In the past, one of the hardest things that I would have to deal with as a pool player was what to do when there were more than three people who wanted to play a game. It’s not always that fun to be the third wheel waiting to play while watching two friends play. So, needless to say I’ve ended up playing a lot of cutthroat in my day, usually on the nights my home table had a bigger crowd around it than a normal match could handle.
Cutthroat is a version of pool that can be played with three or more people, with the goal to be the last person to have your balls remaining on the table.
Cutthroat Basics
Cutthroat uses a total of fifteen object balls labeled from 1-15 and the standard cue ball. Players will be given assigned numbers at the start of the game which will count as the group of balls under their control.
These groups usually look like 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15. The split can also work well with five players where the groups turn into 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, and 13-15. Of course any random split of numbers can be used and it’s up to the players themselves to decide how they want to do it.
What is a Legal Shot?
Naturally the cue ball will then be placed somewhere behind the head string. The head string is not a physical line that rests on the table but an imaginary one that’s created when players look at the diamonds on the side of billiards tables. As long as the player puts the cue ball below the diamond that’s closest to the middle of the table, then it’s okay to break.
What Constitutes a Foul?
However, even if someone puts all the power they have into a break it is still possible that the balls won’t go very far. If this is the case players should make sure that the rack was put together tightly. A good rack should look like someone glued the balls together with how close they are to each other.
Okay, now assuming that the rack was put together well, if the person who broke was unable to perform an ‘open break’, the next person is allowed to ask for a re-rack and attempt to break the balls themselves.
Now, it is possible to choose your groups before you start the game, the only downside is that when you go to break you might pocket in one of your own balls. The way that most players get around this is by claiming groups in two different ways.
The easy way is that whoever just broke, assuming that they made a ball in on the break, will pocket one of the object balls on the table and then verbally claim whichever group they want to be a part of. Once that person’s turn is over, the next person to go up will follow the same process and pocket a ball before claiming what group they would like, whatever group is left would be given to the last person.
The harder way is to not choose a group until at least one ball from two groups is pocketed. For example, let’s say the first player pockets a ball from group 1-5, and then he pockets a ball from group 6-10. He would then choose to make his group 11-15 because it has the most balls remaining. The person that follows then only has to pocket one ball before deciding which group from the two remaining he would like to play with.
Who Goes First?
Since being the third person in Cutthroat usually puts you in a particularly bad position, this is one of the few times that I do not advocate for being polite and letting others go first. Instead, I recommend either using games of chance like a coin toss, or a card draw to decide who goes in what order.
If players do not want to rely on luck, then I recommend something called the lag. Lag in pool refers to players hitting balls from one side of the table so that it bounces off the opposite cushion with the goal being to get their ball as close to the cushion on the original side from which they shot.
In this scenario, whichever player is able to get the closest to the cushion without having their ball bounce off of it is deemed the winner. This is something that can be done before any billiards game to decide who will go first.
Worth checking out: Grab a copy of the official rule book, take a look at the Official BCA Rules Book on Amazon.
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