Billiards Rack
A billiards rack is a frame usually made of plastic or wood that is used to organize billiard balls at the beginning of a game. A triangular shaped billiards rack is used for eight-ball, straight pool, one-pocket, snooker, bank pool and many other games.. Each game has different regulations for racking.
Near the foul spot of the pool table, place one corner of the billiards rack. This corner is referred to as the apex. The proper position to place the racked balls is marked by the foul mark which is a small marking. It is traditional to put the yellow 1 ball at the apex for eight-ball game whilst the rest of the balls may be placed in any order except for the 8 ball which has to be placed at the center. Amateur competitions place the balls with solid and striped alternatives at the rack. Make sure to push the billiards rack so that the ball at the apex is on the foul mark and that the side that is opposite the apex is close to the end of the table and parallel to it too. All ball should be tighly placed together at the break shot or the desired results will not come about. Push the balls toward the apex with the tips of your fingers so they are packed tightly.
Various games take up different ordered racking of the balls. Such as for straight pool the 1 ball is placed at the right corner and the 5 ball is placed at the left corner. The rest of the balls may be in any order. For a game of bank pool and one ball, the balls may be placed in the billiards rack at random.
Ideally a diamond shaped rack is used for a game of nine-ball billiards but there's nothing wrong with using a triangular billiard rack as well. The difference with diamond shaped racks are that one of the two corners will be placed as the apex while the other corner will point at the table closest to its end. The 1 ball is always placed at the apex because in the nine-ball game the cue ball must strike the lowest numbered ball on the table first on each shot, whilst the remaining balls can be placed in random order in the rack.