American pool
Encyclopedia
American pool is a term used in the United Kingdom
, and sometimes more broadly outside the United States
, to refer to pool (pocket billiards) cue sports that make use of formerly American-style and now world-standardised
numbered billiard balls that have a standard diameter of 57 mm ( in), as opposed to British-style unnumbered 56 mm ( in) balls. (See for example the British streaming video site AmericanPool.CueSport.tv devoted entirely to various pool games using "American" balls.) Other "American" pool differences from British-style pool include larger pockets to accommodate the bigger balls, and markings on the
The term may apply to any pool game variety using such a ball set, and is commonly applied especially to the most internationally competitive of these sports:
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and sometimes more broadly outside the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, to refer to pool (pocket billiards) cue sports that make use of formerly American-style and now world-standardised
World Pool-Billiard Association
The World Pool-Billiard Association is the international governing body for pocket billiards . The group was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of representatives from Japan, the United States, Sweden, and Germany...
numbered billiard balls that have a standard diameter of 57 mm ( in), as opposed to British-style unnumbered 56 mm ( in) balls. (See for example the British streaming video site AmericanPool.CueSport.tv devoted entirely to various pool games using "American" balls.) Other "American" pool differences from British-style pool include larger pockets to accommodate the bigger balls, and markings on the
The term may apply to any pool game variety using such a ball set, and is commonly applied especially to the most internationally competitive of these sports:
- Eight-ball, the most commonly played form of pool (as distinct from blackballBlackball (pool)Blackball is a pool game that is popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, several Western European nations, Australia and some other countries. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool"...
, a.k.a. British eight-ball pool) - Nine-ball, the leading profession variant of pool, with historical roots in the United States in the 1920s
- Ten-ball, a rotation game very similar to nine-ball, but more difficult, using ten balls instead of nine, and played
- Straight poolStraight PoolStraight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game, and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball...
(a.k.a. 14.1 continuous), formerly the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball (and to a lesser extent eight-ball)
See also
- Cue sports#Pool (pocket billiards) games, a longer list of notable games to which this term may be applied