8-Ball Question

If you drop the 8 on the break, do you automatically win?

If it's a legal break and there is no foul committed, then you win the game.

That's what I'd always understood too.

But the rules listed in the app say otherwise:

The rule I showed is for the UPA (I think). The rule can change with the league. Just pick a rule you like and you can find a league that supports it. One of the professional leagues supports the winning scenario I described for nine ball and ten ball, but not for eight ball. And keep in mind that House Rules always supersede League Rules. If you're playing on bar tables, House Rules (or "the only rule") are the only ones that matter.

"The Only Rule" that matters is the one that says the players decide on all rules before putting the money on the table.

Is there a game where you have to drop the balls in numerical order?

If you scratch on the last shot, shooting the 8, do you automatically lose?

NoCoPilot wrote:

Is there a game where you have to drop the balls in numerical order?

There are numerous such games, including rotation, 7 ball, 9 ball, 10 ball, ...

NoCoPilot wrote:

If you scratch on the last shot, shooting the 8, do you automatically lose?

As long as the 8 ball is on the table after your shot, then you do not lose. Of course, that would not be the last shot; it is now your opponent's turn. But if you scratch and either pocket the 8 ball or knock the 8 ball off the table, then you lose.
But remember "The Only Rule".

I guess the screen shot above answers this question, but I'll ask anyway.

I know if you drop both solids and stripes on the break you have your choice which to pursue. But in the game I just played, I dropped three stripes on the break and it still gave me my choice. I always played that whatever you dropped on the break was your pattern for the rest of the game. Is that "tavern rules" versus "competition rules"?

It doesn't matter whether you make a solid or stripe on the break shot. The group assignment is made on the first valid object ball made after the break. For example, if you made three solids on the break shot and then missed your next shot, your opponent can sink a solid and that is his target group; he now has four balls down and you must shoot stripes.

I must have misunderstood.

Instead of it being a rule, that you must shoot what you dropped on the break, it would've been just a good idea.

There's a video online of a Japanese player dropping ALL of the balls on the break. I assume it's fake. Ah, here it is:

I've been playing the computer, and that raises another question.  When I scratch -- which I do with some regularity -- the "CPU" player places the cue ball seemingly anyplace on the table.

I'd always assumed/heard/played that the cue had to be behind the "headstring" (is that the term?) in other words on the last 1/3 of the table.

In professional pool - in many games, such as 8-ball, 9 ball - but not in all games - the most common rule is that the cue ball can be placed anywhere on the table after a foul shot or scratch. But there are some games which call for breaaking with the cue ball behind the headstring (for snooker, the ball goes in the "D" on the headstring). Keep in mind that the rules may change when making the break shot.

The headstring is a line two spots up from the end of the table from which you break. The balls are racked at the foot of the table.

NoCoPilot wrote:

There's a video online of a Japanese player dropping ALL of the balls on the break.  I assume it's fake.  Ah, here it is:

Actually, it's a Chinese woman. If you slow it way down, it looks as though they may have fiddled with the level of the table to get the right roll. No matter how they did it, it was a great shot and lots of work. I wouldn't go so far as to say it can only be a fake. There are some amazing Chinese women playing pool today. I would need a lot of weight to even think about taking one of them on. In China, they are popular like rock stars are in America. A couple have their own television shows. Crowds (of mostly young women) follow them down the streets.

It happens again at 9:40 in this video.