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Instructions on How to Rack Pool Balls

The method for racking pool balls can seem deceptively simple, and it is so once you know the rules. However, collecting the balls haphazardly will immediately mark you as an amateur. Despite the seeming simplicity of a rack of billiard balls, there are several important rules that must be followed. While the rules may be more lax in some groups than in others, knowing how to rack pool balls properly will keep you from making a potentially embarrassing mistake in any crowd.

Things You'll Need

Pool ball rack
Billiard balls

Instructions

- 1
  Place the first ball, which is the ball numbered "1", in the apex of the ball rack. The apex is the uppermost point of the triangle.
- 2
  Center the first ball over the table's foot spot.
- 3
  Place any two balls other than the 8-ball beneath the first ball.
- 4
  Set the 8-ball in the center of the third row. Place one ball on either side of the 8-ball. It does not matter which balls you use here.
- 5
  Place a striped ball on one end of the bottom row and a solid ball on the other end. Set the last three balls in between, in any order.

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