Been watching the Euro 9ball stream and noticed they don't use a rack of any kind. So, i'm assuming they "tap" the tables and just place balls in the depressions? I guess it works but if balls are rolling slowly over the rack area doesn't it effect the roll? This method looks to be fairly common over there as i've seen it used before.
"No rack" racking???
- Thread starter garczar
- Start date
I’ve heard two things: tapped tables and a template built into the felt.
I just msg'd. the EPBF and they replied quite quickly. Said that tapping is the method they use and have almost zero complaints as to rack tightness.
All balls touching their neighbors...every time and without struggle.
lol
Since the Sardo rack and Corey Deuel taught us what a tight rack can do, the game of nine ball has been struggling to find the best solution. If the rack is not tight, it is not fair to the breaker. If the rack is tight (and the one is on the spot) either wing ball is dead. That makes the nine ball break a simple trick shot.
I doubt that you get Black-Balled tightness with a wooden triangle and the typical set of pool hall balls. Pretty close to touching vs. touching makes a huge difference in how the rack breaks. And choosing exactly which balls are touching can make the rack do interesting things, like send the nine towards the pocket every time.
This has been a problem for nine ball since about 2000. The Euros probably have the best answer in use right now although the Schofield method has advantages for non-refereed tournaments.
The US International Open (formerly the US Open, in Norfolk) will use a template, rack the 9 ball on the spot (not the 1 ball) and place the 2 ball at the back of the rack. The break will be from an 18-inch centered box in the kitchen. The 3 point rule will be in effect -- three balls must either be pocketed or driven to the kitchen.
Those changes to racking are not just because of some TD's wild imagination.
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I think part of the process might be to wet each spot before you tap it. Have you tried that?
Tapping should be done with a template that has holes almost in the positions of the balls. The holes should be slightly closer than the diameter of a ball. I've never seen it, but I've been told that the template is set in place (taped to the cloth?) and one ball is tapped at a time since the balls don't all fit on the template at the hole locations.
It is possible to re-tap a few locations to reset the dents. If the balls are all in place, you should be able to pull any outside ball away from the rack slightly and it should be pulled back into place. If not, retap it slightly closer to the rack.
Got to believe that shortens the life of the cloth.
So does racking the 9 on the spot.
I'm guessing it would only potentially be an issue if a ball or cue ball was rolling really slow, just about to stop when it passed over the edge or center of one of those indentations.
I hope some players who have played a lot on tapped tables will speak up.
Yes, I think that's about the only situation where you will notice it. If a ball is shot through the rack area hard enough to get to the pocket, I don't think it will be deflected significantly. If a ball stops within a millimeter or two of a dent it's likely to be pulled into it. Usually players aren't that accurate on position anyway.
I have seen the spot sticker do some amazing things to balls but only when the ball was rolling slowly. Appleton may have lost to Efren in one US Open 9-ball match on such a roll when the cue ball took a left turn at the spot to save Efren from a self-snooker. I can't find that shot on-line, but if I recall correctly, this was the final shot of the match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSe6troPrzg
Wow... bad enough to get such a bad roll off the spot at such a critical juncture but then to have, possibly, the greatest player ever s**t out on case game. Enough to make a person drink. Heavily...
Some printable templates are available at the bottom of the getting a tight rack resource page.
Here's a video demo of how Bob and I did this on my table:
NV I.3 - How to Train a Pool Table for Accurate and Consistent Ball Racking, an excerpt from VENT-I
Enjoy,
Dave