For Rack problems..why not Sardo?

Palmerfan

Palmerfan

AzB Gold Member
Silver Member
Since there have been alot of issues about players tilting the racks for themselves or not having the last row tight for their opponents...isn't the Sardo rack supposed to take care of all that? From the youtube videos of alot of US Open 9 Ball events through the years they always used the Sardo and most players wouldn't even look at the rack trusting that it was perfect. Wouldn't it be easier to use the Sardo in a TAR match or in Tournament Play instead of the Magic Rack or a Delta? Is it a sponsorship issue? Seems like there was never a problem with the Sardo so curious as to why we don't see it anymore.
 
Magic Rack > Sardo.

From everything I have read, the sardo likes to break, is a pain to carry anywhere, and the result is like tapping the balls into place. You need to set up the rack area to use it. If you watch the video of it, they slowly move the balls into position, and they rock into the tapped spots.
 
The Sardo rack was/is junk (the inventors, however, are great people, who went way out of their way to promote pool). Once you have "trained" the cloth, you don't even need the rack anymore...just hand place the balls. There are reasons why the pros don't use it anymore, and you can buy one very cheap on ebay or craigslist ($50)...they started out at $300 when they were brand new. jmo

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
 
The Sardo rack was essentially just a giant ball tapper. After a few days of use with the Sardo, you could just lay the balls in the grooves it made and not even bother to get the contraption out from under the table. The problem with it is that if people don't align it perfectly, it will create a different set of grooves and make it impossible to get a good rack. Its not really that the players trusted that the sardo rack was perfect, but re-racking with it will simply result in the same rack or worse.

Not to mention it was heavy and expensive.
 
Sardo used to be "the" rack at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship in Virginia. Carmine and his brother were always on site, providing support.

As I recall, with the Sardo, you rack the 9 on the spot, and a medium-speed break, about 18 or 19 mph, works best to blossom the balls.

No matter what rack is used, there will always be someone to complain about it.

I liken it to a pool player losing a match and blaming the table rolled funny, his tip was flat, stick was warped, or somebody in the audience chomped on a potato chip. :grin-square:

Here's Carmine on the left. He's a really nice man. As an aside, he can play a mean guitar too!
 

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Only the original version was made with lots of metal, and was heavy. The newer versions were made of plastic, and quite lightweight. I've seen the new version for sale on ebay for less than $50.

Scott Lee
Masayoshi said:
Not to mention it was heavy and expensive.
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Scott Lee said:
Only the original version was made with lots of metal, and was heavy. The newer versions were made of plastic, and quite lightweight. I've seen the new version for sale on ebay for less than $50.

Scott Lee
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The new version didn't work nearly as well as the old one and were quite a bit more than $50 retail if I remember right.
 
JAM said:
Sardo used to be "the" rack at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship in Virginia. Carmine and his brother were always on site, providing support.

As I recall, with the Sardo, you rack the 9 on the spot, and a medium-speed break, about 18 or 19 mph, works best to blossom the balls.

No matter what rack is used, there will always be someone to complain about it.

I liken it to a pool player losing a match and blaming the table rolled funny, his tip was flat, stick was warped, or somebody in the audience chomped on a potato chip. :grin-square:

Here's Carmine on the left. He's a really nice man. As an aside, he can play a mean guitar too!
Click to expand...

The reason they moved the 9 on the spot was to try to prevent the wired corner ball syndrome. Did not help too much as it then became "the wired 1 ball syndrome" and the corner ball tended to go in quite a bit also with the cut break.
 
Palmerfan said:
The new M-5000 which is lightweight clear plastic retails for $69 on Ozone
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According to them, that's the sale price, not the retail price and thats the retail price when there is little to no demand for the sardo. When it first came out, it was over $100.
 
zmfb23 said:
Anything is better than a delta rack. Ive used a delta and never got the top two balls to freeze.
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That's strange because the angles on the Delta 13 really are precise. One explanation is that the one ball in that set is not the right size. Try exchanging the one with one of the second-row balls and see if the front three freeze.

If you get a different result by turning the rack, something is wrong with the rack.

