Banks, calling the shot

CajunPopeye

CajunPopeye

Member
When playing bank the 8, or just calling a bank shot, if I hit the rail bank, and the object ball hits the rail near the pocket, is that a "foul"? I am a regular barroom player, never played leagues, and only a few tournaments in my life. I might have the wording wrong, my apologies. I've always let folks continue if it hits the rail near the pocket, as long as that was their intended pocket.
 
CajunPopeye said:
When playing bank the 8, or just calling a bank shot, if I hit the rail bank, and the object ball hits the rail near the pocket, is that a "foul"? I am a regular barroom player, never played leagues, and only a few tournaments in my life. I might have the wording wrong, my apologies. I've always let folks continue if it hits the rail near the pocket, as long as that was their intended pocket.
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I know this is in the "Ask the Instructor" forum, and Bob J has already answered "no", but I wanted to add that this is definitely the case in any/all STANDARDIZED rule sets. And *usually* this is also correct for "bar rules". Still, there are always people who may try to call it a foul, or ignore it, depending on whether it is to their advantage at the time. For example, you only need to call the bank shot (because of the banking cushion), but if you touch the cushion near the pocket, someone may try to call it a foul because it invalidates your shot, but would ignore it if they made the same shot. If your opponent wants to argue on this on, just roll your eyes and quit. :)

Sidenote, I have also seen where anything inside a diamond outside of the pocket (usually a corner) is excused, but farther up had to be called. That is something that I myself thought was correct, many moons ago, but have long since learned better!
 
heater451 said:
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Sidenote, I have also seen where anything inside a diamond outside of the pocket (usually a corner) is excused, but farther up had to be called. That is something that I myself thought was correct, many moons ago, but have long since learned better!
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I have played on a table where it was possible to contact the cushion just above the side pocket and have the ball still slide down the rail and go in because the rail was a little curved there. I suppose this could also happen by hitting the upper point. The WPA rules for bank pool do not allow these shots -- only the rail sections adjacent to the pocket are ignored.
 
A few months back, during a weekly 9-ball tournament at a local bar/restaurant, I shot the 9-ball down the rail like this....7-foot table (Dynamo, I think) which does have some roll towards the side (upper, in pic). More luck that skill, but I managed to get the right speed on it, with outside spin one cue ball, so that the 9 sort of rolled against the cushion(s), all the way down, leaving and re-touching a few times as it went. There was a witness that mentioned it to the other player by asking "did you see what it did?", and he meant it in an, "oh my god, that table is trash" sort of way--the witness is an extremely good player, and knows it was ridiculous.

I'd like to see someone call that shot a foul in an 8-ball match....

9_down_rail.png


The cut may have been a little steeper, but that's not the point.

EDIT: I forgot this was an ATI thread, but in my defense, I defy any thread to stay on-topic!
 
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