Nine-ball

Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a cue sport and type of pool. The game is traceable to origins in the 1920 in the United States. It is played on a rectangular table covered with a colored cloth (or "baize"), with pockets at each of the four corners and in the middle of each long side. Using a cue stick and nine colored balls, players must strike the white ball (or "cue ball") to pot or pocket the remaining balls in the correct sequence. Balls are numbered one through nine being potted in ascending order. An individual game (or rack), is won by the player pocketing the number nine ball (known as the 9-ball). Matches are usually played as a race to a set number of racks, with the winner being the player to reach the set number of racks won.

Nine-ball
The nine-balls being racked: the 1-ball at the apex centered over the foot spot, the 9-ball at center, the other balls placed randomly, and all balls touching.
Highest governing bodyWorld Pool-Billiard Association
First played1920s
Characteristics
ContactNo
Team memberssingle competitors or doubles
Mixed genderYes
EquipmentCue sports equipment
Glossaryglossary of cue sports terms
Presence
Country or regionWorldwide
World Games2001

The game is currently organised by the World Pool-Billiard Association and the Women's Professional Billiard Association with the European Pocket Billiard Federation, China Billiards & Snooker Association and United States Professional Poolplayers Association running regional events. The most prestigious nine-ball tournaments are the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, and the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championships. Legendary figures in the game include Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Thorsten Hohmann, Earl Strickland, and Shane Van Boening. The game is often associated with hustling and gambling, with tournaments often having a "buy-in" amount to become a participant. The sport has featured in popular culture, specifically in the 1956 novel and 1961 film the Hustler and 1984 novel and 1986 film the Color of Money.

Nine-ball has been played with varied rules, with games such as ten-ball, seven-ball and three-ball being derived from the game. Whilst usually a singles sport, the game can be played in doubles, with players competing alternate shots. Examples of tournaments featuring doubles include the World Cup of Pool, World Team Championship and the Mosconi Cup.

History

Nine-ball is a type of pocket billiards or pool game, not to be mistaken with billiards. The game was established in America in 1920,[1][2] although the exact origins are unknown.[3][4] Nine-ball is played with the same equipment as eight-ball, which was designed by Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company in the early 1900s.[5]:24, 89–90[6][7][8]

Rules

The game of nine-ball is played on a billiard table with six pockets and with ten balls. The cue ball, which is usually a solid shade of white (but may be spotted in some tournaments), is struck to hit the other balls on the table. The remaining balls are numbered 1 through 9, with the 9-ball being striped yellow and white. The aim of the game is to hit the lowest numbered ball on the table (often referred to as the object ball) and pot balls in succession to eventually pot the nine-ball.[9] As long as the lowest numbered ball on the table is hit first, the player may continue to shoot as long as any ball is pocketed in any of the 6 pockets. The winner is the player who pots the nine-ball, even if doing so by a combination shot. A shot where the player hits another ball, and pockets any other ball is sometimes called a combination shot.[9]

Breaking
Two players competing in a lag to choose who breaks first.

Each rack begins with the object balls placed in a triangle shaped as a diamond, and one player playing a breaking.[10] The object balls are placed in a diamond-shaped configuration, with the 1-ball positioned at the front on the foot spot, and the 9-ball placed in the center. The physical rack used to position the balls is typically triangle-shaped, usually wood or plastic, and capable of holding all fifteen object balls, although diamond-shaped racks that hold only nine balls are sometimes used.[11]

The break consists of hitting the 1-ball, with the attempt to pocket any ball. If the nine-ball is successfully potted, the player automatically wins the rack. This is sometimes known as a golden break.[12] Additional rules in some tournaments exist, such as a number of balls having to reach the head string, and players can be chosen to break alternatively or whoever won the preceding rack. The break is often the most crucial shot in nine-ball, as it is possible to win a rack without the opponent having a single shot. This is often called a break and run, or running the rack.[13] Earl Strickland holds the record for break and runs, after he successfully ran 11 consecutive racks in a tournament in 1996.[14] The first break of a match is sometimes decided by a flip of a coin, but often by playing a lag, with both players playing a cue ball down the table, the closest to the top rail winning the initial break.[15][9]

Push out and fouls

After the break, if no balls were pocketed, the opponent has the option to continue the rack as usual, or to play a push out. The rules on a push out are different to those of a regular shot, as the shot does not need to hit a rail or ball. Any balls pocketed are returned to the table, including the nine-ball.[16] After the push out, the breaking player has the option to play the shot that has been left, or to force the opponent to play on from that location. In early versions of nine-ball the push out could be called at any time during the game, but is now only for the shot after the break.[16] The ideal position to leave the balls in after a push out is to leave a shot that the player believes they can pocket, but that their opponent would struggle with.[17][9]

An image showing the break box used on the Euro Tour. This box limits the areas in which a break can be played from.

