racking 9 ball

[Snap9]

no difference

Joey,
It does not matter if you push them together with a JACK HAMMER or a FEATHER. If the balls are all touching each other it is a good rack. Now if some of the balls are loose than it is a bad rack. I have yet to see a person capable of compressing object balls in a rack.

I personally use either a forceful pushing or soft pushing technique depending on the rack and table. Either way works as long as all the balls are touching.

Yes there are numerous racking tricks out there that can help with minimizing your oppenent's potential break effectiveness. Or on the flipside maximizing your own breaking effectiveness(rack your own) to pocketing certain balls.

I have one that I have come up with and named the TeePee Rack. Every ball is frozen too. That is all the details I will give out. Now do I use this rack in cash or tournament games. The answer is yes and no. I only use it as a payback to my opponent for a "slug" rack. Do I use this rack if I am getting good racks----ABSOLUTELY NOT. I believe in fair play except when my opponent proves that he/she is lacking in good moral play.

As for the moving the head ball an eighth of an inch left or right. That is used to adjust for the One ball in the side pocket. Either to help your opponent making it on his/her break or to change your consistentcy of potting it on your break.

 

[Aaron_S]

I have one that I have come up with and named the TeePee Rack. Every ball is frozen too. That is all the details I will give out.

It's funny you mention this. I was sitting here thinking of how a rack could have all of the balls touching, but still be a "bad" rack, and I finally came up with one idea. My first instinct was "no, that can't be possible", but then when you said "TeePee Rack", I thought "holy cow, I bet that's what I'm thinking of". It seems to me, though, that if your "TeePee Rack" is what I'm thinking it is, then it would make a strong argument against pushing hard on the balls when you rack, which could unintentionally create a teepee rack, right? I'm assuming, of course, that teepee'd racks really don't spread well, but I would have to defer to you in this matter, as I have never tried it. It almost seems like you'd have to tap balls to make the rack I'm thinking of, though.

Aaron

 

[Snapshot9]

Racking

You can inspect the rack, and if not to your satisfaction, you can require a rerack, but the method of racking is by the racker unless he is doing something illegal like putting moisture (or spit) on the balls, racking above the spot (This happens a lot by some players when they are behind), or tapping balls with other balls (which is illegal under Texas Express 9 ball rules).

Other than that, you look at the rack, and see if there are balls loose, etc., and not happy with it, then call for a rerack, and keep it up till you are happy with it. Of course, rack your own has eliminated a lot of hassles in tournaments, but when matching up for money, most opponents rack the balls.

There are certain times you should watch for getting a bad rack, for example, when one of you is going to get to 5 (or 6) in a race to 7. Likewise, it would come up for getting to 7 first in a race to 9.

And anybody in a hill-to-hill match that doesn't check the rack, no matter who racked them, is a fool, but the real move is 2 games before like I described above, and commonly referred to as the 'insurance' game.

 

[Snap9]

It takes less than 5 seconds to perform on a cooperating table. The balls spread, but that is not the intended target of the rack. And no tapping of the balls is incorporating into the rack.

 

[JoeyA]

Joey,
It does not matter if you push them together with a JACK HAMMER or a FEATHER. If the balls are all touching each other it is a good rack. Now if some of the balls are loose than it is a bad rack. I have yet to see a person capable of compressing object balls in a rack.

I personally use either a forceful pushing or soft pushing technique depending on the rack and table. Either way works as long as all the balls are touching.

Yes there are numerous racking tricks out there that can help with minimizing your oppenent's potential break effectiveness. Or on the flipside maximizing your own breaking effectiveness(rack your own) to pocketing certain balls.

I have one that I have come up with and named the TeePee Rack. Every ball is frozen too. That is all the details I will give out. Now do I use this rack in cash or tournament games. The answer is yes and no. I only use it as a payback to my opponent for a "slug" rack. Do I use this rack if I am getting good racks----ABSOLUTELY NOT. I believe in fair play except when my opponent proves that he/she is lacking in good moral play.

As for the moving the head ball an eighth of an inch left or right. That is used to adjust for the One ball in the side pocket. Either to help your opponent making it on his/her break or to change your consistentcy of potting it on your break.

SO, IS moving the head ball an eight of an inch left or right legal?
Thanks,
JoeyA

 

[cigardave]

SO, IS moving the head ball an eight of an inch left or right legal?
Thanks,
JoeyA

Depends on the size of the foot spot on the table. Most foot spots that I have seen will accommodate an eight of an inch "adjustment" from the exact center of the spot.

 

[Snap9]

As long as the head ball is on the spot it is classified as legal. A fraction to the left or right---up or down as long as it is on the spot.

 

[JoeyA]

I took a lesson from a top pro and he demonstrated that by spinning (not forward as you are saying) the last two balls before the back ball you can give a dead rack.

So, in your case I would say that even with a small unintentional side spin the 'gear effect' might still cause a gap because pool balls are not perfectly round.

Anyway, if you were racking for me to break and spinning those balls, I would have some serious conversations with you.

Actually, I spin the second to last ball on the right, BACKWARDS rolling it forward with back spin. It seems to keep the balls in front tighter although it could be my imagination. Nevertheless, NO ONE complains about my racks because they are always making balls unless they're not hitting the rack square. I only spin one of the two back balls ( I cannot reach the other one because my other fingers are on other balls holding them tightly) only because when I am doing this I am also pushing the back ball and the two far outside balls, forward. It appears to be the best way to rack the balls tightly so you and I would just have to have a serious talk.

JoeyA