If the balls are the wrong sizes, no rack can guarantee every ball freezing.
 
Palmerfan said:
Seems like there was never a problem with the Sardo ...
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There were problems with the Sardo. You could argue that the main problem was that after 40 years of nine ball, they finally got a way to rack tightly.

In Europe they just train the table. Problem (mostly) solved.
 
Players dont want a good rack..,

The rack aint the problem, its the table right? No body wants to play 9 Ball because the corner ball always goes, so they play 10 Ball?

Nobody wants to play 10 Ball because the balls always go in the side pockets?

The majic rack is to good and it makes the game to easy..,

Ok, lets play on a 10' table??? No pool hall is going to put those in, ask CJ he had one in Dallas at his place, never got used...,

At the end of the day, its not the rack or the table, we just need more tourny's that pay more money. The game aint broke, it been just fine for a long time.
 
I used the slug doctor on my table when it was first set up, it is the absolute nuts!

It is the one that puts the thin small hole enforcers on the table. I have played on it a ton and rarely ever see a ball effected by them. If its moving slow enough in the rack area it can be effected, but considering how rarely that happens it is well worth it considering I have a perfect rack every time no matter what game I am playing.

Unfortunately I dont think they are being made anymore.
 
My friend from around Reading PA Bill Westley makes a good rack. If you have good balls, the balls will rack tight on all three corners of the rack.

http://billwestleyracks.com/

His rack has been used at the Super Billiards Expo two years in a row now.:thumbup:

I did let him know that usually pool balls are not perfectly round though. :smile:
 
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zmfb23 said:
Anything is better than a delta rack. Ive used a delta and never got the top two balls to freeze.
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You've got a problem with your balls then. The Delta 13 is by far the best standard triangle. It is machined (on the Elite) to the exact correct size. Pool balls change size and shape considerably based on quality, age, and wear. Hopefully this info corrects your view.

KMRUNOUT
 
woody_968 said:
I used the slug doctor on my table when it was first set up, it is the absolute nuts!

It is the one that puts the thin small hole enforcers on the table. I have played on it a ton and rarely ever see a ball effected by them. If its moving slow enough in the rack area it can be effected, but considering how rarely that happens it is well worth it considering I have a perfect rack every time no matter what game I am playing.

Unfortunately I dont think they are being made anymore.
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hrm, I googled them and the website's still up.
http://www.slug-doctor.com/

If you couldn't buy it, you could probably do something like...
buy a magic rack, position it perfectly, then mark a single dot with a fine marker
at the exact center of each of the MBR's holes. Then affix paper donuts so that they
are perfectly centered around the hole.

I'd hate to mark up the table though. Even with tiny dots.
 
King T said:
The rack aint the problem, its the table right? No body wants to play 9 Ball because the corner ball always goes, so they play 10 Ball?

Nobody wants to play 10 Ball because the balls always go in the side pockets?

The majic rack is to good and it makes the game to easy..,

Ok, lets play on a 10' table??? No pool hall is going to put those in, ask CJ he had one in Dallas at his place, never got used...,

At the end of the day, its not the rack or the table, we just need more tourny's that pay more money. The game aint broke, it been just fine for a long time.
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Could not have said it better.

Even if there are pro's that would rather have a 10' table, the general audiences (where money comes from) would see them as boring. I love watching pool, and even I get bored of watching some of the 10' matches. More exciting for spectators to see run outs, people loved Earl back in the day he could put 8 or 9 together in a match.

And yes, there is not many pool halls that will be buying into more expensive tables for the same hourly rates they charge customers. And it is certainly a bad time to raise any rates on pool.

The game of 9 ball was not broke (actually an exciting game to watch played correctly), the tables ain't broke, what is broke is the way the billiards industry is not managed correctly. Has pool ever had a regularly scheduled pro tour? I know the ladies tour was doing better than the men's on this.
 
zmfb23 said:
Anything is better than a delta rack. Ive used a delta and never got the top two balls to freeze.
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that was the balls not being the same size. The Delta rack is perfect.

IF the balls are not the same size you have to move them around until you find 2 that will freeze.
 
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