The great game of Straight Pool or, as it is more formally known, 14.1 Continuous Pocket Billiards is 100 years old this year.
According to "The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards" by billiard historian Mike Shamos, Jerome Keogh "suggested the expedient of leaving the last ball free to be used to break the others" in 1910. The first competition at "Continuous Pool with One Ball Free" was held November 6, 1911 and was won by Alfredo De Oro.
In 1912 the name was changed to Pocket Billiards and was adopted as the official tournament game replacing the game of Continuous Pool. Continuous Pool forced the player to shoot at a full rack after all the balls were pocketed and resulted in much shorter runs overall and a lot of safety play.
See page 107 in "The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards".
According to "The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards" by billiard historian Mike Shamos, Jerome Keogh "suggested the expedient of leaving the last ball free to be used to break the others" in 1910. The first competition at "Continuous Pool with One Ball Free" was held November 6, 1911 and was won by Alfredo De Oro.
In 1912 the name was changed to Pocket Billiards and was adopted as the official tournament game replacing the game of Continuous Pool. Continuous Pool forced the player to shoot at a full rack after all the balls were pocketed and resulted in much shorter runs overall and a lot of safety play.
See page 107 in "The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards".
