Pool rules

[Neville Chamberlain]

The other day in the pub, I was called a 'fucking prick' and a 'tractor-driving Somerset cunt'. But that's another story.

Anyway, the other day in the pub, I got into a bit of verbal 'argey-bargey' over the eternally thorny issue of the rules of English (British?) pub pool. The rules below are the ones I generally like to play, but this gentleman described them as 'outlandish' and then proceeded to call me a 'complete shit'. Anyway, I think the rules are fair enough - what do you lot think?

- If your opponent fouls by potting the white, the white must be positioned on or behind the baulk line and you must play 'down' the table (where 'down' can also mean placing the cue ball only slightly 'behind' your target ball if, for example, your target ball is already in the baulk area).

- If your opponent fouls in some other way, the cue ball must be played from where it comes to rest after your opponent's foul; if you are snookered, however, you may reposition the cue ball as described in the first point (i.e. on or behind the baulk line, playing 'down' the table).

- Every shot must involve any ball on the table hitting a cushion. This rule is designed to prevent soft 'snooker-style' shots and give the game a bit of 'oomph'.

- There are no restrictions on which pocket you pot the black (i.e. you do not have to nominate a pocket, nor do you have to pot the black into the same - or, in some rules, opposite - pocket in which you potted your last colour, nor do you have to pot the black via a double and all that sort of malarkey).

- If you have only the black left and you commit a foul, you automatically lose the game.

[Dead kate moss]

- If your opponent fouls by potting the white, the white must be positioned on or behind the baulk line and you must play 'down' the table (where 'down' can also mean placing the cue ball only slightly 'behind' your target ball if, for example, your target ball is already in the baulk area).

- Every shot must involve any ball on the table hitting a cushion. This rule is designed to prevent soft 'snooker-style' shots and give the game a bit of 'oomph'.

- If you have only the black left and you commit a foul, you automatically lose the game.

Agree except for these three. The play down the table is the official rule I think but is commonly disregarded in many pubs, as is the one or two shots on the black rule, if that is all you have left to pot after an opponent fouls. This rule should be established at the start of the game but is often forgotten about until the situation occurs, sometimes leading to disagreement.

I have never heard that every shot must involve a ball hitting a cushion.

I've heard of the rule about fouling on the black meaning the loss of the game, but never seen it applied in any pool-playing pub.

Also most pool, after a foul the white is played from within the semi-circle, not anywhere behind the baulk. Different pubs have different house rules though, and many do not have these written anywhere.

[Gavin M]

I'll go through these rules of Nev's one by one:

1. It depends whether the table has a D at the baulk or just a line.  If it has a D and a line then you need to agree beforehand which variant to play.

2. If your opponent fouls you can hit any ball first on your first shot.  That gets around the whole 'snookered after a foul' issue.  I've never heard of the cue ball being moved in UK Pool.

3. That's a US pool rule, not enforced here I don't think.

4.  That's fine.

5.  But this is bollocks.  So say if you have just the black left and your opponent has all seven of theirs left all they have to do is get you into a snooker, surely?  I think if you BOTH have only the black left then it makes more sense.

[Dead kate moss]

2. If your opponent fouls you can hit any ball first on your first shot.  That gets around the whole 'snookered after a foul' issue.  I've never heard of the cue ball being moved in UK Pool.

I'm pretty sure it's official UK rules you can put the white back in the D if you can't see either side of any of your balls following a foul (or play your opponents balls), but have found in all my years only about half of players are aware of this rule.

[The Masked Unit]

2. If your opponent fouls you can hit any ball first on your first shot.  That gets around the whole 'snookered after a foul' issue.  I've never heard of the cue ball being moved in UK Pool.

Interesting; I've always had it that if you've got two shots and you hit the opponent's ball with your first, you get away with it but forfeit your second shot.

[mook]

surely the first rule is, if you bring your own cue you're a nob.

[doppelkorn]

I just make up the rules as I go. We were playing at Bloomsbury Bowls t'other day (£5 for 30 mins on the cues!!) using a purple as the cue ball and a red as the black. five of the stripes were brown 15 and four of the dots were blue 2. If girls are playing it's got to be made easy so I use a combination of all the above rules as players see fit.

Only in Blair's Britain!

[phes]

you're mixing up two sets of rules here. there are league rules and 'old' rules.

league (official) -

2 shots don't carry
pick up ball and move after ANY foul
may pot opponents ball if yours goes down first (i think)
2 shots on the black

old (no longer valid) -

2 shots do carry
may only move ball if snookered after foul
may not pot opponents ball at all
1 shot on black

[Endicott]

I'm not going to reply to anyone individually, so appols if someone did actually get close to a correct answer, though on speed reading through the bullshit it didn't look like it.

The problem is Nev, that you weren't playing in a league, so the rules in play are entirely down to local custom. As such, they tend to be a mixture of the old EPA rules[nb]http://www.epa.org.uk/oldeparules.php[/nb], and the new ones[nb]http://www.epa.org.uk/wrules.php[/nb] (which came about so as to conform with the World Rules). Apart from playing down the table from baulk after a foul, that's so quaint, and probably why you were called a Somerset Whotsit.

