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General Billiard RulesHere you will find the basic rules of pocket billiard. These basic rules are used in all pool games played on pocket tables including 8ball pool, 9ball pool, straight pool and one pocket pool. All billiard games take place on a special billiard table with six pockets. Other necessary equipment is a set of billiard balls and the cue stick. Each pool game is played with different number of balls but all of them use one cue ball. Before any pool game starts, the balls have to be racked in a triangle with the apex ball located on the foot spot. Only the tip of the cue stick is allowed to strike the cue ball. Striking the cue ball with any other part of the cue stick, with the body or any other equipment is considered to be a foul in all pool games. Every time a player fails in striking a ball into a pocket legally, his turn at the table ends and the next player's turn begins. In official pool games, the player who would perform the opening break shot is nominated in a procedure known as lag for break. In lag for break, both players are having balls in hand behind the head string in different sides of the table. The players then shoot the balls at the same time towards the foot cushion and then back to the head end of the table. The winner of the lag is the player whose ball has reached closer to the edge of the head cushion. The player who has won the lag has the option to break open the game by performing the opening break shot or move this assignment to his opponent. In all pocket billiard games, the opening break shot is taken where the cue ball behind the head string. However, the position of the object balls changes from one pool game to another. The moment the tip of the cue stick contacts the cue ball on the opening break shot, the pool game has officially starts. Only when an object ball sinks into the pocket by a legal shot it is considered a pocketed ball. A player, who strikes at balls while they are still in movement, commits a foul. In addition, a strike will not be counted until all the balls have stopped running on the table. When the cue ball does not make a first contact with a legal object ball, it is a foul. |
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