Pool , also known as pocket billiards , is the general term for a family of cue sports played on a pool table with six receptacles called pockets along the rails, into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play.
History
Outside the cue sports industry, the sport is almost exclusively referred to as "pool", due to a perhaps unfortunate association with the "poolrooms" where gamblers "pooled" their money to bet remotely ("off-track") on horse races. Because these venues often provided billiard tables, the term "pool" became synonymous with billiards. Though the original "pool" game was played on a pocketless carom billiards table, the name stuck to pocket billiards as it gained in popularity. Though the traditional view of billiards as a refined and noble pastime did not blend well with the low-class connotations of gambling, the billiards industry's attempts to distance itself from the term "pool" beginning in the late 19th century were largely unsuccessful.
There are hundreds of pool games. Some of the more well known include eight-ball, nine-ball, straight pool, and one-pocket. The game of snooker is played on a table with pockets but is considered to be its own cue sport and is governed internationally by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (professional) and International Billiards and Snooker Federation (amateur). There are also hybrid games combining aspects of both pool and carom billiards, such as English billiards, American four-ball billiards, cowboy pool and bottle pool.
Pool is more popular than carom billiards in most countries of the world. Carom billiard games thrive in Asia, Europe and Latin America, but pool (especially in the form of nine-ball and eight-ball) and snooker are gradually taking over as the most widely played cue games.
As a competitive sport, pool is governed internationally by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), which has national affiliates such as the US Billiard Congress of America (BCA), and which represents pool in the World Confederation of Billiard Sports, which in turn represents all forms of cue sports in the International Olympic Committee.
Equipment
Pool uses different equipment from carom billiards. Other than the table having pockets, the balls for pool are generally smaller and range from 2.25 inches (57.15 mm) in diameter to 2.375 inches (60.33 mm) in diameter. (By comparison Carom billiard balls are generally 2.375 inches (60.33 mm), or 61.5 millimetres (2.42 in). While UMB, the International Olympic Committee-recognized world carom billiards authority, permits balls as small as 61.0 millimetres (2.40 in), no major manufacturer produces such balls any longer, and the de facto standard is 61.5 millimetres (2.42 in). Modern pool tables range in size from 3.5 feet (1.07 m) by 7 feet (2.13 m), to 4.5 feet (1.37 m) by 9 feet (2.74 m). Modern cues are generally 58.5 inches (148.6 cm) long for pool while cues prior to 1980 were designed for straight pool and had an average length of 57.5 inches (146.0 cm), while carom billiards cues are generally 56 inches (142.2 cm) long.
References
- ^ World Rules of Carom Billiard (English language version), Chapter II ("Equipment"), Article 12 ("Balls, Chalk"), Section 2; Union Mondiale de Billard, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium, 1 January 1989 (official online PDF scan, accessed 5 March 2007).
- Shamos, Michael Ian. 1993-1999. The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards. ISBN 1-58574-685-1.
- Byrne, Robert (1978), Byrne's Standard Book of Pool and Billiards , New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, ISBN 0-15-115223-3
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