Who played 9ball... before Texas Express rules was the norm?

dchan320

dchan320

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Was talking with a friend about when we played back in the 90s and the game of 9ball. Texas Express was an option, not a standard rule like today of playing 9 ball. We would always asked what are we playing? 9 ball or TE 9 ball?

Did you play 9ball where an illegally pocketed ball was spotted? Was it an option to take BIH, play CB where it is, or have opponent shoot again? I know there was the notion of making spot shoots, so was BIH behind the kitchen only? I can't remember exactly... Maybe I'm just imaging all this.

Just reminiscing... No need to post a link to official rules, but welcome hearing how you played 9ball before TE. I'm sure some will be scratching their head. LOL

-Doug
 
You could push any time. Opponent had option to shoot or make you shoot. If you missed or didn't get a rail he had ball in hand.

Balls illegally pocketed were spotted.

I believe scratch on the break was behind the line.
 
Before the one-foul-ball-in-hand rules came out (TE rules), 9 ball was played where you could "roll out" on any shot, rather than just the first shot after the break. Your opponent could take the shot as is, or give it back to the shooter (whence he would have to make a legal hit, or it would be ball in hand anywhere). Any money balls would be spotted back up, if they went down early, until they were pocketed in turn. Other illegally pocketed balls typically would not be spotted up, unless it was the ball before the money.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
 
dchan320 said:
Was talking with a friend about when we played back in the 90s and the game of 9ball. Texas Express was an option, not a standard rule like today of playing 9 ball. We would always asked what are we playing? 9 ball or TE 9 ball?

Did you play 9ball where an illegally pocketed ball was spotted? Was it an option to take BIH, play CB where it is, or have opponent shoot again? I know there was the notion of making spot shoots, so was BIH behind the kitchen only? I can't remember exactly... Maybe I'm just imaging all this.

Just reminiscing... No need to post a link to official rules, but welcome hearing how you played 9ball before TE. I'm sure some will be scratching their head. LOL

-Doug
Click to expand...
I think you're asking for us to raise our hands.

When I first learned 9-ball, I learned two-shot rollout. But, when my friends and I first saw 9-ball on TV and tapes, we ended up playing the way they were doing whatever the pros were doing at the time. That included one-foul ball-in-hand and spotting up illegally pocketed balls. When the announcers/commentators said, "one-foul ball-in-hand," it became part of my lingo and it always made sense to me as a departure from norm ,because I started playing with two foul rules, however brief it was.

Freddie <~~~ hand raised
 
Yes, yes... I sort of remember that now. We were young, so it was never an intentional push and the etiquette was to give it an honest try. Pass back or play the CB.

Also, I must of played a modified rule here, but I recall on the 9 ball (making it and scratching CB) we spotted the 9 and BIH behind the line. It was secret knowledge to make spot shots back then. :grin:

This was on 9' tables at the college union by the way.
 
Teacherman said:
You could push any time. Opponent had option to shoot or make you shoot. If you missed or didn't get a rail he had ball in hand.

Balls illegally pocketed were spotted.

I believe scratch on the break was behind the line.
Click to expand...

I like the push out game better. More shooting. Texas express has made 9 ball more like snooker.
 
2-shot roll out 9-ball was the game.

Today's TE BIH game is no comparison.

The game lost a lot of its "WOW" shots because everybody is afraid to shoot at anything that isn't a duck because of the stiff penalty of BIH foul should they accidentally hook themselves. It is much easier to just play "duck and hide" safes every time a "hard" shot comes up.

To me, that takes the "entertainment" value out of it.
 
HawaiianEye said:
2-shot roll out 9-ball was the game.

Today's TE BIH game is no comparison.

The game lost a lot of its "WOW" shots because everybody is afraid to shoot at anything that isn't a duck because of the stiff penalty of BIH foul should they accidentally hook themselves. It is much easier to just play "duck and hide" safes every time a "hard" shot comes up.

To me, that takes the "entertainment" value out of it.
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I completely agree but since Texas Express is the way the game is now played, ducking well is rewarded--provided you can run out or duck well again.
 
Played them both.
Love them both.

