Kelly pool
Kelly pool is a rotation game, which means that players must contact the lowest numbered object ball on each shot first until the opportunity to pocket their own is presented.
[4] Further information is provided in a November 10, 1916 Indianapolis Star obituary for one Calistus Mulvaney, who is listed as having died the preceding day.
"[2] In Calistus Mulvaney's entry in the 1910 United States Census, his occupation is listed as "billiard hall emp[loyee]" and his position there as "keeper".
[5] As part of the same household, Mulvaney's brother-in-law's listing appears on the same census page, with his occupation and position identically recorded.
[5] The census records Mulvaney's age in 1910 as 56, his birthdate as "about 1854", his birthplace as Wisconsin, his spouse's name as Kate, and his area of residence at that time as Chicago Ward 14, Cook Co., Illinois.
The first games were played in that city at the Hannah and Hoggs Billiard Hall on Madison St.[6]Kelly pool accommodates players with a wide variety of skill levels.
[7] No safeties are called in kelly pool; the legal pocketing (i.e., with no foul committed on the same stroke) of the lowest-numbered ball on the table permits and requires the shooter to continue play.
[7] Under the second variation, although a player still wins by pocketing his private number, points are scored in various ways:[7] Kelly pool has long been associated with gambling—so much so, that it was made illegal in some municipalities in the US and Canada.
[10] Gambling exploits associated with kelly pool were often depicted in Clare Briggs' comic strip of the same name, which centered on the game.
[13] In April 1912, a Vincennes, Indiana, resident was indicted for embezzling $11,000 from the brick company he managed reportedly due "to his infatuation with 'pea' pool and shaking dice".
[14] The following month, Mayor Mudge of Edwardsville, Illinois announced that "effective at once ... poolrooms ... must do away with all forms of gambling, including Kelly Pool.
"[16] In January 1916, a Washington, D.C., billiard hall proprietor was fined $100 by a Police Court judge for allowing the game to be played at his establishment.
The United States Attorney handling the case told reporters "There is considerable playing of this Kelly pool in the poolrooms of the city, where many young men lose their entire week's wages on a single Saturday night, and I propose to have it stopped, if possible.
"[18] Likewise, in December of the same year, Oxford, Ohio's then mayor, J. M. Hughes, declared a war on all forms of gambling, announcing in the local newspaper that "schemes of chance ... [including] Kelly pool ... are contrary to law.
"[19] In 1934, sports promoter and notorious gambler Jack Doyle's billiard establishment was raided and he, along with 14 patrons, were arrested for placing bets on Kelly pool.
[1] 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.