If a player misses potting a ball on a shot, or commits a foul shot, then their opponent plays the next shot.[9] A foul shot can involve not making first contact with the lowest numbered ball, pocketing the cue ball or not making contact with a rail with the object ball.[10] A foul shot for any reason offers the opponent ball in hand, where they can place the cue ball at any location on the table. A player making three successive fouls (for any reason) awards that rack to the opponent.[10] Unlike some other cue sports, such as snooker, players are allowed to jump the cue ball over other balls. However, if any ball leaves the cloth at the end of a shot, it is counted as a foul. Jumping is common in nine-ball, that players often have a dedicated jump cue.[18]

European alterations

As of the 2000s, the rules have been somewhat in flux in certain contexts, especially in Europe. The European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF), BCA's WPA-affiliate counterpart in Europe, has done away with triangles, and instead relies upon divots in the cloth to position the balls. This results in an especially tight rack, without any known possibility of cheating by carefully manipulating the ball positions while racking. This racking technique was invented and patented[19] as the Rack-M-Rite Racking Template by US professional player David Smith and his partner Dale Craig; it was first used in professional events on the Billiard Channel Tour in 2000 by tournament director David Vandenburgh. It later became the official rack of the Euro Tour.[17]

A similar requirement on the Euro Tour is that the break shot be taken from a "break box" a rectangular box smaller than the regular nine-ball breaking area.[17][20] While making the money ball on breaks are still possible, they are much more difficult with the break box.[17] This was later used on the annual international Mosconi Cup tournaments.[21] Another Mosconi Cup rule change in 2007 called for racking such that the 9-ball rather than the 1-ball is on the foot spot, which further stops overpowered break-off shots.[17]

Governance

The general rules the game is played under are fairly consistent and usually do not stray too far from the format set by the Billiard Congress of America (BCA).[22] These were later merged with those of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), to form the World Standardised Rules, although amateur league play may be governed by similar but slightly different rules promulgated by the American Poolplayers Association (APA) and other organizations.[9]

Tournaments

Nine-ball events worldwide are run at the highest level by the WPA. The highest level of the sport, is the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, which has events for men, women and junior players. Events are generally open to any player who can pay the entry fee, however, some events are based on qualification. The WPA hosts a world ranking schedule based on WPA events, with other ranking schemes also held by the APA and the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF).[23][24] Other major events held by the WPA include the US Open, China Open and Turning Stone Classic.[25] In addition to those run by nine-ball organisations, Matchroom Sport run major events such as the Mosconi Cup, World Cup of Pool and World Pool Masters.[26]

Outside of those events held on an worldwide basis, nine-ball is played in continental tour series. Events are held on series such as the Diamond Pool Tour,[27] Asian Tour and Euro Tour.[28][29]

Derived games
Main articles: three-ball, six-ball, and ten-ball
A six-ball rack, played with the leftovers of a nine-ball game; the 10 ball (the lowest) is at the apex, and the 15 is the money ball

The rules of nine-ball have changed over time. Several games have derived from rule changes to nine-ball, and become their own entities. Whilst the modern day game of three-ball bears no resemblance to nine-ball a version of three-ball a version of nine-ball played with the same rules with just three object balls.[30] The aim of the game was to pocked the 3-ball which was the money ball. It is a quicker game than nine-ball as there is a higher chance of pocketing the money ball on the break. The game features significantly more luck than nine-ball and most other pool games.[30]

Racking a seven-ball game with a special hexagonal rack and black-striped 7 ball.

Similarly, Six-ball is essentially identical to nine-ball but with three fewer balls, and racked in a three-row triangle, with the 6 ball (or more often the 15-ball) as the money ball, placed in the center of the back row.[5] According to Rudolph Wanderone Jr., the game arose in early 20th century billiard halls. Halls charged for matches by the 15 ball rack rather than by table, so players of nine-ball had six balls leftover.[5] For this reason, the game is often played with the balls numbered between ten and fifteen.[5] A game also known as Seven-ball is similar, with seven object balls. Whilst not a common game, due to the special hexagon based triangle it was featured on television broadcaster ESPN's Sudden Death Seven-ball which aired in the early 2000s.[5]

A valid ten-ball rack; the 1 is at the apex on the foot spot, and the 10 (the money ball) is in the center.

The most common derivative game is the game of Ten-ball. The game is a more stringent variant, utilizing ten balls in which all pocketed balls must be called. Unlike in nine-ball the money ball cannot be pocketed on the break for an instant win. Due to its more challenging nature, and the fact that there is no publicly known technique for reliably pocketing specific object balls on the break shot, there have been suggestions among the professional circuit that ten-ball should replace nine-ball as the pro game of choice,[17] especially since the rise of the nine-ball soft break, which is still legal in most international and non-European competition.[17] Ten-ball has its own world championship known as the WPA World Ten-ball Championship.[31]

The sport has featured in popular culture, specifically in the 1956 novel and 1961 film The Hustler,[32][33] and 1984 novel and 1986 film The Color of Money.[34] A match dedicated to the later film between Strickland and Reyes was held 1996, called the "Color of Money II".[35][36]

See also
  • List of WPA World Nine-ball Champions
  • Glossary of cue sports terms

References
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  • Official website
  • Pro9 — website detailing the many nine-ball tournaments held within the British Isles and beyond
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