Q&A for How to Rack a Pool Table

If a player is on black, he only gets one shot for any foul, even if the other player still has colors left.

If the same player both racked and broke, then he could set it up to give himself an unfair advantage.

In the center of the table and at the quarter mark.

You do it exactly as you would with solids and stripes, except there is no way to find out what color ball would be at the apex.

Using the 8 ball rack in this example, place the cue ball behind (but close to) the head string and about three finger widths away from the side rail of your choice (right side for a right-handed player or left side for a left-handed player). You should be aiming the cue ball at the closest side of the apex ball so that you just barely graze it, while the remaining force strikes the ball right behind the apex ball. The english to use is low and inside, so for a right-hander that would be at about 7:30 or so (by 7:30 I mean that you imagine that the face of the cue ball is a clock face). Strength is not really a major factor when you use this break.

Yes, you have to call which hole the ball will fall into in every shot, including the eight ball.

You only lose by scratching on the eight ball in casual bar pool. In transitional eight ball, your opponent is given the cue ball “ball in hand” and can play it anywhere and not just behind the string.

If the 8 ball is not the last ball for any of the players, that team loses automatically.

From above: "The center of the first ball should be in the middle of the table at one quarter of the length. Some tables have this spot marked with a small dot."