Wooden Rack - The Secret Art of Rack Mechanics

maha said:
chili.

just an idea of a way to stop fixed racks. it can be changed to fit conditions.

something needs to be done. it hurts viewers and gives the game a bad taste for them.
especially when a player makes the same ball in the same pocket almost every break. that shouldn't happen.

the break should be a random event with the best of it going to who can hit the rack most solid and control the cueball. not who can fix it.
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I agree (hence the thoughts/better information comment from Bob), I'm a numbers guy and break things down to the timing of individual tasks, it's the only way to truly evaluate something ;) In the manufacturing world this is how things operate, you determine what takes the longest time to produce, the shortest time to produce, and how to make it all work together.

For reference...



And here's my take on racking/breaking order...which is not completely applicable to the conversation but is related to it.

Template rack, end of story, opponent racks (ref preferred, I'm just thinking out loud here), breaker reviews and can request a re-rack once. Then in a race to 9 (for example) the person who wins the lag gets to break the first four games, the opponent then gets to break the next four, if it gets to hill/hill the lag winner breaks.

This would eliminate, IMHO, shady racking, and would also allow players an opportunity to run a few racks (for the crowd that likes that) but prevents them from running out the set.
 
While on racking. The 3 point rule messes up some things too. I think a better solution for breaking would be a minimum speed requirement on breaks.
 
I just set the 1 ball on the spot,let it find it's "home", bring the rack to the one, fill the rest of the rack and gently gather them up into the triangle. If the one doesn't move when the rack is eased forward and up...good enough.

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logical said:
I just set the 1 ball on the spot,let it find it's "home", bring the rack to the one, fill the rest of the rack and gently gather them up into the triangle. If the one doesn't move when the rack is eased forward and up...good enough.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
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I've always said this - if you want to cheat, go ahead, you're the one who has to sleep with themselves at night.

That being said, I RARELY gamble so I don't have much on the line, other than winning. I'm pretty sure if I was laying down cash I would take the break more seriously.
 
Willowbrook Wolfy said:
I don’t see what the problem is. Maybe it’s just from experience but I’ll break anything. Just by sighting from end of table I can usually tell when I need to move the cb to the other side of the table or when to break with draw or a wing ball on one side tends to rack loose(that’s wired in my 👀). I just consider it part of the game. If someone is doing it over and over I’ll call them on it. But Even loose racks are pretty easy to spread if you know how to break/hit them.
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I think we all know this isn't universally true so I'm really wanting to call BS on your claims. But if you really know how to break pretty much every rack to get a good spread regardless of where the gaps and combinations of gaps are, please go ahead and give us the tutorial for all the possible gap situations and how you need to break for each of them to get a good spread so the rest of the world that hasn't figured it all out yet can learn something. Thanks in advance.

And yes, many people are aware of how to deal with a few gap scenarios and tilted racks (and Dr. Dave and others have even done some videos addressing many of those) but you seem to essentially be claiming to have them all worked out so we would love to learn how to never get slug racked again.

Unless it is for playing position to have the cue ball go back into some of the balls a second time or the like I am also pretty skeptical about the efficacy of english (botton or otherwise) having much effect on the actual spread of the balls.
 
Whenever I hit too low on the CB during a 9b break, I usually still make the wing ball but also some other ball that basically races it into that bottom corner pocket. I’ll often make one in the side as well.

Sounds good, but I rarely end up with a shot on the 1B with that low CB strike.

Just a random thought.

Fatboy, I play social fun pool with my parents and their friends and they have a buddy that is well known and shameless with his slug racks if you’re playing too good. They even call a slug rack an “Eddy” lol.

My stepdad complained, my mom commiserated and asked “did you give him an eddy?” He said yeah he just broke second ball and ran out again! 😂😂
 
JazzyJeff87 said:
Whenever I hit too low on the CB during a 9b break, I usually still make the wing ball but also some other ball that basically races it into that bottom corner pocket. I’ll often make one in the side as well.

Sounds good, but I rarely end up with a shot on the 1B with that low CB strike.

Just a random thought.

Fatboy, I play social fun pool with my parents and their friends and they have a buddy that is well known and shameless with his slug racks if you’re playing too good. They even call a slug rack an “Eddy” lol.

My stepdad complained, my mom commiserated and asked “did you give him an eddy?” He said yeah he just broke second ball and ran out again! 😂😂
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Sounds like that buddy and my buddy (which is actually my friends nickname, ironically) should go bowling together. I swear he does it on purpose.
 
sjm said:
I think bowling is a good comparison. The neutral racker in pro bowling is the pin setting machine and, yes, it doesn't always do the job correctly. Recognizing this, pro bowling matches allow each player the right to a rerack once per match. I'd be fine with such a rule in pool. Bowling does not, however, permit a player to set the pins up for him/herself even though the pin setting machine is imperfect, and pool should not permit a player to rack the balls even if the neutral racker is imperfect. Like almost every other major sport, players are not permitted to set up the playing conditions.

Yes, golfers have to tee it up (actually, it's optional) and pool players must move the cue ball around in the kitchen before the break (also optional if the referee has left the cue ball in the kitchen). Sadly, nobody gets away without doing any work.
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The only thing with pool is you can roll out or safety after a break if the break isn’t great. The rack is important. But the “rack” is much more important in bowling. Each game between 2 people in bowling consists of a minimum of 20 “breaks” per game. And you can’t call a roll out after.
 
