The VNEA league I play in has several locations where the table and ball conditions are just abysmal. The cloth is filthy and old and almost feels sticky like several drinks have spilled on it. The balls are dirty and all beat up.
Trying to rack and break on these tables is a nightmare. You have to find the pit where the head ball wants to roll into and move the rest of the rack to that point. Then pray that none of the other balls want to roll off from that position. It seems absolutely impossible to make a ball on the break if you can't get the balls to touch. The table speed is just too slow to allow the drop in impact force from gaps to get the balls moving enough to find a pocket.
Many games I have spent 5 or 6 minutes just trying to make sure that at least the first three head balls are touching. I can get a ball to drop on the break maybe 35% of the time if I can do get them touching. It's so hard to make a ball in these conditions that if you were playing a tie breaker game for a round, you might as well to tell your opponent to go ahead and break. The break is a handicap under these conditions.
I was thinking maybe I would try to bring my magic rack in and use it when I rack my own. I know it doesn't fix all the issues with the table conditions, but at least I wouldn't struggle trying to get a decent rack.
So, has anyone ever tried this? I don't think there are any rules in VNEA about having to use a specific rack. The only issues I can think of is the opponent may object or ask to use it for all the match games (which I would be ok with).
Trying to rack and break on these tables is a nightmare. You have to find the pit where the head ball wants to roll into and move the rest of the rack to that point. Then pray that none of the other balls want to roll off from that position. It seems absolutely impossible to make a ball on the break if you can't get the balls to touch. The table speed is just too slow to allow the drop in impact force from gaps to get the balls moving enough to find a pocket.
Many games I have spent 5 or 6 minutes just trying to make sure that at least the first three head balls are touching. I can get a ball to drop on the break maybe 35% of the time if I can do get them touching. It's so hard to make a ball in these conditions that if you were playing a tie breaker game for a round, you might as well to tell your opponent to go ahead and break. The break is a handicap under these conditions.
I was thinking maybe I would try to bring my magic rack in and use it when I rack my own. I know it doesn't fix all the issues with the table conditions, but at least I wouldn't struggle trying to get a decent rack.
So, has anyone ever tried this? I don't think there are any rules in VNEA about having to use a specific rack. The only issues I can think of is the opponent may object or ask to use it for all the match games (which I would be ok with).
