From my 20+ years of playing, I'm a LOT worse than the vast majority at producing a tight rack. I was gambling with a buddy and he insisted on switching to rack your own after I slugged him a few times in a row. And I was actually trying very hard.
I think something eludes me in terms of...
> Finding the pre-existing divots
> Rolling the balls into position all at once vs. fine adjusting the position
> Which balls to apply pressure to
> Whether to apply inward vs. downward pressure
> When to tap (or never to tap)
> Whether to tip the rack forward versus pull straight up
> Whether to spin, finesse or feather the balls
> In 8-ball whether to put your fingers in the rack behind the balls
> Whether the plastic rack lip should be up vs. down
> Whether to scoot the rack forward before lifting
It's something I've thought hard about and played with a lot and I'm still no better. :shrug:
Try this for 9-ball:
1. Place balls in rack and arrange in diamond at foot of table.
2. Move rack and balls into position on the foot spot.
3. Make sure rack is aligned properly (not twisted).
4. Slide rack forward (toward head of table) to create 1/4 inch separation/gap between balls and rack. The balls need room to move around and fall into position during the next steps. Moving the rack forward ensures that the rack is not restricting ball movement.
5. Place fingers on back balls and rest wrists on sides of rack. Only use three fingers from each hand. Both thumbs go on back ball. Each middle finger goes on a wing balls. Each index finger goes on a ball in the row behind the 9 ball. Ring and pinky fingers are not used.
6. Very quickly, loosely, and gently pump/rock/vibrate the balls forward into the rack without applying much pressure to the balls. After a pump or two quickly remove your fingers to take all pressure off the balls and let them naturally roll/rest into place. The goal isn't to force the balls into any position but rather you're slightly moving/rocking the balls forward and allowing them to come to rest on their own. The rack should be very loose around the balls and not restricting any ball movement. Make sure you're moving/rocking all 9 balls at once so the entire diamond formation of balls moves and comes to rest together in sync.
7. As the balls come to rest, keep your eye on the head ball. You want the head ball to naturally roll back in toward the rack so it's leaning on at least one of the balls in the second row. This rarely happens first try but if it does, move on to step 8 and remove the rack. Otherwise, you'll need to find a better location to rack. To relocate, you leave the balls in their current position and simply slide the rack (not the balls) forward to create a 1/4 inch gap as described in step 4. Now repeat step 6. When relocating, it's important to leave the balls in place and adjust the rack location forward in small increments. This allows you to systematically cover the racking area from low to high and eventually find the "sweet spot" where the one ball naturally settles back into the rack.
8. Remove the rack. This is easy since the balls are not being forced against the sides of the rack like you're used to. The balls are simply resting in place and the rack is easy to remove. Lift the bottom side first when removing the rack.
9. Feather the head ball back into the rack. Use your index finger or thumb. If the balls look tight before feathering then you are simply applying a little bit of pressure to ensure the rack is solid without any movement. If gaps are present in the middle of the rack then you are going to be feathering the head ball back to move the balls behind it and close up the gaps. Make sure the head ball stays in it's new feathered location. Otherwise, if the head ball rocks forward away from the rack you will need to start over and re-rack.
