8 ball rules

Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
are any of you familiar with a set of 8ball rules that detail

if opponent scratches you get ball in hand BEHIND the second dot on the side you break from only

object ball may not carom or touch another before it goes in
whats commonly referred to as a "slop" shot

or does this sound like something someone just made up

family member of my likes straight 8 no slops as he puts it
he also bangs every shot as hard as he can resulting in ball ejection s almost every game, while not giving a flip about position

is this bar rules? because when I play by bca 8ball he gets pissy and says im cheating and acts like a child

bca rules are how we play the weekly 8ball tourney
his rules must apply everywhere including my house and theres in his mind no other set of rules bit his
thoughts?
 
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This sounds like the small town bar league I played doubles in. A foul was behind the headstring. you had to call everything so if you were shooting the 5 off of the six you had to call it. If you called a ball in the side pocket you had to specify how many rails so if you missed badly and it goes side rail side rail in you would lose your turn at the table. If you only make one suit on the break that's what you have.
 
Dockter said:
This sounds like the small town bar league I played doubles in. A foul was behind the headstring. you had to call everything so if you were shooting the 5 off of the six you had to call it. If you called a ball in the side pocket you had to specify how many rails so if you missed badly and it goes side rail side rail in you would lose your turn at the table. If you only make one suit on the break that's what you have.
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yes that part about the break as well is one of his rules also
 
To avoid misunderstandings, you both should agree to one rule set to be used as reference.
There are many 8-ball rule sets out there. In APA, 8-ball on the break is a win, while BCA rules isn't.

Start with a standardized rule set such as BCA, WPA, or APA, and then add house rules you both agree? This will help avoid the perception your friend is being arbitrary and capricious.

beneath_the_sur said:
are any of you familiar with a set of 8ball rules that detail

if opponent scratches you get ball in hand BEHIND the second dot on the side you break from only

object ball may not carom or touch another before it goes in
whats commonly referred to as a "slop" shot

or does this sound like something someone just made up

family member of my likes straight 8 no slops as he puts it
he also bangs every shot as hard as he can resulting in ball ejection s almost every game, while not giving a flip about position

is this bar rules? because when I play by bca 8ball he gets pissy and says im cheating and acts like a child

bca rules are how we play the weekly 8ball tourney
his rules must apply everywhere including my house and theres in his mind no other set of rules bit his
thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
ctyhntr said:
To avoid misunderstandings, you both should agree to one rule set to be used as reference.

Start with a standardized rule set such as BCA, WPA, or APA, and then add house rules you both agree?
Click to expand...

thing is hes never heard of bca wpa apa
just his self appointed rules wherever he plays
which is a reason I rarely invite him over
 
beneath_the_sur said:
thing is hes never heard of bca wpa apa
just his self appointed rules wherever he plays
which is a reason I rarely invite him over
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Those are standard bar/"straight 8" rules, with some variance in open after the break or not. The good thing is that it forces you to do exactly as you plan. The bad thing is that the rules aren't necessarily made for competition (too easy to cheat the rules).

I don't mind bar rules, but i couldn't stand more than a game with someone that acts and plays the way that family member does.
 
Yes those are rules that people use, and yes they are rules that someone made up.

Behind the line on a foul is a rule that has been used for a while even in pro events, in the case of the object ball being also behind the line, it gets spotted.

It's the rules that people pass down from things they heard other people say who in turn heard their uncle tell them the rules once when they played back in Texas at Billy Bob's Tavern in '74 that one time.

Simple way to counter this, go to an official pool site of WPA, BCA or any number of leagues (I suggest BCAPL or USAPL since they use the closest rule set that the pros use) and show them the rules. Then have him show you HIS rules written down somewhere outside of a random guy answering some Yahoo question.

A sign of people using these rules is no chalk use, or if used it's applied like they are trying to grind the tip into the ferrule, yelling and hooting like apes when they make a 4 rail shot by accident, more than one beer drunk per game.

beneath_the_sur said:
are any of you familiar with a set of 8ball rules that detail

if opponent scratches you get ball in hand BEHIND the second dot on the side you break from only

object ball may not carom or touch another before it goes in
whats commonly referred to as a "slop" shot

or does this sound like something someone just made up

family member of my likes straight 8 no slops as he puts it
he also bangs every shot as hard as he can resulting in ball ejection s almost every game, while not giving a flip about position

is this bar rules? because when I play by bca 8ball he gets pissy and says im cheating and acts like a child

bca rules are how we play the weekly 8ball tourney
his rules must apply everywhere including my house and theres in his mind no other set of rules bit his
thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
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hang-the-9 said:
Yes those are rules that people use, and yes they are rules that someone made up.

