I was watching the ladies play today on ESPN, and I noticed everytime they show the official racking the balls with the " Big Break Rack ", its a loose rack !! You can see balls become loose !! Just wondering if anyone else noticed this.
Anyone ever notice this?
- Thread starter OnePocketKing
- Start date
Nineball-98
Registered
OnePocketKing said:
I watched the Allison Fisher/Jeanette Lee match and noticed the same thing. The one-ball moved as the rack was lifted.
Nineball-98 said:
There are times when I'll just let that sort of thing go. It no longer bothers me if the rack isn't really all that tight as I'll change my break to deal with it.
Ever notice how a safety break or soft break can mess up your opponent's head?
Plus it definitely makes their job tougher to run out the rack, just the ticket in some situations, in my opinion.
There's a great money player in Chicago who is loads better than me, and he gives me a spot, a VERY generous spot in 9 ball, and we'll race to 7 for 10. The last time I played him yours truly won the first race 7-1. Kinda freaked him out, so he started complaining about everything, sharking me to no end, and announced he was going to torture me with safeties and 3 foul me into oblivion. Says I, "Go ahead! I love that kind of game. I love making 3 rail kicks, and jumping balls, and comboing in the money balls..."
Well, this fellow won the next three races, as I expected, as he really got in stroke, and sure didn't want to lose any money. Fine with me, as I learn so much when I play him that dropping $20 playing him for 3 hours is a good deal, in my estimation. Pretty cheap, actually. Plus it helps me see where my game needs to improve...
Who REALLY won that match? Why I did, of course !! You never know when I may come up against him in a tournament where there are no spots, and he tries to safety me to kingdom come and it doesn't work out as he plans...
So the next time your opponent slug racks you, shrug it off and psych the dude out...
Cheers!
Flex
The women never ever check the rack and I also noticed that the men do not check the rack as well when the matches are on espn. Do you even notice how big the pockets are for the women? At least 5+ inches. In light of all of this, Espn does not want players men or women to miss many balls and neither do the fans in the stands or have the players question the rack. It just would be too much controversy.
Last edited:
JustPlay said:
You are mistaken on this point, JustPlay.
Peg Ledman, who, along with her many other roles, oversees the equipment setup for WPBA events, has told me that the pocket size on the women's pro tour is 4 1/2". In actuality, though, the tables play looser than the 4 1/2 measurement would suggest because the rails tend to be very slidy.
Over the past few months, I attended WPBA Peoria, the UPA Big Apple 9-Ball Challenge and The UPA World Summit of Pool. Of the three, the tournamnet that used the tightest equipment was WPBA Peoria. As Grady Matthews has noted in another post, the pockets in the UPA World Summit of Pool were, to use Grady's word, cavernous, and were significantly looser than the pockets used in both WPBA Peoria and The UPA Big Apple Nine Ball challenge.
One of many things I like about the WPBA is that the equipment is consistent from event to event. They have their specifications, and they stick to them.
The men don't.
Be prepared, Justplay, for a big laugh when the World Summit is televised, for the pocket size will surely give you a big chuckle.
OldHasBeen
Tom Ferry
You are exactly right - Flex!
Flex - Your right when you say YOU won that match. There wasn't much doing last night at the poolroom so I played cheap Nine Ball matches w/ a local policeman who is trying hard to become a player. We played many sets and I won only a few because of all the weight I was giving. This gave me the opportunity to get in stroke for the day & it gave him a chance to learn, learn, and learn. He said he would have to get in more often to play me as he thinks it would improve his game. I said - I know it sounds like a hustle but - IT IS THE SINGLE MOST BENIFICIAL THING AN AVERAGE PLAYER CAN DO TO BECOME BETTER! PLAY MUCH BETTER PLAYERS & THEN GO PLAY & TRY IT YOURSELF. I saw another player down about 3 tables away who has beaten this fellow almost every time they played. I told him to go down there and try him now that we have just finished. He did. He won 4 sets in a row.
When I was 16 years old and just started hanging around the "Big Time" St. Louis Pool Room (Grand & Olive), I thought it was a "BustOut Joint" because every time I went up the stairs, there was a fight going on. Turns out they were just fighting to see who got to play me. Four years later, I couldn't get a game there anymore and "Hit The Road" Have never looked back.
TY & GL
Flex - Your right when you say YOU won that match. There wasn't much doing last night at the poolroom so I played cheap Nine Ball matches w/ a local policeman who is trying hard to become a player. We played many sets and I won only a few because of all the weight I was giving. This gave me the opportunity to get in stroke for the day & it gave him a chance to learn, learn, and learn. He said he would have to get in more often to play me as he thinks it would improve his game. I said - I know it sounds like a hustle but - IT IS THE SINGLE MOST BENIFICIAL THING AN AVERAGE PLAYER CAN DO TO BECOME BETTER! PLAY MUCH BETTER PLAYERS & THEN GO PLAY & TRY IT YOURSELF. I saw another player down about 3 tables away who has beaten this fellow almost every time they played. I told him to go down there and try him now that we have just finished. He did. He won 4 sets in a row.
When I was 16 years old and just started hanging around the "Big Time" St. Louis Pool Room (Grand & Olive), I thought it was a "BustOut Joint" because every time I went up the stairs, there was a fight going on. Turns out they were just fighting to see who got to play me. Four years later, I couldn't get a game there anymore and "Hit The Road" Have never looked back.
TY & GL