Pool tables can support a wide variety of games involving a range of objectives. May of these games use similar skill sets, although they may focus on a particular skill, which makes them excellent practice games for novice pool players. Cut-throat pool is a popular game that has simple rules and a fast pace and it is best played when there are an odd number of players. The following guide will provide information about cut-throat:
Basic rules and objective:
The basic objective of cut-throat pool is to sink your opponent’s object balls before your opponent sinks the object balls assigned to you. A legal shot requires you to hit an opponent’s object ball with the cue ball and either sink an opponent’s numbered ball, or make the cue ball and a numbered ball hit a cushion.
Set-up:
To play cut-throat, you will need three to five players, a standard set of pool balls numbered 1-15 and a cue ball. The object balls are set up using a standard triangle rack, will balls numbered 1, 6 and 11 on the corners and all the other balls placed at random. The balls are divided into three sets of five, (or five sets of three, depending upon the number of players), and assignment of the groups is decided upon which balls are pocketed at the beginning of the game.
Variations:
As this is not a serious competitive game, there are many variations of cut-throat according to regions, and you may vary the rules yourself to change the difficult level. The game can be played with teams, where individuals take alternating turns to sink the opponent’s object balls. Coin-operated pool tables may need players to pocket their own object ball when they commit a scratch.
The skills developed by playing cut-throat pool is not very different from those that you will need in a competitive game of 8-ball pool or billiards. You may increase the difficulty of the game by setting a point-system for the numbered balls or a timed deadline for the completion of the game.
