Playing 3 person Cut-throat

u12armresl

u12armresl

One Pocket back cutter
Silver Member
Is there a way that you can make cut throat a better game for all 3 players, when the players involved are decent to good shots?

It just seems that 1-5 6-10 11-15 if you can run balls is too easy.

We tried playing you can only shoot 1 of your own balls in to keep your run going, but I guess we could remove that option.

Bank your last ball?

Need something to keep all players interested.
 
u12armresl said:
Is there a way that you can make cut throat a better game for all 3 players, when the players involved are decent to good shots?

It just seems that 1-5 6-10 11-15 if you can run balls is too easy.

We tried playing you can only shoot 1 of your own balls in to keep your run going, but I guess we could remove that option.

Bank your last ball?

Need something to keep all players interested.
Click to expand...
Just play 8-ball or 9-ball, one game, winner keeps the table, loser sits out a game. Far better than cutthroat for decent players.
 
Seems to me all kinds of restrictions would be applicable.
First pocket however you want to work that out. Each/one for all etc...

On restricting pockets I like the idea of one ball per pocket per player. I've not tried this nor even thought about it but it would add a very puzzle like strategic element.

In rotation...
bank all...
Honolulu all - gotta bank the last one obviously...

With a pot. Dead outs reracked by consensus, pot increases. With enough skill restrictions may become like poker chicken...
 
If I'm with 2 friends and we all want to play, I like to do 2 against 1 with the 2 playing scotch. Do a short set, then rotate the teams. 3 rotations and everyone has played a singles and also doubles with each of the other players.
 
Odd balls must go on one half of the table, Even balls on the other half.

OR

Odd balls must go in the sides only.

idk just throwing it out there, never thought about this one
 
Rotation on each suit gives you 2 opponent balls and one own ball sacrifice to keep your run going on every shot. That will def increase inning counts and make outs tricky.

Unsolicited alternative: 9ball where every inning starts with BiH. This keeps racks short so nobody is sitting all that long. Decent runout practice.
 
One way to add a challenge to cut throat is to have strong player (s) or all play “reverse” shots only. Reverse shot where object ball must be hit into cue ball to sink object ball. Billiard, Carom, combo, banks.

Same reverse method works for 8 and 9. In 8 ball, break with 8 ball, cue in stack. A cue ball scratch reset to center of table.

A good learning tool too.
 
u12armresl said:
... Need something to keep all players interested.
Click to expand...
Move on to rotation. Nine ball, $1 in the 5 $2 on the 9. Money balls respot if they are made early. Or money on the 3 and 6.

Optionally, with three, change order every rack -- person who sells out racks and shoots second.

There are lots of multi-player games, and I think it's better to find a game that fits abilities better than to screw with the rules of a traditional game.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Nine ball, $1 in the 5 $2 on the 9. Money balls respot if they are made early.
Click to expand...
Was bread and butter for many years. We played 1 before the 5 and 2 before the 9. Meaning there needed to be 2 balls on the table to respot the 9. 1 and 2 was the cheap game 5 and 10 four or five handed was for the big guns. 10 and 20 did happen but only 3 wanted to go that high in our ring game. Heck we even played a quarter and 50 cents on a slow night. On one such evening Doug Madina a cousin of Denny made it a ring game when two of us were passing time that way. Upon his inquiry we told him we were playing for a quarter and 50 cents respot and asked if he wanted to make it 1 and 1. He declined. His first visit to the table he jumped a full ball at 12 inches with the punkin cue ball using his shooter(before jump cues) Then ran out making a dollar 50. Now he was ready to play for 1 and 2. He got our allowances that night but the stories and lessons were worth the $20 it cost me. 🤷‍♂️
 
Bob Jewett said:
Move on to rotation. Nine ball, $1 in the 5 $2 on the 9. Money balls respot if they are made early. Or money on the 3 and 6.

Optionally, with three, change order every rack -- person who sells out racks and shoots second.

There are lots of multi-player games, and I think it's better to find a game that fits abilities better than to screw with the rules of a traditional game.
Click to expand...
NICE Bob, thank you.
 
ChrisinNC said:
Just play 8-ball or 9-ball, one game, winner keeps the table, loser sits out a game. Far better than cutthroat for decent players.
Click to expand...
this. i would rather sit out every other game than play cut throat, personally. a rack doesn’t take that long if the players are okay.

Sheldon said:
If I'm with 2 friends and we all want to play, I like to do 2 against 1 with the 2 playing scotch. Do a short set, then rotate the teams. 3 rotations and everyone has played a singles and also doubles with each of the other players.
Click to expand...

i have also done this and i like it better than cut throat but not as much as just taking turns one on one. i’m not a fan of doubles either though.

if you must play cut throat, maybe you could play rotation style where you have to pocket the balls in order? just a thought
 
No shooting your own balls allowed, and with fouls (scratch, wrong ball contacted etc) the person who commits the foul has to spot back one of each opponents balls if there have been balls made. It makes a line of frozen balls and now break out shots are needed. Also means you are never out until someone wins, because if theres a foul, one of your balls is replaced.
 
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