Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards (mostly in North America)
or pool billiards (mostly in
Europe and Australia), is the family of cue sports and games
played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the rails,
into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play.
Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball.
An obsolete term for pool is six-pocket.
There are hundreds of pool games.
Some of the more well known include eight-ball,
nine-ball,
ten-ball,
straight pool,
one-pocket
and bank pool.There
are also hybrid games combining aspects of both pool and carom billiards, such
as American four-ball billiards, cowboy pool
and bottle pool.
The Oxford English Dictionary
states that pool is generally "any of various types of billiards for two
or more players" but goes on to note that the first specific meaning of
"a game in which each player uses a cue ball of a distinctive colour to
pocket the balls of the other player(s) in a certain order, the winner taking
all the stakes submitted at the start of the contest" is now obsolete and
its other specific definitions are all for games that originate in the United
States of America.
In the United States, though the original
"pool" game was played on a pocketless carom billiards
table, the term later stuck to all new games of pocket billiards as the sport
gained in popularity and so outside the cue sports industry, which has long
favored the more formal term pocket
billiards, pool has remained the common name for the sport.
Equipment
Pool or pocket billiards (as the
sport's governing body calls it) is played on a six pocket
table. Modern pool tables generally range in size from 3.5 feet
(1.07 m) by 7 feet (2.13 m), to 4.5 feet (1.37 m) by 9 feet
(2.74 m).
The balls
range from 2.25 inches (57.15 mm) in diameter to 2.375 inches
(60.33 mm) in diameter.[4]
Under the WPA/BCA equipment specifications, the weight
may be from 5.5 to 6 oz. (156–170 g) with a diameter of 2.25 in.
(57.15 mm), plus or minus 0.005 in. (0.127 mm). Modern
coin-operated pool tables generally use one of three methods to distinguish and
return the cue ball to the front of the table while the numbered balls return
to an inaccessible receptacle until paid for again: the cue ball is larger and
heavier than the other balls, or denser and heavier, or has a magnetic core.
Modern cue sticks
are generally 58.5 inches (148.6 cm) long for pool while cues prior to
1980 were designed for straight pool and had an average length of 57.5 inches
(146.1 cm). By comparison, carom billiards cues are generally shorter with
larger tips, and snooker cues longer with smaller tips.
Game types
Eight-ball
In the United States, the most
commonly played game is eight-ball. The goal of eight-ball, which is played
with a full rack of fifteen balls and the cue ball, is to claim a suit
(commonly stripes or solids in the US, and reds or yellows in the UK), pocket
all of them, then legally pocket the 8 ball, while denying one's opponent
opportunities to do the same with their suit, and without sinking the 8 ball
early by accident. In the United Kingdom the game is commonly played in pubs,
and it is competitively played in leagues on both sides of the Atlantic. The
most prestigious tournaments including the World Open are sponsored and
sanctioned by the International Pool Tour. Rules vary widely from place to
place (and between continents to such an extent that British-style eight-ball pool/blackball is properly regarded
as a separate game in its own right). Pool halls in North America are
increasingly settling upon the World Pool-Billiard Association
International Standardised Rules. But tavern eight-ball (also known as "bar pool"), typically played
on smaller, coin-operated tables and in a "winner keeps the table"
manner, can differ significantly even between two venues in the same city. The
growth of local, regional and national amateur leagues may alleviate this
confusion eventually.
Nine-ball uses
only the 1 through 9 balls and cue ball. It is a rotation game: The player at
the table must make legal contact with the lowest numbered ball on the table or
a foul is called. The game is won by legally pocketing the nine ball. Nine-ball
is the predominant professional game, though as of 2006–2008 there have been
some suggestions that this may change, in favor of ten-ball.
There are many local and regional tours and tournaments that are contested with
nine-ball. The World Pool-Billiard Association
(WPA) and its American affiliate, the Billiard Congress of America (BCA),
publish the World Standardized Rules. The European professional circuit has
instituted rules changes to make it more difficult to achieve a legal break
shot.
The largest nine-ball tournaments
are the independent U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship
and the WPA World Nine-ball Championship
for men and women. Male professionals have a rather fragmented schedule of
professional nine-ball tournaments. The United States
Professional Pool Players Association (UPA) has been the most
dominant association of the 1990s and 2000s. A hotly contested event is the
annual Mosconi Cup,
which pits invitational European and U.S. teams against each other in
one-on-one and scotch doubles
nine-ball matches over a period of several days. The Mosconi Cup games are
played under the more stringent European rules, as of 2007.
Three-ball
A variant using only three balls,
generally played such that the player at turn continues shooting until all the
balls are pocketed, and the player to do so in the fewest shots wins. The game
can be played by two or more players. Dispenses with some fouls common to both
nine- and eight-ball.
One-pocket
One-pocket is a strategic game
for two players. Each player is assigned one of the corner pockets on the
table. This is the only pocket into which he can legally pocket balls. The
first player to pocket the majority of the balls (8) in his pocket wins the
game. The game requires far more defensive strategy than offensive strategy,
much unlike eight-ball, nine-ball, or straight pool. Most times, accomplished
players choose to position balls near their pocket instead of trying to
actually pocket them. This allows them to control the game by forcing their
opponent to be on defense instead of taking a low percentage shot that could
result in a loss of game. These low percentage shots are known as
"flyers" by one-pocket aficionados.
Bank pool
Bank pool has been gaining
popularity in recent years. Bank pool can be played with a full rack (can be a long game), but is more typically
played with nine balls (frequently called "nine-ball bank"). The
balls are racked in nine-ball formation, but in no particular order. The object
of the game is simple: to be the first player to bank five balls in any order
(eight balls when played with a full rack). Penalties and fouls are similar to
one pocket in that the player committing the foul must spot a ball for each
foul. This must be done before the incoming player shoots.
Governing bodies
As a
competitive sport, pool is governed internationally by the World Pool-Billiard Association
(WPA), which has multi-national, regional affiliates comprising the All Africa
Pool Association (AAPA), Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU,
including the Middle East), Billiard Congress of America (BCA, Canada
and the US), Confederation
Panamerica of Billiards (CPB, Latin America and Caribbean), European Pocket Billiard Federation
(EPBF, including Russia and the Near East), and Oceania Pocket Billiard
Association (OPBA, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific islands) The WPA represents
pool in the World Confederation of Billiard
Sports, which in turn represents all forms of cue sports
(including carom billiards and snooker)
in the International Olympic Committee.
