Thoughts on Pattern Racking/Rack Manipulation?

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FastManners

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There have been a few blow up's recently in NYC over certain well known rack manipulators, manipulating 9 ball racks and soft breaking in order to give themselves an easy layout after the break. I have played in tournaments that allow it and it makes the game a farce.
I utilized it in a tournament many years ago (I studied the SVB/Orcollo match in the link below) and even I was making a high percentage of break and runs and I am only a 600+ Fargo player.
My question is, if it is not expressly called out in the rules is it okay do it or is it bad etiquette? In one of the matches, the players agreed to rack their own (which is not the norm).
I think at the very least, it should be a standard rule that the two is in the row behind the 9 ball.

 
rexus31 said:
Pattern racking is cheating, IMO.
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I don’t disagree with that. I definitely don’t look fondly on the one tournament i did it, even though it was within the rules. It just feels like an unfair advantage, not to mention that it makes for hideously dull racks of pool.
 
FastManners said:
I don’t disagree with that. I definitely don’t look fondly on the one tournament i did it, even though it was within the rules. It just feels like an unfair advantage, not to mention that it makes for hideously dull racks of pool.
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Did the TD say it was OK or does he just not get involved?
 
Bob Jewett said:
Did the TD say it was OK or does he just not get involved?
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It was the BCA Nationals the year after the SVB Orcollo match, so there were referees and nothing was stipulated in the rules against it. We were not called out for it once by referees nor by opponents.
 
When racking for myself, I just put the 2 behind the 9 and the rest are random.
For my opponent, I just leave it completely random and concentrate on getting a good rack.
 
FastManners said:
It was the BCA Nationals the year after the SVB Orcollo match, so there were referees and nothing was stipulated in the rules against it. We were not called out for it once by referees nor by opponents.
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I'm pretty sure that pattern racking has always been officially banned in the BCAPL. You may want to check the rules which are available online.
 
Bob Jewett said:
I'm pretty sure that pattern racking has always been officially banned in the BCAPL. You may want to check the rules which are available online.
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Tough to check the rules from 2014. They can’t have been banned for the SVB Orcollo final, as that was the most blatant example of pattern racking I have seen ,unless the refs/tournament directors decided to ignore it.
I certainly agree that it should be banned from all tournaments/leagues.
 
Interestingly the rules now for BCA/CSI say that the balls should be placed in random order, but it does not specifically call out pattern racking or strength/effort of break. That definitely leaves it open to be manipulated. I would prefer if at least the 2 was placed in the row behind the 9.
I have no idea what the rules said in 2014, but we were not called out once for pattern racking. We also did not pattern rack all the time or win the tournament.
Even if it is loosely within the rules, I agree that it is at best unsportsmanlike.
 
Where I play at (in local, non-sanctioned events), it's a common courtesy in 9-ball to put large balls (typically 7 and 8) behind the 9 to avoid early easy 9-ball combos. People here don't see it as a bad thing, even if it's by some definition pattern racking. Doing it in reverse to put the 2 behind the 9 when doing your own racks, then soft-breaking to leave a 2-9 combo would definitely be considered pattern racking and frowned upon.
 
Oikawa said:
Where I play at (in local, non-sanctioned events), it's a common courtesy in 9-ball to put large balls (typically 7 and 8) behind the 9 to avoid early easy 9-ball combos. People here don't see it as a bad thing, even if it's by some definition pattern racking. Doing it in reverse to put the 2 behind the 9 when doing your own racks, then soft-breaking to leave a 2-9 combo would definitely be considered pattern racking and frowned upon.
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interesting, have never heard of that before. I have played a lot of tournaments where the 2 behind the 9
Is mandatory with the assumed goal to make it less likely to have a run out with a slow break.
I admittedly don’t know enough about the split of the balls after the break, to know which method would be more advantageous to the breaker.
 
