Kelly Pool - "Behind The Eight Ball"

"Behind The Eight Ball"

"Behind the eight ball" (or "behind the eight") is a common idiom meaning to be in trouble, stymied or thwarted, in an awkward position or out of luck. It is often assumed that the expression derives from the inability to use the 8 ball in a combination in the game of eight-ball—if the cue ball is directly behind the 8 ball a player has no direct shot route. Numerous billiards-specific and etymological publications state that the expression derives instead from kelly pool, or an early version of kelly pool called kelly rotation.

Billiards historian Michael Ian Shamos in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards (1993), citing information provided by Charles C. Peterson (first president of the Billiard Association of America), and Steve Mizerak and Michael E. Panozzo in Steve Mizerak's Complete Book of Pool (1990), indicate that ascribing the phrase's origin to the game of eight ball results in an anachronism, the phrase being traceable to at least 1919, while the form of game that became "eight-ball" was not described by that name, and its rules were not published in any official rule book, until after 1940. The game that would ultimately be named "eight ball," after a physical 8 ball became part of play, was invented shortly after 1900. That precursor game was little known until it was popularized in 1925 under the name B.B.C. Co. Pool by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, marketed by them with a special set of balls that did not have a numbered 8 ball, but rather came with a ball set consisting of seven of one color, seven of another, and an unnumbered black ball. Thus, multiple-time world champion Steve Mizerak explains that behind the eight ball cannot derive from the game of eight ball as "the phrase predates the game ... by at least 20 years."

Two different kelly pool-based derivations for behind the eight ball are provided in diverse sources. As noted, in kelly pool each player is randomly assigned a specific ball of the fifteen ball rack, which must be made in numerical order. The game ends when any player makes his assigned ball. Based on these rules, one origin theory holds that when a large number of players are participating, players assigned balls numerically higher than 8—that is, balls that are behind the 8 ball in order—have little chance of winning. This is a result of the likelihood that random distribution will result in multiple players with assigned balls numbered lower than 8 having an opportunity to shoot first, and that with such large a number of players at least one will come to the table with the opportunity to shoot at his assigned ball.

A second theory refers to a kelly pool rule variation under which the 8 ball is excluded from assignment as a secret number and, if another ball strikes the 8 ball at any time during play, the player responsible is penalized. "So a position directly behind the eight ball is a position of great hazard."

A more generic origin of the phrase that is independent of any particular game's rule, instead depending from a property of the 8 ball itself, is proffered by Billiard Congress of America predecessor, The National Billiard Association, which organization was the governing body of American billiards from 1921 to 1941:

It is generally conceded that the 8-ball is the most difficult for the player to see clearly in the execution of his shot. This, because it is black, naturally the edges of the ball, or in fact any part of the ball, do not stand out as clearly as colored. Therefore, professional players, if possible, avoid being forced to play the 8-ball from a difficult position or with the cue ball a long distance from the 8-ball because it is more difficult to see clearly. In reality, this fact was what started the now common saying, 'behind the eight ball,' used in the player's vernacular in the sense that being in any kind of a difficult point on the table, many times calls for the remark that one is 'behind the eight ball.' In other words, they use this to explain any difficult situation that may confront them in the game. —The National Billiard Association (1936)