Ballbreakers is a pocket billiards

Pocket billiards

Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...

 game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 that began on the Game Show Network

Game Show Network

The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...

 on July 18, 2005. The hosts were Sal Masekela

Sal Masekela

Selema Mabena "Sal" Masekela is an American television host, sports commentator, actor, and singer.-Biography:...

, Ewa Mataya Laurance

Ewa Mataya Laurance

Ewa Laurance is a Swedish–American professional pool player, most notably on the Women's Professional Billiard Association nine-ball tour, a sports writer, and more recently a sports commentator for ESPN...

, and Adrianne Curry. GSN cancelled the show in 2006.

Play

The show featured four people who first auditioned for the show in both categories of personality and pool skill. They then played games of nine ball

Nine Ball

Nine-ball is a contemporary form of pool , with historical beginnings rooted in the United States and traceable to the 1920s...

 against one another for bets. At the beginning of the show, each contestant was given US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

5,000 for use in betting.

First round

During warm-ups, a player was selected for control of the table. He decided who to play against for the first game. The minimum bet in the first round was $1,000 per game. The first round continued until all players had played at least once, at which point the two players with the least money were pitted against one another in an elimination round.

Side betting

Any player with money was allowed to place a side bet on the current game (even one of the competing players). Anything could be bet on, e.g.: who would win, whether a particular ball would be made or missed, or whether one player would 'run out the table.' All side bets were in $500 increments, but the bettor was required to find a taker for a bet to be official.

Elimination round

The two players with the smallest bankrolls at the end of a round were forced to play one game to survive. Whoever had the smaller bankroll was of necessity all-in, and the opponent put in an equal amount. The winner of the game survived to move on to the next round, and collected winnings as usual. If the "all-in" player moved on, that meant some leftover money was in contention. The winner of the "Table Control" game collected all of this contended money.

Second round

In round two, minimum bets were $2,000, and the challenged player could not back down. The challenged player could either accept the stakes or raise. Side bets were still bottomed at $500, and the winner of the first game played against the other player in the round. After two games, the two low scorers played in the Elimination game as in round one.

Final round

In the final round, the two remaining players played for all of the money. The first three games were 'all-in' affairs; if the player with more money could win any of them, the show was over and the $20,000 won. If the round went three games with no player having all $20,000, the fourth game was played for all of the cash, regardless of each player's bankroll at that time.

Celebrity shows

For celebrity shows the rules were altered, in round 1, each player automatically risked $1,000 and no higher during games, side bets were limited to $500. In round 2, players risked $2,000 for each game. In the final round consisted of three sudden death games, with the player in 4th facing 3rd, the winner playing the person in 2nd, the winner of that playing against the player in first. the winner received $20,000 for their charity, the others received $10,000 for their charities, all four celebrities also received a Brunswick pool table for themselves.

Two celebrity shows were broadcast.