Snooker is playing 8-Ball, shooting an object ball in his usual manner, poorly, and the object ball bounces up on the rail, but returns to the bed of the table because the object ball came in contact with a piece of chalk. Carom calls a foul. Snooker responds that the ball returned to the bed of the table and it is not a foul. You make the call!!!!   Poor Snooker, he is wrong in this case. The appropriate rule is not found in the 8-ball rules. One must look in the General Definitions of Pocket Billiards, in this case - Number 11: “Balls may bounce on the cushion tops and rails of the table in play without being jumped balls if they return to the bed of the table under their own power and without touching anything not a part of the table. The table shall consist of the permanent part of the table proper. ( Balls that strike or touch anything not a part of the table , such as the light fixture, call pocket disc, chalk on the rails and chalk on the wood cus...

  Carom and Snooker are playing each other in team play during a tournament. Carom’s Captain has decided that his team is going to patch the pocket the entire tournament. Snooker’s Captain did not want to patch the pocket during this match. However, the Rules provide that when shooting the 8-ball, one must patch the pocket. So if there is NOT an agreement between both teams (Captains), then the pocket is to be patched for the 8-ball. Either Snooker’s Captain didn’t make it clear to all of his teammates that the patch was being used, or Snooker wasn’t paying any attention when his Captain announced that they would be patching the pocket, so Snooker didn’t know if they were patching the pocket or not. His game is the third game of the match. Snooker could have asked before he started his game, but he did not. Snooker could have been paying attention to the previous two games played where the pocket was patched for the 8-ball, but Snooker was not paying any attention to the games bein...

Snooker and Carom, two old dogs at the pool game, are playing each other again in Tournament play in a singles match. They are both Masters, so they are playing a race to 7. This means that they could potentially play 13 games if they go hill to hill with 6 wins each. It is alternate breaks. Snooker wins the flip and wants to break. Snooker should then be breaking games 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. Carom should break games 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. The match starts without any incident; however, somewhere during the match, one of the shooters broke back to back. Neither Snooker or Carom know when it happened or which shooter broke back to back. But for a period of time and games, Snooker was breaking the even numbered games, and Carom was breaking the odd numbered games. This match is close. Snooker breaks in game 12. Snooker wins game 12 which now ties the match with Snooker having won 6 games and Carom having won 6 games. They are now hill to hill with the next game being the game which ...

       Another Colorado incident. There will be more. Snooker and Carom, two old dogs who play each other often, have both had too many beers and are not paying attention to their game. Snooker is breaking and makes a solid on the break. Snooker shoots again at a solid but misses. Table is open. Carom comes to the table and shoots a stripe into the side pocket. However, the stripe hangs up in the pocket and does not go down through the mechanism. Carom has established her group of balls - stripes. Carom shoots at another stripe but misses. Snooker in his “condition” comes back to the table and asks: ‘what do I have?”. Carom looks into the ball return, seeing only a solid ball, and knowing that she has just pocketed a ball, tells Snooker that he has stripes. Snooker then makes a stripe in the same side pocket that Carom had previously made one. When Snooker does this, the stripe which was hung up before, now comes dislodged and both stripes (the one Carom made and the...

    We always have the theoretical question of what if X happens? What’s the call? For example, Breaker makes all of one group on the Break, can he shoot the 8-ball? Probably will never happen, BUT you can get to the same question under different facts. Snooker and Carom, two old dogs who play each other often, are in a heated argument over who won and who lost. Many players argue over this call. Here are the facts. Snooker is breaking and hits the rack good. Snooker pockets four stripes and one solid on the break; however, he scratches. The incoming shooter, Carom, has ball in hand behind the headstring and must shoot out of the kitchen. She wants to take stripes since there are four stripes down. Carom calls the next stripe, pockets that stripe, plus another stripe and a solid ball, but Carom also scratches on the shot. Snooker, who is now headed back to the table, really wants stripes because there are six stripes down and only two solids down. This last stripe will no...

     Snooker is the Breaker, and he makes a good break with object balls spread all over the table. Actually believing that he has made an object ball, Snooker continues to shoots and pockets a stripe. He takes his next shot and pockets another stripe. At this point Carom suddenly notices that Snooker did not make a ball on the break, jumps to her paws, and tells Snooker that he should not be at the table shooting any balls since he did not make any balls on the break. Carom calls a foul. Snooker responds that all fouls must be called and acknowledged before the next shot is taken. Since he has put down two stripes, it is too late to call a foul, he has stripes, and he can continue to shoot. You are the referee called to the table. You make the call!!!! Rule B. 8. does say that “If the player legally breaks the racked balls and does not make any balls, his opponent then shoots, having an open table”. However, that Rule does not address what happens if the Breaker continue...

       Another Colorado incident. There will be more. Snooker and Carom, two old dogs who play each other often, have both had too many beers and are not paying attention to their game. Snooker is breaking and makes a solid on the break. Snooker shoots again at a solid but misses. Table is open. Carom comes to the table and shoots a stripe into the side pocket. However, the stripe hangs up in the pocket and does not go down through the mechanism. Carom has established her group of balls - stripes. Carom shoots at another stripe but misses. Snooker in his “condition” comes back to the table and asks: ‘what do I have?”. Carom looks into the ball return, seeing only a solid ball, and knowing that she has just pocketed a ball, tells Snooker that he has stripes. Snooker then makes a stripe in the same side pocket that Carom had previously made one. When Snooker does this, the stripe which was hung up before, now comes dislodged and both stripes (the one Carom made and the...