This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Eric McClure is an editing fellow at wikiHow where he has been editing, researching, and creating content since 2019. A former educator and poet, his work has appeared in Carcinogenic Poetry, Shot Glass Journal, Prairie Margins, and The Rusty Nail. His digital chapbook, The Internet, was also published in TL;DR Magazine. He was the winner of the Paul Carroll award for outstanding achievement in creative writing in 2014, and he was a featured reader at the Poetry Foundation’s Open Door Reading Series in 2015. Eric holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MEd in secondary education from DePaul University.
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In billiards, a scratch refers to a game foul involving the cue ball. Usually, scratches occur when a player accidentally pockets the cue ball or hits an illegal ball, but there are other lesser-known scratches out there. There are also a lot of misconceptions out there about scratches, probably because there are so many different formats of pool and every regulatory organization has its own ruleset (although each ruleset is mostly identical). In this article, we’ll cover all of this and more.
Steps
Key Takeaways
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Avoiding scratches is essential to winning in pool. Regardless of the game or format, a scratch can be catastrophic if you’re playing someone who can shoot well. It gives your opponent the opportunity to shoot at any ball they want, which increases the odds you either fall behind or lose right away. Keeping the ball on the table and avoiding table scratches is important if you want to win.[27]
- If you miss a legal shot, your opponent isn’t going to have a good shoot available to them a lot of the time. They’ll always have a good shot if you give them ball in hand, though.
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Pocketing the cue and hitting the wrong ball are the most common scratches. In the vast majority of matches (unless pros are playing), someone is very likely to scratch at some point. The table isn’t that big, and it’s easy to lose the cue ball and have it bounce randomly into a pocket. At the same time, it’s common for the cue ball to get trapped and require someone to kick at a ball and miss, hitting the wrong object ball in the process.[28]
- A kick refers to a shot where you have to shoot around an illegal ball to try and hit your target, so you shoot the cue ball into a railing first to bounce into it.
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Change the way you shoot to minimize the odds you scratch. Take what you know about the tangent line to look at the path the cue ball is going to take before every single shot. If you suspect that the cue ball might be in danger, hit the bottom or top of the cue ball to adjust the path it’ll take after you make contact.[29]
- If you find yourself losing track of the cue ball, it’s a big sign you’re probably hitting too hard! Slow down. The ball doesn’t need that much juice to get where it needs to go.
Expert Q&A
Video
Tips
References
- ↑ https://upatour.com/8-ball-rules/
- ↑ https://upatour.com/8-ball-rules/
- ↑ https://upatour.com/8-ball-rules/
- ↑ https://upatour.com/9-ball-rules/
- ↑ https://upatour.com/8-ball-rules/
- ↑ https://upatour.com/8-ball-rules/
- ↑ https://upatour.com/8-ball-rules/
- ↑ https://poolplayers.com/8-9-ball-Rules.pdf
- ↑ https://billiards.colostate.edu/faq/foul/double-hit/
- ↑ https://billiards.colostate.edu/faq/foul/double-hit/
- ↑ https://billiards.colostate.edu/bd_articles/2009/oct09.pdf
- ↑ https://www.unlv.edu/sites/default/files/page_files/27/CampusRec_BilliardsRules.pdf
- ↑ https://www.worldofpoolandbilliards.com/post/what-happens-if-you-scratch-on-the-8-ball
- ↑ https://media.poolplayers.com/TMRB/Rules-Booklet-English.pdf
- ↑ https://media.poolplayers.com/TMRB/Rules-Booklet-English.pdf
- ↑ https://www.billiards.com/blogs/articles/the-tangent-line
- ↑ https://billiards.colostate.edu/faq/throw/draw-follow/
- ↑ https://www.basicbilliards.com/cheating-the-pocket.php
- ↑ https://www.pooldawg.com/article/pooldawg-library/advice-to-avoid-scratching-the-cueball
- ↑ https://www.unlv.edu/sites/default/files/page_files/27/CampusRec_BilliardsRules.pdf
- ↑ https://shootsomestick.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/you-dont-know-8-ball-the-top-6-misunderstood-pool-rules/
- ↑ https://osgamers.com/faq/what-are-the-rules-for-the-last-ball-in-8-ball-pool-1
- ↑ https://upatour.com/8-ball-rules/
- ↑ https://billiards.colostate.edu/faq/foul/scoop/
- ↑ https://www.onepocket.org/rules/
- ↑ https://www.cuesight.com/bca/official-straight-pool-rules/
- ↑ https://upatour.com/8-ball-rules/
- ↑ https://www.basicbilliards.com/tactical-kicking.php
- ↑ https://www.pooldawg.com/article/pooldawg-library/advice-to-avoid-scratching-the-cueball