Odd 9 Ball Rule

Shannon.spronk

Anybody read this?
Silver Member
So I played in a team 9 ball tournament recently and they had a couple of rules that I was not a very big fan of. So the 1,3,5,7 were all worth one point and the 9 was worth 6 points. The 2,4,6,8 were worth no points. So that makes a total of ten points possible per game. Pretty standard around here so that was all normal.

Now the first rule I was confused about. If you made the 9 on the break it was an automatic 10. It did not matter how many other point balls you made it was a 10. If you made the 9 on a combo then it was only worth 6. It seemed that getting lucky and making it in the break was being rewarded over skill. I know that breaking is a skill but this rule just didnt make any sense to me. I also know that rack mechanics exist and they know ways to make it easier to send the 9 ball towards a corner. So why have this rule?

Rule 2. If you make the last ball before the 9 and you scratch then that ball gets spotted and the shooter has ball in hand. If that ball is a point ball then no points are awarded until the ball is made again. This just seemed like a terrible rule. It made no sense to me. Why complicate a simple game in such an illogical manner?

Anyone think of any reasons for these rules?
 

Poolshootindon

Registered Pool Offender
Silver Member
So I played in a team 9 ball tournament recently and they had a couple of rules that I was not a very big fan of. So the 1,3,5,7 were all worth one point and the 9 was worth 6 points. The 2,4,6,8 were worth no points. So that makes a total of ten points possible per game. Pretty standard around here so that was all normal.

Now the first rule I was confused about. If you made the 9 on the break it was an automatic 10. It did not matter how many other point balls you made it was a 10. If you made the 9 on a combo then it was only worth 6. It seemed that getting lucky and making it in the break was being rewarded over skill. I know that breaking is a skill but this rule just didnt make any sense to me. I also know that rack mechanics exist and they know ways to make it easier to send the 9 ball towards a corner. So why have this rule?

Rule 2. If you make the last ball before the 9 and you scratch then that ball gets spotted and the shooter has ball in hand. If that ball is a point ball then no points are awarded until the ball is made again. This just seemed like a terrible rule. It made no sense to me. Why complicate a simple game in such an illogical manner?

Anyone think of any reasons for these rules?

It does seem odd that you would reward a luck shot (9 on break) with 10 points.

Seems that a fairer way would be to give the 1,5,9 two points each and the rest 1 point each.

But since i usually only run 1 ball at a time i would have a good chance if i was shooting at the odd balls first all the time. :):):)
 

ctyhntr

RIP Kelly
Silver Member
Do you have a link to the rules, and the handicap charts?

Do you win by games, by difference in point spread?
 

Shannon.spronk

Anybody read this?
Silver Member
Do you have a link to the rules, and the handicap charts?

Do you win by games, by difference in point spread?

I do not have a link to the rules and a team wins by point spread. I really wish I would have taken a picture of the rules.
 

ctyhntr

RIP Kelly
Silver Member
Is there a strong APA league presence in your area? APA 9-ball scoring is also point based. You don't win by games, but making your points before your opponent.

In APA 9-ball, each ball is worth 1 point, and game ball is 2 points. Speculating the organizer is trying to correct for the format by making the 9-ball worth more, and draw his participants from the existing league. Are there other 9-ball tournaments in your area, and what is the format? Do the audience from this tournament overlap with the others?

Here is a nice description of APA 9-ball, with handicap scale and scoring.
http://tucson.apaleagues.com/CustomPage.aspx?q=2402
 
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BRussell

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Rule 2. If you make the last ball before the 9 and you scratch then that ball gets spotted and the shooter has ball in hand. If that ball is a point ball then no points are awarded until the ball is made again. This just seemed like a terrible rule. It made no sense to me. Why complicate a simple game in such an illogical manner?

Anyone think of any reasons for these rules?

It sounds like with this Rule 2 they wanted to prevent just having a 9-ball to make. So now you have to make two balls instead of just one to win the game.

I can (barely) understand wanting to have points rather than just wins and losses, but those rules are absolutely absurd. How about just a 10 for a win and the loser gets the number of balls they made.
 

michael4

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
BIH on just the 9-ball is of course a gimme. by spotting the last ball on a late scratch, at least the next person has to run two balls to get his 6 points. ---> I sort of understand that rule...
 

DaveM

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
I don't get why the other balls are worth no points. You could make them all 1 pt and the 9ball 10pts or 12pts or whatever you'd like. That would put more emphasis on winning the game and equal out or surpass the 10pt break reward. The only thing I see is that you need to run a couple of balls to accumulate points. Starting on even numbers is obviously disadvantaged though. Make the 1 ball = 1pt.
Make 2, 3 and 4 balls = 1pt.
 

ctyhntr

RIP Kelly
Silver Member
To me, the scoring is similar to APA 9-ball. Less luck, and more like straight pool (make as many balls as you can).

