Target sports
Pool
Pool is played on a smaller pocket table than snooker and contains multiple standardized game formats. Shotmaking, cue-ball position, break control, safety play, and knowledge of each game's legal sequence determine success.
At a glance
- Eight-ball is described as the most widely played form.
- Nine-ball is especially prominent in American professional play.
- The sport's name is linked to poolrooms and betting parlors.
Player profile. Pool players need stable cue mechanics, angle visualization, touch, pattern recognition, pressure control, and strategic safety judgment. Pattern planning chooses an order that keeps the cue ball away from traffic and poor angles. When a runout is unlikely, a controlled safety can transfer a difficult table to the opponent.
Where it happens
Rectangular six-pocket table, commonly 7-9 ft long in organized play, with cushions, head and foot spots, and a racking area. Ball groups or numbered sequence, rather than table dimensions, distinguish its leading games.
- Rectangular six-pocket table, commonly 7-9 ft long in organized play, with cushions, head and foot spots, and a racking area. Ball groups or numbered sequence, rather than table dimensions, distinguish its leading games.
What you need
- cue
- cue ball
- numbered object-ball set
- triangle or diamond rack
- chalk
- table
How to play
- Rack the balls for the selected game.
- Break legally.
- Pot the required ball group or lowest-numbered object ball.
- Win by legally pocketing the game ball.
The essential rules
- A legal break must satisfy the chosen game's ball-to-cushion or pocket requirement.
- In 8-ball, a player claims solids or stripes after the required legal determination.
- A player clears that group before attempting the 8-ball.
- The 8-ball must enter the called pocket under common rules.
- In 9-ball, the cue ball must contact the lowest numbered ball first.
- A legally pocketed 9-ball wins unless the rules require spotting.
- Cue-ball scratches give the opponent ball in hand under common codes.
- Push shots and double hits are fouls.
- A legal safety can end the turn without a pot.
- Three consecutive fouls may lose a 9-ball rack under common professional rules.
How the result is decided
Eight-ball is rack win/loss; nine-ball is usually won by legally pocketing the 9, with match races counting racks. Eight-ball is won by clearing one group before the final black ball; nine-ball requires first contact on the lowest number and ends with a legal 9. Matches count rack victories rather than adding ball values.
Fouls and penalties
- scratch
- wrong ball first
- no rail after contact
- push shot
- double hit
- ball off table
- illegal 8-ball pocket
- three-foul loss in applicable 9-ball rules
Techniques
- break
- stop shot
- follow
- draw
- sidespin
- bank
- kick
- jump shot
Tactics
- plan pattern order
- control key ball
- play safe behind blockers
- manage clusters
- choose break speed and cue-ball position
Disciplines and variants
- 8-ball
- 9-ball
- 10-ball
- straight pool
- one-pocket
Competition landscape
- WPA World Championships
- Mosconi Cup
- professional 9-ball tours
Records in the reference
No stable record table is published here. Records change; use the current governing-body source before acting.
How the sport developed
Pool developed in American cue rooms from older billiard games and diversified into many ball-sequence formats. American cue rooms adapted older billiards into several compact-table games. Eight-ball became the broad participation form, while nine-ball’s ordered attack and quick racks suited professional match play.
- A hustler may deliberately hide skill to attract a money match, a practice discussed in the source.
Play it in India
Caution · No pathway, recognised federation or public facility for this sport was found in India in KhelPath's current sources. You can learn the sport here; you may not be able to practise it competitively in India today. This is not evidence that the sport is absent from India; it is a gap in current public evidence.
- Organisation reference
- No dated organisation reference found
- Recognition state
- Not established by the current MYAS snapshot
- SAI NCOE discipline rows
- No matching centre row found
- Khelo India discipline
- Not established
- Olympic programme
- Not a current core-programme sport
- India Olympic medals
- No sport-level total in current sources
Evidence and currency
This is an original KhelPath explainer assembled from editorial research. It is orientation, not an authoritative rulebook.
Current governing-body rules link: not yet verified.