One Pocket
Encyclopedia
Billiard ball
A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played...
into specific pockets. A point is made when a player makes any into that player's designated pocket. The winner is the first to score an agreed-upon number of points (most commonly 8). The player making the (typically after winning the ) chooses a for the rest of the game; all of that shooter's balls must be shot into that pocket. All of the opponent's balls must be made in the other foot corner pocket.
One-pocket is similar to the game of straight pool
Straight Pool
Straight 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...
in that both games allow players to score points for pocketing balls, each legally pocketed ball earns the shooter another shot, and any object ball is a ball to shoot at (a ). The penalties for a are the loss of 1 point, re- a previously pocketed ball if possible, and in the case of a "" the incoming player gets behind the . Unlike in straight pool, but as in the game of nine-ball, three consecutive fouls is a loss of game.
History
One-pocket is one of the most stringent tests of excellence in all of pool, as it requires great shot-making skills, excellence, planning, and patience.The famous American pool
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
player Rudolph "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone allegedly said the game of one-pocket was like chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
(later admitting that he had actually never played a game of chess). On the other hand, Wanderone's public rival Willie Mosconi
Willie Mosconi
William Joseph Mosconi , best known as Willie Mosconi, was an American professional pool player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between the years of 1941 and 1957, he won the World Straight Pool Championship an unmatched fifteen times. For most of the 20th century, his name was essentially...
– perhaps the greatest pool player ever (with a high of 526 at straight pool) – called one-pocket a gimmick game for gamblers.
The game has even been described as having a beginning, middle, and end game like chess. A player must be careful not to leave the opponent with a good shot, or the opponent may be able to capitalize on a successful shot for successive shots and never let the original player shoot again. A player may even intentionally pocket the opponent's ball, conceding a point in the process, in order to prevent the opponent from being able to pocket that ball and use it to get (ideal position) on a subsequent next shot.
The game is very popular with gamblers, and frequently attracts high stakes. However, it is a skill game involving little luck
Luck
Luck or fortuity is good fortune which occurs beyond one's control, without regard to one's will, intention, or desired result. There are at least two senses people usually mean when they use the term, the prescriptive sense and the descriptive sense...
when played correctly.
One-pocket plays a major role in the yearly Derby City Classic
Derby City Classic
The Derby City Classic is an annual pocket billiard convention held every January in Louisville, Kentucky. It is eight days long and offers various disciplines of pocket billiard competitions for pool players of all caliber. It is often referred to as the DCC.hui- History :The annual convention...
which is played in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
each January. There are also large-scale one-pocket events such as the World One-Pocket Championship and the Legends of One Pocket tournament that also take place annually.
One of the most famous players of the game is Grady "the Professor" Mathews
Grady Mathews
Grady Mathews , also known as "The Professor", is an American pool player and was the first inductee into the One-Pocket Hall of Fame in 2004....
, who has written articles and published a number of instructional videos on the game. The two main reference works on one-pocket are Winning One-Pocket and One-Pocket Shots, Moves and Strategies, both written by player and gambler Eddie Robins. The books, now out of print, often sell on the used market for over US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
200 each. Another well-known one-pocket player is world pool champion Efren Reyes
Efren Reyes
Efren Manalang Reyes is a Filipino professional pool player and a two-time world champion. Reyes is considered by many to be the greatest all-around pool player in the history of the game. He is affectionately nicknamed "Bata" and "the Magician".-Early life:Reyes was born in Pampanga in 1954...
. His victories in the game include the US Open One-pocket Championship in 2000 and the Derby City Classic 2004-2007. His mastery of the games of rotation and three-cushion billiards
Three-cushion billiards
Three-cushion billiards is a form of carom billiards, and one of the most popular and challenging cue sports in the world.The object of the game is to the off both and contact the at least 3...
helped to make him a formidable one-pocket player. One of the most comprehensive listings of one-pocket shots was put together by Willie Jopling in his guidebook.
One-pocket was the main game featured in the 2007 film Turn the River
Turn the River
Turn the River is a film that was written and directed by Chris Eigeman. The film debuted at the Hamptons International Film Festival on October 17, 2007.-Cast:*Famke Janssen as Kailey Sullivan*Jaymie Dornan as Gulley*Rip Torn as Teddy Quinette...
, the story of a female pool hustler
Hustling
Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick...
who plays high-stakes pool. The film ends with a nine-ball match, with the main character saying that nine-ball "seems like a chumpy game for us."
Handicapping
One-pocket is a very flexible game for players of different skill levels, and many variations are used to handicapHandicapping
Handicapping, in sport and games, is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning. The word also applies to the various methods by which the advantage is calculated...
a game. The stronger player, for instance, might need 10 points to win versus 6 points for the weaker player (called a "10-6 "). Also, as the break shot is so critical in the game, spotting someone the breaks can be a very strong equalizer.
Handicapping one player by allowing points to be scored on bank and only is a particularly challenging spot, as the free-scoring opponent has a much greater variety of options for both balls to pocket and (defensive positioning of the cueball after a shot) to play against the opponent.
See also
, a one-pocket-inspired rule in informal eight-ball- Bank pool, a similarly stringent game