8-Ball Pool · Rules
8-Ball Pool rules.
Not a summary of them — the actual ruleset. This is what gets enforced when somebody's marking your match: every foul, every way it ends, exactly as it's scored.
English Pub Pool
Standard UK pub rules. Reds and yellows, 2 shots on foul, no ball-in-hand.
On the table
7 yellows, 7 reds, and the black.
The table's open until somebody pots. Whatever drops first is theirs.
The break
- Pot the black on the break and nothing else — you've won there and then. Pot it alongside anything else, or with the white, and you've lost.
- Miss everything and it's the other player's break.
- Pot the white off the break and it's a foul like any other.
- Pot one of each and the table stays open.
Winning it
Clear your own, then pot the black.
- Pot the black while you've still got balls on the table and you've lost.
- Foul on the black and you've lost.
- Pot the black together with another ball and it's a foul.
- Combination shots don't count.
Fouls
Foul and your opponent gets two shots and a free ball. The white comes back behind the baulk line.
- Potted opponent's ball
- Potted the white
- Hit the wrong ball first
- Didn't hit any ball
- Push shot
- Ball off the table
- Accidentally moved a ball
- Used opponent's ball to pot
- Potted black with another ball
What gets noticed
Beyond who won. These get picked up as they happen and end up in the write-up.
Settle it properly.
Every one of these gets enforced when somebody's marking, and every match ends up on a record that follows the players. Which is a better way of ending an argument than both of you remembering it differently.