Rule I’m not sure about

[Sheldon]

What if you call a ball on the break and make it in the called pocket ??

I used to wonder about this when playing 9 ball with the exception of having to call the 9.
I assume that the break is not a normal shot, so calling a ball is not a thing.
Nothing would prevent you from agreeing to this before a match if you're gambling.

 

[Bob Jewett]

This comes as a surprise. I thought calling ‘safety’ was only done in 14.1. I had assumed any ball legally pocketed in 8 (or 9) ball, you were stuck with, and thus had to continue shooting (?).

In call shot 8-ball -- BCAPL, WPA, USAPL, ACS, ... -- you can call safe. An alternative would be to call the ball is some other pocket and then shoot it in the easy one.

10-ball is a call shot game, but the possibility of playing such a safety has been explicitly removed. Your opponent can force you to shoot again if you pocket an uncalled ball even if you have said "safe". That was done intentionally to remove "cheap" safeties. There is no real safe call in WPA 10-ball.

 

[Sheldon]

I guess there are rare circumstances where there is not decent shot

This came up at an 8 ball tournament yesterday. My first 2 shots of one rack were safes with the table open.
It is fairly rare, but I see it come up every once in a while.

 

[tomatoshooter]

This came up at an 8 ball tournament yesterday. My first 2 shots of one rack were safes with the table open.
It is fairly rare, but I see it come up every once in a while.

I have a hard enough time getting safe from 7 balls, let alone 14!