pretty sure not, there are some tables you can take a cut down the corner and avoid the side pocket scratch by raising the butt and shoot it hard with follow (iirc) and it will bounce back out from the side pocket wall.
I Have a Rule Question.
- Thread starter jgpool
- Start date
pretty sure not, there are some tables you can take a cut down the corner and avoid the side pocket scratch by raising the butt and shoot it hard with follow (iirc) and it will bounce back out from the side pocket wall.
I knew about that one.
Take care of that magic rack overhanging the rail too…
I had that happen on my GCI with a ball return a few weeks ago. Shot a ball firmly into the corner pocket and it rolls around the inside of the pocket and spits back out on the table.One some tables, and in my experience especially drop-pocket Gold Crowns, you want balls in the pocket if shooting hard. If there is no ball in the pocket, the shot ball can do a loop-the-loop and come back out. If there is one ball in the pocket and the new ball hits the top of it perfectly, the new ball can come out. A single ball will be sitting in the drain hole and centered in the pocket. If there are already two balls in the pocket, it is much less likely that the new ball will jump out.
I was playing Tony Annigoni one time on a drop-pocket GC and whenever he had a power shot to a corner pocket, he would make sure that there were two balls there even if he had to put balls into the pocket. I thought he was crazy. It took me a long time to figure out we were both right.
It's not a foul for an object ball to hit a pocketed ball and return to the table. It is a foul for the cue ball.
The worst I ever saw was in a major 14.1 tournament (Asbury Park, 1976?) that was using some off-brand ball-return tables. The plastic-covered wire ball runners extended under the pockets, so a ball shot hard into the corner pocket might go directly down onto the wire. Then it would spring out of the pocket and maybe land on the rack. The players learned to deal with it. I don't know if a fix was found during the tournament.
Right. It's not a foul unless it's the cb that hits a pocketed ball and bounces back onto the table. Thought that was common sense.
I mean, if an ob hits a pocketed ball and bounces back out it just doesn't count as being pocketed. It left the table legally, and had it not hit the pocketed ball and bounced back out it would've been a legally pocketed ball, which means there was no possible foul to consider. The cb, on the other hand, is considered a scratch shot (foul) if it drops into a pocket or bounces over the cushion and then returns to the table after hitting any object that's not part of the table.
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So then if the cue ball rides on top of the rail, hits a cube of chalk and gets deflected back onto the playing surface; foul?
If this is dependent on a ball in play contacting a ball resting inside of a drop pocket in a high dollar game or tournament wouldn't it make sense for the players to empty all of the pockets of balls before shooting??
You never know what can happen until it does happen.
It’s also a foul if the chalk (or more often a template rack) happened to be overhanging the rail and the cue ball contacted it and was deflected, even if it never left the table surface.
Yes in competition, appearances are everything. I wonder though If I'd call something like that especially if the ball looked normal.
Absolutely, and that's what experienced do.
I've seen many top pro's empty pockets during a tournament.
And sometimes they put balls into the pocket they're shooting for.
Easier to have ball returns but I guess the noise is bad for TV.
Yep.Yes in competition, appearances are everything. I wonder though If I'd call something like that especially if the ball looked normal.
Honestly, I’m more concerned about with the other knucklehead might call!
FYI, several examples of this happening in pro matches (twice in a row once) can be found here:
What is the rationale for this rule? Why should the rule be different depending on how the CB bounces out of a pocket (off the back of the pocket vs. off or the bottom of an empty pocket vs. off one or more balls in the pocket). It seems to me that if the CB ends a shot on the playing surface, whether it bounces off the tops of rails or different parts of a pocket or not, the CB should be considered "in play" (just like any OB).
And what if a pocket has lots of balls in it and the CB bounces off the back of the pocket barely missing the balls inside the pocket? Is that then a judgement call, or is it always a foul if a pocket rejects the CB if the pocket contains any number of OBs?
This is one of those cases where it seems like it would be better if the rule were simpler. For example: "If any ball hits any part of the rails or pockets or balls in a pocket during a shot, but ends up on the playing surface after the shot, the ball is in play with no foul."
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It ensures that player will not get the benefit of an avoided scratch by having a pocket full of balls.