[Nibbsy]

Playing only down the table from baulk is a rule I've come across a lot, so think it's fairly widely used. Bit of a pointless rule but no harm as long as you agree beforehand.

Ball in hand is a rule from American 9 ball isn't it? If you're snookered in 8 ball surely it's just a 'free ball' on your first shot - you play from where you are but you can hit any ball first.

2 shots should never carry, a decent player will often clear the table at one visit if they have 2 shots carrying.

Never heard of being allowed to pot an opponents ball if yours goes down first.

1 shot on the black.

Foul on the black losing the game is a ludicrous rule. Nominating pockets is just twatty.

[Dead kate moss]

The worst thing is when two girls ask to jump the queue so they can just play one game, then take 40 minutes pissing about. Girls who are good at pool, like Amy Winehouse was, are super-cool.

[pigamus]

I've never, ever played a game of pool in which you didn't have to nominate a pocket for the black. In fact, I've lost games in which I've potted it but forgot to nominate the pocket first. Presumably it's to stop you just whacking it as hard as you can and hoping for the best.

[Endicott]

I've never, ever played a game of pool in which you didn't have to nominate a pocket for the black.

It's been about 20 years since I've heard anyone mention that rule, but that's probably just a geographical oddity. But it's never been an official rule of 8-ball pool. The point is, around the country people play all sorts of different variations.

[The Masked Unit]

Foul on the black losing the game is a ludicrous rule. Nominating pockets is just twatty.

Round my way it's always been that if you pot the white at the same time as potting the black, you lose even if your opponent hasn't potted a thing.

[katzenjammer]

The rules of pool need to be sorted out properly at some point, but there's one that needs doing right now and that is that when the pool table is vacant whoever puts money in should be able to play whoever the fuck they want, and not the twat that has been lurking in the background and suddenly jumps in and claims that it is 'winner stays on'.  I hate those billy-no-mates cocksuckers.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Round my way it's always been that if you pot the white at the same time as potting the black, you lose even if your opponent hasn't potted a thing.

Yeah, that's how I've always played it, and it's bloody annoying as I've somehow managed to do that countless times.

[katzenjammer]

1 shot on the black.

But doesn't this mean that the person who's not 'on the black' can foul as often as they like without penalty?

[katzenjammer]

pick up ball and move after ANY foul

This annoys me.  It just seems silly.  Surely a ball shouldn't be touched by hand unless it's gone out of play first?  A lot of the skill goes out of pool if you can just place the ball in the optimum position.

[Small Man Big Horse]

This annoys me.  It just seems silly.  Surely a ball shouldn't be touched by hand unless it's gone out of play first?

I'd agree with that. The rule I've always played is that if someone fouls you get two shots, and the first can be a free ball, so it doesn't matter if you hit one of your oppositions balls.

[momatt]

surely the first rule is, if you bring your own cue you're a nob.

THIS.
I know a bloke whose girlfriend gave him £250 to buy a Playstation 3, for his birthday.  Instead he bought a fucking piece of stupid wood (pool cue).  She was really quite cross.
Nob.

The second rule is, if you really care about pool you are wasting your life.

[Ambient Sheep]

I'm pretty much with Gavin M's interpretation, except that I'd never heard of the "must hit a cushion" rule at all, sounds ludicrous!  Never heard of nominating a pocket for the black either.

[Uncle TechTip]

Cushion demands come from 9-ball, where you must do that or pot a ball in every turn. I think that's fair enough on the comically-small pool table, where a bit of skill goes a long way. 9-ball is a brilliant game that's fun for novices too and it's a shame it's not seen as widely as (8-ball) pool.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Two shots + carry on is an unnecessarily generous reward for the other player fouling. Two shots is sufficient. (Ie, pot the first one, miss the second shot, that's it for you.)

As is free ball.

As is two shots on the black.

Since ditching the above rules we've had far better games.

[Utter Shit]

I trust that everyone adheres to the one fundamental rule of pool ie. if you're ever bad enough to get whitewashed, you have to do a lap of the table with your trousers down? When I was a teenager I assumed this was something specific to my local, but at uni it seemed to be a common theme shared by people of all backgrounds. I must read the "Laws of Pool" framed sheet that most pubs have by the bar one day, maybe it's written into the rules.

[Dead kate moss]

A foul must be punished. Why not give him a shot of rum and a blow-job too Shoulders? You make me sick.

Yes, 7-balled and you have to run round the table with your trousers down. Nothing gay about that.

[Utter Shit]

Only if you let someone push a cue up your hoop.

[Don_Preston]

How you disappoint me playing pool in pubs, there must be a few Shove-Ha'penny players among us!

[weekender]

As usual with you pricks, you're all missing the fundamental point which is AGREE THE FUCKING RULES BEFORE YOU START PLAYING.

It doesn't really matter what rules you agree on.  The relative merits/de-merits of any particular approach can be discussed all day long, but if you agree the rules upfront then no-one can justly complain about the adopted rules at the end of the match, because you all agreed on them.

[katzenjammer]

AGREE THE FUCKING RULES BEFORE YOU START

That's not in the rules

[katzenjammer]

surely the first rule is, if you bring your own cue you're a nob.

Doesn't apply if your butler brings it and it's called Lucile though