Bank Pool

Bank Pool is one of the trendy billiard games at the moment. It looks quite similar to eight-ball or nine-ball, depending on the variation played. But where shooters must only pocket a ball in either of those games, a shooter must bank a ball into the pocket in bank pool.

The most common form of bank pool is played using nine balls. This game is called nine-ball banks or nine-ball bank pool. This form of the game is racked similarly to nine-ball, and is popular enough that there is a yearly international nine-ball banks competition which draws professionals.

An older version of the game is played with the complete fifteen rack of balls. This version looks similar to eight-ball. It is simply called bank pool. This variant is currently less popular than nine-ball banks.

The Rack

In nine-ball banks, the balls are racked as they are in standard nine-ball. Unlike nine-ball, it does not matter where you place the balls in the diamond shape, because it does not matter in which order you sink the balls.

In standard bank pool, players rack the full fifteen balls, like in eight-ball. It does not matter what pattern these balls are racked, because the object balls can be pocketed in any order.

Nine-Ball Banks Strategy

The object of 9-ball banks is to be the first player to pocket a majority of the balls. In other words, the first player to sink 5 of the 9 balls wins a game of nine-ball banks. These balls must be banked off a rail in order for the ball to be legally pocketed.

Banking

The cue ball is hit directly at the object ball to initiate a shot. The object ball must then hit at least one rail cushion before making it into the pocket.

Because of the banking aspect, nine-ball banks is considered a clean game. By clean, billiard players mean that there are few slop shots in the game. All shots must be called, while the shots cannot themselves be combo shots, kick shots or kiss shots.

A kick shot is where the cue ball hits a rail before hitting the object ball. A kiss shot is when the object ball hits another ball before going in the pocket.

Bank Pool Fouls

If a foul is committed in bank pool, the offending player owes the table a ball. That is, one of that player's pocketed balls must be placed on the spot on the table. That player essentially losing one point towards victory.

Any balls pocketed while committing the foul must also be spotted on the table. If a player has not pocketed a ball when committing a foul, that player still owes the table a ball. After his or her first ball is pocketed, that ball is spotted on the table after that inning is over.

If a player accidentally pockets a second ball on a called shot, that is not considered a foul, though the second ball is not considered a made shot. That extra ball will be spotted on the table after that shooter's inning is over.

If a shooter does not hit the object ball and bank it off a cushion on a shot, this is considered a foul.

If three fouls are committed in a row, then the player is disqualified and the opponent wins. In many amateur games, this rule is not applied. Another option is to make three non-consecutive fouls a loss for a player, though this is usually in serious games. Because bank pool is considered for non-slop players, though, many serious players prefer a strict interpretation of the rules.