Nine Ball Ghost

Nine ... corner

Nine ... corner

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Silver Member
Two quick questions that I know I could look up but it's easier to ask my very well informed fellow AZB posters.

1. On the snap counts ... right?

2. If you scratch on the break, you still get CB in hand and proceed?

These two questions are important to me because (now don't all you multiple rack, sharp shooting devils chuckle at the same time) I just set a new personal best of four in a row depending on the above two questions. Thanks in advance for your responses.
 
Nine ... corner said:
Two quick questions that I know I could look up but it's easier to ask my very well informed fellow AZB posters.

1. On the snap counts ... right?

2. If you scratch on the break, you still get CB in hand and proceed?

These two questions are important to me because (now don't all you multiple rack, sharp shooting devils chuckle at the same time) I just set a new personal best of four in a row depending on the above two questions. Thanks in advance for your responses.
Click to expand...


It's played differently in different areas.
Some play you win on break some don't.
Some play if you scratch on break you lose, some don't.
Some also play no combos on the 9.

I play it the way your stating it. On the break you win, and a scratch on the break is a non issue.
 
Nine ... corner said:
Two quick questions that I know I could look up but it's easier to ask my very well informed fellow AZB posters.

1. On the snap counts ... right?

2. If you scratch on the break, you still get CB in hand and proceed?

These two questions are important to me because (now don't all you multiple rack, sharp shooting devils chuckle at the same time) I just set a new personal best of four in a row depending on the above two questions. Thanks in advance for your responses.
Click to expand...

1.Yes
2.Yes

Congrats on the 4 pack
 
Nine ... corner said:
Two quick questions that I know I could look up but it's easier to ask my very well informed fellow AZB posters.

1. On the snap counts ... right?

2. If you scratch on the break, you still get CB in hand and proceed?

These two questions are important to me because (now don't all you multiple rack, sharp shooting devils chuckle at the same time) I just set a new personal best of four in a row depending on the above two questions. Thanks in advance for your responses.
Click to expand...

For me, 9 ball spots and scratch on the break is a loss. The point is that you are pushing yourself to play your best...so there are no shortcuts.
 
There is no right way or wrong way. There's variations based on how difficult you want it to be. I have seen it done 50 different ways.

In the most difficult, and purest form - scratch on break is a loss. After all, if you scratch the ghost will get BIH and the ghost never misses right? Also, no BIH after the break. BIH after the break is a huge spot. BIH after the break is a completely different animal.

The most popular form I've seen played and bet on is no BIH after the break, but the scratch on break is not a loss. 9-ball combos is optional. I prefer they count. The ghost can do them, why can't you?

BIH after break is a spot of course. After that, it is giving up balls. Scratch on break not counting is a form of a spot. Here's why - must decide what happens after the scratch.

Some things I've seen:

1. BIH
2. In the kitchen
3. Rerack, nothing counts

Re-rack is the most fair and the least of a "spot" ...almost eliminates it. Allowing the player to continue after a scratch has its problems. First, the player will intentionally try to foul to get BIH. Or, it allows the players to go for insane, completely uncontrollable breaks where the CB flies off the table. No consideration is made for the cueball, the goal is to sink as many balls as possible to make the run out easier and also possibly scratch which is a good thing. Putting the CB in the kitchen helps control that a little bit...but then you have to decide on what to do about lowest numbered ball also being in the kitchen. Do you spot it up? Is it just tough luck? If you don't spot, it puts a little gamble and risk in fouling on the break. They have to think twice about that. Even if it doesn't need to be spotted, kitchen denies starting the rack in the ideal position (being in line).


As you can see, there's no rules and nothing set in stone. You can decide on all the factors and have as many details or rules as you please, particularly for bets.
 
If you allow yourself to win on the break, you should allow yourself to lose on the break. Otherwise spot the 9 and scratches don't matter.
 
the famous it depends... IF I am playing the ghost... ANYTHING GOES (LOL)

IF I am backing the Ghost... No early wins.... (9 ball last off table or it is spotted)... foul on the break is an "L"...

