How To Stop Pattern Racking

Johnnyt said:
I agree, but pool touraments say they can't afford that. Johnnyt
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If you can't afford a referee then you probably can't afford to pay the prizes that will draw pros....

There are alternatives

How much does the kids that catch tennis balls during a match make?
--> nothing....

Get some kids that are into the game, teach them how to rack and the chance of being seen on TV or your PC or just next to their favorite pro players will be enough for them....
It will also help the next generation of pool players.
I bet that a lesson with a house pro will be good enough reword as well...
there are so many ideas out there, just need to be open minded.
 
skor said:
If you can't afford a referee then you probably can't afford to pay the prizes that will draw pros....

There are alternatives

How much does the kids that catch tennis balls during a match make?
--> nothing....

Get some kids that are into the game, teach them how to rack and the chance of being seen on TV or your PC or just next to their favorite pro players will be enough for them....
It will also help the next generation of pool players.
I bet that a lesson with a house pro will be good enough reword as well...
there are so many ideas out there, just need to be open minded.
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I said get kids to rack at tournaments on here over a year ago. I was told under age kids not allowed in some venues. Johnnyt
 
You could allow only a few standard patterns. (Ideally it would be only one pattern, but the balls are never all the same size.) They should be those patterns that become most difficult to run out.
That's really just a natural extension of the '123 in the corners' rule.
 
ShootingArts said:
Michael,

Note that left handed One Pocket players almost always break from the other side of the table. It is a matter of more comfortable shots.

Offering the mirror image is purely in the interest of fairness to people that are right eye/left eye dominant and right or left handed. With the breakers choice of racks it is fair to all. One of my favorite breaks for an eight ball rack was one-half ball to a ball off center. Most tables had one side break a little better than the other. I haven't played a lot of ten ball compared to eight and nine but I suspect that it is much like an eight ball rack. I like to come from my eight ball positions playing ten ball and I can usually get something to fall.

Hu
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Hu,

You make some great points...As a right handed player, I always break from the left side playing one pocket. The three or four times I tried the other side were disastrous, so I stick with what works for me. :wink:

Breaking 10 ball is very similar to the 8 ball break, except for the corner balls 4 railing. Still, the balls you're most likely to make are the 2 balls behind the 1....And the best way to pocket SOMETHING is to put whitey near the middle, and whack 'em.

The 9 ball break is a joke. I used to play 9 ball with an old guy, (probably 75 years old), and he would always break from the same spot, hit them fairly easy, and make two balls, every time. He and I played pretty even back then, until I suggested we play 10 ball. :D

-Michael
 
dirtypool40 said:
Racking 10-ball 1,2,3 on the corners seems to take most of it away. Until the rest of the pool playing world breaks like "Xerox" Van Boening, I don't think 10-ball will be "solved". As a lowly B-player still struggling with an 8'/5" pockets, I'm not really worried about it yet. :grinning-moose:

If you (or the TD) sees the same pattern thrown up 2-3 times, you should be able to address it. I think there was a thread about someone addressing this with CD at a tour stop.

In 9-ball, it's universally agreed (even if some don't want to admit it) that the shape of the rack is "broken" and patterning is all too easy.

I would be happy to see some "mandated randomization" like 3 in the second row, 2 in the fourth, the other five random. That should make that game as fair as it can be, winner or loser racks.

I practiced with my total newbie brother in law the other night, we were just playing the ghost and "talking through racks" as a way to see what the other guy was thinking.

He was playing the 3 and 4 ball ghost, I was playing the 9-ball ghost and "adverse pattern" racking myself; 2/4 up front, 3/5 in the rear, 5/7 on the wings, 8 on the tail. (I think Tommy Kennedy showed me this one years ago, but I may have it wrong).

Aaaaaaaaaaaanyway, point is, I run pretty much even with the 9-ball ghost on this table normally, when I break from the side rail and truly randomize all balls but the 1 & 9.

I was AMAZED how hard it was to get out, hell even get started, when I patterned the balls against me. :yikes: Except for the lack of clusters, it produced very "10-ball like" layouts, where you had to move the length of the table the first three or four shots, aRoUnD all those other balls. I think I went EIGHT IN A ROW where I just could NOT get out!! :banghead:

Patterns are powerful and need to be applied evenly for tournament fairness.
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SEE the problem here is that you were using two 5 balls,lol:thumbup:
 
Rack

Its simple rackem 1,2,3,4,9,5,6,7,8, unless your playing $ on the 5 then put it in place of the 8. Simple dont ya think 10 ball the same:
 
Wow, nice to see those that play by the rules are not so far and few between. So there are a few of us in the pool world that conduct themselves with integrity. I've felt out numbered in a few other recent threads that have turned to this topic.

Anyone wanting my opinion on this topic can view them most recently in this thread:

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=1960579#post1960579

I just think this attitude that it is acceptable to break the rules is short-sided. Take a lesson from golf. Especially for the pros, if they ever want pool to hit the big time they should realize that the public needs to be able to perceive that the game is played by ladies and men of honor and that the game reflects and instills good values. Perhaps then parents would allow their children to hang out in the local billiard room and the game might grow.
 
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why not rack them in numerical order with the nine in the middle. or if that is unfair to some let the breaker decide whether to have them racked reversed right to left in order. then its the same for righties and lefties.
 
maha said:
why not rack them in numerical order with the nine in the middle. or if that is unfair to some let the breaker decide whether to have them racked reversed right to left in order. then its the same for righties and lefties.
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I guess the problem with that is you end up with too many similar looking layouts, where certain balls tend to end up in certain areas of the table a good percentage of the time.
 
why not just make a rule that the 2 & 3 have to be racked under the money ball?

or eliminate the soft break altogether.

or rack the one ball under the money ball in either position, and make the head ball random - player can hit the head ball...whatever number it is on the break alone.......that would be tough to get position on. this would be a little much though... lol!
 
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Or how about just have everyone wear a blind fold when it is there turn to break... Problem solved! We could even have blind folds that say hustlin on them. haha!
 
Johnnyt said:
All you have to do is go to pro any tournament or match-ups or watch them on the stream to see that just about every pro does it. You can't blame any of them for it; no one does anything about it. They have to do it even if they don't want to because their opponent is doing it. This is a business for them, or at least it should be. If you don't pattern rack when others are, you're costing yourself money.

There is a very simple way to stop pattern racking in 9-ball and 10-ball tournaments. The 1-ball and 9and 10 ball have to be in a certain place, leaving 7 random balls in 9-ball and 8 random balls in 10-ball. Make up a set of cards with about 50 different racking patterns on them. Leave out the ones that are an obvious advantage. Before the player racks for his/her turn…they pick a card. The card you pick is how you must rack them. Case closed. Johnnyt

PS: Make up a set of cards Corey and get to work on it.
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Some people can rig a card deck and they will "shufle' it then you think you are getting a random pick.
 
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maldito said:
Some people can rig a card deck and they will "shufle' it then you think you are getting a random pick.
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LOL. It doesn't have to be cards. There are a lot of ways for tournaments to pick paterns...using cards is the cheapest.

As far as using just one or a few patterns...that's not very random. Johnnyt
 
Instead of worrying about pattern racking that is not 100% consistant in its results....... how about focus an hour of practice time on long table position routes and not let an opponents gamesmanship enter into your head?
Chuck
 
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