Although I have seen the same pattern over and over called out, pattern racking in general is impossible to prevent. Anybody that has racked thousands of times can gather the balls and throw them in place getting every ball or almost every ball where they want it.

Because it is impossible to prevent pattern racking I think there should be a couple designated patterns and pattern racking required. Maybe no rack at all. I have noticed I believe Mexican players positioning balls around the rails. Not world class players but I didn't see runouts even on a bar table.

I don't know the fix. The break has been broken for a long time.

Hu
 
FastManners said:
Interestingly the rules now for BCA/CSI say that the balls should be placed in random order, but it does not specifically call out pattern racking or strength/effort of break. That definitely leaves it open to be manipulated. I would prefer if at least the 2 was placed in the row behind the 9.
I have no idea what the rules said in 2014, but we were not called out once for pattern racking. We also did not pattern rack all the time or win the tournament.
Even if it is loosely within the rules, I agree that it is at best unsportsmanlike.
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Rules said the same thing in 2014. Here’s a copy of a draft of the rules in 2014.

I kinda think it doesn’t need to be called out explicitly because it’s already addressed. The balls should be racked in random order. That means you should not be choosing where any ball goes. “Manipulating it” is just another way of saying “breaking the rules” or “cheating”. It can be easy to get away with if you swap around some of the more trivial balls to not literally have the exact same rack but it’s still cheating. And a knowledgeable player or ref would have the opportunity to notice. I notice if someone puts the 8 behind the 1 every single time.
 
MattPoland said:
Rules said the same thing in 2014. Here’s a copy of a draft of the rules in 2014.

I kinda think it doesn’t need to be called out explicitly because it’s already addressed. The balls should be racked in random order. That means you should not be choosing where any ball goes. “Manipulating it” is just another way of saying “breaking the rules” or “cheating”. It can be easy to get away with if you swap around some of the more trivial balls to not literally have the exact same rack but it’s still cheating. And a knowledgeable player or ref would have the opportunity to notice. I notice if someone puts the 8 behind the 1 every single time.
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Cheers and that is interesting. I would have thought it would been called out in the video I posted, especially as I doubt it was the first match it happened on m that tournament .i have never heard of the 8 behind the 1 being an issue or a tournament rule either, but like i say, i dont know enough about racking order to have an educated opinion on it.
 
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FastManners said:
... Even if it is loosely within the rules, I agree that it is at best unsportsmanlike.
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I was an "area referee" for one of the tournaments in Norfolk (US Open or International Open). At the players meeting it was explained that the nine would be racked on the spot with a template and pattern racking was not allowed. It was rack for yourself.

As an area referee for six tables, I was told to only come over to a table if requested, so I sat on the side and waited for problems.

On the table nearest to me, there were two kinds of cheating going on. One player was clearly pattern racking, as in thinking for while and then putting the two up, then the three and five, ... The other player surely saw what was going on but said nothing, and so I remained seated. He had no reason to complain because with the nine on the spot, the wing ball was not going in for his opponent and the pattern was irrelevant.

The second player had a different strategy. At the end of placing the balls on the template, he finished by very slightly moving the back ball away from one of its neighbors. That resulted in the wing ball on the gap side being dead again instead of going to the side rail by the pocket. Evidently cheater #1 didn't know about this technique because he said nothing either. The gapper guy won the match.

In another match in my area, Ralf Souquet was playing. His opponent knew the gap trick. On the second use of the gap, Ralf stepped forward and quietly told his opponent to not cheat any more. His opponent stopped cheating.
 
I have never been good enough to manipulate gaps in the rack, without it being obvious. I have pattern racked. I have also watched players pattern rack against me. I also have ways to decoy the pattern. I would be surprised to find out that other, competitive/gambling, players haven’t done it also. If you know how to pattern rack, hard to believe you haven’t done it.

That being said, yes it is cheating. It shouldn’t be done and is against all rule sets, whether it is enforced or not. Anytime I’ve done it in competition, I felt like I was doing something wrong and hoped I didn’t get called on it.


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