The game of billiards can be divided into two types: carom billiards and pool billiards.
Carom billiards is a game with a billiard table without any pockets and generally 3 balls on the table.
Whereas pool billiards is played on a billiards table with 4-6 pockets. In pool billiards the goal is to pocket the all coloured balls by hitting them with a cue ball. Practicing rules with online games, like you can practice betting on sports bet sites, will help out with winning.
Carom Billiards:
The basics:
Ideally played between 2 players, one must determine who will go first by “lagging”. Both players put their respective cue balls near the side of the table and the goal is to have the ball bounce from the opposite side of the table and back, the one being closest to the starting point gets to choose what turn they take.
Now the game begins by setting up three balls on the table, a coloured ball is set on one side of the table in the center and the opponents ball is set up in line with it on the starting point. A second cue ball is set next to the first cue ball 6 inches apart, this is the ball of the player who goes first.
The goal is to stack up points, and in order to get a point the player must hit the colors ball and the opponents cue ball. Because of the positioning of the balls on the table, this is hard so the player who has the power to choose who goes first mostly goes second.
Game Variations:
Game variations depend on how a player scores a point. The easiest being straight-rail billiards in which hitting both balls with the cue ball gets them a point. Then comes one-cushion billiards, in which the player must hit the cushion (sides of the table) once before hitting the second ball. There are also three cushion billiards, in which the ball must hit the cushion three times whilst hitting both the balls on the table before the cue ball comes to a halt.
Rule variations also exist. The balkline billiards removes a big flaw in the game. If a player manages to have both the balls cornered which makes it very easy for that specific player to score a point repeatedly. Balkline billiards implies that a player can not receive a point if both the balls are in the same area.
Straight-rail billiards, the winning score is 8, but in cases of games with higher difficulty the score can also be kept to 2 or 3. It is really the decision of the players involved.
Pool Billiards:
The Basics:
In a standard 8-ball pool there are a total of 15 coloured balls, 7 of which are striped and 7 are solids. A triangle is used to rack up the 15 balls with the 8th ball, which is black in color, in the middle.
A player breaks this triangle shape formed by the positioning of the balls just like pins are knocked down in bowling. If the player breaks pockets with a single or more balls, except for the 8 ball, they get to choose whether they want to be striped or solid, giving them an advantage.
Winning Strategy:
Now the players try to pocket all the balls of their color, if they choose stripes then they have to pocket all the stripes and vice versa. The turn of a player continues on as long as they pocket a ball of their color in a turn ending with the 8 black balls. If they are unable to do so the turn switches and now the second player gets a shot at pocketing their coloured balls.
If either of the players pockets the 8 balls before having pockets all the other balls of their respective color then they automatically lose making the opposite player the victor. If a player pockets the cue ball, the cue ball is given to the other player giving them the power to place the cue ball wherever they wish. If a player manages to pocket the 8 ball and also pockets the cue ball they lose.
