Racking is "tapped"?

K

Keith Buck

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I copied this line from the Norwegian 9-ball Challenge Draw & Results section:

Break box, and racking is “tapped”

Does anyone know what they mean by tapped? The only thing I can think of is the way they had to tap down the balls to set up for the Sardo Tight Rack.
 
they may possibly have misspelled TAPED. Taping the racking & the break could uncover a foul.
 
Little known fact ...

regardless, a little known fact is that under Texas Express rules, tapping the balls when racking is a foul, and loss of game in 9 ball.

So when your playing a money match by Texas Express rules, and hill-to-hill, and your opponent taps the balls when racking, you automatically win
the set ..... lol (we all know you get a 'special' rack in hill-to-hill mode).
 
You mean they tape the racker so after the breaker breaks and he/she doesn't break well they can complain about a bad rack and have it reviewed?
 
Tapped balls means that they all the rack balls are pre tapped causing small divets in the slate. This results in a perfect rack every time (you don't even need a trangle as the balls simple roll into place all touching). the euro tour uses this also and in eliminates racking disputes.
 
TheOne said:
Tapped balls means that they all the rack balls are pre tapped causing small divets in the slate. This results in a perfect rack every time (you don't even need a trangle as the balls simple roll into place all touching). the euro tour uses this also and in eliminates racking disputes.
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Thanks Craig, players used to complain about bad rolls through the rack area when the tables were trained for the Sardo. Do you hear any complaints about that at the Eurotour?
 
TheOne said:
Tapped balls means that they all the rack balls are pre tapped causing small divets in the slate. This results in a perfect rack every time (you don't even need a trangle as the balls simple roll into place all touching). the euro tour uses this also and in eliminates racking disputes.
Click to expand...


Really? I mean, I've seen this done and know exactly what you mean (a triangle is not needed) but I didn't know this is something that is popular in some parts. I bet the straight-pool enthusiasts must go nuts over this.
 
they are not putting divots in the slate, they are putting divots in the cloth.

Slate is pretty uncompressible (thats why it is slate).


TheOne said:
Tapped balls means that they all the rack balls are pre tapped causing small divets in the slate. This results in a perfect rack every time (you don't even need a trangle as the balls simple roll into place all touching). the euro tour uses this also and in eliminates racking disputes.
Click to expand...
 
well ok slate/cloth, they do put the balls in holder and bash them with a hammer or so Im led to beleive! :rolleyes:

But yeah seems pretty popular and needless to say the racks break great when every single ball is touching every single time. Problem is its then too easy so they had to take measures to stop the cut break, now 3 balls have to pass the head string. Some people dont like it but I'd rather have it then the bun fights. Funny the first time I used it I was getting the rack out and kind of felt silly when I realized it wasn't needed or used.
 
TheOne said:
well ok slate/cloth, they do put the balls in holder and bash them with a hammer or so Im led to beleive! :rolleyes:

But yeah seems pretty popular and needless to say the racks break great when every single ball is touching every single time. Problem is its then too easy so they had to take measures to stop the cut break, now 3 balls have to pass the head string. Some people dont like it but I'd rather have it then the bun fights. Funny the first time I used it I was getting the rack out and kind of felt silly when I realized it wasn't needed or used.
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The billiard channel tour used the "Rack-M-Rite" racking template to put divots in the cloth. Paul Potier set up the tables and trained amateurs to rack the balls by hand for each match. It worked very well. The template makes the ball holes slightly closer than 2 and 1/4 inches so the balls lean toward each other and stay frozen. That was the first time to my knowledge that a perfect rack was used in pro tournaments. It was very odd to see all the nine balls still sitting in the same place after each break.

Ralf Souquet bought ten templates at the last tournament to take back home and it spread in some form to the Euro tour.

This revolutionized tournament play and spelled the end of 9-ball, imho. Every rack in the last Billiard Channel tournament was better than ANY rack on the Camel tour. Buddy hall didn't even know the corner ball was supposed to go in when breaking from the side with a good rack, and he's played a little nine-ball.

