when you watch pool on tv the 9 ball is placed on the spot? I have never seen that done at local pool hall. Or any 9 ball tournament I've ever played in... I have only seen the 1 ball placed on the spot .
9 ball rack question
- Thread starter COREYGT1977
- Start date
You must be seeing an optical illusion on the tv. If you've played pool for more than 2 weeks you know which ball goes on the spot.
Red Forman
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1 ball goes on the spot.
Some events have been played with the 9 ball on the spot. I think the WPBA went this route for a while. The idea was to take the wing ball in the corner away. But I don't think it worked and players maybe had an easier time making the one in the side with this rack, so I'm not sure it helped much.
But no, you're not crazy. You probably actually did see this. Check out the beginning of this rack in the Mohegan Sun women's tournament from 2008. At about 10-14 seconds in as the camera pans away from the rack you can clearly see the 9 ball (middle row of balls) and not the 1 ball is aligned even with the 2nd diamonds on the side rail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B80BI42TPMk&feature=related
But no, you're not crazy. You probably actually did see this. Check out the beginning of this rack in the Mohegan Sun women's tournament from 2008. At about 10-14 seconds in as the camera pans away from the rack you can clearly see the 9 ball (middle row of balls) and not the 1 ball is aligned even with the 2nd diamonds on the side rail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B80BI42TPMk&feature=related
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As others have said, that keeps the "wing" ball from being dead into the corner pocket. If the rack is tight and the one ball is on the spot, and you break from the side and hit the one ball full, the ball on that side in the third row of balls goes straight into the corner pocket on that side of the table. This has been known for about 10 years, but the rules have mostly not caught up yet.
Moving the rack up is one solution. Another is to require three balls to pass either the side pockets or the head string, which requires a stronger break which is not as consistent.
If that ball is not dead on your table, try racking very, very carefully. To get the balls really, really tight you may have to use a new set of balls where the balls are all the same size and new cloth to avoid the pits that naturally develop over time in the rack area. There are several new racking products on the market that will help. The best solution so far is to move on to 10 ball.
i just want to publicly state here that whoever came up with the idea of putting the 9 ball on the spot for tv matches-- that person knows nothing about pool.
Well, OK, but how would you solve the problem they were facing?
Yeah Rick, I'd forgotten about that. They did play with the 9 on the spot at the Mosconi Cup in addition to some hard break requirements.
Check out the overhead view at 9:08 of this video from the 2010 Cup matches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JROnGxY_V-g
Clearly shows the middle row, including the 9 ball, is aligned between the 2nd diamonds.
I guess the list of people who know nothing about pool keeps getting bigger and now includes the Matchroom folks in addition to the WPBA. :grin-square:
As I said previously though, the higher rack wired the one ball more than before. Earlier in the video when Archer was breaking Wych even commented on that being what Archer was trying for off his break.
I believe there was at least one time when this was done at the us open nineball tourney.
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Why not spot the wing ball instead of the 1 or the 9? That might be interesting for a week.
most people here was very helpful.. If you cant answer the question with a reasonable answer why even post...thanks
There are some tournaments where the 9 was put on the spot. I think it started when the sardo rack was used and the corner ball was pretty much a lock to go in, along with some others. The thought was that placing the 9 on the spot would change how easily the pros can run through racks and make things more exiting. Don't think it actually did any good.
If you've been on this forum for more than to weeks then you would know there's probably people here who know a little more than you do.
hey thanks guys.. you have answered my question... and ive learned that you have to take the good with the bad....some people just cant help it...