The Oxford English dictionary states that pool is generally "any of various types of billiards for two or more players" but goes on to note that the first specific meaning of "a game in which each player uses a cue ball of a distinctive colour to pocket the balls of the other player(s) in a certain order, the winner taking all the stakes submitted at the start of the contest" is now obsolete and its other specific definitions are all for games that originate in the United States of America.
Outside the cue sports industry which has long favored the more formal term, pocket billiards is (in English) more commonly referred to as pool, due to perhaps an association with the poolrooms where gamblers pooled their money to bet off-track on horse races. Because these venues often provided billiard tables, the term pool eventually became synonymous with billiards.[citation needed]
In the United States, though the original "pool" game was played on a pocketless carom billiards table, the term later stuck to pocket billiards as it gained in popularity. As the traditional view of billiards as a refined and noble pastime did not blend well with the low-class connotations of gambling, the billiards industry began to distance itself from the term pool beginning in the late 19th century.[citation needed]
There are hundreds of pool games. Some of the more well known include eight-ball, nine-ball, ten-ball, straight pool, and one-pocket.
There are also hybrid games combining aspects of both pool and carom billiards, such as American four-ball billiards, cowboy pool and bottle pool.
Outside the cue sports industry which has long favored the more formal term, pocket billiards is (in English) more commonly referred to as pool, due to perhaps an association with the poolrooms where gamblers pooled their money to bet off-track on horse races. Because these venues often provided billiard tables, the term pool eventually became synonymous with billiards.[citation needed]
In the United States, though the original "pool" game was played on a pocketless carom billiards table, the term later stuck to pocket billiards as it gained in popularity. As the traditional view of billiards as a refined and noble pastime did not blend well with the low-class connotations of gambling, the billiards industry began to distance itself from the term pool beginning in the late 19th century.[citation needed]
There are hundreds of pool games. Some of the more well known include eight-ball, nine-ball, ten-ball, straight pool, and one-pocket.
There are also hybrid games combining aspects of both pool and carom billiards, such as American four-ball billiards, cowboy pool and bottle pool.
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