I never use a rack on my table, or a spot. It will eventually wear a small hole at the one ball spot, but doesn't wear a groove, so it can be moved slightly and reset. It works great on home tables, but hasn't caught on yet in pool rooms because everyone must rack the same way. When I play ten ball it takes about 2 seconds to rack the balls by hand, harder with 9-ball, but you won't want to play 9-ball with a good rack, it's too easy, like Corey soon figured out!

unknownpro
 
I have seen these rack-m-rite's used at the 2005 EC in The Netherlands. Has anyone seen a slate after it has been tapped? The thing is they use so much force with this tapping, that I would like to be sure that it doesn't damage the slate, before bringing it to my poolhall.

gr. Dave
 
They use a foam template (mould) which is in the shape of a triangle with 15 holes in it. They tap the front ball position first and then do one at a time.

It puts the dimples in a position which causes the balls to all naturally bunch up together.

IMHO it's the best way to do it. Fast and consistant. The Sardo does not work well without the dimples from what I've seen.

I guess a ball could travel across the edge of a couple of dimples and turn noticeably. I figure you better just avoid real slow shots across that region.

Colin
 
it looks like doing that would cause a ball that was slow rolled thru that area to veer off or not roll true.
 
I have to agree its the best method but the unknown one makes a good point, the Euro Tour was getting a bit of a joke break wise but they have made changes to try and stop it. The best players where simply cut breaking and getting position everytime.

I'm sure it has happened but I dont remember the dimples altering any shots in the 5 tournaments I have played on the Euro Tour.

The sardo just doesnt work because people rack them different everytime and it weighs a ton!
 
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scottycoyote said:
it looks like doing that would cause a ball that was slow rolled thru that area to veer off or not roll true.
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I don't think there is any significant effect. If there were, every little dimple due to a jump shot would make the ball veer off.

I think people are looking for an excuse.

Far more of a problem for slow-rolling balls are spot stickers that seriously change the ball's path when it is near the spot. I could swear that a ball was deflected a good half a ball when I was watching at DCC in January.
 
I was at the 2005 world juniors last sept. in Austria. They played with a rack and the one on the spot for the double elimination part of the tournament, when they got down to the single elimination stage of the tournament they tapped the balls and put the rack away and it was rack by hand and the nine on the spot.
 
Double-Dave said:
I have seen these rack-m-rite's used at the 2005 EC in The Netherlands. Has anyone seen a slate after it has been tapped? The thing is they use so much force with this tapping, that I would like to be sure that it doesn't damage the slate, before bringing it to my poolhall.

gr. Dave
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Hi Double Dave,

I recently changed the cloth on my slate table. I had Simonis that was about 5 years old and have used the Rack-m-Rite for most of those 5 years. With that old cloth, I had to retrain several times and used to tap the balls very hard. Anyway, the only evidence on the aactual slate in the rack area was a small buildup of chalk dust for the 9 balls ( I played a lot of 9-ball). There was no damage to the slate at all.

After getting the new Z9 cloth put on, I immediately used the Rack-m-rite again. I'm very careful about racking in the exact same place. I drew a felt marker line around the rack (straight pool nut, now!) to help make sure that I'm in the exact same place. The good news is I've played for 4 months now and never retrained the cloth. I still get perfect racks even with all 15 balls. Don't really need the triangle anymore.

There is only a very minor effect on the cue ball as it is coming to a stop and rolls over one of the divots. It is less of an effect than a sticker spot.

Andy
 
alot of tables are tapped her in belgium.

i know Q-action wich is a very known poolhall here, has all there tables tapped. alot of hall sin belgium tapper there tables.

what many clubs also do, is tap a 9-ball square on the headspot. so u can choose. if u want to break with a perfect rack break from the footspot. if u want to rack them yourself, break from the headspot. im not used on playing LOADS of hours on tapped tables. BUT on many tables its the only way to get a perfect rack without spending hours. just gather the balls by hand and they fall into place like magic.

ps. i dont remember seeing a ball doing weird things after roling over the dings. and if it does anything, well its not even noticable with the eye. unless the ball stops RIGHT at 0.001mm of a ding, and maybe roles into place. but dont remember ever seeing it.

good news: making 3 balls on the break becomes EASY. its almost impossible not to pot a ball on a 9ball break with this tappered tables. (that really good news?).

best way to place balls. u put the 2-3-2 line in first, and then role the top (1ball) and botem ball against each other. a slight touch from all around the rack to make sure the balls glue perfectly to eachother, and u got a perfect rack, where making 3balls on the break is as comon as a scratch on the break from ballbangers.

ps where can u purchase this rack-em-rite?
 
normally at the eurotour they put the 1 ball first..
then the rest..
You can buy them from the EPBF...
Are you going to Weert next week? Think that they sell them there.. Not sure about it...
 
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