TERRIBLE Racks during World Pool Masters 2018

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skateboardkid

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I've been watching the World Pool Masters (Special Thanks to Genipool14 on Youtube).

The refs are racking the balls SO bad. The players are hitting the break as hard as possible, and on some racks, the balls are barely moving. You can see those "slug" racks over and over.

What's the solution for this? Magic Rack with 9 on the spot? Tapping the table so it racks perfect - plus adding the "3 Balls past headstring" rule? Simply teaching the refs how to get a proper rack?

I also noticed the spot is not in line with the last 2 diamonds - is this intentional?? Isn't the spot supposed to be directly in line with the last 2??

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The wing ball almost never went in - which is insane if you're putting the one on the spot.

The announcers even said "The players can check the rack, but cannot make the ref rack again".... what if there is a HUGE gap between the 1 and the other balls??? Doesn't seem fair.

There has to be a better way.
 

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I agree it is nuts that they can't say anything even if the one rolled out after they were done racking.

It definitely looks like the spot isn't in the correct place, my guess is it was put on by someone eyeballing it.

Perhaps an overhead camera directly over the rack that shows how bad of a job they did racking would make them make sure it was right. I know I would do a better job than those guys giving a tight rack to each opponent.

I had heard that in bowling they were allowed to ask for a new set of pins once per match if they saw that the pins weren't placed correctly. I think if there was a camera that showed the rack and if the player was allowed one rerack per match it would help.

I did notice a number of slug racks that were given to various players where the rack was hit solid and just by the sound and the travel of the balls you could tell there was a problem with the rack.
 
Nick B said:
I seem to remember Dennis O insisting on a rerack.
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Yes he did it once. The ref complied the first time. Later in the match he said something similar and the ref did not comply.

The one not being on the head spot, or more correctly the head spot not being in the proper place, would definitely account for a lot of what I was noticing on the break shots. It may have been intentional to force more interplay between opponents as opposed to trading packages or it could have been a mistake:confused: Niels certainly had the brake down pretty good. I could tell it was frustrating a lot of the players though.

There most definitely was a lot of clustering of balls down at the foot end of the table, seemingly more than I normally notice in pro matches, but there was also some very entertaining pool being played as well.
 
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I thought it was awesome when Shaw broke the balls fpr the first time against Shane and the cue ball went like 2 feet up in the air and the one left the table.

Hilarious
 
That one lady Ref could give me back racks every day. I wouldn't care. it was a fun weekend of pool to watch. I really enjoyed it
 
I watched all the matches also and they repeatedly said the table slow because of humidity if the balls wasn't separating then I'd say it was the racking but they were separating just bouncing off the rails slow

I'd ratter have them rack the balls by hand then to have a magic rack in the match can't stand those
 
SBK:
I can’t speak to the quality of the racking, but as for the spot placement, it may be correct and directly in line with the diamonds. From the shadows, the camera is over the center of the table. Parallax can be responsible for the apparent shift in the location of the spot. Remember that the diamonds are about 1-1/2” above the table.

RogerO
 
justabrake said:
I watched all the matches also and they repeatedly said the table slow because of humidity if the balls wasn't separating then I'd say it was the racking but they were separating just bouncing off the rails slow

I'd ratter have them rack the balls by hand then to have a magic rack in the match can't stand those
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A slow table doesn’t break well....I’m laying 97% of the blame on the cloth.
 
pt109 said:
A slow table doesn’t break well....I’m laying 97% of the blame on the cloth.
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I was laying the blame at whoever put that cloth on the table They did say the practice table was playing fine in the next room But they blamed it on the humidity

The balls were separating nicely but they seem to slow down after a couple of feet and their was no bunches of balls to blame it on the racking JMO

I also thought maybe they wanted it to make it harder on the players with a slow table Again who knows LOL
 
Tech triangle

A triangle with an adjustable clamp could help.

Instead of rolling the balls into position by hand inside the triangle,

The triangle would be adjustable and secure the rack and then be released.

Similar to a springform pan for baking cakes.

This is better than hand racking because the pressure would be uniform.
 
I can't see rack your own gaining traction in a tournament where every rack of every match has a referee. The rack your own vs rack for your opponent argument doesn't even surface.
 
Most of the time you hear that the tv table is playing faster than than the practise tables because of the lighting. Guess that wasn't the case in this tournament. Any how fun matches to watch even with the "snooker" commentators.
 
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