Rules of Pool: when shooting for the 8'ball, do you ALWAYS have to hit it?

Question

There is something about the rules of billiards that I have not been 100 percent clear on.

Let's say that you are playing pool and you have pocketed all of your balls, and now you're shooting for the eight ball. You shoot for it and miss. You don't sewer. You just fail to hit he 8-ball first. Is that a loss?

And what about shooting for it after your initial attempt?

Where I work we play a lot of pool, and there are players of a wide range of skill. If you ALWAYS have to hit the 8-ball when shooting for it , then it can be difficult if a novice player is playing a really good player. Then the good player can easily lose because it will be hard to hit the 8-ball as there are so many of the opponents balls on the table.

If someone could explain to me the basic rules of shooting for the 8-ball, and what constitues a loss in various situations. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Generally speaking if you fail to hit the 8 ball when shooting at it this is not a loss. It just results in ball in hand for your opponent , provided you don't scratch. I do recall a tournament I played in several years ago in wich you had to make contact when shooting the 8 ball or it was a loss of game , but thats pretty rare. Just make sure you know all the rules before you play because they do vary from place to place. Good luck to ya!

Answer 2

when your playing the question comes to hand are you just playing bar rules or BCA or APA or WPA if playing by BCA or WPA (( Billards Congress of America or World Pool Accociation)) you have to hit your object ball first in this case it is the 8 ball in failed to do so you foul!!! ball in hand to the other player. In APA ( Amatures Pool Association ) you must call your 8 ball then im you dont hit it, you just loose your turn simple  hope i helped you

Answer 3

There are many ways to play "8" ball. By that I mean different rules. Many locations play "bar rules", which means you have to call not only the pocket but how it's going to get there, i.e, carom off another ball, combo, one rail, etc. Some places allow "slop".

If I understand you right... you are playing with friends and there's nothing on the line... except the loss of the game. In that respect no, you shouldn't have to lose... unless you set the rule before the games begin that you do.

If you are playing "honest effort", which means you have to go for every shot, again no. If you are playing "ball-in-hand" on all fouls, again no. But now your opponent gets ball in hand anywhere on the table. Some tournaments play "3-foul" rule, where if you commit three fouls in a row you lose, and some don't.

Believe me there are situations where you wouldn't want to hit the "8" ball for strategy reasons. But you state that you are a novice player so I won't go into all the details on that.

Again, no you don't lose if you fail to hit the '8' ball.

Answer 4

That is a old house rule in the S East

BCA its just a ball in hand foul not a loss

Answer 5

4.19 PLAYING THE 8-BALL

When the 8-ball is the legal object ball, a scratch or foul is not loss of game if the 8-ball is not pocketed or jumped from the table. Incoming player has cue ball in hand. Note: A combination shot can never be used to legally pocket the 8-ball, except when the 8-ball is the first ball contacted in the shot sequence.

So no, the 8-ball doesn't need to be contacted.