Twisting The Balls

rburgoyne

rburgoyne

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have heard some long time players use the term of "twisting the balls" in a 9-ball rack in order to possibly prevent your opponent from making a ball on the break. I asked one about it and was told it was something you just had to learn over time. So my questions to the AZ community are...

1. What are they talking about and how do you recognize it if you are the one breaking?

2. How do you need to adjust your break if this happens to you, short of asking for a rerack?
 
I don't know about doing that is 9 ball but I know that in 8 ball you should spin the 8 ball before you remove the rack. :rotflmao1:
 
rburgoyne said:
I have heard some long time players use the term of "twisting the balls" in a 9-ball rack in order to possibly prevent your opponent from making a ball on the break. I asked one about it and was told it was something you just had to learn over time. So my questions to the AZ community are...

1. What are they talking about and how do you recognize it if you are the one breaking?

2. How do you need to adjust your break if this happens to you, short of asking for a rerack?
Click to expand...
I've heard that the point is to get balls tight (or loose) by turning them to have their wide way (or skinny way) against the balls next to them. I think this doesn't have a chance to work with new balls which tend to be both round and the right size. Old balls don't rack well.

If you find this kind of racking trick is a problem, you might consider "rack your own." Also, you might want to get Joe Tucker's "Racking Secrets." It will help you spot which gaps are helpful and which are harmful.
 
Bob Jewett said:
I've heard that the point is to get balls tight (or loose) by turning them to have their wide way (or skinny way) against the balls next to them. I think this doesn't have a chance to work with new balls which tend to be both round and the right size. Old balls don't rack well.

If you find this kind of racking trick is a problem, you might consider "rack your own." Also, you might want to get Joe Tucker's "Racking Secrets." It will help you spot which gaps are helpful and which are harmful.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the response, I will have to look into that book.
 
Ok, I finally got an answer from someone about this at the pool hall. Basically twisting the balls is turning the whole rack at a slight angle. The bottom ball is about an 1/8" or so to the side.

Depending on where you are breaking from, if you move it one way, it helps the wing ball go easier. Move it the other way and it prevents it. The guy who finally told me said it was being done to him by someone, and he finally noticed the slight angle of his opponents racks and figured out what was going on.

Anyway, with all the recent talk about racking patterns, tight and loose racks, etc, I wanted to share this one as well.
 
We refer to that as twisting the rack, not the balls. It works on people who break from one side only and don't recognize what's been done to the rack. If they see it they can ask for a rerack or switch sides after the rack has been placed. There is a much better way of shagging the rack however. I watched a well known Chicago player play a Phillipino up in Chicago maybe ten years ago. The Pinoy broke and ran the first three racks so everyone knew it was coming. The next break started with a bang but the balls just slowly spread with only three or four making it to the rails. The Chi player then ran out that rack and went on to win the match without too much difficulty.
 
Earl used to spin the balls, as well as tap the hell out of them, on some old Sands events videos I have.

I think a commentator basically said it was an attempt to prevent the wing ball from shooting in. Changing the level of the balls slightly by tapping might change the way the balls separate from the pack. One row slightly higher or lower than the next,etc...

I honestly don't recall seeing Earl spin the balls so that they were touching on the numbers, I thought the idea was he would spin them to almost put a "grain" in the cloth...meaning they would leave at a slightly different angle from some sort of cloth effect.
 
Don't know about twisting the rack (well I do but I won't admit it).

I like to throw this one out there when I enter an 8B tourney...

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