I was there. The table had 25 pockets.
Who played 9ball... before Texas Express rules was the norm?
- Thread starter dchan320
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I was there. The table had 25 pockets.
Here's one example. Imagine you're shooting on the two ball and the three ball is at the other end of the table and it is in a small cluster of balls. With shoot out you can shoot at the two ball and go the multiple rails needed to break out the three ball and you know that you have a good chance to do so but you also have a good chance to get hooked on the three ball.
With TE rules many players will go the safe route and just play position on the three ball to play safe. And not take the chance to open them up and get hooked on the three ball and possibly lose the game.
With push out you can go for that breakout and if you get hooked you now have the option to push out. Subsequently, you will see many more high powered shots and more run outs. There are a lot of more differences this is just one.
Dabarbr....I thank you & appreciate.
That is perfect lead into what I hate about TE...I see or have seen that exact scenario many of times.I just as call SAFETIES a MISSED SHOTS because they could make the Two Ball an yet the TE RULES have given them a CHICKENS way out.
I Normally play, if I can make the Current Object I will make it, an I'll worry about the Shape I get after I make the Ball I'm on. So I've always tried to play my best game so to speak. I get pissed off when I see players taken a Safety instead of making the damn shot an using so damn Pride an play like you mean it instead of playing safe
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That is perfect lead into what I hate about TE...I see or have seen that exact scenario many of times.I just as call SAFETIES a MISSED SHOTS because they could make the Two Ball an yet the TE RULES have given them a CHICKENS way out.
I Normally play, if I can make the Current Object I will make it, an I'll worry about the Shape I get after I make the Ball I'm on. So I've always tried to play my best game so to speak. I get pissed off when I see players taken a Safety instead of making the damn shot an using so damn Pride an play like you mean it instead of playing safe
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In a nutshell, and I don't have the time to explain it, you have many more options\choices. Making the right choice can be difficult, more so than just playing safe/hiding your opponent.
In the 70's and 80's he was tough to beat especially on the bar table with the big ball.
Then you obviously need to view some pre-Texas Express matches and figure it out
for yourself.
I would expect Accustats would have some available. Or, there is this site called youtube.
Dale
Also thanks for the DUH Compliment gotta throw that in how's about staying on topic an just answering the Question
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Yes sir, Dale thanks for another snide comments. Why are you treating me like this. I've done absolutely nothing to you an you still choose to try Humiliating Me with those Comments. I don't appreciate it, an I think you can stay on topic, an you can find better things to do than give me a hardtime
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Actually, this is a very good question but somewhat difficult to answer. So I'll try with one example and hope others will give other examples.
You shoot a shot and try to break out your next ball, the 8 ball which is tied up with the 9 ball. But you miss the breakout and leave yourself bad. Now the 8 ball is a difficult bank, to tough for you. You know your opponent is a great banker, better than you. Now you push out to a shot that can't be banked but is a difficult cut shot, which is one of your best shots.
The cut shot is not your opponents best shot and if your opponent elects to shoot the cut shot, it will put extra pressure on him. He may or may not to elect to shoot the shot but this increases the chance you may win the game.
Because this is what happens when you ask to be spoon fed info you need to garner
for yourself.
Dale
Oh you're just a Helluva Sage about everything Billiards an the Wisdom of a Pissant about to be smashed underneath a Humans Shoe.
Whats wrong with asking Questions Dale. I know you were born with the knowledge of everything so you required no spoon feeding.
Hell,ndid you even Attend High School let alone any Schoolnwith your Eistein like Genius intellect & intelligence.
Dale, I'm in awe of having the privilige to ever even hear you speaketh...!!!!!!..
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I'll say two words: Spot Shot.
If your opponent scratched, you shot from the kitchen... lowest numbered ball gets spotted if it was in the kitchen.
If your opponent made a ball and scratched, that ball got spotted up, you'd shoot a spot shot.
All balls made on the break were spotted up if the breaker scratched.
So you'd have to come with spot shots a lot more back in the day.
If your opponent scratched, you shot from the kitchen... lowest numbered ball gets spotted if it was in the kitchen.
If your opponent made a ball and scratched, that ball got spotted up, you'd shoot a spot shot.
All balls made on the break were spotted up if the breaker scratched.
So you'd have to come with spot shots a lot more back in the day.
I had a conversation with a youngin about this lol when I first started playing tournaments It was the height of the color of money rush and every 9 ball tournament would announce they were playing Texas express rules. At some point they just became the assumed rules and no one said it any longer 
when, ball in hand /texas finally took over 9 ball stopped being universally played for money in the pool rooms.
my first time a road player came in and only would play it that way and spotted me some ball.. so the first rack i played him instead of shooting a long shot he hooked me instead and got ball in hand and ran out. i quit after one game.
one pocket solved that problem for the gamblers.
see ,a not so good player against a better one could roll out after he hooked himself or got real bad position. this way he still might win the game by either making a hard shot or the better player maybe missing. instead he would not make a hit and lose the game because of that.
they say it puts more luck in the game maybe for runout players and top pros.
but for the average player he has no chance against players that can hook him all the time easily. and no fun never having even tough shots.
let alone the 3 foul rules where you just keep him hooked and he loses the game.
my first time a road player came in and only would play it that way and spotted me some ball.. so the first rack i played him instead of shooting a long shot he hooked me instead and got ball in hand and ran out. i quit after one game.
one pocket solved that problem for the gamblers.
see ,a not so good player against a better one could roll out after he hooked himself or got real bad position. this way he still might win the game by either making a hard shot or the better player maybe missing. instead he would not make a hit and lose the game because of that.
they say it puts more luck in the game maybe for runout players and top pros.
but for the average player he has no chance against players that can hook him all the time easily. and no fun never having even tough shots.
let alone the 3 foul rules where you just keep him hooked and he loses the game.
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I appreciate that TE is a much "better" version of 9 ball, because it rewards talent in more aspects of the game beyond shotmaking. And the old 2 foul rule would make TV matches excruciatingly slow. Having been raised on that older rule, it was much better suited for head to head gambling than it was for tournament play.
That said, as a player who enjoys pool primarily for shotmaking, the 3 foul rule is the worst. Under the old rules, if I pushed out to a long shot, one which I had a 40% chance of making while my (better) opponent had a 60% chance, if he chose instead to hook me it wouldn't bring him the same automatic advantage that it does under TE, since I could just push out again. So sometimes he'd take the shot and sometimes he'd pass it back, and either way I'd have a fighting chance. I can cut the paint off a ball, but put me in jail and I need a good lawyer.
Our local tournament uses TE but not the 3 foul rule, and that seems like a reasonable compromise, especially since these are short races. The "Grady" rule, where you can pass the shot back to your opponent if he accidentally hooks you, is another one I'd also like to see become the norm, at least on the non-pro level. Get rid of jump cues while you're at it, and TE would be a lot more run to play.
The 'Grady Rule' normally describes a quicker way of playing 1p. What you describe is known as 'call shot-call safe' and is THE worst way to play 9b/10b. It totally removes the 2-way shot which has always been part of rotation games. As for push-out 9b its how i learned to play and imo is the best form of 9b. TE was invented to do ONE thing: speed-up tournaments. As for speed of play we always played where there could only be two consecutive pushes, after that somebody had to swing at their hole because both would be on one foul. Its not much slower than TE with all the safeties-n-shit. Great game.