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Player Accidentally Knocks 8 Ball into Pocket with Cue Butt

6/11/2021 9:00:57 AM

Player Accidentally Knocks 8 Ball into Pocket with Cue Butt

What happens when a player accidentally knocks the 8 ball into a pocket with the butt of their pool cue while they still have other balls on the table?

In our case we're playing BCA rules (NOT "all ball fouls").

  • Player "A" shoots the 8 ball and it hangs it in the corner pocket.
  • Player "B" still has object balls left on the table. As they stretch across the table to shoot at one of them, his forearm or the butt of his cue accidentally strikes the 8 ball and it falls into the pocket.

Do you spot the 8 ball at this point, or does player A win the rack?

This question relates to the following billiard rules:

Player Accidentally Knocks 8 Ball into Pocket with Cue Butt

Replies & Comments
  1. user1505348850billiardsforum on 6/15/2021 4:07:22 AM

    I believe "BCA Rules" are now based upon the World Pool-Billiard Association 8-ball rules.

    In your scenario, player A wins the game automatically (not because their balls have all been pocketed, but rather, because player B has lost).

    The WPBA eight ball rule that comes into play is this:

    3.8 Losing the Rack

    The shooter loses if he

    • (a) pockets the eight ball and fouls.;
    • (b) pockets the eight ball before his group is cleared;
    • (c) pockets the eight ball in an uncalled pocket; or
    • (d) drives the eight ball off the table.

    These do not apply to the break shot. (See 3.3 Break Shot.)

  2. user1505348850RayMills on 6/16/2021 12:31:06 AM

    I can't believe that these four ways to lose the rack would include the above scenario where no shot attempt has been made!

    Did player B ever begin his shot attempt by contacting the cue ball?

    Except for the complication that a barbox won't return the 8-ball, I assume that any ball which has been motionless for over 3 seconds and gets bumped into a pocket it merely spotted to the spot where it was when it was bumped.

    Isn't there a section mentioning bumped object balls?

  3. user1505348850billiardsforum on 6/17/2021 4:27:13 PM

    @Ray Mills - I believe you are correct. Thanks for pointing that out. I must have been rushing when I answered that question earlier.

    I think this rule would apply to the scenario mentioned above (whether or not the 8-ball fell into the pocket).

    6.6 Touched Ball

    It is a foul to touch, move or change the path of any object ball except by the normal ball-to ball contacts during shots. It is a foul to touch, move or change the path of the cue ball except when it is in hand or by the normal tip-to-ball forward stroke contact of a shot. The shooter is responsible for the equipment he controls at the table, such as chalk, bridges, clothing, his hair, parts of his body, and the cue ball when it is in hand, that may be involved in such fouls. If such a foul is accidental, it is a standard foul, but if it is intentional, it is 6.17 Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

    So, player B would be assessed a "standard foul" in this case, and thus, play would pass back to player A:

    If the shooter commits a foul, play passes to his opponent. The cue ball is in hand, and the incoming player may place it anywhere on the playing surface. (See 1.5 Cue Ball in Hand.)

  4. user1505348850RayMills on 6/18/2021 9:12:58 AM

    ... and the 8 is replaced near the pocket?

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Player Accidentally Knocks 8 Ball into Pocket with Cue Butt

  • Title: Player Accidentally Knocks 8 Ball into Pocket with Cue Butt
  • Author:
  • Published: 6/11/2021 9:00:57 AM
  • Last Updated: 6/15/2021 3:57:15 AM
  • Last Updated By: billiardsforum (Billiards Forum)