Ballbreakers

Amateur pool players competed for $20,000 in this short-lived GSN original.

Broadcast
GSN - July 18, 2005 - 2006

Hosts
Sal Masekela Ewa Mataya Laurance Adrianne Curry

Gameplay
The show featured four people who first auditioned for the show in both categories of personality and pool skill. They then played a series of games of 9-ball against one another for bets. At the beginning of the show, the $20,000 prize was divided amongst each contestant (1/4 or $5,000 for each player) for use in betting.

Round 1
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.

Round 2
In round two, minimum bets were $2,000, and the challenged player could not say no to any bet. The challenged player must 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. Unlike normal Pool rules, if no ball went into any hole on the "break", the opposing player gets "ball in hand". After two games, the two low scorers played in the Elimination game as in round one unless someone went all-in & lost.

Elimination Round/Table Control Game
The two players with the smallest bankrolls at the end of any of the first two rounds 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 which started with a "Table Control" game, 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.

Final Round
In the final round, the two remaining players played for all of the money. Unlike normal Pool rules, all misses gave the opposing player "ball in hand". 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 was won by that player. If the round went three games with no player having all $20,000, a fourth & final game was played for all of the cash, regardless of each player's bankroll at that time.