The Rules of 8-Ball

Sweet Marissa

Sweet Marissa

www.Bella-Muse.com
As a nine-ball player, I'm only vaguely familiar with the rules of eight-ball. How is it played? If you run your balls and scratch on the eight, is it an automatic loss or does your opponent shoot? Does a ball have to contact a rail after a shot? (I played in a tourney where this wasn't the case and that's how they "played safe".) Are three-foul and ball-in-hand rules in effect?
 
Depends on place...

In all 8-ball if you make the eight and scratch its a lose. But you dont always loose for fouling or scratching when shooting at the eight and missing it; most places play lose for scratching while attempting the 8-ball, but not a lose if you table foul on the 8-ball.
In BCA you must make contact with a ball and a rail, but in some old school bars the cueball is left where it sits after a foul; causing easy safes.
Again in BCA "ball-in-hand" except the first shot after the break.
The three-foul rule is usually replaced with a "stalemate" option as in BCA, again old school rules suggest you can foul every shot.
8-ball on the break is a win in most bars and leagues except in the BCA in which you can spot it and shoot or re-rack and break.
8-ball on break and scratch is a lose, except maybe in BCA.

Does anyone know if the IPT is changing these rules at all? Or if they are using the "stalemate" rule?
 
Problem is there's no consistent set of rules out there. They play it differently in every bar I go to. The only consistent thing seems to be the fact that you have to call the pocket of the 8 ball. Just make sure to hash it out beforehand, especially when playing some sucker for a beer.
 
As an 8-ball player myself, that used to be the game of my choice when I was playing pool on a daily basis. :p

In my neck of the woods, there were a couple of taverns who used to be rivals on a field of green. When we used to visit another tavern on their home turf, each one had their own set of rules. I used to enjoy the Busch League back in the '70s. My team came from Hank Dietle's in Rockville, MD. We had some tough players, too. ;)

One day my team from Hank's was playing against a team from Shooter's in Rockville. The score was tied, and the last match was the tie-breaker. My team captain Sonny chose me because the other team had put Vicki in the pit. Vicki posts on AzBilliards from time to time, though I haven't seen her lately. Vicki was going out with a topnotch player, the late Jimmy Scrima, and she was a tough cookie. I was shaking in my boots. :eek:

I got the first break, winning the flip of a coin. So I stepped up to the plate, looked over at my team, and bellowed out: "Sonny, 8-ball in the side pocket." I broke the balls as hard as I could, and lo and behold, that 8-ball slid right in the side pocket, just like I said. It was the BEST shot of my life, winning the match for my team. They jumped out of their chairs with glee, and then they all rushed over to me, patting me on the back, giving me the high-fives, and hugs. What a high! :D

Now, if I were to make the 8 on the break at Twinbrook Tap Room in Rockville, MD, during that era, I would have LOST the game. Rules for 8-ball were very multi-faceted back then: call pocket, call shot, 8-ball neutral, 8-ball not neutral, must hit the 8 on the last shot or you lose, et cetera. :confused:

We just received our brand-new 8-ball instructional book yesterday, written by Phil Capelle, "Play Your Best 8-Ball." I heard that a couple of Hall of Famers and some lady pros have recently purchased this book to prepare for the IPT King of the Hill Shootout. I think it is available on Amazon or you can go to this website and order one: http://www.billiardspress.com

With the kind of money payouts that are up for grabs in Orlando, books like these are must-haves and will be worth their weight in gold. :cool:

JAM
 
Sweet Marissa said:
As a nine-ball player, I'm only vaguely familiar with the rules of eight-ball. How is it played? If you run your balls and scratch on the eight, is it an automatic loss or does your opponent shoot? Does a ball have to contact a rail after a shot? (I played in a tourney where this wasn't the case and that's how they "played safe".) Are three-foul and ball-in-hand rules in effect?
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I am with you JAM. I have played about as many varying rules of 8 ball as there is colors in the rainbow. Really depends on the place you are playing. Back home in Columbia, Mississippi, it's just good effort and if you play a dirty safe you will be highly frowned on. It is actually called another term, but I won't go into that. Most people play ball in hand fouls similar to 9 ball, balls must hit and touch a rail or cueball go to the rail after contact. Some play call ball and pocket even, even calling kisses and off other balls. Some say just call ball and pocket. Some don't call any balls except for 8...and even then it's just ball and pocket. I know in APA it's ball in hand in the kitchen after break if you scratch, but any other time it's ball in hand anywhere. We always played ball in hand in the kitchen on any scratch. I had to get REALLY good at kicking off the side tits with that rule.

I am sure though with this much money on the line, some rules will be well thought out and stated up front.

Maybe this is a good question for Deno?

Shorty
 
Sweet Marissa said:
As a nine-ball player, I'm only vaguely familiar with the rules of eight-ball. How is it played? If you run your balls and scratch on the eight, is it an automatic loss or does your opponent shoot? Does a ball have to contact a rail after a shot? (I played in a tourney where this wasn't the case and that's how they "played safe".) Are three-foul and ball-in-hand rules in effect?
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Here are the BCA rules.

http://www.bca-pool.com/play/tournaments/rules/rls_8bl.shtml

They are the fairest and best. The only change I have ever thought would be an improvement for non-coin op tables is if playerA illegally pockets his own ball it is playerBs option whether it spots or not. Whether it automatically comes up or automatically goes down either way playerB could be penalized by playerAs mistake. Giving PlayerB the option minimizes this. I have played optional spot for years and IMHO it is an improvement.
 
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I was playing 8-Ball with a friend of mine in Las Vegas recently and made the 8 ball out of turn. He said I lost the game, I said "no it is only a foul", he said "loss of game", I said "no, it's a foul", .....(it is in fact a loss of game)....So, we decided to settle the matter by asking 3 pros for their opinions....Guess what, all three gave us different answers.

I think A LOT (perhaps even a majority) of the current pros are not completely familiar with the 8-Ball rules.
 
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