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HOW TO PLAY AMERICAN 9-BALL POOL
9-Ball Pool is simple to follow and is the most exciting as well as most popular cue sport in the world.
This game is nothing like the game played in thousands of pubs the length and breadth of Britain. That one is called 8-Ball Pool and is much slower game.
American 9-Ball Pool is played on a far bigger table - 9 ft x 4½ ft - and uses the traditional multi-coloured pool balls numbered one to nine.
The colours run as follows 1 - yellow, 2 - blue, 3 - red, 4 - pink, 5 - orange, 6 - green, 7 - brown, 8 - black, 9 - yellow stripe.
The balls are racked in a diamond rather than a triangle with the 1-Ball being at the front, the 9-Ball in the centre and the other placed in a random order.
The breaking player then crashes his opening shot into the pack making sure he hits the 1-Ball first and that at least four balls hit the cushions,(or pockets a ball). It’s possible to win a rack off the break if the 9-Ball drops into a pocket.
The object of the game is to win the rack by pocketing the 9-ball. You must always play the lowest numbered ball on the table and victory may be gained by clearing the balls in sequence or sinking the 9-ball via a plant or cannon - called a combination shot in pool .
A player may build up a break, pocketing all the balls on the table. However, if he misses the 9-Ball and leaves it resting in the jaws of a pocket, his opponent can then step up, knock it in and take the rack.
Like snooker there are foul shots which are heavily penalised. After a foul, the incoming player can pick the ball up and place it anywhere he likes. This is called ‘ ball in hand'. But unlike English 8Ball there is no two visit rule, EVER.
At least one ball must hit the cushion during the course of a shot and that makes safety play extremely difficult with only the highest precision shots staying out of trouble.
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