What is Blackball?....and since its Pool....Why is it scheduled on top of the US Open?

The balls are red and yellow with a black eight ball. The cue ball is often smaller than the object balls for the ball return mechanism.
 
firstly, it's a niche barbox pool discipline. secondly, even in the niche british barbox pool disciplines blackball is not the mainstrean rule/discipline. WEPF 8-ball is. so this should have zero impact of WPA scheduling.
 
Bob Jewett said:
The balls are red and yellow with a black eight ball. The cue ball is often smaller than the object balls for the ball return mechanism.
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They sure do have a following. I saw those tables in Ireland in 2016 alongside Snooker Tables. No Pool Tables
at least not in Kilarney.
 
I had the same question a while back. Here's a short video I made on the equipment.

 

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336Robin said:
This seems very odd to me for several reasons.

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Blackball is a great game, which has been described in earlier posts. The cueball is very small and smaller than the object balls. Basically it's a lot like 8 ball with no call shot and only yellow and reds, no numbers. It's different in the rules when you foul. A foul by your opponent means you can play from where the ball lies or take ball in hand behind the headstring and then you can play balls inside the headstring as well, unlike in US pool. Your first shot after a foul is a free shot, where you can hit any ball first and continue your inning as long as a ball is driven to the rail after contact.

It's also a little bit different when you are snookered. If you get snookered and cannot see any part of any ball in your group, and it doesn't matter if the situation was caused by yourself or your opponent, you can call out "total snooker" and then you do not have to drive a ball to the rail after contact. You still have to hit your own ball first, though.

There are several other differences. For instance, you cannot pocket your opponents ball by making a combination with your own ball (for safety purposes). You can only pocket your opponents ball if you also pocket one of your own. It's called a skill shot.

Although several great players have transitioned from blackball to US pool, there isn't a lot of overlap in the talent pool as far as players active in both disciplines simultaneously. The games are too different in the equipment and it's tough to play top level in both disciplines simultaneously. The cues are very thin. Sometimes ordinary snooker cues are used, but top players will often use even thinner tips, in the 8-9mm area. It's not unheard of to use even thinner cues than that. Blackball is very much about finesse, and rarely do you have to use much power.
 
KissedOut said:
What are the several reasons? You never said.
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Well apparently, I didn't know just how much that Blackball wasn't a threat to the US Open so that was a misunderstanding.

The rest of the reasons revolve around the fact some tournaments are so close to one another to cause one to not draw players.

I guess I sort of thought that this was under oversight by the WPA and should never have happened to start with.
 
Having too many events to reasonably guarantee date protection internationally is a good problem to have. WPA already has faced this a few times between Matchroom and Predator. Matchroom tends to get some grace because their scheduling is at the mercy of broadcasters like Sky Sports. WPA seems to be doing a decent job getting the two to coordinate as best as they can. WPA seems to be moving toward a continental date protection instead of international date protection.
 
The question raised in the initial post is a reasonable one but coordination across all pocket billiard disciplines is an unrealistic goal to set.

While it tests many of the same skills as pool, blackball is a different sport played with different equipment and, for the most part, in a different location. Appleton, Selby, Shaw, Boyes, Melling et al, all have some of their roots in blackball.

Even for pool alone, date protection is starting to look like an impossible dream until such protection is regionalized (most likely by continent), but date protection that included pool, Chinese eight ball and blackball is absolutely inconceivable.
 
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