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Texas Holdem Billiards

The white knuckle “all-or-nothing” format of no-limit Texas Holdem brings to it an excitement and natural drama that is unrivaled in similar skill games. The recent popular explosion of televised professional poker has given cause for others to take notice as other skill-based competitions begin to emulate the Texas Holdem tournament style.

The most recent example of this phenomenon is Texas Holdem Billiards, a fusion of traditional billiards with the winner-take-all format of today’s no-limit Texas Holdem tournaments. First appearing in major tournament play in 2005 at the Texas Hold ‘em Billiards and Skins Billiards Shootout, it has attracted some of the world’s top players including Corey Deuel, Luc Salvas, Jeanette Lee, and Player of the Decade, Johnny Archer, the 2005 Texas Holdem Billiards runner-up and 2007 Texas Holdem Billiards champion.

Texas Holdem Billiards is a 9 ball competition played with chips and mandatory antes that grow progressively larger until only one player remains. If any player finds himself without enough chips to cover the ante, he must go “all-in” for the remainder of his chips and can only win the amount of his original bet in return.

In professional play, the tournament field is broken down into groups of 4 players who play 4 sets of 4 games each, with the antes increasing after each set of games. Unlike traditional 9-ball, there are no safety shots – if a player misses a shot the player to follow him receives “ball in hand” and is allowed to place the cue ball wherever he chooses at the beginning of his turn.

If you’re looking to add some excitement (and gamble) to your home billiards games, you can follow the rules and format that I’ve provided while using your poker chips for betting.

8 Player Texas Holdem Billiards

  1. Each player receives $125 in chips
  2. Two brackets are formed, with 4 players in each bracket.
  3. Each 4 player bracket plays 4 sets of 4 games until the bracket is down to just 2 players.
  4. The two remaining players from each bracket will join to form a championship bracket of 4 players. This championship bracket will contain 4 sets of 4 games.
  5. Each player in the championship bracket begins with the number of chips that he had after the conclusion of the preliminary bracket.
  6. Antes increase until one player has all the chips.
  7. All prize money goes to the one remaining player.

Here’s an example format.

Players begin with $120 in chips and split up into 2 separate brackets of 4 players.

Preliminary Bracket

Set 1:
Games 1-4		 Set 2:
Games 5-8		 Set 3:
Games 9-12		 Set 4:
Games 13-16
Antes $5 Antes $10 Antes $15 Game 13 Antes $45
Game 14 Antes $60
Game 15 Antes $75
Game 16 Antes $90*

*antes increase by $15 until just 2 players remain

Player order is selected at random at the beginning of each set. Player A breaks and shoots until he either runs the table or misses a shot. If Player A misses a shot, Player B receives ball-in-hand and attempts to finish the action. Play progresses until one player has cleared the table, at which point he wins the antes for that game.

The order of action rotates after each game. For example, Player A breaks in game 1 and is followed by Player B. Player B breaks in game 2 and is followed by player C. Each player will break one time during each set of 4 games. At the conclusion of a set, players will be randomly re-assigned positions so that one player does not follow another’s action for the entire tournament.

During Set 4, the antes will continue to increase by $15 until only two players remain.

Here is an example of tournament play:

Texas Holdem Billiards: Game #1

All players have $120.
Each player antes $5.

Player A breaks, sinks 3 balls and misses. Player B picks up the action and runs the table. Player A wins the antes ($20)

Chip Standings
Player A: $115
Player B: $135
Player C: $115
Player D: $115

Players re-ante and Player B then breaks for game 2.

After each bracket has only two players remaining, the remaining players join and repeat the process with progressively higher antes.

Set 1:
Games 1-4		 Set 2:
Games 5-8		 Set 3:
Games 9-12		 Set 4:
Games 13-16
Antes $20 Antes $30 Antes $40 Short stack is all-in every game.

In the last set of games, the short stack must put all of his chips in. This determines the ante for each game. For example, if the short stack has $60 in chips left, then he must bet all of it and the other players each ante $60 as well.

As you can see, the progressive nature of the betting combined with a final set where one player potentially faces elimination in every game makes for a high stress format. It ain’t poker, but it just may be the next best thing!

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