Billiards FAQ

Billiards had been so popular to all over the years. Since it has been played for centuries, its development goes along with it. And various games has emerged and gained their own popularity. Some varieties that are still being popularly played by numerous people are carom billiards, pool and snooker.

Carom billiardsis usually played on a pocketless table. It has four versions the straight, the cushion caroms, balkline and the three-cushion billiards which was said to be the hardest version of the game. Like all the billiard games carom begins with a break, in which the balls grouped together at one end and the player going first break them apart by hitting the cue ball into them from the other end.

The pool how ever is popularly known as pocket billiards has a smaller table compared with the billiards table. The most widely played pool games are eight ball, nine ball, rotation and straight pool. Eight ball billiard is the most popular game played. There are 15 consecutively numbered balls, divided into the balls numbered 1 through 7 (the solids) and 9 through 15 (the stripes). The first ball that is pocketed after the break determines which group the player most target.

Snooker is the most popular billiard game in Britain. It is played in a 2 by 4m table and has six narrow pockets with rounded openings. Twenty-two balls are used: 15 red balls, 6 balls of various colors and one cue ball. Players score points by pocketing red balls and colored balls alternately. When pocketed the colored balls are returned to the tables to their assigned places while the red balls remain out of play. When all the red balls are gone the colored balls are pocketed in numerical order. Red balls are worth 1 point while the other colored balls vary in amount depending on their color.