Libre mode is a wonderful game, the problem is that once you become a master, the game becomes kind of boring and your opponent could spend the whole game as an spectator; that seems to be the case at the table in the back, a man is playing vs a woman, the lady is seating without a chance to get back to the table. That's how 3 cushion became the preferred mode.
+Travis Walsh At the start they are playing who get's closest to the coushin may decide who starts first, after that every player has 1 white ball, called the playball, 1 has dot's on it, and with that playball he has to hit the other 2 balls to make a point or an "carambole", and when the balls stand still against each other wich happens at the beginning, the player can choose, to play it loose via an coushin or to set the balls up to start position again
It's just making cannons. When I asked the French why they played 3-cushion, they said it was because 'libre' was too easy. Here you can see why. They arrange the balls in a triad close to the cushion and just play that all around the table. It's called 'jouer a l'americaine'. What the Americans have to do with it, I don't know.
