Watching niels feijen and tony drago online and they are racking the balls by hand (i.e. not using a rack or a template) ... WTF is up with that?? is that common in european tourneys?
Eurotour.. Racking the balls with your hands?
- Thread starter HitHrdNDraw
- Start date
It's easy to do and you get a really good rack. I do it when I am playing with friends but most people object when I do it in a cash game or in a tourny. I assume they were playing 9ball? thats the only rack I know how to do. Oh... and the tables don't need to be taped.
The tables are tapped.
Works a lot better when table is tapped. I watched a lot of matches on Roy's web site and almost all hand rack...even 14.1. Johnnyt
Euro tour why are they racking with their hands
The racking system they are using is a permanent template that goes on the table and sticks to the cloth. They are extremely thin rings made of plastic (thinner than the footspot) and are stragtegically placed on a sheet of plastic that is placed on the cloth. Once the template is lined up straight on the table, you press on the rings and then lift the plastic sheet off the table and the rings stay in place. To rack the balls you simply place the balls on the rings and you have a PERFECTLY frozen rack. The beauty is it is the IDENTICAL rack for ALL! No one can put a rack on you! This is what sets this system apart from the Magic Rack. The Magic Rack is still put in place with human hands and can therefor still be manipulated, and must stay on the table if a ball lands on it after the break. It is also substatially thicker than the rings.
This system is called Rack Spot in Japan and has been in use there for some 10 years. All Poolrooms have this system in place. I am the exclusive distributor for North America and will have them available soon under the name Racktight. I am hoping to launch it at Valley Forge this year.
If you would like more information please contact me at gracenakamura@gmail.com
The racking system they are using is a permanent template that goes on the table and sticks to the cloth. They are extremely thin rings made of plastic (thinner than the footspot) and are stragtegically placed on a sheet of plastic that is placed on the cloth. Once the template is lined up straight on the table, you press on the rings and then lift the plastic sheet off the table and the rings stay in place. To rack the balls you simply place the balls on the rings and you have a PERFECTLY frozen rack. The beauty is it is the IDENTICAL rack for ALL! No one can put a rack on you! This is what sets this system apart from the Magic Rack. The Magic Rack is still put in place with human hands and can therefor still be manipulated, and must stay on the table if a ball lands on it after the break. It is also substatially thicker than the rings.
This system is called Rack Spot in Japan and has been in use there for some 10 years. All Poolrooms have this system in place. I am the exclusive distributor for North America and will have them available soon under the name Racktight. I am hoping to launch it at Valley Forge this year.
If you would like more information please contact me at gracenakamura@gmail.com
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From what I've seen in Europe, they do not use this system.
They use this type of template that is being placed on the table and then tap the tables with two balls
This is what was used in the last WTC and also in previous European Championships
I have talked to a Euro player re tapping and it works out well but I admit your system sounds real good - you will be at Hopkins' super expo ???
I apologise and stand corrected, I was just at the EPBF website...the Rack Spot system is what I consider the most "fool proof" and "tamper proof" system I have ever seen...I have given a sample to Nick Varner and quote his words..."If I am in a tournament, I absolutely want to use your system!" I have never seen this other system, it looks interesting....but will the recreational player be able to use it? With Rackspot, it is visual and fool proof...simply place the balls on the rings and you are in business...in Japan there are no "Re-racks" in tournament, because there is no need...this also speeds up tournament play as you can rack a perfect rack of 9-ball in less than 15 seconds - EVERYTIME!
What will be the cost of this racking system and how long does it last? Seems the thin plastic pieces will wear out eventually.
RBC
Deceased
Bob,
I can't say as to how long it lasts, but they do work well. I have several of them to use in our booth when we do shows. You can't imaging how much time we waste getting good racks for people to try out the break cue.
The Rack Spot does work very well. I know Grace has had one on her table for close to a year now.
In a commercial setting I am sure they would need to be replaced occasionally, but I think it would be worth every penny. Just imagine how much faster tournaments would go. Not to mention that everyone gets the same rack every time.
I plan to have them for sale on my website as soon as they are available. I don't know the price yet, but will post as soon as I do.
Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
I can't say as to how long it lasts, but they do work well. I have several of them to use in our booth when we do shows. You can't imaging how much time we waste getting good racks for people to try out the break cue.