One other thing on pool racks too. Most major sports are played outside. If there is wind rain or snow the professional players need to be able to adjust for the conditions. I just consider changing weather conditions in other pro sports the same as a bad rack here and there. I’ve never seen say a FG kicker refuse to kick a FG and the game be paused because of a swirling wind.
 
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THE LACES WERE IN!!!!

Remember that one?

I don’t think there is a satisfactory answer to the break in pool. At least in 9 ball pool.

Perfect rack every time we’ve seen it can be a little too predictable, using a triangle can sometimes take longer than a rack with a few safeties in it, or it can be done quickly and the balls don’t go anywhere on a break and the game drags out.

If you mandate a push after the break it takes away some serious excitement and the skill required to break well. Same for safe breaks. Placement pool would just be like watching people run drills.

I like rotacion. A break and run in that game is a serious accomplishment. Not quite a 147 maybe but a lot closer than a 9/10 ball runout. You can hand rack or use a template and the games will still almost always see both players at the table back and forth. Point based so it would seem “fairer” to those who enjoy things being fair. You get credit for each ball you pocket legally, and win or lose no one can ever take those precious points from ye.
 
DeeDeeCues said:
No we have not all done it.
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Ok. All I meant was if you give a “wild” spot in 9 you would never wing a wild. I used to give some of the dudes at the halls girlfriends the 5 out wild. Races to 4 for $20. Just for the action. Now that’s a wild game. Only problem is I’d usually be broke by the end of the night!

Some of them could definitely play all right. But it also felt good to win any set spotting that much weight.
 
While all this racking stuff is really an interesting read or me, when racking for an opponent, I will be more careful about giving them the best rack that I can, even more so than for my own racks. It was really eye opening this year when I subbed for an old timers bar league. While our regular league you rack your own, on this bar league, opponent racks, and some of the teams can be brutal in their racking. First game I played and broke, the balls barely moved. Upset me a bit, but in the 7 or 8 nights that I subbed, we never lost the match, and I learned to accept it for what it is and just buckle down and take the enjoyment in beating them. For the most part the better players didn't play those games with racking.
 
Willowbrook Wolfy said:
Ok. All I meant was if you give a “wild” spot in 9 you would never wing a wild. I used to give some of the dudes at the halls girlfriends the 5 out wild. Races to 4 for $20. Just for the action. Now that’s a wild game. Only problem is I’d usually be broke by the end of the night!

Some of them could definitely play all right. But it also felt good to win any set spotting that much weight.
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Gotcha.
 
muskyed said:
While all this racking stuff is really an interesting read or me, when racking for an opponent, I will be more careful about giving them the best rack that I can, even more so than for my own racks. It was really eye opening this year when I subbed for an old timers bar league. While our regular league you rack your own, on this bar league, opponent racks, and some of the teams can be brutal in their racking. First game I played and broke, the balls barely moved. Upset me a bit, but in the 7 or 8 nights that I subbed, we never lost the match, and I learned to accept it for what it is and just buckle down and take the enjoyment in beating them. For the most part the better players didn't play those games with racking.
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That happens a lot in APA, you can usually tell right away if the person knows what they're doing - if they do, then you know it's on purpose and you need to start checking the rack so they know you know but, chances are, they don't know. And in that case, I will check the next rack and if I see gaps I will point them out and explain what gaps in the front three and the back three do. They usually appreciate the knowledge, if they get pissy then it's going to be a long night for them because it's time to play safe's to put them on tilt :)
 
I'm pretty sure they knew what they were doing, but most all of the better players I came across were quite fair about their racks. It actually was fun beating the ones that felt they had to give you a bad rack to have a chance at winning. Being new with this group, I just took it in stride and had an overall good time. Also as to playing safes, never once saw one played in the 7 or 8 nights I played, and because of that, I wasn't going to be the 1st one doing it.
 
I have read the responses.............

Allow me to contribute:

A) The easiest way to salvage racking is to give the racker ONLY 5-seconds (after all balls are on the bed of the table) to rack the balls. The breaker has to take what gets racked.

Nothing looks stupider on TV than a top rated player spending 3 minutes fiddling with the balls (on a template or in a rack) trying to get the balls lines up and just perfectly tight. Racking should be as mechanical as the placement of bowling pins--and take no more time.

Myself, at my local pool hall, there is only a few combinations of the balls (at the front) which will result in a tight rack--and the 1-ball is not one of these!. The balls are 20-40 years old, not the proper size, weight, with dings and divots you would not believe. Here: one could claim that giving the player a tight rack is akin to Pattern racking ! quite so !

B) The breaker should have the skill to look at the rack and choose to alter his breaking point, speed, and spin based on what the rack looks like.

C) There should be no rules concerning the rack other than 4-ball hitting rails or dropping in pockets.

D) there should be an honor code in pool where the racker always gives the braker the best rack they can. {Along with obeying not just the letter of the rules, but upholds the spirit as well. Being caught violating this honor code is expulsion from the tournament.}
 
No matter what....pattern racking leads to more runouts than gapping the rack ever could.
 
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