What is the correct way to set up pool balls?

POOL is one of the most popular pub sports, with an element of skill needed to play well and be successful at the game.

Here's how to rack the balls up, and other rules you need to know when it comes to playing.

What is the correct way to set up pool balls?

In English 8-ball pool, there are 15 balls, seven reds, seven yellows and the black.

It is set in a pattern, and the bottom two corners of the rack must be different colours.

How to set is as follows (Starting from the bottom left corner of the triangle):

• One red
• Two yellows
• Three reds
• Three yellows, with the black ball second in this line of four balls
• from the top of the triangle, two reds, a yellow, a red and then another yellow
• Important to remember to switch the last red at the bottom of the rack with the yellow at the centre bottom
• This creates a tick shape in the rack

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What is the correct way to play pool?

The idea of pool is to pot your colours and the black before your opponent does.

It is important that the only thing that touches the cue ball and the object balls are the tip of the cue stick.

You must hit your ball first before an opponent's ball, and you must hit a cushion after a shot, otherwise, this is a foul.

What happens after a foul differs between rulesets.

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In World rules, a foul gives the opponent two visits at the table, which carry if the opponent continues to pot their balls.

The opponent must play their first shot from inside the breaking area, sometimes referred to as "The D" because of its shape.

In International rules, the opponent can pick up the cue ball after a foul and can move it anywhere on the table, except if a foul has been committed from the break.

In this instance, the player would have to take their shot from the breaking area at the top of the table.

Other things to note about this ruleset include the fact that you must touch a cushion after getting out of a snooker, otherwise, this would be a foul.

You are able to play your ball onto an opponent's ball and pot it, and unlike in World rules, this isn't a foul and is simply a loss of turn.

In Blackball rules, a foul will give the opponent two shots, but these don't carry. So the first shot in Blackball rules is a set-up shot for your next visit to the table.

There are different rules in pubs and bars as well, and many of them will have their own ways of playing the game.

Do you lose in pool if you pot the black ball?

If you pot the black ball from the break in English 8-ball pool, this is not a foul.

However, there are differing rulesets as to what happens when the black goes in from here.

In World rules, potting the black from the break will lead to a re-rack.

This is the same in blackball rules.

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In International rules, The black will be replaced on the black spot if potted from the break.

However, it is important to note that at any other point in these rulesets, potting the black before all your other balls have been potted is a loss of frame.

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