YankeeJim: alosso: It's available in practice games, stroke and matches, at different distances according to the player's tier, and AFAIK in rated matches as well, for low tiers.
Do you know this for a fact?
That's what I heard here, partly from the mods.
As Zio quoted, the distance is 7 ft for Hacks (?and Amateurs?), applicable in practice as well as in ranked and rated games. Dunno about Skins.
For higher tiers, it's from inside 2 ft, only in practice games.
It may seem unfair in games against higher tiers, but for legit beginners it may be very difficult to come into the 7 ft range - thus it's just a li'l help. Different for those "talented" guys but they act illegally anyway.