Types of Billiards

For the readers who are just beginning to pay billiards, we’d like to feature a two article series to get them familiar with the game. This article will explain the various forms of billiards, while the next will focus on the types of billiard balls.

English Billiards

This game has now fallen out of favor in most parts of the world, remaining popular only in some parts of Britain. Two cue balls and one red ball are used.

Eight Ball

It consists of 7+7+1 balls, plus the cue ball. There are 7 solid colored balls and an equal number of striped balls. Each player takes turns playing and pocketing his balls, giving up his turn only when he commits a foul or fails to pocket a ball. Once the 7 balls are pocketed, he has to pocket the 8^th ball.

Nine Ball

There are a total of nine balls and one cue ball. All balls are numbered. In every shot, the lowest numbered ball has to be struck first, but not necessarily sunk. You can use it to cause a chain reaction and pocket another ball. The goal is to pocket the 9 numbered ball, either by pocketing all the lower numbered balls first and then striking it, or using another ball to strike it.

14.1 Continuous or Straight Pool

The game starts with 15 balls on the table. Before making the shot, you call out which ball you will pocket, and then proceed to pocket that ball. Once the first 14 balls are sunk, they are returned to the table using the rack. You then try to pocket the 15^th ball without disturbing the other balls.

Cutthroat

This is a three player game with 15 balls divided in three groups of five. Each player tries to sink his opponents’ balls. The winner is the one who has balls remaining on the table after the other groups are pocketed.

You can find more information on this page - Pool game types which explains about several pool and billiard game types.

Kick Masse Tutorial

In this article we concentrate on a variation of one of the more popular tricks in trickshot pool – the masse. We will be focusing on the kick masse.

The set up consists of a wall of balls arising from the bottom of the table, one diamond out from one of the corner pockets. While beginning with the kick masse, keep the wall at about 5 balls. You can later advance to bigger walls as you master the kick masse trick.

The trick is the get the cue ball from one side of the wall to pocket a ball on the other side without touching the wall. An illustration of the shot is as below:

Here’s how you successfully hit the kick masse: to start with keep the cue ball a half ball’s width away from the wall as well as the bottom rail. You will need to hit with plenty of speed as well as spin in order to get the ball on the other side of the wall. Don’t try to just spin it to the side and backwards. Use the side railing to make it bounce to the other side, with some back spin to get it back to the ball.

Hit upwards at about 11 o’clock, aiming at about 1 and 1/4^th diamonds up. Keep varying the speed and the aim till you successfully clear the kick masse.

Trickshot Pool

Check out this video here
If you were not a fan of Trick Shot Snooker before, I am positive the video converted you! For the uninitiated, a trick shot is one which is set up in a way that would not be possible in a standard game of snooker. It is awarded points based on its complexity and artistic form. Trick Shot pool/billiard/snooker has turned into a major competition format, with international events such as the WPA Artistic Pool World Championships.

Trickshot pool is a wholly different animal from standard pool. All shots here are pre setup. Besides, use of props on or around the table is also allowed. Every trick takes days, if not months, to learn and master. Besides, to survive in the international cut-throat competition, it is not enough to simply learn trickshots, it is necessary to constantly innovate new tricks.

Many brush off this form of snooker as amateurish and of little significance, claiming that practicing similar shots for hours does not enable one to compete in standard snooker events. While international events are falling out of favour, trickshot artists still earn their livelihood by performing on TV shows. The British TV show Big Break deserves special mention here. It was among the first shows to feature trcikshots. Every week, John Virgo would challenge a participant to perform a trickshot demonstrated by him.

Trickshot pool has become a major culture now. More and more players are turning trickshot artists. The ease of sharing their tricks via popular video sharing websites has only provided more motivation to such artists.