APA 9 ball rule question regarding frozen balls

Shermanscs

Shermanscs

Steve sherman
Silver Member
I had a situation come up during our 9 ball APA playoff match that I would very much like to hear people's opinions on. Here is the scenario:
The cue ball and the object ball are frozen together in the jaws of the corner pocket - completely wedged in there. The shooter strikes the cue ball out of the pocket. The object ball does not move at all - there must have been 5 of us hovering over the balls and I can tell you for sure that there was no sense of motion, rocking, or movement of the object ball at all. Anyway the discussion that followed was - if the balls are completely frozen and wedged in the pocket - it is impossible that there was no contact. However, there were others (like myself) that said if there was contact, you would have seen "some kind of movement".

So is this a scratch or not? What do you think?
 
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That wouldn't only be an APA rules question.


.... did the cue ball hit a rail after? If so, good hit (the balls were touching)
 
I think this is just a question about the call. The object ball would have to move if the hit was good and the CB must touch another rail after the hit.
 
KingTuck said:
I think this is just a question about the call. The object ball would have to move if the hit was good and the CB must touch another rail after the hit.
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The object ball has no where or room to move. I say good hit if the cue ball made contact with another rail.
 
Shermanscs said:
I had a situation come up during our 9 ball APA playoff match that I would very much like to hear people's opinions on. Here is the scenario:
The cue ball and the object ball are frozen together in the jaws of the corner pocket - completely wedged in there. The shooter strikes the cue ball out of the pocket. The object ball does not move at all - there must have been 5 of us hovering over the balls and I can tell you for sure that there was no sense of motion, rocking, or movement of the object ball at all. Anyway the discussion that followed was - if the balls are completely frozen and wedged in the pocket - it is impossible that there was no contact. However, there were others (like myself) that said if there was contact, you would have seen "some kind of movement".

So is this a scratch or not? What do you think?
Click to expand...


Where the balls are sitting on the table does not make a difference. You must make contact with the ball and a ball must contact a rail afterward, otherwise it's a foul.
Just because 2 balls are frozen does not mean it's a good hit automatically. If you shoot away from the frozen ball there is no contact at all. You must shoot at least at a 89 degree angle into the ball to make it move at least the length of a gnats eyelash. No movement would equal no hit in my books.
Here is the kicker: if a referee was not watching or somebody official if this was a league match, then the shot goes to the shooter. Arguing after a supposedly good/bad hit does no good. Always goes to the shooter, if he said it's a good hit, it must have been a good hit.;)
 
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dabarbr said:
The object ball has no where or room to move. I say good hit if the cue ball made contact with another rail.
Click to expand...


Frank, your assuming these are very tight pockets. They could be buckets (5in.) like a standard Brunswick table.
 
tucson9ball said:
Frank, your assuming these are very tight pockets. They could be buckets (5in.) like a standard Brunswick table.
Click to expand...

I was going from what the OP said. "Completly wedged" To me this means very tight pockets for this to be.
 
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Shermanscs said:
I had a situation come up during our 9 ball APA playoff match that I would very much like to hear people's opinions on. Here is the scenario:
The cue ball and the object ball are frozen together in the jaws of the corner pocket - completely wedged in there. The shooter strikes the cue ball out of the pocket. The object ball does not move at all - there must have been 5 of us hovering over the balls and I can tell you for sure that there was no sense of motion, rocking, or movement of the object ball at all. Anyway the discussion that followed was - if the balls are completely frozen and wedged in the pocket - it is impossible that there was no contact. However, there were others (like myself) that said if there was contact, you would have seen "some kind of movement".

So is this a scratch or not? What do you think?
Click to expand...

If both balls are wedged in the pocket then both balls are exerting some pressure to the rails at both ends. When one ball is removed that relieves the pressure and there would be some movement with the remaining ball even if we don't see it move. I believe this now becomes a physics question.
 
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