Bank Pool

Billiards is obviously a game of skill requiring shots to be carefully constructed and relentlessly rehearsed. The game of bank pool is doubly more demanding in that the shooter is required to take a shot that involves the cushion or wall to be used in the process of a shot. This is not a game that is recommended for play at the local community center or the bowling alley just down the street, a game of bank pool could last hours for the unaccomplished billiards player.

The rules of bank pool are generally very easy to follow in that the shot must simply be a bank shot and the only requirement of winning is to pocket a greater number of balls than the opponent. After the opening break is successfully performed the shooter can continue to shoot as long as he/she makes contact with a ball that then contacts the wall or cushion and finally makes it in to a pocket. While the shot must be a bank shot and must be pocketed it does not have to be declared before the shot where the desired ball will be pocketed.

In one small change from the rules of one pocket billiards, the banked shot cannot include any extra caroms off of other balls or strike another ball after the bank. If any other balls are pocketed during the initial bank shot than the other pocketed balls are not credited to the shooter and could be re-spotted depending on conditions agreed to at the beginning of the game. To break it down in simplest terms, the shooter must bank a shot without any extra contact and pocket the desired ball, no extra points for extra pocketed balls.

The rules of continuation are taken in bank pool, meaning if you’ve pocketed the shot you declared to bank then you continue shooting until missing. It is up to the competitors to agree on several terms of the game before the game begins, such as, how to handle illegally pocketed shots and what exactly defines a bank shot. For instance, when the cue ball banks off the cushion or wall and contacts a ball before hitting the desired ball can it still be a legal shot?