But there are other easy ways to tell what type of material is used on any given pool table. Given royalty free quality samples it shouldn't be too much work. MDF tables, on the other hand, range from $700 to $1500 for a quality table. Balls pocketed on the break, or as the result of a foul while the table is still open, are not used to assign the suits. Otherwise (i.e., if the 8 ball is neither pocketed nor knocked off the table), the shooter's turn is simply over, what is billiards even if a foul occurs. A player (or team) continues to shoot until committing a foul or failing to legally pocket an object ball (whether intentionally or not); thereupon it is the turn of the opposing players. It remains open until one player legally pockets any called ball other than the 8 after the break. On the break shot, no balls are pocketed and fewer than four balls reach the cushions, in which case the incoming player can demand a re-rack and take the break or force the original breaker to re-break, or may take ball-in-hand behind the head string and shoot the balls as they lie. Specifically, the solids player starts by pocketing the 1 ball and ascends to the 7 ball, and the stripes player starts by pocketing the 15 ball and descends to the 9 ball.

Or I’ll get under the ball by accident and send it flying across the bar, where it’ll softly roll up against the boot of some pony-tailed, tattooed biker dude, who will then shoot me a cold, piercing stare and begin punching his fist into his palm. If the 8 ball is pocketed on the break, then the breaker can choose either to re-spot the 8 ball and play from the current position or to re-rack and re-break; but if the cue ball is also pocketed on the break (colloquially referred to as a "scratch") then the opponent is the one who has the choice: either to re-spot the 8 ball and shoot with ball-in-hand behind the head string, accepting the current position, or to re-break or have the breaker re-break. In most leagues, it is the breaker's opponent who racks the balls, but in some, players break their own racks.

One person is chosen by some predetermined method (e.g., coin toss, lag, or win or loss of previous game or match) to shoot first, using the cue ball to break the object-ball rack apart. The game arose from two changes made, namely that the 8 ball must be pocketed last to win, and that each player may pocket only half of the other object balls. The two rule sets differ in some details regarding the penalties for fouls. Both billiards and pool can be further classified into cue games, which is one of the main similarity between the two. Pool Billiards - The Rules of Play (PDF). 2014. These are also the rules of the English Pool Association and other national WEPF affiliates. The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), the governing body of pool which has continental and national affiliates around the world, promulgates standardized rules as Pool Billiards - The Rules of Play.

If you really want to be official about your pool table light size and setup, you can look at the WPA equipment specifications. Meanwhile, many amateur leagues - such as the American Poolplayers Association (APA) and its affiliate the Canadian Poolplayers Association (CPA), the Valley National Eight-ball Association (VNEA) and the BCA Pool League (BCAPL) - use their own rulesets which have slight differences from WPA rules and from each other. This results in some differences in gameplay approach. If the pool table is meant to be a decorative addition to your home that you only play the occasional game on, it won’t matter too much what color the cloth is, as long as it agrees with your aesthetic taste and goes nicely with the room and the colors of the table. Slate pool tables are made to sit in one spot for years and they are meant for one thing and one thing only: billiards. Slate tables require less frequent maintenance compared to MDF tables.