TheSniper said:
So I've heard a lot of things when this happens. Some say you have to jack up and shot this. Others say you have to be shooting at least 45 degrees from straight on. [...]
Nonsense on this issue is found everywhere, some of it codified in various league rule sets.
Here's the last word on the subject ;-)
Go into a bar or many non-"players" pool rooms around the country and watch someone plow his stick straight through a cueball and a close object ball sending both down the table at a similar speed.
In some places, you'll hear, "good shot." That's nonsense.
In some places you'll hear, "foul. That's a push!" That's nonsense too.
In some places you'll hear "It's not a foul if you jack up." More nonsense.
The shot is a foul for a very specific reason: the tip hit the cueball twice. It's a double-hit foul. Many people for a long time have called this a "push" shot, but a push shot (also a foul) is something different (more on that later).
Pool rooms are full of people with superhuman hearing that claim to detect double hits by hearing them. They too speak nonsense. The way you detect a double hit is by action of the cueball. When the balls are frozen, you may stroke straight through because there is in that case no double hit. It's the gap that caused the double hit.
Just like the presumption of innocence in the US legal system, there is a presumption in pool that nothing is frozen. (this includes ball to ball and ball to cushion). Innocent until proven guilty; not frozen until proven frozen. If you see the cueball is frozen to the object ball, then you must declare them frozen and give your opponent (the ref) the opportunity to agree or disagree.
I highly recommend that if you are around people you are not sure know the rules and your opponent agrees they are frozen, you say, "because they are frozen I may stroke straight through." This way if there is going to be argument it happens before the shot.
There is also a "push shot" foul. What is it?
I'm not certain I have ever--in my entire pool playing career--seen a push
shot. It is unfortunate that this obscure foul goes by the same name that
people most every place I've been incorrectly use to describe double hits.
An illegal push shot (not to be confused with a legal roll out (aka push) in
9-ball) is a wierd duck. It is when you jam the cueball between the tip
and either the table or a rail and slowly squeeze in such a way that the
tip stays in contact with the cueball for an unusually long time. It's
rare.
This confusion is not about to go away, imo. I think it would be wise for
the powers that be (are there powers that be?) to invent a new name for
the push shot foul --maybe a squush shot. Yeah that's it --a SQUUSH SHOT.
So I did the straight-through shot that involved about 5 interference balls. I called the hanger in the corner, thinking the CB would make it, but one of the five clustered balls made it to the hanger and in it went!