Each have different reasons to be played.

randyg
 
We used to play that a scratch and make on the ball before the 9 that ball was spotted. If the 9 was on the spot sometimes a scratched happened on purpose.

Bih in kitchen.

Still play ring games that way, but not heads up 9 ball. Think the last time I played that heads up was like 89 or 90.
 
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Before Texas Express

Playing "Roll Out" you could push out at anytime and you opponent had the choice to take the shot or make you shoot. If your opponent gave the shot back to you - you needed to hit the ball and then hit a rail or make the ball. If you failed to do this your opponent got ball in hand. Also illegally made balls were spotted. Back then a spot shot was a skill you needed to have.

Roll Out (with winner breaks) back then was a much tougher game to beat a better player at since the better player would roll out to a shot he could make 9 out of 10 times and you could only make 4 out of 10 times. It was actually a "shot makers" game back then where players actually had to shoot very hard shots (instead of ducking in today's one foul game).

Keith McCready was one of the best shot makers around back then and would run over players playing roll out. When Texas Express came out it was more about playing safe and not trying to make the tough shot. When you add alternate break to this it really took a lot of "speed" from the better players. This is when lessor players were able to keep up with Keith and other great players when they had no chance before.
 
Shot makers would roll out to shots they were likely to make and you weren't. However, smart players played safe in those instances.

I would like to see the game played where if you called safe, and hooked me, I have to hit it and get a rail or I give up ball in hand. However, if you lucked into a hook, I could roll out.
 
Mosconi

Mosconi ran the 526 on a big-bucket pocket 4x8. Didn't miss, said his feet hurt and stopped. Probably could have run 700 on that table if he'd kept shooting.
 
TWOFORPOOL said:
Playing "Roll Out" you could push out at anytime and you opponent had the choice to take the shot or make you shoot. If your opponent gave the shot back to you - you needed to hit the ball and then hit a rail or make the ball. If you failed to do this your opponent got ball in hand. Also illegally made balls were spotted. Back then a spot shot was a skill you needed to have...
Click to expand...

What was the call on BIH from a CB scratch (no balls pocketed), but lowest ball was also in the kitchen? Did that ball get spotted? There may have been a time where I played that way because we use to spot balls often.

The game took longer, oh yes. I'm guessing it's one of the reasons Texas express came about. On a positive note personally, I'm not affect much today taking many turns just trying to make the 1 ball. LOL. Some people I've played over the years can really lose it if the game wasn't over in 5 minutes.
 
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We always played 2 shot push out and everybody had their specialty shots they would push out to

Also you had to be able to make a spot shot, they could make all the difference
 
dchan320 said:
Was talking with a friend about when we played back in the 90s and the game of 9ball. Texas Express was an option, not a standard rule like today of playing 9 ball. We would always asked what are we playing? 9 ball or TE 9 ball?

Did you play 9ball where an illegally pocketed ball was spotted? Was it an option to take BIH, play CB where it is, or have opponent shoot again? I know there was the notion of making spot shoots, so was BIH behind the kitchen only? I can't remember exactly... Maybe I'm just imaging all this.

Just reminiscing... No need to post a link to official rules, but welcome hearing how you played 9ball before TE. I'm sure some will be scratching their head. LOL

-Doug
Click to expand...

Me. I learned two-foul push-out nine ball. On a scratch it was ball in hand in the kitchen and you could make the incoming player shoot again or take the shot.

The lowest numbered ball in the kitchen would spot.
 
Teacherman said:
Shot makers would roll out to shots they were likely to make and you weren't. However, smart players played safe in those instances.

I would like to see the game played where if you called safe, and hooked me, I have to hit it and get a rail or I give up ball in hand. However, if you lucked into a hook, I could roll out.
Click to expand...

Playing safe didn't mean anything because the other player could and would just push out again. Eventually they simply gave shots you had to take because if you didn't they would and run out on you. Playing safe was a delaying tactic to stall the inevitable.
 
Far less luck, more strategy in push-out. Also had to be able to make a spot shot. The reason one-foul came about was purely to speed-up tournaments, not to make the game any better. It's a WAY better game if you like your cash due to the reduced luck. More of a shooting, less ducking game. Not that much slower, either.
 
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