OK, thanks. So ditching the retainer will, sometimes, allow me to sit more balls in. And that is good to distribute the weight more evenly.

I think people are confused about what "n" actually means. I did a search and some people are saying that "n" is the number of balls that fits in a perfect circle. Others say otherwise. So, this controversy about the n, n-1, and n-2 maybe relates to nobody really having a standard definition of what "n" actually is.