Behind the eight-ball

So, having disposed of snooker yesterday, how about pool - the dominant potting game in America. Played on a smaller table with bigger pockets and slightly bigger, numbered balls, it comes in various flavours, each with its own rule book.  The most popular variants and eight-ball and nine-ball. Although these games only go back to the 1920s, the expression  "pool" goes back to the earliest days of billiards when players would ante-up into a pool which would be taken by the winner.