Ball in Hand from the Kitchen and Bank Shots
4/22/2018 12:11:54 PM
Ball in Hand from the Kitchen and Bank Shots
Are you allowed to contact a cushion behind the head string when shooting ball in hand from the kitchen?
E.g. with ball in hand in the kitchen, is It legal to kick off the side rail below the head string to strike a ball which is above the head string?
blindboyThis question relates to the following billiard rules:
Ball in Hand from the Kitchen and Bank Shots
Replies & Comments
billiardsforum on 4/22/2018 9:11:41 PMNo you can not contact a cushion until the ball is outside of the kitchen. Doing so is a foul.
3.39 - PLAYING FROM BEHIND THE STRING
When a player has the cue ball in hand behind the head string (in the kitchen), he must drive the cue ball to a point across the head string before it contacts either a cushion, an object ball, or returns to the kitchen.
Failure to do so is a foul if a referee is presiding over a match. If no referee, the opponent has the option to call it either a foul or to require the offending player to replay the shot again with the balls restored to their positions prior to the shot (and with no foul penalty imposed).
Source: BCA "General Rules of Pocket Billiards"
user1556322934 on 4/26/2019 4:55:35 PM
After a scratch with ball-in-hand in the kitchen, how far in front of the kitchen does an object ball have to be?
Can it be on the line? Can it be half in the kitchen and half out? Or is it that if any part of the ball is in the kitchen, the ball is considered "in the kitchen"?
- billiardsforum on 4/29/2019 6:30:12 PM
@user1556322934 - World Pool-Billiards Association general rules, section 1.5 "Cue Ball in Hand" has all of the specifics to answer your questions (relevant parts emphasized in bold, emphasis ours).
1.5 Cue Ball in Hand
[...]
When the shooter has the cue ball in hand behind the head string and all the legal object balls are behind the head string, he may request the legal object ball nearest the head string to be spotted. If two or more balls are equal distance from the head string, the shooter may designate which of the equidistant balls is to be spotted. An object ball that rests exactly on the head string is playable.
If you get down to the level of the pool table and inspect where a ball lies, you can see the point where the ball contacts the cloth and can get a good feel whether it's on, the line or behind it. Also, if you look down on the center of the ball in question, and imagine the line goes through it, is 50% or more of the width of the ball outside?
user1626417479 on 7/15/2021 11:38:00 PM
After a scratch with ball-in-hand in the kitchen, what happens if my only remaining object ball is up against the back cushion behind me?
Must I still play forward as though I was snookered?
RayMills on 7/16/2021 2:15:06 AM@user1626417479 - The rules which answer your question were reproduced in the preceding posts.
If your only legal ball is in the kitchen, then it may be spotted (which means moved to the foot spot where the head ball of the rack of balls is usually placed at the beginning of the game).
The other rule reproduction tells us that in this situation you may also shoot the cue ball to hit any cushion(s) outside the kitchen to have it rebound back to hit your legal ball.
These rules, which I believe give an advantage or opportunity to the player committing the scratch or foul, are why most league and/or tournament games allow you to place the cue ball anywhere on the table (as such that it doesn't touch another ball), rather than in the kitchen, then shoot in any direction.
Ball in Hand from the Kitchen and Bank Shots
- Title: Ball in Hand from the Kitchen and Bank Shots
- Author: blindboy
- Published: 4/22/2018 12:11:54 PM
- Last Updated: 4/22/2018 9:07:34 PM
- Last Updated By: billiardsforum (Billiards Forum)
