English vs American pool

English pool tables are smaller. The standard size for leagues is 7 ft, with a playing surface of about 6 × 3 ft (1.83 × 0.91 m), and 6 ft tables are common in pubs and homes. American tables start at 7 ft (the "bar box") and go up to 9 ft for tournaments.

The pockets make the bigger difference in play. English tables have narrow pockets with rounded jaws, close to a small snooker table. American pockets are wider with straight-cut jaws, so balls go in at angles that would rattle out on an English table.

The cloth matters too. Most English tables use a napped wool cloth that plays slower and makes the ball drift slightly with the nap. American tables use a smooth, napless worsted cloth that plays faster and truer, which suits the heavier balls.

English pool uses unnumbered balls: seven reds, seven yellows and the black. American pool uses numbered balls: the solids 1 to 7, the stripes 9 to 15, and the 8-ball. The numbers matter for 9-ball and other rotation games, which you can't play with a red and yellow set.

The balls are a different size too: 51 mm in English pool against 57.15 mm in American pool. Many English sets also use a slightly smaller cue ball, often 1⅞ in (48 mm), which changes how it reacts to screw and stun.

Both games follow the same idea: pot your group, then the black. The differences are in the details.

After a foul

• American pool (WPA rules): your opponent gets ball in hand anywhere on the table.
• English pool, International Rules: your opponent gets one visit with the cue ball in hand anywhere.
• English pool, Blackball rules: your opponent gets a free shot plus a visit, which players often call "two visits". Pub rules also tend to use two shots.

Calling your shots

Under WPA 8-ball rules you call the ball and pocket for each shot, except for obvious ones. Many bar and pub games, in both countries, don't bother. Agree before you start.

The break and the black

In both games the table stays "open" after the break until someone legally pots a ball and takes that group. Potting the black on the break, or potting it before your group is cleared, is treated differently by each rule set, so it's worth checking which rules your table or league uses.

The full details are on our English pool rules and American 8-ball rules pages.

English pool cues have a small 8 to 9 mm tip, close to a snooker cue, to suit the smaller balls. They're often one-piece or three-quarter jointed. American cues have a 12 to 13 mm tip, a maple shaft and a two-piece build. You can play either game with either cue, but the wrong tip size makes fine cue-ball control harder.

• Short on space? A 7 ft English table needs a room of about 5.4 × 4.5 m (17½ × 14½ ft) with standard cues, and a 6 ft table even less.
• Want the game you see on TV in the US or Asia? An 8 ft American table, which needs about 5.8 × 4.7 m (19 × 15½ ft), plays every American game including 9-ball.
• Play in a league? Practise on the same type of table your league uses.

Check any size against your room in our table sizes & room size calculator.

English pool is the pub game of the UK and Ireland, with leagues nearly every night of the week. It's also popular in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Malta and France. American pool is played everywhere, with its biggest scenes in the United States, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and much of continental Europe. Many British pool halls now have both.