Predator WPA World 8 Ball Championship 2023 (17-22 Oct 2023), Austria, Winner $75K

[jay helfert]

It may have been me that started that rumor

Bob J corrected me though.

One minor detail that I think makes a huge difference with the racking is the wearing of gloves. Trying to get a tight manual rack with gloves on is difficult. You really lose a lot of feel with them on. Get the gloves off and the rack quality would improve, maybe enough that we would stop complaining about them.

Thank you pointing this out. I never racked with gloves on for this very reason. I liked to cinch those balls up there as tight as possible. All I know is that the players would ask for me to rack the balls in the final matches of many big tournaments down through the years.

 

[sjm]

I never racked with gloves on for this very reason. I liked to cinch those balls up there as tight as possible. All I know is that the players would ask for me to rack the balls in the final matches of many big tournaments down through the years.

Interesting, Jay. For getting the rack nice and tight, the focus here on AZB has nearly always been on the type of rack in use, and not on whether the referees are wearing gloves. Seems there's more to it. Thanks for the education.

 

[jay helfert]

Interesting, Jay. For getting the rack nice and tight, the focus here on AZB has nearly always been on the type of rack in use, and not on whether the referees are wearing gloves. Seems there's more to it. Thanks for the education.

True, the rack type does make a difference, a big one sometimes. I hated the old Sardo Tight rack. That thing was a monstrosity! The Delta 13 might be the best triangle rack ever. I also like the hard poly fiber racks. You could really snug the balls up there with that one. Wood racks, only so so. Even the Diamond wood rack is average at best. Plastic racks I throw away!

The templates they are using today also vary somewhat, with some working better than others. Among those I like the Accu-Rack the best.

One other thing Stu. Placing the rack in the right place on the spot is also important. Sometimes the spot gets worn down and there is a slight divot. I don't want the head ball in that divot, so I may move the rack up just a hair to avoid it. Bingo, I now have a tight rack. Also, the cloth must be smooth and clean! You can use a rag or towel to wipe it down but often I would use my hands to give it a good rub down before racking. That always helped. I can't tell you how many times I had a fellow ref that couldn't get a tight rack, and I would go over there and give that cloth a good massage and just like that they would rack right up.

For me, getting a tight rack was paramount, especially in 9-Ball. Seems that most refs today are unaware of these things.

Another thing you might find interesting. In the old days often a good rack was hard to come by in some poolrooms. So we would rack with our hands in money games. The way we did this was using six balls first. You can grip them all tightly and place them up there, like for a six ball rack. Then take the back three balls and put them in place just like you would do with a template. Believe it or not you can get a good rack for 9-Ball just like that. Some guys like Danny D. or Jimmy Moore could throw all fifteen balls up there and corral them with both arms and make a nice full rack. They would set them all up there and just snug in the corner balls!

 

[sjm]

True, the rack type does make a difference, a big one sometimes. I hated the old Sardo Tight rack. That thing was a monstrosity! The Delta 13 might be the best triangle rack ever. I also like the hard poly fiber racks. You could really snug the balls up there with that one. Wood racks, only so so. Even the Diamond wood rack is average at best. Plastic racks I throw away!

The templates they are using today also vary somewhat, with some working better than others. Among those I like the Accu-Rack the best.

One other thing Stu. Placing the rack in the right place on the spot is also important. Sometimes the spot gets worn down and there is a slight divot. I don't want the head ball in that divot, so I may move the rack up just a hair to avoid it. Bingo, I now have a tight rack. Also, the cloth must be smooth and clean! You can use a rag or towel to wipe it down but often I would use my hands to give it a good rub down before racking. That always helped. I can't tell you how many times I had a fellow ref that couldn't get a tight rack, and I would go over there and give that cloth a good massage and just like that they would rack right up.

For me, getting a tight rack was paramount, especially in 9-Ball. Seems that most refs today are unaware of these things.

Great stuff, Jay. I can see why you were a ref that was preferred by connoisseurs!

 

[Badpenguin]

SVB being the only professional pool player left on the planet that uses master chalk, that is what caused it. And it is costing him dearly. You don't see the cue ball needing cleaning between every other shot for any other player, because they all stopped using chalk that incessantly causes skids every other shot.

Skid, or miss?