Again, there is a strong APA 9-ball league presence and the tournament director is trying to attract that audience.

It sounds like with this Rule 2 they wanted to prevent just having a 9-ball to make. So now you have to make two balls instead of just one to win the game.

I can (barely) understand wanting to have points rather than just wins and losses, but those rules are absolutely absurd. How about just a 10 for a win and the loser gets the number of balls they made.
 

ctyhntr

RIP Kelly
Silver Member
Each game is 10 points. Assigning 6 points to the 9 ball is 30% of the game.

If each game was 20 points instead of 10, then 12 points for the 9-ball (same 30%), and 1 point for each ball pocketed would work.

I don't get why the other balls are worth no points. You could make them all 1 pt and the 9ball 10pts or 12pts or whatever you'd like. That would put more emphasis on winning the game and equal out or surpass the 10pt break reward. The only thing I see is that you need to run a couple of balls to accumulate points. Starting on even numbers is obviously disadvantaged though. Make the 1 ball = 1pt.
Make 2, 3 and 4 balls = 1pt.
 
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Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My technkcal analsis of the information presented herein leads me to opine the rules is be dum.
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So I played in a team 9 ball tournament recently and they had a couple of rules that I was not a very big fan of. So the 1,3,5,7 were all worth one point and the 9 was worth 6 points. The 2,4,6,8 were worth no points. So that makes a total of ten points possible per game. Pretty standard around here so that was all normal.

Now the first rule I was confused about. If you made the 9 on the break it was an automatic 10. It did not matter how many other point balls you made it was a 10. If you made the 9 on a combo then it was only worth 6. It seemed that getting lucky and making it in the break was being rewarded over skill. I know that breaking is a skill but this rule just didnt make any sense to me. I also know that rack mechanics exist and they know ways to make it easier to send the 9 ball towards a corner. So why have this rule?

Rule 2. If you make the last ball before the 9 and you scratch then that ball gets spotted and the shooter has ball in hand. If that ball is a point ball then no points are awarded until the ball is made again. This just seemed like a terrible rule. It made no sense to me. Why complicate a simple game in such an illogical manner?

Anyone think of any reasons for these rules?

Sounds like whoever came up with the rules played APA and bar "rules" and just mixed them together.
 

Shannon.spronk

Anybody read this?
Silver Member
To me, the scoring is similar to APA 9-ball. Less luck, and more like straight pool (make as many balls as you can).

Again, there is a strong APA 9-ball league presence and the tournament director is trying to attract that audience.

I wouldnt really say there is a strong APA influence here. In fact I think there was probably only a handful of APA teams at the tournament out of probably close to 100 teams.

I understand that they dont want a player to just come up and shoot the 9 ball with ball in hand which is a gimme for the most part, but why should the incoming player have to be punished after his opponent scratched.
 

DaveM

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
I think that system would also increase the safety attempts and affect the 2 way play on the even numbered balls. Maybe too much so...
 

poolguy4u

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
:)



Forty years ago I played in ring games and the 3, 5, and 9 were the money balls.

And if you make the 9 on the break it was double money.


So...maybe an old head made these rules up. We didn't play any safe either.

We used H and H aiming system. Hit them high and hard and get lucky.


It was a great game every weekend!



.
 

pdcue

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
:)



Forty years ago I played in ring games and the 3, 5, and 9 were the money balls.

And if you make the 9 on the break it was double money.


So...maybe an old head made these rules up. We didn't play any safe either.

We used H and H aiming system. Hit them high and hard and get lucky.


It was a great game every weekend!


.

That was pretty much what occurred to me - some sort of homage to ring 9 ball
with a few "modern" scoring alternatives sprinkled in.

No matter how much lipstick you put on this pig - head-to-head 9 Ball is still too flawed.

Back when there was a pool hall in every town and village in the USA, the weekend
ring game would pay the rent.

Dale
 
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CoreyD

Baller, Shot Caller
It should be noted this was a 4-man team tournament (a State 9ball Tournament), which is why the match is based on points and not wins.

In my opinion:

9 on the break should be 6pts plus the number of point balls made.

Also, to make the incoming shooter shoot in two balls instead of one after the opponent scratched while making the last ball before the 9 is absurd. The made ball should not be treated any differently from any other ball (other than the 9). This could potentially lead to even a disadvantage for the incoming player if the 9 is on or near the spot, blocking any pocket for the spotted ball to go into.

Pretty glad I did not attend this tourney myself.
 
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