What do you say to a bad rack?

XxMerlinxX

XxMerlinxX

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Do you say anything to an opponent who is obviously giving you bad racks? If they're positioning balls to where I might be at a disadvantage after the break, normally I don't say anything, I just play them how they roll. I don't think I've ever asked for a re-rack. If they're racking the balls loose, which may be hard to spot until after you've already hit the break, normally I'll ask them to tighten the rack.
 
solved the bad rack problem

XxMerlinxX said:
Do you say anything to an opponent who is obviously giving you bad racks? If they're positioning balls to where I might be at a disadvantage after the break, normally I don't say anything, I just play them how they roll. I don't think I've ever asked for a re-rack. If they're racking the balls loose, which may be hard to spot until after you've already hit the break, normally I'll ask them to tighten the rack.
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Positioning balls is illegal but not worth arguing over. I just return the favor. Joe Tucker's excellent DVD's on breaking solved the sloppy rack problem. Do study racks carefully for a minute or two before breaking early in a match. The first or second time you do the other player will almost certainly ask if there is a problem. "No just looking for gaps or an angled rack to take advantage of before deciding where I want to break from."

That has always resulted in me getting the best racks the other player can give! :D :D :D

Hu
 
Some people give you bad racks to shark you, upset you, others just do not know how to rack properly.
 
XxMerlinxX said:
Do you say anything to an opponent who is obviously giving you bad racks? If they're positioning balls to where I might be at a disadvantage after the break, normally I don't say anything, I just play them how they roll. I don't think I've ever asked for a re-rack. If they're racking the balls loose, which may be hard to spot until after you've already hit the break, normally I'll ask them to tighten the rack.
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I don't know but i run into bad racks all the time(loose racks). Whats even more infuriating is that in my league one is not allowed to rack their own balls. I have been told this is to prevent the breaker from giving themselves an advantage (I don't see how racking your own balls could be a problem).

It seems i get a loose rack 80% of the time and thats simply unacceptable.

Edit: The 80% is in league play and always with someone who knows better. It seems they are just lazy.
-and does anyone know why you can't rack your own balls?
 
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XxMerlinxX said:
Do you say anything to an opponent who is obviously giving you bad racks? If they're positioning balls to where I might be at a disadvantage after the break, normally I don't say anything, I just play them how they roll. I don't think I've ever asked for a re-rack. If they're racking the balls loose, which may be hard to spot until after you've already hit the break, normally I'll ask them to tighten the rack.
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Actually, what you do is walk up to the bad rack and mess it up with your hand and ask for a re-rack :eek:
 
dragon81 said:
Yeah, it sucks when it does happen. I played in a local tournament, giving this lady the last 5...when she racked and I broke and 6 balls went nowhere, but is was hard correcting her, because she had no clue.
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Some people do not give bad racks, education is the best thing to do to educate people on how to rack.
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
Some people give you bad racks to shark you, upset you, others just do not know how to rack properly.
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I only brought this up because I got intentional bad racks in the last two money matches I played. I will normally pocket 2 balls off of the break, so in the first match he was putting the 2 down low and racking the bottom half loose. By the time I realized what he was doing, I was already up 3-1 in a race to 5, and didn't say anything about it at the time. The 2nd match was with a different guy and he was just putting the 2 on the wing with the 3 down low. I break from dead middle and if I didn't pocket the 1 on the break, but made the 2, I'd end up with the 1 back in the kitchen and the 3 at the other end of the table.
 
Bad Racks

I'm an APA 9 in 9 Ball and I fade bad racks all of the time. Alot of players don't know how to rack 9 Ball and others just don't care. What bothers me the most is I rack the balls tight and players who can't break as good as me are making balls on the break. When I break their racks (that are racked poorly) I can't get more than 2 balls past the side pocket.:angry:

I play in a monthly tournament where its rack your own balls and its funny how much better I break:smile:
 
If it gets excessive , I just start safety breaking. Little inside cut soft break and leave them hooked behind the rack. Then I usually say something like "You racked it" as I walk back to my seat chuckling.
 