Behind the line on a foul is a rule that has been used for a while even in pro events, in the case of the object ball being also behind the line, it gets spotted.

It's the rules that people pass down from things they heard other people say who in turn heard their uncle tell them the rules once when they played back in Texas at Billy Bob's Tavern in '74 that one time.

Simple way to counter this, go to an official pool site of WPA, BCA or any number of leagues (I suggest BCAPL or USAPL since they use the closest rule set that the pros use) and show them the rules. Then have him show you HIS rules written down somewhere outside of a random guy answering some Yahoo question.

A sign of people using these rules is no chalk use, or if used it's applied like they are trying to grind the tip into the ferrule, yelling and hooting like apes when they make a 4 rail shot by accident, more than one beer drunk per game.
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hit the nail on the head with the no chalk use
and whenever the tip is looked after, its getting skived and scuffed up as this helps grab the cue ball, as im told
 
ive shown him these rules but never got as far to say where did ur rules come from
I try to just keep it fun with fam but this one is something else
with lots of hootin n hollerin
 
Those are what most real pool players call "bar rules" and most bar players refer to as "straight eight" and are played in 98% of the bars across the US (with slight variations sometimes between bars or areas of the country, like whether after the break you are what you make or it's still open). The only bars not using bar rules are the ones that have a high number of league players which hang out there in which case they often use the rules of whatever local league they are affiliated with (BCA or APA etc).

You will never convince a bar rules advocate that BCA rules are better. You can show him the "official" rules online, and even though he can't show you any set of his official rules, it won't matter. You can tell him that all the professional tournaments use BCA rules, or a close variation thereof. It won't matter. You can even show him youtube videos of the players playing on ESPN with BCA rules and ask him to show you any video of a professional tournament using bar rules. It won't matter and won't change his mind. You can tell him every actual pool hall in the world uses BCA rules or a slight variation from BCA. It won't matter. In his mind BCA rules are "sissy rules" for people that can't play or who have no heart. If you were a real man you would call every rail bump and ball contact. If you were a real man you don't need ball in hand anywhere on the table. If you were a real man you would take the set of balls you make on the break, etc.

When you haven't played a lot with BCA rules and aren't a great player (which is almost all bar players) you will never be convinced that not having to call every rail bump and ball bump and having ball in hand anywhere on the table is a better way to play. You simply don't yet have the knowledge and skill or the exposure to it to be able to see and it will seem very counter intuitive to him.

My suggestion is to tell him that all the pool halls with the top players, and all the professional players, and all the televised tournaments use BCA rules or a variation thereof and that only bars use bar rules because they don't know any better (he isn't going to buy it). Then tell him since you are used to the "official" rules, and he is used to bar rules, that you will play half the games one way, and half the games the other way. Race to 3 with bar rules, then race to 3 with BCA rules. It's a good compromise because you are both going to hate half of the night and neither of you has to hate the whole night.
 
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Atlatlien said:
This sounds a bit like PoolKillers' "public" rules. (As opposed to his "official" rules)

http://issuu.com/poolkillers81/docs/a_beginner_s_guide_to_8_ball_pool
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I think I was the first one to link that on here :) It remains my favorite pool humor thing of all time, if you ever want to see a pool player start laughing, keep a copy of this in your case and have him read a bit.
Seems the old PDF copy is no longer available though, I saved it on my computer when it was.
 
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Poolplaya9 said:
Those are what most real pool players call "bar rules" and most bar players refer to as "straight eight" and are played in 98% of the bars across the US (with slight variations sometimes between bars or areas of the country, like whether after the break you are what you make or it's still open). The only bars not using bar rules are the ones that have a high number of league players which hang out there in which case they often use the rules of whatever local league they are affiliated with (BCA or APA etc).

You will never convince a bar rules advocate that BCA rules are better. You can show him the "official" rules online, and even though he can't show you any set of his official rules, it won't matter. You can tell him that all the professional tournaments use BCA rules, or a close variation thereof. It won't matter. You can even show him youtube videos of the players playing on ESPN with BCA rules and ask him to show you any video of a professional tournament using bar rules. It won't matter and won't change his mind. You can tell him every actual pool hall in the world uses BCA rules or a slight variation from BCA. It won't matter. In his mind BCA rules are "sissy rules" for people that can't play or who have no heart. If you were a real man you would call every rail bump and ball contact. If you were a real man you don't need ball in hand anywhere on the table. If you were a real man you would take the set of balls you make on the break, etc.

