9 ball rules for order, the break, and the push out

Nine-ball in the WPA rules effective 21 October 2026 is a rotation game. The lowest numbered ball on the table is the ball you have to hit first. Pocket the 9 on a legal shot and the rack is over. The other balls are obstacles and stepping stones, not a group you choose. There is no solids-and-stripes announcement, because the numbers already set the order.

The rack is a diamond. The 1 sits at the apex. The 9 sits in the middle, on the foot spot, so the break has a path into the money ball if the hit is square and the wings fly. That placement is part of the rules, not a photograph from a favourite player. A rack that hides the 9 in a back corner is a different game from the one this page is paraphrasing. Put the 1 in front, the 9 in the centre of the diamond, and play the numbers as they lie.

A legal break starts with the cue ball above the head string. From there the book splits a bad break into two labels, and the labels are not synonyms. If nothing is pocketed, at least four object balls must reach a rail. Miss that count and the break is a foul. On top of the rail test, three object balls must cross the head string. Miss that count and the break is illegal. A break can fail one test, the other, or both. Calling every failure a foul throws away the word the book uses for the head-string count.

The incoming player needs the right word, because a foul break and an illegal break are not given the same next step in the facts used here. This page will not invent a combined penalty. It will say the cue ball started above the head string, four balls reached a rail when nothing fell, and three balls crossed the line. Anything short of that list is a break that did not qualify.

Six 9-ball checks

• Rack a diamond: 1 at the apex, 9 in the middle on the foot spot.
• Break with the cue ball above the head string.
• If nothing falls, four object balls must reach a rail or the break is a foul.
• Three object balls must cross the head string or the break is illegal.
• Call a push out only as shot two after a break that was not a foul.
• Remember this site does not stake 9-ball. The money match here is 8-ball.

9-ball is rotation to the 9. This site does not stake it. The only money game here is 8-ball, on 8 ball pool online.

The other rule cards are called 10-ball, 8-ball groups, and straight pool points. The group is the games of chance guides.

The match is the 8-ball table. A finished rack can be checked on the fairness page. Adults 18 and over only, and only where a stake is legal. Limits are on responsible gambling.

The push out is a single special shot, and it is the second shot of the rack. It is available when the break was not a foul. Wrong-ball-first is suspended, so you may hit a higher ball first. The requirement to drive a ball to a rail, or to pocket one, is suspended too. You may nudge the cue ball into a safer lie and stop. That freedom ends when the balls stop rolling. The opponent then looks at the leave and chooses who shoots next. The choice can send you back to the table, or the opponent can take the shot.

A 9 that disappears on a push out does not win the rack. It is spotted. The same spotting applies if the 9 is pocketed on a foul or driven off the table. Players sometimes treat the push as a free win if the 9 happens to fall. The October 2026 facts say the opposite: the 9 comes back up, and someone still has to pocket it legally later.

A standard foul in this 9-ball chapter gives the incoming player ball in hand anywhere. The cue ball is not fenced behind the head string the way a one-pocket scratch is. That freedom is why a bad hit is expensive: the opponent may place the cue ball on the 9 if the 9 is the legal ball, or on whatever number is lowest. Three fouls in a row end the rack by themselves. The third foul does not need a pocketed 9 to decide the winner.

This site does not run 9-ball for money. The paragraph you just read is the WPA game. The stake buttons on this website belong to 8-ball, with a 5% fee and a called pocket only on the 8. The easy phrase is the rule. The hard phrase is the product name.