Rack (billiards) - Racking in Specific Billiards Games - Straight Pool (14.1 Continuous)

Straight Pool (14.1 Continuous)

In the initial rack in straight pool, fifteen balls are racked in a triangular rack, with the center of the apex ball placed over the foot spot; the 1 ball is placed on the rack’s right corner, and the 5 ball on left corner from the racker's vantage point. This rule developed because the color and pattern of the 1 and 5 balls are thought to provide maximum contrast with the end rails and are the balls targeted on straight pool's exacting standard break. All other balls are placed at random.

Straight pool is played to a specific number of points agreed on prior to the match's start, with each pocketed ball being worth one point to the shooter. Because the game is played to a number of points normally far in excess of the fifteen points total available in the initial rack (in tournament play, one-hundred fifty points), multiple intragame racks are necessary. Intragame racking employs a separate set of rules from those in place at the game's start.

After the initial rack, the balls are played until only the cue ball and one object ball remain on the table's surface. At that time, the fourteen pocketed balls are racked with no apex ball, and the rack is so placed so that if the apex ball were in the rack, its center would rest directly over the table's foot spot. Play then continues with the cue ball shot from where it rested and the fifteenth ball from where it rested prior to racking.

A number of rules have developed which detail what must be done when one or both of the cue ball and fifteenth object ball are either in the rack area at the time an intragame rack is necessary, or are in such close proximity to the intragame racking area, that the physical rack cannot be used without moving the one or the other. The rules also vary depending on whether the cue ball or fifteenth ball are resting on the table's head spot. Such rules are detailed on the following chart (note therein that the kitchen refers to the area behind the table's head string).