... Either way is good for practice... if the "anything goes" gets to easy... the ghost will want to adjust or he wouldn't play.. so get him while you can... :thumbup:
 
The way I've always played was that a 9 on the break is a win, a scratch on the break is a loss. If you make a 9 on the break in a match, you win. If you scratch on the break in a match, you (probably) lost.
 
HereWeGo said:
If you allow yourself to win on the break, you should allow yourself to lose on the break. Otherwise spot the 9 and scratches don't matter.
Click to expand...

I agree, that's how I do it. 9 on the break spots and combination 9 shots spot the 9 and continue the run.
 
The early responses seem to support how I was playing the ghost and then another group started raining on my parade. :( Now that I know there is no enforcing body to come into your home and make a ruling, I'm going with the early posters and proud to say I made a new personal high 4 pack. :thumbup: OK, I'll put an asterik in my record book in case there is an audit one day. :cool:

Thanks for all your responses.
 
Nine ... corner said:
The early responses seem to support how I was playing the ghost and then another group started raining on my parade. :( Now that I know there is no enforcing body to come into your home and make a ruling, I'm going with the early posters and proud to say I made a new personal high 4 pack. :thumbup: OK, I'll put an asterik in my record book in case there is an audit one day. :cool:

Thanks for all your responses.
Click to expand...

4 is good, that probably puts you above 98% of players easily. You should be proud of that and no one is raining on anyone's parade.

No one is invalidating your efforts because they have stricter terms or looser rules for the ghost. If you pick a standard, stick with it and you can gauge your progress on that.

Some people believe that if you can win on the break, you should also be able to lose on it. You give and get. I tend to agree with that. Or, if can't win on the break, then you shouldn't be penalized with losing on it either. Now, if you can't win on the break, but you can lose on the break - that's weight for the ghost!

Your inquiry here is about your gauging your own skill. We added in with aspects about betting on ghost games so apologies about that. I watched Richie Richeson at Capone's many years ago intentionally launch the CB off the table on every break to get BIH as when the bet was made, scratch meant BIH after break. He gets a spread, he sometimes makes balls - and gets BIH every time. The BIH is the real prize, getting a ball in here and there was just gravy. It was both funny yet absurd watching him chase down the cueball as it head toward the bathroom door every break. IIRC, they were races to 10. Needless to say, he beat the guy betting on the ghost, because a player of his skill level at the time with BIH after the break is a run out the majority of the time. If you agree to BIH after scratch on break, you might as well just agree to BIH after the break period and save the nonsense of crazy smash breaks intentionally scratching and chasing cueball on the floor. If you can't agree to BIH after break, then no BIH period. Apparently, the guy making the bet thought it would make a difference. For RR, if that's what it took to get them to agree - more power to him. Not his fault the other guy doesn't understand the consequences. I bet that guy never made that bet again.
 
I do Ghost with:

9 does not spot up if made on the break, is not a win, you have to run them in order with whatever the highest ball is as the game winner.

Ball in hand even after a scratch (since I'm not a great breaker or player I give myself that rule LOL. If I was better I may count a scratch on the break as a loss, or maybe ball in hand behind the line or something).

Combos are OK, unless the 9 ball is wired and is to the first 5 balls. I did this because a combo can still be tough, and if it's not, I feel that one should at least run out enough to get to the winning shot, so if it's dead off the 6,7,8, it's a winner. The other times, it stays down and the highest ball is now the winning ball.
 
For me the ghost is the perfect player, so if he gets at the table he win.
So if you scratch on the break he has BIH and runout.
The 9 ball on the break counts acording to the WPA rules, so you win.
Combos are legal, and counts.

Acording to your level of play you can have more options:
Beginner - BIH after break
Intermediate - Cueball in kitchen after break
Pro - Play where the CB stops after break

For me playing with the ghost means that I try to runout every rack, so I take BIH after break, even if I scratch.
 
I had the ghost call me on a bullshiz double hit foul tonight. I swung and caught him in the jaw so I thought. He laughed and said, "rack em"
 
Great quote I remember someone posting, "in the spirit world the ghost is known as the Efren."
 
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