Bar Rules Bandit Strikes Again!!!!

as others have stated, it depends on what region you are in as to what rules you play by.

i played all up and down the east coast of fl in the 70's and 80's , practically lived in bars every weekend playing pool. the rules were standard every where i played up until the early 80;s thats when we started getting a huge influx of snowbirds with all these different rules.

i never heard of you gotta call the rail until about 81 when i played a guy in west palm. i touched the tip of the corner pocket when i pocketed the 8. he said i lost, i said wth you mean i lost. he said you hit the rail and did not call it. i said i never heard such a thing in my 15 years of playing, he said thats the way we play back home. i said wheres home, he said ohio.i said you aint in ohio and we dont play that here.

around the early 80's is also when i started running into all these other rules such as hard 8, 8 ball neutral etc etc that you are speaking of on here.

the only variation we had back then was when you come across a spanish person who liked to play last pocket or bank the 8. every once in a while i would run into a local who liked to play the spanish way also. it was always who had the table set the rules..

only problems i ever encountered back then was the occasional drunk who wanted to fight over whos quarter was up or when i was accused of being a hustler.

i actually enjoy playing bar rules as long as i know what they are up front . i dont like them made up as we go along. i always make it plain. i got the table its my rules, when you got the table i have no problem playing by your rules.
 
This is a drunk post.

Well I have been playing bar pool long enough that I have experienced most all of the "bar rules" designed to give the non shooter another chance. If I really care, I just ask before shooting.

Some of the rules do have a historical basis. So I do not get upset when a rule new to me comes up. It might get them one game but that only serves to "set the hook".

I joined an inhouse Straight Eight league in Sacramento that was quite unusual. Every week each player anteed up $5. At the end of the season there was a winner take all single game, single elimination, individual tournament on a 9' table.(Oh throw me into that briar patch) The entire season was played on 8' bar tables. When the league started, I was told the eight ball must go clean. I said "Wow that is a really old and good;) rule. You know another old and good rule is if your oponent scratches and all of your balls are in the kitchen you can spot the one closest to the head string." Sure enough I had played it just right and that was incorporated into the rules as well. I also pointed out the sillyness of trying to call short rails or how many times a ball might wobble the pocket. So kisses and caroms still needed to be called but not short rails or wobbles.
A team of three brothers that had invented this league and were sure they had a lock on the money. There was around $250 in the pot and I played one of the brothers in the final game but I did take it down!

Once upon a time in a Sacramento bar table tournament. The rules were bar rules with no penalty for a table scratch or foul. I was playing a fellow that had been described to me as the best bar table player in Sacramento. The game got to the point that we each had one ball left. I left him a makable but hard shot that would have been do or die. He just rolled the cue ball to the other end of the table leaving me no shot. I rolled the cue ball back to where it had been. Now we have the whole room's attention and someone ran to get the tournament director. So the tournament director interveens and says "You guys are not playing right! We will rerack the game and the first one of you that does not try to hit your ball loses." The balls were reracked and I broke in the eight. The next week the rules were changed to "ball in hand".
 
Isn't this one the cause of the problem on both sides here? They argued for their rules, you argued for yours. You didn't want to accept theirs, they didn't want to accept yours.

I just like hitting em around, so I'll play whatever. It really only matters if there's something on it.

Well first off, I called the combination before I shot it. They only cried foul after I made the shot. Secondly, the rule has absolutely no basis because the table is open. Thirdly, the eight ball wasn't involved in the combination. If anybody could have given any logical reason or basis for a calling of that nature I never would have argued in the first place.

Fast Forward to today when I stopped by now everybody understands and said I was right all a long, after they have had time to check with some of the other locals who now say that it's okay to do that.

I play league and tournaments all over Maryland, DC & Virginia and never run into as much BS as what occurs at the local "SPOT" and a lot of these same people play and know league rules but will only play BIH Rules on League Night any other time it's the BS Bar Rules that they find most appealing.

It's very irritating when your getting pissed on and someone say's it's lemon aid.

I'm just saying.

Black Cat :cool:
 
"house Rules"

ive shot in bars that didnt allow that combo even on an open table. lots of stupid house rules out there.

i even played at a joint once where a scratch on the break was a loss, even if you didn't make the 8 ball.

These are mostly old-school rules. I played in bar yrs ago with the staunchiest house rules....

Scratch on the break = loss.
No open table combos of unlike balls.
8-ball neutral for combos
8-ball dead for combos


My impression was the rules were this way to keep ball-bangers off of the table. The regs liked their pool,... and their table!
 
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