I just ask as nicely as i can for a better rack. If they ask ill explain why. Our VNEA midwest tournament this year was rack your own which was super cool IMHO.
 
petticasey said:
-and does anyone know why you can't rack your own balls?
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This gets into pattern racking. If you break pretty consistently, you can often determine what's going to drop or what's going to go where after the break, depending on how the balls are racked.
 
All i will say on the matter is if you get a bad rack & you break it then consider yourself the problem, it takes 10 seconds to look at a rack for gaps ,angles,high or low,ect & you dont have to break a bad rack ever. If you feel the racker dont know how to rack just point out the flaws to him or her in a nice way & see if it helps. If your gambling & break bad racks knowing their bad then you deserve what you get.
 
I sort of know something is going wrong when somebody is racking the ballls and they are grunting and throwing their heads downward when trying to appear they are trying to get them tight. NOBODY has to bob their head up and down to get a rack of balls right and tight.

What to sayto a bad rack? Walk up, look them over and say "can you rerake em?"
 
XxMerlinxX said:
Do you say anything to an opponent who is obviously giving you bad racks? If they're positioning balls to where I might be at a disadvantage after the break, normally I don't say anything, I just play them how they roll. I don't think I've ever asked for a re-rack. If they're racking the balls loose, which may be hard to spot until after you've already hit the break, normally I'll ask them to tighten the rack.
Click to expand...

The first time it happens I say in my politest voice, "Hey buddy, would you mind tightening that rack up for me?".

The second time it happens, I walk down to the rack to see the obvious loose rack and turn to him with one of those half-hearted WTF looks.

The third time it happens, I say rather loudly, "Do you want to play rack your own?"

One dirt bag that I used to play with said yes to that and you should have seen how hard he was racking his own. Must have took him 3 minutes to rack every rack after that. When he was racking for me, he took no more than 15 seconds and they stayed loose as a goose. LOL
JoeyA
 
I couldn't care less if someone positions balls in the rack. The way I look at it is this, if I don't make a ball on the break he's stuck with the mess he made. I really don't care.
MULLY
 
petticasey said:
-and does anyone know why you can't rack your own balls?
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IMO, it's because the guy in charge of that decision doesn't have sufficient understanding of the subject to realize that rack-your-own is a more fair and efficient way to play, as well as less prone to arguments. Or perhaps they favor "tradition" over logic. :shrug: :duck:
 
same problems

Cuebacca said:
IMO, it's because the guy in charge of that decision doesn't have sufficient understanding of the subject to realize that rack-your-own is a more fair and efficient way to play, as well as less prone to arguments. Or perhaps they favor "tradition" over logic. :shrug: :duck:
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You still have the same issues with rack your own. Pattern racking, favorable gaps now, and the positioning of the rack. For starters nine ball needs to be in only two set patterns, a standard pattern and the reverse of that pattern. Secondly they need to add another ball.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
You still have the same issues with rack your own. Pattern racking, favorable gaps now, and the positioning of the rack. For starters nine ball needs to be in only two set patterns, a standard pattern and the reverse of that pattern. Secondly they need to add another ball.

Hu
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I would agree with you that rack-your-own is not perfect, but IMO it is easily the lesser of the two evils; I just don't see the problems with rack-your-own come up as often on average as the issues with rack-for-each-other.

While either format allows for rack inspection and requests for a re-rack, I think people tend not to use these options as much as in rack-your-own, and for good reason. :)

I definitely hear ya on the 10th ball. :thumbup:
 
rarely have i ever encounter'd people intentionally giving bad racks, most of the time, checking the racks right from the get go, prevents that from happening...

I did have one guy not want to do a re-rack on a very notice-able bad rack and he refused so i just went upto the rack and messed it all up with my hand and was like how about now?
 
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