Strangest rules you've ever seen?

[Rackemep]

Here's two rules from a local bar 8B tourney which caused me to never play in said tourney again:

I won the previous week and was forced to start on the One Loss Side.

I was playing a match when the "Tournament Director" came over and informed my opponent they have (1) ball in hand opportunity per game to use whenever they wanted to because they were a weaker player than I.

WOW!...sounds like the TD had it out for you. Did you put the smack down on him the previous week or something? I can understand handicapping a tourney if you have some shooters that are heads and shoulders above the majority of the competition but how do they expect to become better pool players if all they do is make it easy to beat the tough players?...It just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[rexus31]

WOW!...sounds like the TD had it out for you. Did you put the smack down on him the previous week or something? I can understand handicapping a tourney if you have some shooters that are heads and shoulders above the majority of the competition but how do they expect to become better pool players if all they do is make it easy to beat the tough players?...It just doesn't make sense to me.

I was told afterwards those have been the rules for a while. I said the same thing you said. How do they expect to get better? I couldn't comprehend it so I never went back.

 

[Johnson]

the 1st tourney i ever played in for whatever reason decided to change from ball in hand rules to call EVERYTHING, and by everything i mean EVERYTHING, it only lasted a round or 2 until the td agreed w 1 of the players that short rails should be called lol and every1 revoted to switch back to bih rules

another tourney i played in many times was blind draw partners and had the rule of no safeties which a lot of the better players in the area didn't like so they avoided it and it was a really good $ maker for me, there was a regular there that i would talk to about pool and what not during the tourneys and explained to him about 2 way shots which isn't a safety

well 1 night my low skilled partner has an 8 ball shot and i coach him what to do and he misses badly and the guy i had spent time talking to gets up in my face like he wants to fight all pissed off when all i told my partner to do was try to make the shot but not to scatch because it was very likely

 

[fireball]

Supposedly this is an actual VNEA rule that I've never known and I've been playing for over 20 years! This just happened to me about a month ago and never before this. I even told the guy I didn't believe him and called a ref. The ref agreed with him and I told the ref I didn't believe him either that I wanted to see it in writing! He said that he would show me later. He never did and I still disagree with the rule until I am proven wrong!

8-ball
Your opponent breaks and makes a ball(stripe or solid doesn't matter). They then call a safe and shoot in a ball(stripe/solid doesn't matter). They have now claimed that suit that they pocketed but have relinquished their turn.

To me, that just makes no sense!!!

Maybe someone can post the rule and prove me wrong.......:shrug:

BCA has this Rule: 2
-6 Establishing Groups
1. Groups are established when the first object ball is legally pocketed on a shot after the break. The player legally pocketing the first ball is assigned that group, and the opponent is assigned the other group. You cannot establish a group on a safety. (AR p. 97)

Most of the Valley rules are the same as BCA except ball in hand behind the headstring when foul on break and valley allows the 8 ball is neutral and can be contacted by the cue ball to make a combination while the table is open. I think those are the only two expections and hope I worded them right. I'll dig for the valley rules. Someone please correct me if I misstated.

EDIT: Digging through the Valley rules...they are muddy. Two rules stick out, but fuzzy interpretation can go either way. Safety is legal and they use the term object ball, not group ball and groups are established by pocketing a called object ball. However, Legal Shots has an exception for C when defining a legal shot. The safety rule is listed in that and could be interpreted as included in the exception of legal shot - which back to C means that calling a safe on open table and pocketing a ball is neither a foul or legal shot that would establish the group. My opinion is the latter interpretation.

C. OPEN TABLE
The table is “open” when the choice of groups (stripes or solids) has not yet been determined. When the table is open, it is legal to hit a solid first to make a stripe or vice versa. Note: The table is always open immediately after the break shot. When the table is open it is legal to hit any solid or stripe or the 8-ball first in the process of pocketing the called stripe or solid. On an open table, all pocketed balls remain pocketed. The choice of stripes or solids is not determined on the break even if balls are made from only one or both groups. THE TABLE IS ALWAYS OPEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE BREAK SHOT. The choice of group is determined only when a player legally pockets a called object ball after the break shot.

G. LEGAL SHOTS

On all shots (exception: page 11C and on the break), the shooter must hit one of his group of balls first and (1) pocket any group ball, or (2) cause the cue ball or any other ball to contact a rail.
* (There are two groups of balls: stripes and solids)

PLEASE NOTE: It is permissible for the shooter to bank the cue ball off a rail before contacting his object ball; however, after contact with his object ball, any group ball must be pocketed, OR the cue ball or any other ball must contact a rail.

“SAFETY” SHOT: For tactical reasons a player may choose to pocket an obvious object ball and also discontinue his turn at the table by declaring “safety” in advance. A safety shot is defined as a legal shot. If the shooting player intends to play safe by pocketing an obvious object ball, then prior to the shot, he must declare a “safety” to his opponent. If this is NOT done, and one of the shooter’s object balls is pocketed, the shooter will be required to shoot again. Any ball pocketed on a safety shot remains pocketed.