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<br />Is
<br />The Sport of Billiards
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<br />Billiards as we know it is over five hundred years old and, in its various disciplines, is enjoyec
<br />hundreds of millions of people around the world each year. Internationally, competition is r
<br />sued in three basic variations: Pocket Billiards, Carom Billiards, and Snooker.
<br />POCKET BILLIARDS
<br />Pocket billiards, better known as pool, is generally played with a cue
<br />ball (white) and 15 object balls numbered 1 -15 — eight of solid colors
<br />and seven white balls each with a different colored strip.
<br />The general object is to strike the cue ball so that it propels an object
<br />ball or balls into a desired pocket without pocketing the cue ball.
<br />Pool has found popularity in Europe, Asia, and North America.
<br />Variations of pool include:
<br />8 -Ball A player wins by pocketing all of the stripes or all of
<br />.
<br />9 -Ball The player pocketing the 9 -ball, tither on the break,
<br />in its normal rotation, or in combination with any
<br />other legal shot wins.
<br />Straight The object is to pocket the balls in numeric order.
<br />Pool or The player with the most points at the end of the game
<br />14.1 wins.
<br />the solids, and then Iegally pockets the 8-ball.
<br />The most popular table sizes range from the professional 4 1/2 x 9'
<br />size, to the4' x 8' and the 3 1/2' x 7' sizes. Most pocket billiard tables
<br />have six pockets — one in each comer, and one in the middle of each
<br />long raiL
<br />Balls are approximately 2 1/4" in diameter and weight about 6 ounces.
<br />CAROM BILLIARDS
<br />Carom billiards is played with two different colored cue balls (one white
<br />and the other a light yellow) and one solid red ball. It is extremely
<br />popular in Europe, South America and Asia.
<br />The general object of carom billiards is to strike your cut ball so that it
<br />caroms off both your opponent's cue ball and the red ball in either or-
<br />r. This is worth one point
<br />A more difficult variation is "3- Cushion Billiards," in which a player's
<br />cue ball must contact one ball and then contact at least duce cushions
<br />before it contacts the other ball to make the point.
<br />The genic is played on a table 5'x10' with no pockets. Balls weight
<br />........... ..,. el.. 1 ..,.,.ro<,..a ,.0 1 77/A4• in riiamrInt
<br />SNOOKER
<br />Snooker is a specialized form of billiards very similar in approa,
<br />pocket billiards, yet diffteent enough in its evolutionary growth, et
<br />meat and demographic scope worldwide to warrant its own categc
<br />a separate discipline among billiard sports. As did pocket biiliarr
<br />American soil, in the latter 19th century, snooker also evolved
<br />English billiards during the same period, except on the soil of ter
<br />ries governed by England. The discipline has thrived and grow
<br />these same countries around the globe, most notably in Great Bri
<br />Australia and Canada, in the 1900s. Many billiard rooms in the
<br />maintain at least one snooker table, as the game has some limitec
<br />peal in this country.
<br />Snooker has few variations and is specifically designed with a w
<br />cue ball, a set of fifteen solid red balls, and six number balls, mark
<br />thru 7. Each ball weighs approximately 5 ounces and is 2 1/16
<br />diameter. The regulation size table for competition measures 6':.
<br />and has a six pocket configuration as on a pocket billiard table. Sno'
<br />pockets, however, are much small than pool pockets, and the rub
<br />ized rails continually slope into the sides of the pocket, as oppose .
<br />the clean cut of the rails at the openings of pool pockets, so that
<br />more difficult to pocket the balls.
<br />The red balls are racked in a triangle on the foot (pyramid) spot,
<br />the numbered balls are spotted on their assigned spots at various po
<br />around the table. Points are scored in the following manner. at
<br />start of the opening shots in a game a player must first initiate his or
<br />turn by attempting to pocket (or pot) any red ball, which is worth
<br />point. If surrnsful the shooter must then attempt any one of the nr
<br />bered balls, which is worth the number of points marked on it. If
<br />player scores on this shot, the players must again attempt a red; the
<br />numbered ball, etc. When a red is potted, it stays down. When a nt
<br />bered ball is potted, it is =spotted on its assigned spot. Once the
<br />balls are all potted, the numbered balls are potted in rotation. Whoe
<br />accumulates the most points when all the balls have disappeared fr
<br />the tables wins.
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