English Billiards!

[Merlin]

In that case, I think I'll stick to good old eight-ball thanks

[The Andy-Man]

Originally posted by Merlin
In that case, I think I'll stick to good old eight-ball thanks

thats boring as hel though. American pool is the only pool worth the time of day imo, uk pool is dull

I'd like to havew a bash at 9-ball one day, need to find a place with numbered balls though

[reds4ever]

Andy can you pot your opponents ball? those rules don't mention.

[The Andy-Man]

Originally posted by reds4ever
Andy can you pot your opponents ball? those rules don't mention.

on the carom billiards one you can, on the english one you can't, and it mentions this in brackets somewhere near the bottom in an obscure way, which is why it took me a while to find out

i think its just shot over if you pot his ball, thats why i like these rules, only 3 ways to score, which makes it extremely tricky

[The Andy-Man]

ILLEGALLY POTTED BALL The red ball is spotted on the 7-spot. The opponent's cue ball will be put in play, by the opponent, from the "D". (Note: potting the opponent's cue ball ends the shooter's inning.)

[reds4ever]

Oh I see, we play that if you pot the opponents ball you score 2 pts but the ball is removed from the table until you finished your 'break' (you use that word in the US?).

That way you a 'punished' by only having two balls to score with for the rest of your break

[The Andy-Man]

i live in UK btw


Thats almost like the carom rules on the site i gave you, except the opponents cue ball is respotted - though in that variation 15 hazards (potted balls) unbroken streak is a fould, so ultimatley you need both balls in play

[Merlin]

American pool, that's where you have stripes and spots instead of red and yellow isn't it. Big deal

[reds4ever]

Sorry Old Boy, I thought Calypsos Island was near Rhode Island. I'll check out those rules, but when I play it's in a ''Workingmens Club' having my weekly pint with my Dad, I can't can't see 'new' rules being taken on board lightly!!!!!;O)

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Merlin
American pool, that's where you have stripes and spots instead of red and yellow isn't it. Big deal

A word of advice, don't play pool for money, here or in the US!

[The Andy-Man]

Originally posted by reds4ever
Sorry Old Boy, I thought Calypsos Island was near Rhode Island. I'll check out those rules, but when I play it's in a ''Workingmens Club' having my weekly pint with my Dad, I can't can't see 'new' rules being taken on board lightly!!!!!;O)

hehe, i don't think there are to many workingmens clubs in london


And Calypos's Island is from the Oddysey

American pool, that's where you have stripes and spots instead of red and yellow isn't it. Big deal

I think that maybe you should read the rules for 14.1 continuous and 9 -ball that i have just posted

[MattyBoy]

As per pool/snooker, chalk the cue a bit before every shot and learn to avoid hitting any accidental spin on the cue ball. Also, most people don't follow through enough. Focus on following through consistently (perhaps half a foot, I can't remember exactly) and following through straight.

Accepted practise is to line up the shot from on high, then stay as low as possible while executing the shot.

As for billiards,
I would just learn the angle of canons by trial and error, probably playing on less than full size tables unless your skills are outstanding. The wierd thing is how a narrow strike still leaves the cue ball flying off course by a lot. I would tend to practice narrower-struck canoning angles first or else you will have to pay too much attention to the effects of top/back spin and that is pretty confusing.

If playing near-straight with significant power and back-spin it is a crap shoot what sort of angle you can get the cue ball to come off at.

Other than that, the only hope you have is if you are good at snooker or pool and can use potting the red to get the 3 balls close together. Even then, I find that I cannot keep a break going for long.

I would be inclined to avoid using top and back spin aggresively or you'll never get a feel for the angles - and side-spin is even more of a distraction.

Be warned, though, I'm probably no better at billiards than you are.