Yup. It was that way for years when I started playing in '61 or '62.
are your local bar rules as dumb as mine?
- Thread starter smashmouth
- Start date
Yup. It was that way for years when I started playing in '61 or '62.
Very cool, did not know that.
You mean they don't play 3foul? Oh, the humanity!!!
funny you should mention that - I just watched that match again about a month ago. Always enjoyed watching those 2 play.
I have a local bar called Breakers where I live and its about the exact same situation for me there. Same stupid rules that vary from player to player. I hate the rules but the people are usually friendly and by the time I get there a little liquored up. Its pretty easy to get some cash games going with them and odds are if your on here your a lot better then some bar chump. Before a game for money I will make them tell me their rules and 100% agree to with whatever it is despite me cringing on the inside. Of course you cant look to good either.
I have a lot of fun using their rules against them. Like the behind the line shoot up table if you scratch rule. Scratch on purpose, if there balls are behind the line make them kick into their own balls. Also a good idea if yours are tied up in them as. well.
I have a lot of fun using their rules against them. Like the behind the line shoot up table if you scratch rule. Scratch on purpose, if there balls are behind the line make them kick into their own balls. Also a good idea if yours are tied up in them as. well.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion sir but I disagree with you.
Rules like bank the 8 and last pocket 8 make the game more challenging... And yes its designed to prolong the game. Think of it as getting your moneys worth .:grin-square:
The subject of bar rules seems to pop up a couple of times a year on here and it seems its always the same consensus by " serious players". Bar rules are dumb rules played by bangers ..or low.level players.
What most of you dont realize is a lot of bar rules were standard rules years ago. In other words every time you bring up they oughta be playing world standardized rules like every one else they are playing ny some old standardized rules.
Over the years rules have been changed to make the game easier....especially leagues.
A poster mentioned he heard a bar player say safes and ball in hand were for pansies. When I see a poster state on here complain that a closed break penalizes you when you have no easy shot at the suit you made on the break I have to kinda agree with what that bar player said.
Well in all.honesty I played in bars when I was young and thought just like that bar player.
As for your comment about bar players being bad players. Well I got 2 stories for you
1. Years ago I was playing in a bar and doing pretty good. A girl I had dated a few times comes in with a guy I had never seen carrying his own cue and challenged the table. I had been playing 10.00 a game and he said that was good for him. After I won the girl comes up and says she can't believe I beat him . I asked why not
she replied he was an apa 7. I said..what does that mean ? I had never heard of apa lol .
2. Again...years ago. I was.playing at a bar and after beating a guy several.times he asks me to join his league team. When I showed up at the pool hall and the guy introduced me to the captain....the captain who must have had the same opinion as you do did not want me because I was a bar player and had never played league. This was bcapl by the way. Well I meet the lo and he puts me on a team.
Within 6 months I was a 7. Oh and the captain who did not want me....he was a 5.
After a year of bcapl I quit pool entirely for several years. I then joined apa and fluctuate between a 5 and 6. I just am not as good as I once was. Mostly due to old age and an injury.
I really thought I was something in bcapl getting all those break and runs with an open break. Never could do that playing closed break bar rules or now in apa
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In one bar, the 8 barely touched the side rail and kissed off the 10 into the called pocket. The guy says "You lose. It hit the rail which makes it a bank and you never called the carom either."
I was 14 and playing a construction worker in a bar and winning $$$ quite handily when I called and banked the 8, 3 rails into the side pocket because both corners were blocked. He swung a pool cue like a baseball bat and just missed my head. Neither did he know my Dad was the big 275 pound fellow at the bar.
I was 14 and playing a construction worker in a bar and winning $$$ quite handily when I called and banked the 8, 3 rails into the side pocket because both corners were blocked. He swung a pool cue like a baseball bat and just missed my head. Neither did he know my Dad was the big 275 pound fellow at the bar.
It USED to be that way here in town, but BECAUSE OF LEAGUES, that problem has all but totally disappeared. Players, even bar players, at least know the real rules and most now play by those.
I have had, shall we say, several altercations over bar "rules" back in the old days. I sure don't miss that crap.
Jeff Livingston
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Wait, that actually is a real rule. But most that play in bars don't know that. It prevents stupid moves like committing a foul on purpose so you have to kick at a ball, which reverses the whole purpose of being punished for a foul. Or do you mean they move the ball even when there are other balls you can shoot at? Moving the object ball to the spot when fouls are behind the line is only done when your only legal shot is also behind the line.
I played someone who clearly grew up playing by random rules, every time he would play safe he would make a big show about how he missed the shot he was shooting at and the cueball position was not his fault. Typical response from someone used to playing when you can't play safe. You still do, just by "accident" LOL.
I can't remember the last time I played bar rules. I think they're ridiculous so I keep my pool playing to leagues and the pool room. If recreational players want to play that way it's no skin off my nose I just choose not to join them. The thing I've never figured out thought about bar rules...how does a non-codified rule set that seems to be passed down verbally seem to be so consistent from place to place? Yea there variations, but when you say bar rules no matter where you're from I know you mean 1. no ball in hand. 2. scratches go in the kitchen 3. take what you make 4. "honest effort" to hit your group 5. call every kiss, carom, rail and ticky.
Because some of those rules were " real " rules back in the day. I am pretty sure back when rules were changed .....such as open break and bih anywhere after a foul a lot of people thought they were dumb rules.
Lil I keep saying.....some of these things rules people keep touting as " real " have been Introduced to make the game easier and faster
If I am not mistaken....cornerman correct me if I am wrong 
. Bcapl changed the rule from bih behind the line after a scratch on the break to bih anywhere around 15 or so years ago. Why ? I guess to make the game easier for you " serious" players . 
. Bcapl changed the rule from bih behind the line after a scratch on the break to bih anywhere around 15 or so years ago. Why ? I guess to make the game easier for you " serious" players .
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How does making a penalty for an error more severe make the game easier?
If I am not mistaken....cornerman correct me if I am wrong
Yes why should you be punished for your mistakes when you can punish your opponent with your mistakes
Lets reward bad play instead of making you play a bit better or can easily lose when you make a foul
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Ugh! And... any attempt to explain the actual rules is usually ridiculed.
Oh it's BOB'S or John's rules!
Oh yes the "neutral" 8 ball. Lol
I am part of a group of veterans at my college that all study and hang out together. The two pool tables on campus are very close to our Veterans Resource Center. Recently the other guys have started shooting pool together. Well they started playing for a buck and I figured I better jump in and play. They were playing by rules similar to those until I convinced them to play by the local league rules and I printed them off. So now we have a sheet of rules that we follow.
The problem is that nobody really wants to play with me anymore. They make me play two on one or I have to use the butt end of the cue or I need to shoot every shoot using the bridge or I have to use the bridge as my cue. It really doesnt make much difference though, because I am still getting lucky.
The problem is that nobody really wants to play with me anymore. They make me play two on one or I have to use the butt end of the cue or I need to shoot every shoot using the bridge or I have to use the bridge as my cue. It really doesnt make much difference though, because I am still getting lucky.
I'm not sure who John is, but I would highly recommend Bob's. :grin:
For the WPA World Standardized Rules, see them at their new home:
http://wpapool.com/rules-of-play/ and http://wpapool.com/rule-regulations/
I used to play in a league that had the rule "No Safes". Strangely, none of the better players ever tried to take advantage of the rule and the old codgers who played the "oops, I missed" shots didn't have any chance to win anyway.
Bob <-- moving into old codger territory