How to Play English Pool

English pool is better known as eight ball pool, the game sometimes played on American tables where one person has to pot the stripes and the other the spots, before finally sinking the black ball. The difference is that an English pool table is smaller, including the pockets, and traditionally the balls are yellow and red. And of course there are slight variations in the rules.

Things You'll Need

• Pool cue

Instructions

1. Firstly decide where you want to play. If you are playing in a pub you will need to insert a coin into the coin slot and the balls will roll out. However, if you are playing at a club it is more likely they will give you the pool balls and you will pay for your time spent at the table.

2. Set the balls up. There should be a picture near the table showing how to do this, but basically the black goes in the middle, and from the top of the triangle the colours alternate.

3. Toss a coin to see who starts. After the initial toss, it is whoever wins the game that breaks off first.

4. Hit the pack of balls as hard as you can. When you break you are allowed to pot either a red or yellow or even both off the initial shot.

5. Choose which balls you want to be. If a ball has not been potted, or if two have been potted from the break, you can choose to be either reds or yellows.

6. Try not to foul. If a foul does occur, for example you pot the white, then the opposing player has a free shot. With that free shot he can hit any ball and pot any ball except for the black. The white ball can be moved, but only to behind the line at the top of the table. From this position it is illegal to pot a ball that is behind the white.

7. Pot all your colors. If you are reds you need to pot all the red balls before you can have a go at the black.

8. Be the first to pot the black and you win the game. Be careful because if you pot the black and the white together you actually lose and all that hard work is for nothing.

Tips & Warnings

• You will find different pubs or clubs have variations in the rules. Some places for example ask that the black has to hit a cushion before it goes into the pocket. Don't worry if you're playing a friend because you can play what ever rules you like, but it is best to ask what the rules are before you play a local.

• It is not always a good shot to pot your balls. Sometimes it is better to get your ball close enough so you are blocking that pocket.

• The pockets on an English table are not as open as on an American table and it is virtually impossible for the ball to bounce off a cushion and still fall in to the hole.