How do you play straight pool?

Straight pool (AKA “14.1” or “14.1 continuous”) is a pool game played with all 15 balls in which any object ball can be pocketed at any time. All balls must be called. A point is scored for each pocketed ball. When the 14th ball is pocketed, the CB and remaining OB remain in place and the other 14 balls are re-racked in the standard diamond pattern with the lead ball missing. Then the player continues shooting. The game can begin with a standard 15-ball-rack break shot with the CB in the “kitchen” (behind the head string), or with a 14-ball rack with a ball-in-hand shot at the 1-ball placed in the center of the table. Detailed official rules can be found on the WPA site.

Here’s an example from one of the best straight-pool players of all time:

The current record exhibition straight pool run to date is 832, set by Jayson Shaw (with a FargoRate of 832 at the time) in January, 2025. The previous record was 669 (under all-ball fouls, 714 under CB fouls only) set by Jayson Shaw in January, 2022. Before that it was 626, set by John Schmidt in 2019. It broke the long-standing record of 526 by Willie Mosconi set in 1954. Babe Cranfield had claimed to have run 768 balls before that, but it was not verified.

Strategy for running the table in straight pool is very similar to strategy for running the table in 8-ball.

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