I've got a table in my basement, and every couple of weeks I have some guys over for a pool night at my house. I'm somewhere above a banger, maybe a C-. The other guys are all pretty much casual here and there bar players. (I guess you'd call them bangers). So far there's been no gambling.
Here's my question:
How do you run pool night at your house?
I've had it where there are four of us and we play doubles all night, alternating between 8 ball and 9 ball.
I've also done it with three of us, where we play a little cutthroat, and then play 8 ball and 9 ball with one guy sitting out, winner stays on the table after a win and picks the game (and breaks). I usually have a game on so the guy not playing doesn't get too bored.
I know there's no right answer here, but I'm just curious what you guys think works best from a social (and pool) standpoint.
I'd consider some of the ring games where everyone gets involved. I would also avoid gambling in my home. Sooner or later it leads to trouble and you just don't need that in your home.
Cut throat doesn't really work well since it usually results in two on one after awhile. Anything from three ball to ten ball with everyone shooting in rotation to keep everyone involved and keep score of the wins. Depending on how long you usually play change up the order of players every thirty minutes or hour to give everyone a more even chance.
We used to have an ongoing game all the time. The game I used to love is called (at least we called it) 1 + 3. Its a form of Chicago game. Folks in some areas play 1 + 5 which is about the same but with less pay balls. Its played with all 15 balls racked like this ...
1 in the front, 5 & 8 next, 15 in the middle, 10 and 12 behind the 15, 3 in the center back row, 2 and 4 on the corners.
The order of the other balls doesn't matter. Here's the table layout
The game starts off with no partners and 7 available points per game. They are the 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15 and "game" which is the cumulative total score after adding the numbers on the balls. ( if all the balls are added together it will equal 120 points, so "game point" is awarded to the team with 61 or more points when partners are made. Game is worth 1 point.
Partners develop with the pocketing of balls. Whom ever pockets the 1 ball will be partnered with who ever pockets the 3. If the same person pockets the 1 and the 3, the partner ball goes to the 5 and so on all the way to the 15 ball. If the same person can pocket all the money balls, they "go alone" and eveyone pays them whatever is decided to be the point value. Whoever pockets the 15 ball breaks the next game.
If one team makes 3 points and the other team makes 4 points, then each of the players on the team with 3 points pays each of the players on the team with 4 points the difference in points which in this case is 1 point.
If you want to play an extremely cheap fun game, play for 25cents or 50cents a point. A buck a point and higher can start costing money.
No hits on the next object ball pay a point, and that can either go toward the table time or be split among players at the end of the night, or ... if playing at a private home and the home owner is supplying food and drink, it can go to them.
Cue ball off the table is not a foul. Ball and cushion is not required, only a hit on the next object ball. Gentlemens agreement not to play intentional safetys.
Rotation of players can skip depending on partners since partner / non partner turns must alternate. Each new game restarts with no partners. This kind of game assures you don't have to play all night with unfair teams since they always change each game. Great game. Tons of fun.
edit*** if you want to play this game "cut throat" 3 handed, here is a small tip on how to figure payouts. Its a little trickier to do all the plus an minus adding for who pays who when there are 3 players and no partners, so, simply do this .... Figure that everyone starts each game "DOWN" 7 points, then, as you make a pay ball, you "COME UP" 3 points. So making one pay ball will have you owing 4 ways at the end of the game. If you make 2 pay balls, you end up owing 1 point at the end of the game. If you make 3 pay balls you are now "UP" 2 points, and so on as you make a pay ball you add 3 points to your total.
This works well for 3 handed and the math always comes out fast and correct for everyone. BTW, 15 ball still breaks, and in cut throat, the second highest money ball goes second in the new game.
Say you have 4 people. You draw out numbers, draw balls, flip cards, whatever to determine the order.
1) Player1
2) Player2
3) Player3
4) Player4
You play a rotation game like 9-ball. (10-ball if you have 5 people). Then you play 9-ball without any safeties. No fouls. Each person when it's their turn has to make an effort to make a good shot. When you miss its the next persons turn. Start with something small like $1/$2, which means, whoever makes the 5 ball gets $1 from everyone at the end of that game. And whoever makes the 9 ball gets $2 from everyone. It's cheap enough so people won't get too mad losing a few bucks.
