doesn't have to be cheating to rack them high at nine-ball, Jeff.
In the action days, we were playing in pool hall conditions....
....most of your action would be on used cloth.
So we'd fiddle around till you found the spot the balls would freeze....
...you never racked them low at nine-ball....
...then you would declare that you racked them...say...half-ball high...
...so he would do the same for you.....it was very fair.

After the first rack, nobody spent a lot of time racking....
...if a player insisted on 'froze and one-ball on the spot'...
...nobody wanted to play him.

And at eight-ball, by the same reasoning, you racked them low.
 
pt109 said:
It doesn't have to be cheating to rack them high at nine-ball, Jeff.
In the action days, we were playing in pool hall conditions....
....most of your action would be on used cloth.
So we'd fiddle around till you found the spot the balls would freeze....
...you never racked them low at nine-ball....
...then you would declare that you racked them...say...half-ball high...
...so he would do the same for you.....it was very fair.

After the first rack, nobody spent a lot of time racking....
...if a player insisted on 'froze and one-ball on the spot'...
...nobody wanted to play him.

And at eight-ball, by the same reasoning, you racked them low.
Click to expand...

Crappy equipment is different. Sure you do as you have to, and everyone's in the same boat.

But come on, guys, would you think you really won when you stacked the deck?


Jeff Livingston
 
always put proper ball as close to center of spot as possible. practice your break as the best option to get a advantage.
 
I'd think the only reason to rack high or low would be to play a specific ball into a specific pocket.
But it's easier to just change the speed and direction of your break...
you can make certain balls go higher or lower that way.

You can control your break but you can't always control the rack.
So I wouldn't want to learn a break that only works if I can manipulate the rack.
 
mattschinkel said:
Hi guys,

From my understanding, you may rack with the top ball within 1 ball of the spot.

Assuming the spot is correctly placed, in 8-ball, is it better to rack high, on the spot, or rack low? Which do you think will allow you to pocket the most balls, or at least one ball consistently?

Does table size make a difference in where you rack?
Click to expand...
So, technically - the sticker isn't the "spot." The "spot" is defined (under the CSI rules at least) as the intersection of the center string and the foot string. That is, the foot spot is point where the long string and the foot string intersect. So, you should be placing the center of the ball on the point where the two lines intersect. You don't get to use the sticker as the location and put the balls anywhere on it. [If that was the case, someone would be using biga*s stickers and moving the rack around]

You do get a small amount of space if the balls consistently shift - but you don't get an arbitrary move up or down or sideways based on some perceived advantage.

-td


RackingRules.jpg
 
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