What's the difference between Pool and Billiards?

Question

I'm watching 'The Hustler' with Paul Newman on AMC movie channel right now. Newman is a Pool hustler. He walks into a room, uncovers the table and says "Hey, I thought we were gonna play Pool - not Billiards". So what's the difference between the two?

Answer 1

Billiards is played on a table that has no pockets, and with three balls. Pool is played on a table that has six pockets, and is played with nine or fifteen balls, plus a cue ball. Snooker is played on a table that has six pockets which are smaller than pool pockets, even though the table is larger, and has fifteen pink numberless balls, and numbered balls from two through seven, plus a cue ball.

Answer 2

Pool Vs Billiards

Answer 3

Billiards Vs Pool

Answer 4

1

Answer 5

Billiards doesn't have pockets, and requires more skill than pool does. Check out this website for billiards rules: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billiards

Or, I could be wrong :)
Billiards is a family of games played on a table with a stick, known as a cue stick, which is used to strike balls, moving them around the table.

All billiard games are generally regarded to have evolved into indoor games from outdoor stick and ball games.[1] The word "billiard" may have evolved from the French word billart, meaning "mace", an implement, similar to a golf club, which was the forerunner to the modern cue.

The word "pool" generally refers to pocket billiard games such as 8-ball, 9-ball, straight pool and one-pocket. The word "pool" comes from "poolrooms," where people gambled off track on horse races. They were called poolrooms as money was "pooled" to determine the odds. Because such rooms commonly provided billiard tables, pool became synonymous with billiards by association. The terms "pool" and "pocket billiards" are now interchangeable.

In the movie, he may have been referring to Three Cushion Billiards:
Three cushion billiards
Main article: three cushion billiards
A more elegant solution was three cushion billiards, which requires a player to make contact with the other two balls on the table and contact three rail cushions in the process. This is difficult enough that even the best players can only manage to average one to two points a turn.

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What's the difference between Pool and Billiards?
I'm watching 'The Hustler' with Paul Newman on AMC movie channel right now. Newman is a Pool hustler. He walks into a room, uncovers the table and says "Hey, I thought we were gonna play Pool - not Billiards". So what's the difference between the two?

Answer 7

If you're watching "The Hustler, I don't think I need to explain pool to you. Billiards on the other hand is a French game. It is played on a table with no pockets and three billiard balls(one white cue ball, one white cue ball with red spot, one red). Each player picks one of the two cue balls, and the game begins. The object of the game is to make a shot where your cue ball makes contact with the red ball and your opponents cue ball. If you make the objective, that is one point. If you miss, lose your turn. Games can be played for any amount of points(50, 60, 100, and so on).

Answer 8

A quick answer: Billiards is the oldest of them - very few balls and to me incomprehensible rules. Snooker came from it, devised by people that fancied something a bit easier to understand. You have a quantity of red balls, and a number of coloured ones (and a white cue ball). Basically, you break the reds up and try to put them down the holes. When you pot one, it stays down. When you pot one, you can also then try to pot a coloured one (hwich have different scores on them). If you do, it comes back up and is replaced as near to where it started as is possible. If you miss, the other player has a go. When all the reds are gone, the colours are taken in a set order. Highest score wins. Pool has two sets of balls - plain and striped (or some other such thing. You decide which you are potting by the first player to pot one going for those afterwards. When a ball is down, it stays down. The 8 ball (black) is the last to be potted. There are other sets of rules for pool, but 8 ball is thee commonest.

Answer 9

Billiards refers to any of a wide variety of games that can be played with a cue stick and balls on a felt table.

Pool, 8-ball, 9-ball and Snooker are specific examples.

Answer 10

Pool, balls are shot into sipx pockets in corners and two sides of the table.. Billiards is more of a rail game