It is a MONSTER Philadelphia game. It is definitely a great game to gamble on. If you run a 3 pack in this game, you've accomplished something HUGE.
Handicaps are given out in the form of other pockets vs, the stronger players back pocket.
So in theory, a fair game that is about = to say the 7 ball is giving someone a "Front to a Back"
Where the weaker player has to make the 9 in one front pocket, diagonally opposite of the stronger players back pocket.
Then you can go to "2 Fronts to a Back" where the player getting the spot has both front pockets to make his 9ball in, vs the other guys back which is comperable to say getting the 5 ball.
The game is won when the 9 goes into one of the designated players pocket who then wins that game., and when it goes into a pocket that doesn't belong to either player, it gets spotted up.
The theory behind the handicaps are that it is easier to run out a rack of 9 ball with the ball downtable rather then uptable.
The majority of games, the 9 is gonna be downtable vs up, so where if the first person running out to the 9 is the guy getting the spot, he has a much greater chance of pocketing the 9 in his hole or hanging it up in his hole, where the guy with the back pocket has to negotiate his way BEHIND the 9 to make it uptable, or take a bank. Hence the different handicaps.
Different spots can range from the typical "Front to a back" To "A back to 2 sides and a front", and can get as crazy as "6 pockets to a back" which is just flat out suicide unless you have a TOTAL FISH.
For everyone who thinks it's easy and that they will just shoot the 9 to their side of the table and take a scratch, the 9 can't move on a bad hit.
It has to be a legal hit (lowest object ball) before the 9 can move.
If not, it is the incoming players choice to leave the 9 where it is, or move it back.
