How to Play Nine Ball

Series Summary

9 Ball, a form of pool or pocket billiards, originated in the United States in the 1920's and has been enjoyed since that time. Today nine ball is more popular than ever with ESPN coverage and sponsorship which maintains an extremely large viewing audience for the game.

The game is played with ten balls: the cue ball, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine ball. The balls are racked in a diamond shape with the one ball at the diamond tip closest to the cue ball and the nine ball in the center of the diamond. On every shot the cue ball must strike the lowest number ball first before striking any other ball. The game is won by whoever knocks the nine ball in the pocket.

In this free online video series learn 9 Ball from professional pool player Richard Garcia. He has played for over 25 years and has finished in the top ten percentile in both BCA national and VNEA international tournaments. Learn how to play nine ball from a pro as he teaches about breaking, fouls, legal shots, game endings, double hit fouls, jump shots, breaking tips, the push out, push out strategy, and winning situations.

Video Transcript

" Hello I'm Richard on behalf of expertvillage.com I'm going to explain some nine ball rules. Some basic nine ball rules according to VNA rules I have been a league player for several years and first thing that we are going to talk about is the object of the game. The object balls that are used in a game of nine ball is 1-9. The lowest number ball on the table should always be the first ball contacted by the cue ball. Although the balls do not need to be ...in order that is meaning you may hit the one ball and make the four ball and continue shooting as long the lowest ball was the first ball contacted that constitutes as a even shot. When a person pockets a ball he continues at the table and shot until he either misses, comments a fall, or pockets the nine ball for a win. On this shot the opponent comes to the table excepts the cue ball as it lays. On fall the opponent would come and get the cue ball in hand and puts the cue ball anywhere on the table. In a game of nine ball no shots are require to be called."