9-on-the-spot-rack

G

gotama

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In this year's World Pool Masters it, I think, the third time that the 9-ball is on the spot for the rack. We have seen this in 2009 Mosconi Cup and the 2004 US Open. In Europe they use this way of racking in the Euro Tour for a couple of months now. What I have seen so far is that every player having a hard and controlled break can but a ll the hours of practising in the trash because no ball will go in or just by accident. The time of the hard controlled breaks seems gone if the keep doing this in the major events!
I have played the Euro Tour myself for couple of years and for me it was like "they" take me something. On part of the game was always the break, in 8-Ball, 9-Ball as well as these days in 10-Ball. But instead of the hard breaks of Bustamante, Hohmann and all the top stars we can only see cut breaks and players that ar worried about 3 ball going behind the kitchen line. That's not the pool I used to play and I really do hope that this way of racking - after it is already common in Europe now - doesn't overtake the US events of the future!

Kindest Regards

Marco
 
The reason they moved from 1-on-the-spot to 9-on-the-spot is to prevent the soft breaks you dislike... and to bring back the hard, controlled breaks.

The problem is it just doesn't work.

But it works better now than it did before with 1-on-the-spot. If you move it back, then there will be even more soft breaks.
 
It seems to me there were a lot of tournaments that racked this way for a while (WPBA?) especially when the Sardo was everywhere. Weren't players dialing in balls with this placement (one in the side maybe)?
 
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DPP: I think that's it exactly, one in the side. The one advantage to that is... if there's no rack-your-own pattern racking, then you only are guaranteed a ball on the break. There's no way to be sure if you can see your first shot.

You can also cut the rack pretty severely and throw the wing ball lower. Dunno if it's possible to consistently throw it THAT low.
 
I see your point. For me the tight racks themself are the problem. It makes it easier to rack but at the same time creates new problems. I think rack your own i the best, without sardo, tapping or magic rack. Like this we have the pros breaking hard again and not this sh%&/y cutbreaks. HARD & CONTROLLED - that's waht a break has to be for me. I don't say that we need a 100% ball on the break but I ahve seen Charlie Williamsand Roberto Gomez breaking as hard as they couold but no ball even visited the edge of the pockets.
 
gotama said:
I see your point. For me the tight racks themself are the problem. It makes it easier to rack but at the same time creates new problems. I think rack your own i the best, without sardo, tapping or magic rack. Like this we have the pros breaking hard again and not this sh%&/y cutbreaks. HARD & CONTROLLED - that's waht a break has to be for me. I don't say that we need a 100% ball on the break but I ahve seen Charlie Williamsand Roberto Gomez breaking as hard as they couold but no ball even visited the edge of the pockets.
Click to expand...

One other big reason for the change to other racks is that a player who does rack-your-own will keep working until he makes his own rack perfect, so he can make the wing ball. But without magic rack, sardo, etc... this takes a very long time. It may never be possible because the table has dimples. So the racker gets very frustrated taking a long time and the entire tournament slows down. His opponent gets sharked a little too.

Also, a less-than-perfect rack will cause the 9b to move to the corner. A rack-your-own player might "accidentally" leave a little gap that helps move the 9b. With a perfectly tight rack the 9b doesn't move.

I can understand your love of hard, controlled breaks. It's definitely a skill. I've spent hours practicing it. But the diamond-shaped 9b rack is a problem because there are so many ways to make balls with a soft break.

The true solution is to forget 9b and move to 10b. Then you will see players try 100% hard breaks, always.
 
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