When you haven't played a lot with BCA rules and aren't a great player (which is almost all bar players) you will never be convinced that not having to call every rail bump and ball bump and having ball in hand anywhere on the table is a better way to play. You simply don't yet have the knowledge and skill or the exposure to it to be able to see and it will seem very counter intuitive to him.

My suggestion is to tell him that all the pool halls with the top players, and all the professional players, and all the televised tournaments use BCA rules or a variation thereof and that only bars use bar rules because they don't know any better (he isn't going to buy it). Then tell him since you are used to the "official" rules, and he is used to bar rules, that you will play half the games one way, and half the games the other way. Race to 3 with bar rules, then race to 3 with BCA rules. It's a good compromise because you are both going to hate half of the night and neither of you has to hate the whole night.
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without meeting the person youve basically described his attitude toward the game
 
I work with another bar player whos good but not such a pain like my family person
but he will call every ball he believes his will come in contact with before dropping
 
If it is your table in your house tell him to piss off and the only rules will be BCAPL. Had a neighbor that wanted to play that way and I told him, " we play by the written rules, or you don't play here". If you have to.....send him home.
 
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hang-the-9 said:
Behind the line on a foul is a rule that has been used for a while even in pro events, in the case of the object ball being also behind the line, it gets spotted.
Click to expand...

Don't forget those bars where the object ball don't spot, and instead you got to shoot the cue up to the foot rail and then back into the kitchen to try to hit your ball where it lays :embarrassed2:
 
Joe_Jaguar said:
Don't forget those bars where the object ball don't spot, and instead you got to shoot the cue up to the foot rail and then back into the kitchen to try to hit your ball where it lays :embarrassed2:
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*Flashback to Mississippi* Though to be fair I remember learning 'bar rules' as a kid in NJ before being exposed to the pool halls.
 
Joe_Jaguar said:
Don't forget those bars where the object ball don't spot, and instead you got to shoot the cue up to the foot rail and then back into the kitchen to try to hit your ball where it lays :embarrassed2:
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Yep, I was talking about the "real" behind the line foul rules.

The needing to kick at your ball when the other guy fouls is totally ludicrous, the incoming player gets punished for the mistake the other one made. I can't figure out why there are so many players that dense to want to play with that rule. And if you use that rule for your advantage, say just scratch when you have no good shot and all their balls are behind the line, only then are you doing something bad all of a sudden, because you know, the rules only go one way.
 
Joe_Jaguar said:
Don't forget those bars where the object ball don't spot, and instead you got to shoot the cue up to the foot rail and then back into the kitchen to try to hit your ball where it lays :embarrassed2:
Click to expand...

Yep, and in the UK where "two shots" prevails over BIH, your opponent scratches and you not only have to play from "behind the line" and "down the table" but you also have only "one shot on the black" so even if you go up and down and hit the thing you lose your second shot. Penalised three times over because your opponent fouled....

At the end of the day pool is seen as a bar game and its something to do while you are drinking in a bar. And you have to PAY to play and have some loon tell you the "correct" rules. It will baffle me forever why, in two of the most money driven countries in the world and many others, a bar installs a pool table and asks you to pay for it when it should be a way of getting people into the bar so that will buy your drinks and food.
 
I got another to add the this guys list of rules that ive never heard,
he told me I couldn't do my own rack, it would be like cheating,
so I had to go with whatever slug rack he came up with,

so this was sunday haven't played pool in a good few months, been having fun on my gabriels
was a 8ft gc, way off level, crazy strange cloth, regular aramith balls, super light weight, took me a game to get used to the conditions and after that I was incontrol
once he got on with that dumbass I cant rack thing,i said to myself ok dipship, im taking you down

channeling my 3c game I made several easy 2rail banks on pocket hangers going around his balls easily , a nice cross table to the corner bank, banked the 8 from a weird angle to the corner,

playing billiards as much as I have has opened up another level of pool play for me and its really fun again,
Im a billiards man at heart, but after a short stint not playing pool, im ready to get back to it, I have much more confidence now
 
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