If you foul by hitting a different ball first or no ball at all, the next person has the Option of playing it where it lies or give it back to the person who fouls. Usually when they foul and you are hooked you will give it back to them. If someone scratches or flies whitey off the table, it's ball in kitchen with the same Option. If the lowest ball is also in the kitchen, you spot it.
One other rule is that if I'm shooting the ball right before a money ball, say the 4 ball and I make it and scratch, that ball comes back up and is spotted. Next player has ball in kitchen with Option.
Kelley or "pill" pool works well for a group of three or more. Usually play as 10 ball (can use all 15 if group is larger). Small wager as above is good. Can also pay on 8 or 5 and 8 if you like. Keep wager small if there are diverse skills in the group.
Consider having everyone buy in for poker chips, so paying is easy.
Also, this can be played tournament-style, like poker. Set a buyin, start cheap, and increase the bet every 30 minutes or so. Last man standing gets the cash. The nice thing about this is, everyone can buyin for $20 or whatever, and the weaker players can start with more chips. Handicapped thusly, everyone can feel they got a good value for their gamble.
Another option I prefer for 'pool night'. Just invite one person .
I have played a game called poker with up to 8 people..
works like this
get a regular 52 card deck ....shuffle..
rack all 15 balls random order...
each player is dealt 5 cards ( kept secret) keep your cards to yourself
your goal is to sink a ball that matches a card in your hand
J=11, Q=12 K=13...
the 14 and 15 balls are WILD and can be used to make shape and are spotted after the current shooters turn..
when you sink a ball in your hand you play the card.. everyone else who also holds that card discards it and draws 2 cards..
if you sink a ball and cannot produce a card for it. or you miss.. or you scratch .. your turn is over and you draw a card..
the winner is the guy who runs out of cards at the table..
if you are forced out of cards on the sideline and there are none to draw..you are out
not much safety play.. because you don't know what balls you have to hide him from..
the game works best when the skill level has a huge range... if you have awesome players and terrible players everyone gets a chance.. and you can't gang up on the good player.. because you don't know what cards he has..
I like softshot's game a lot and none of my friends are big into gambling, but even they are willing to pay a quarter or a dollar for each card left in your hand to add some spice to it. Other people in the room can play without even taking shots if they feel lucky enough!
I've got a table in my basement, and every couple of weeks I have some guys over for a pool night at my house. I'm somewhere above a banger, maybe a C-. The other guys are all pretty much casual here and there bar players. (I guess you'd call them bangers). So far there's been no gambling.
Here's my question:
How do you run pool night at your house?
I've had it where there are four of us and we play doubles all night, alternating between 8 ball and 9 ball.
I've also done it with three of us, where we play a little cutthroat, and then play 8 ball and 9 ball with one guy sitting out, winner stays on the table after a win and picks the game (and breaks). I usually have a game on so the guy not playing doesn't get too bored.
I know there's no right answer here, but I'm just curious what you guys think works best from a social (and pool) standpoint.
Try playing scotch doubles if doubles is your thing. This way every one shoots.
And IMO try using a set of rules. Go on the web and download yourself some BCA rules. Your friends may think this will make the game un-fun but this is real pool. I have been playing bar rules at bars my whole life only because that's the way it has to be. Certain bars know what you mean when before you start a game youe say "BCA ?" and they know what you mean. But when playing for $$$ or on my table I always play a set of rules in cooperated.
In these situations at my house we play "Golf on a pool table". This is not the the game commonly (?) played on a 6x12 snooker table where you try to pot your OB in all pockets in rotation. This game is like a bunch of "3 ball" racks, 18 of them (duh). It uses a board like this one :
In these situations at my house we play "Golf on a pool table". This is not the the game commonly (?) played on a 6x12 snooker table where you try to pot your OB in all pockets in rotation.