The Rack Spot does work very well. I know Grace has had one on her table for close to a year now.
In a commercial setting I am sure they would need to be replaced occasionally, but I think it would be worth every penny. Just imagine how much faster tournaments would go. Not to mention that everyone gets the same rack every time.
I plan to have them for sale on my website as soon as they are available. I don't know the price yet, but will post as soon as I do.
Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
I am unclear how the Rack Spot works, I'm curious.
Is it...
1. just a visual aid for where the balls are supposed to go? That seems unlikely because when you're standing above the balls, you couldn't see those little rings, the ball would block your view of them. Sometimes it's hard to see the spot under the 1 ball and that's 3 times as big.
2. ...it creates a very thin hole for the ball to settle into? This makes more sense to me. Then you don't need to see it, the ball will just stay in place once you get it close to the exact position needed.
Next question, what if the table is a public table where there are already some dimples (either the kind that happen naturally or the kind players create when they tap the rack). Will these rings hold the ball where it needs to go or will other people's dimples cause them to move?
Is it...
1. just a visual aid for where the balls are supposed to go? That seems unlikely because when you're standing above the balls, you couldn't see those little rings, the ball would block your view of them. Sometimes it's hard to see the spot under the 1 ball and that's 3 times as big.
2. ...it creates a very thin hole for the ball to settle into? This makes more sense to me. Then you don't need to see it, the ball will just stay in place once you get it close to the exact position needed.
Next question, what if the table is a public table where there are already some dimples (either the kind that happen naturally or the kind players create when they tap the rack). Will these rings hold the ball where it needs to go or will other people's dimples cause them to move?
RBC
Deceased
Creedo
The balls actually sit down (slightly) inside the holes.
I think this is an advantage over the tapping template. I have always thought that if you locate all the balls and tap the table for all the locations all at once that you would have a problem. Ideally, the balls would sit on the edge of a small dimple in the cloth. That way they would "roll" towards each other. If you tap them all at the same time, then it would be impossible to make the dimples a little closer together than the centers of the balls. You could use a smaller set of balls to tap with, but that's the only way I see to get the balls to "Lean" against each other with tapping the table all at once. If you tapped the holes separately, one at a time, you could do it but you wouldn't want the template to move at all while you where doing it.
The little circles on the table are slightly closer to each other than the center point on the balls, so they naturally "Lean" to the center against each other. I don't know why they have spots for all the balls in the middle, but they do. If all the outside balls are leaning in then you don't need them.
Obviously it would work for sure on a relatively fresh table, and may have some trouble if the table is already dimpled up. I guess it would depend on the dimples. I have seen tables where the cloth was worn completely through!
Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
The balls actually sit down (slightly) inside the holes.
I think this is an advantage over the tapping template. I have always thought that if you locate all the balls and tap the table for all the locations all at once that you would have a problem. Ideally, the balls would sit on the edge of a small dimple in the cloth. That way they would "roll" towards each other. If you tap them all at the same time, then it would be impossible to make the dimples a little closer together than the centers of the balls. You could use a smaller set of balls to tap with, but that's the only way I see to get the balls to "Lean" against each other with tapping the table all at once. If you tapped the holes separately, one at a time, you could do it but you wouldn't want the template to move at all while you where doing it.
The little circles on the table are slightly closer to each other than the center point on the balls, so they naturally "Lean" to the center against each other. I don't know why they have spots for all the balls in the middle, but they do. If all the outside balls are leaning in then you don't need them.
Obviously it would work for sure on a relatively fresh table, and may have some trouble if the table is already dimpled up. I guess it would depend on the dimples. I have seen tables where the cloth was worn completely through!
Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
Thats exactly how it's done!
Its not practical to try to do them all at once, or even possible???
And yes, the template must not move for it to be tapped effectively.
A little time and effort to do it precisely gives a great result that lasts a while.
And there is nothing to become detached and lost over time.
I like it, although the other way may be fine too, just never tried it.
RBC
Deceased
So, are you saying that the holes are a little closer together than the balls would be?
If you can put all the balls in the template at the same time and they fit, then they are not moved slightly to the center.
I know the European system works. I have heard the pro players talking about it. It makes the soft break too easy, but there are ways to deal with that. At least everyone gets a good rack. I have seen terrible racks watching the pros play.
Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com