Snooker Pool 9-Ball Tips Techniques Training

Players take turns in visiting the table. When one player is at the table, the other cannot play.

The game is played on a pocket billiards 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 one or more of the other nine balls (often referred to as object balls), each of which is distinctly coloured and numbered 1 through 9. The object of the game is to pocket the 9 ball in a legal manner, subject to the rules in effect at the time.

In nine-ball, on all shots including the break shot, a player must cause the cue ball to contact the lowest numerical ball on the table first before the cue ball strikes any other ball and, except when a push-out has been invoked, either a ball must be pocketed or some ball (any ball including the cue ball) must contact a rail in order that a foul is not committed. This does not mean that object balls have to be pocketed in order; any ball may be pocketed at any time during the game, so long as the lowest numerical ball is contacted first. Because nine-ball is not a call shot game, the 9 ball itself can also be pocketed in this manner for a win at any time in the game, including when it is pocketed on the break shot.

Players alternate innings at the table, meaning play continues by one player until he or she misses, commits a foul, or pockets the 9 ball for the win. The penalty for a foul is that the player's inning ends and the opponent comes to the table with ball in hand, able to place the cue ball anywhere on the table prior to shooting.

Nine-ball is a relatively fast-paced game and is rarely played by the rack. Instead, players normally play a match (or race) to a set number of games, often five, seven or nine. The first player to win that set number of games wins the match.

The Break

One person is chosen to shoot first, by breaking the rack. Usually this is determined by flipping a coin, or by lagging, especially in professional tournaments in the case of the latter, or it may be ruled by the authority in charge or the sponsor or the players themselves that the winner or loser of the previous game will always shoot first in the next rack.

If the player who breaks fails to make a legal break, the opponent can either demand a re-rack and become the breaker, or continue to play as if it had been an ordinary foul, depending upon the rules of the event. If the breaker pockets a ball and commits no foul, it remains the breaker's turn. If the breaker pockets the 9 ball on the break (without fouling), this is an instant win.

The Push-Out

Immediately after the break shot (regardless of its results) the player at the table may call a "push-out", and may then shoot the cue ball to any location on the table (i.e. not into a pocket in which case the player must continue shooting, nor off the table which would be a foul), without incurring a foul for failure to hit the lowest-numbered ball on the table, and then control of the table passes to the other player. The incoming player has the choice of accepting the table as it lies, or forcing the pushing-out player to take the next shot. Only one push-out is allowed per game, and it must be immediately after the break.