I would also suggest the golf game itself. While the golf "purists" will argue that the game should be played on a big, tight snooker table, players at or around the C level would probably find that version of the game to be very tedious (like "please hand me that icepick so I can jam it in my brain and get this sh*t over with" tedious). On a pool table, though, the games should go quickly enough to keep everyone interested, and the game itself is great for learning how to control the cueball and object ball on each shot without having to deal with a bunch of traffic on the table.
Another game that goes quickly and can be played with any number of people is 3-ball. Since ties are so common in a single game of 3-ball, a good way to go is to play 3 or 4 rounds of it and use the cumulative score to determine the winner. Also, implementing a "maximum strokes per rack" rule is a good idea, as it will prevent one player from taking twenty minutes to finish a rack.
Cribbage (make two balls that total 15 to earn points) can also be played with any number of people, but the game can get kind of tedious when a bunch of balls are spotted due balls that were pocketed but unpaired.
This one may have already been suggested, but you may want to look up the rules for a game called Cowboy. There are multiple ways to score points in Cowboy, and it's a pretty good game for players at intermediate skill levels.
I like all of those games better than cutthroat and kelley, because there is less of a luck factor and they reduce the likelihood that multiple players will gang up against whoever happens to be leading at the moment. Instead, they create a situation where the player who makes the most and best shots generally wins.
You could play a game called Red Ball. The game can be played by any number of players.
The red balls ( 3-7-11-15 ) are the pay balls.
Rack the balls so the 15 ball is where the 8 would be in a 8 ball rack.
The 7,11 and 3 go behind the 15.
Pocket the balls in rotation, alternating shots between team players.
You could also play a game called COLORS. You can find it under misc. files #46 at www.sfbilliards.com
I will be getting my home table in 2-3 weeks and have been pondering the 'No Gambling' scenario. I love to play for something but don't think it is good to be bringing that into my home. For that matter it probably isn't good to be bringing it into anyone else's home either.
A friend of mine in another town gambles for small stakes at his friend's house. What they do is wait until the proceeds from the gambling hits $200 and then they take their wives out for dinner or whatever. I thought this was a pretty good idea as you would get the wives' blessing and nobody gets hurt. There would only be a difference in their level of contribution. Of course, this wouldn't work for every opponent.
I like to do computer work on the side and my buddy will give me credits for the work. He's the better player but lately I've been doing the computer work and winning the credits. So I am not sure where that is going.
I'd like to hear some creative solutions to how some of you make the game interesting without gambling in the classical sense.
We play 9-ball for $5-$20 a rack. Everybody gets in line based on when they show up. When you lose you go to the back of the line, and wait your turn. If you don't lose you can play all night!:grin:
I've got a table in my basement, and every couple of weeks I have some guys over for a pool night at my house. I'm somewhere above a banger, maybe a C-. The other guys are all pretty much casual here and there bar players. (I guess you'd call them bangers). So far there's been no gambling.
Here's my question:
How do you run pool night at your house?
I've had it where there are four of us and we play doubles all night, alternating between 8 ball and 9 ball.
I've also done it with three of us, where we play a little cutthroat, and then play 8 ball and 9 ball with one guy sitting out, winner stays on the table after a win and picks the game (and breaks). I usually have a game on so the guy not playing doesn't get too bored.
I know there's no right answer here, but I'm just curious what you guys think works best from a social (and pool) standpoint.
I occasionally have a few guys over. We have played 10 ball, 25 cents on the 5 and 50 cents on the 10. With a $10 buy in it is just for fun and bragging rights of course. I don't play large gambling matches at my house, people sometimes get a lil rowdy when they lose a ton o cash.
I usually set out some munchies and everybody can BYOB if they want. It's a great time.:thumbup:
I occasionally have a few guys over. We have played 10 ball, 25 cents on the 5 and 50 cents on the 10. With a $10 buy in it is just for fun and bragging rights of course. I don't play large gambling matches at my house, people sometimes get a lil rowdy when they lose a ton o cash.
I usually set out some munchies and everybody can BYOB if they want. It's a great time.:thumbup:
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