R. A. Dyer - Billiards, Revised and Updated: The Official Rules and Records Book

Revised and Updated

Copyright 2005 by Billiard Congress of America

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher.

The Lyons Press is an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield.

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-1-59228-744-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

VOTING

Mike Baggett

Cue & Case Sales

BCA Treasurer

Roger Blank

Connelly Billiards

BCA Secretary

Pat Conners

AMF Billiards

Dan Dishaw

American Cuemakers

Association

Clay Etheridge

Showcase Billiards

Barry Hart

Viking Cue Mfg., Inc.

Gregg Hovey

Olhausen Billiard Mfg., Inc.

BCA 2nd Vice President

John Nusser

J-S Sales Co., Inc.

Rene Poehlman

American Poolplayers

Association, Inc.

Bob Radford

Antique Billiard Supply

John Stransky

Brunswick Billiards

BCA President

ROOM OPERATOR

Mark Griffin

Gaslamp Billiard Palace

Greg Hunt

Amsterdam Billiard Club

RETAIL

Michael Brownstein

Recreation World, Inc.

BCA 1st Vice President

Staff members may be reached at 719.264.8300
or through our website: www.bca-pool.com

MISSION STATEMENT

The purpose of the Billiard Education Foundation is to further a standard of excellence and leadership within the billiard community by engaging in activities related to the educational and cultural advancement of tomorrows leaders.

The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit charity organization administered by the BCA. The BEF collects money through various fundraisers such as the BEF Challenge the Stars benefit, in which billiard fans can challenge their favorite pro to a game of 9-Ball. BEF funds are used for developing programs consistent with the BEFs mission.

The BEF Academic Scholarship Program is an annual program administered by the BEF Scholarship Committee. Applications are made available in the fall on the BCA website www.bca-pool.com), with a postmark deadline of the following March 15.

The program is divided into three categories: Excellence in Education scholarship ($5,000 awarded over a two-year term), BCA scholarships (7 $1,000 awarded annually), and Dr. Cue Artistic Pool scholarship ($2,500 awarded annually).

The objective of the BEF Academic Scholarship Program is to grant scholarships to high school seniors who have benefited from the sport of billiards and are pursuing a college education.

BEF Trustees

Tom Riccobene (President)

Stephen D. Ducoff (Executive Director)

Mike Baggett

J.R. Calvert

Charles Jaynes

Claude Napier

Tom Rossman

Laura Smith

John Stransky

Jack Voorhees

Billiard Education Committee

Tom Riccobene (Chair)

Marcie Davis

Bart Mahoney

Scholarship Committee

Tom Riccobene (Chair)

Tom Rossman

Laura Smith

Jack Voorhees

Publication Committee

Marcie Davis

Bart Mahoney

Tom Riccobene

Tom Rossman

Laura Smith

Fundraising Committee

Charles Jaynes (Chair)

Claude Napier

Staff Liaison

Tracy Hart

Dear Billiard Enthusiast,

Great newsbilliards continues to attract new players. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) reports that over 40 million Americans played billiards last year and that sales of billiard equipment were up 4%.

The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is dedicated to making cue sports the number-one participation sport in the world. Its a lofty goal, to be sure, but one worth pursuing. Each year, the BCA offers a variety of programs to encourage more people to playeither in their home or at one of the more than 3,000 billiard rooms throughout the U.S.

Our main event is the International Billiard & Home Recreation Expo, the worlds largest business-to-business trade show for the industry. We also host the BCA Open 9-Ball Championships. This prestigious event invites the top- 64 men and top-64 women professional players from around the world competing for $164,000. The finals and semifinals of both divisions are shown each year on ESPN and ESPN2. A current television schedule can be found at www.bca-pool.com. Tune in!

As a pool player, we invite you to visit our website (www.bca-pool.com) to see what the BCA has to offer. In addition to tournament and Hall of Fame information, we have a great shopping cart with apparel, posters, and other billiard-related items. Youll also find direct links to our business members who represent the top names in tables, cues, and accessories. If youre in the market for billiard items, make the BCA website your first stop.

Heres to playing by the rules!

John Stransky, President

Billiard Congress of America

By R. A. Dyer

The book that you hold in your hands is a wonder. Contained within its covers is everything to delight and amuse the inquisitive player of pocket billiards. Here, one can find the definition of push shot, the identity of the 1941 collegiate pool champion, or the allowable variation in the size of snooker balls. Want to play a competitive game with your nine-year-old? Go no further than page 84. Have a dispute over the rules of 14.1 Continuous? See page 52. Theres even a guide to the diamond system.

But theres more to this updated Official Rules and Record Book than equipment specifications and eloquent descriptions of pool games both popular and dead. Hidden here, in these very pages, you can find hints of a powerful new trend in pocket billiards. Its a new renaissance of sorts, a new direction, and it can only come as good news for lovers of the sport.

Look at the records on page 171. Look at the names. Those entries tell a story of women and their growing influence on pool. Its clear from the numbers, from journalistic evidence, and from billiards industry stats that the fairer sex has become a powerful force within the world of American pocket billiards. By the standards of TV and endorsement deals, the womens tour has, in fact, outstripped that of the men. This is truly startling given the sports historyand that of American sports in general.

For in few other sports do women outshine men in terms of media exposureand certainly in no other sport with such a clear history of male dominance. Pool, historically, has been the nearly exclusive province of men. In 1967, sociologist Ned Polsky called the American pool room the greatest and most determinedly all-male institution in American social life. In 1992, for an essay published in this very book, historian Mike Shamos wrote that until recently, billiards was completely dominated by men.