🎱Glossary

Terms

Terms people actually search for first.

Baize Baize

The woollen cloth covering a table's slate bed. Snooker baize has a directional nap, so a ball rolls at a different speed and can drift slightly depending on whether it travels with or against the grain. It has more friction than pool cloth, which is why the same screw shot pulls a cue ball back a shorter distance. Tournament cloth is fitted fresh just before an event starts, and new cloth plays noticeably faster than cloth that has been down for a few days.

Ball on Ball on

Whichever ball is legally the first one that must be struck on a given shot. While reds remain, the ball on alternates between a red and whichever colour the player nominates; once all reds are gone, it follows the fixed order from yellow through to black. Striking any other ball first is a foul, and the penalty is calculated as the higher value of the ball on and whichever ball was struck instead.

Baulk line Baulk line

A line drawn 737mm from the shorter cushion, with the area between it and that cushion called baulk. The yellow, brown and green colours sit on this line, and the semicircular D is marked on it as well. It also serves as a standard safety target — leaving the cue ball tight against the baulk cushion removes almost any route the opponent has to a red at the far end of the table.

Black Black

The highest-value colour, worth 7 points, spotted 324mm from the top cushion. It is the pivot of break-building — being able to nominate the black after every red potted more than doubles the score available from the same number of reds. If the scores are level at the end of a frame, only the black is respotted and the frame is decided sudden-death, as happened in the famous 1985 World Championship final.

Break Break

The total points scored in a single visit to the table, comparable to a batting innings. It ends the moment a player misses the ball on or commits a foul. A break of 100 or more is called a century, and the theoretical maximum in normal play is 147. The ability to build large breaks is the clearest single measure separating amateur and professional standard.

Break-off Break-off

The opening shot of a frame. The cue ball is played from inside the D and must make contact with the triangle of reds. Almost no professional attempts to score from it; the standard shot clips the edge of the pack thinly and sends the cue ball the length of the table back to safety on the baulk cushion, leaving the opponent nothing to work with.

Bridge Bridge

The hand shape that supports and guides the front of the cue. The open bridge, raising the thumb to form a V with the forefinger, is standard in snooker; the closed bridge, wrapping the fingers around the cue, is more common in pool. A rail bridge, resting the hand flat on the cushion, is used when the object ball sits tight against it. If the bridge wobbles, no amount of careful aim keeps the cue travelling straight.

Century break Century break

A break of 100 points or more in a single visit. It is the professional benchmark for a genuinely good visit, and leading players now record more than a hundred centuries across a single season. Career century totals are a widely quoted measure of a player's standing, and Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record with more than 1,200. For an amateur, even breaking 50 is a solid achievement, and a first century usually takes years to arrive.

Chalk Chalk

Compressed powder applied to the cue tip to increase friction against the cue ball. Green is the standard colour in snooker; basic chalk costs only a few pounds a box, and higher-grade chalk that resists slipping runs a little more. It's essential on any shot that strikes off-centre, and most beginner miscues trace back to a bare, unchalked tip rather than poor technique.

Clearance Clearance

Potting every remaining ball on the table in a single visit. Clearing all 22 balls from the start of a frame is called a total clearance. The final colours sequence, worth 27 points from yellow to black, requires travelling between the three baulk colours and the pink and black at the other end, and losing position on the brown, the pivot of that sequence, is the most common way a clearance breaks down.

Colour Colour

Collective term for the six non-red balls: yellow worth 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6 and black 7. While reds remain on the table, a player may nominate any colour to pot, and it is respotted after every pot; once the last red is gone, the colours must be taken in ascending order and stay down once potted.

Crucible Crucible

The 980-seat theatre in Sheffield, England, that has staged the World Championship since 1977. Spectators sit within a few feet of the table, and for most of the tournament two matches run simultaneously behind a partition on the same stage. In snooker the name is effectively synonymous with the World Championship itself, and the phrase Crucible curse refers to the fact that no debut champion has successfully defended the title the following year.

Cue Cue

The wooden implement used to strike the cue ball, typically around 57-58 inches long and built from tip, ferrule, shaft, butt and sometimes a screw-in extension. Weights of 17-18 ounces are common, and tip hardness and the amount a cue flexes both affect the feel of a shot. Most beginners start on an ash or maple cue costing well under £100.

Cue ball Cue ball

The single white ball a player strikes directly with the cue. It is the same 52.5mm diameter as every other ball on a snooker table. Skill in this sport is, in practical terms, mostly the ability to leave the cue ball exactly where the next shot needs it, and the gap between a break of 40 and a break of 140 is almost always cue ball control rather than potting accuracy.

Double Double

A shot that sends the object ball into a cushion before it drops into a pocket on the opposite side, equivalent to a bank shot in pool. Used when a direct route is blocked by another ball, or when escaping a snooker while also attempting to score. The cushion imparts spin that alters the angle slightly, which keeps the success rate low even among professionals, but a successful one usually draws the loudest reaction from the crowd.

Escape Escape

A shot played off one or more cushions to reach the ball on while snookered. Jump shots are a foul in snooker, so going around the table off the cushions is the only option. It requires calculating the angle of approach and the spin the cushion will impart at the same time, and a failed escape concedes at least four points and often hands the opponent the chance to lay the same snooker again.

Fluke Fluke

A pot that goes in by luck rather than intention. The score counts exactly the same as an intended pot, but etiquette calls for the player to raise a hand or nod an apology to their opponent, and skipping that gesture is considered poor form. The most common version happens during a safety attempt, when a red drops unintentionally and turns straight into a big break.

Foul Foul

A rule violation that awards points to the opponent, never fewer than four. The penalty equals the higher value of the ball on and whichever ball was wrongly struck, potted or disturbed, so a foul involving the pink costs six points and one involving the black costs seven. Missing the ball on entirely is the most common cause, alongside potting the cue ball, playing a push shot, a jump shot, or simply touching a ball with a hand, sleeve or the rest.

Frame Frame

A single game, roughly equivalent to a set in tennis. It ends when all balls are potted or a player concedes, and a fixed number of frames decides the match. Early ranking rounds are typically best of seven, while the World Championship final runs to a best of 35 over two days. A single frame usually takes between ten and twenty-five minutes.

Free ball Free ball

A right awarded to a player left snookered by an opponent's foul. Any ball on the table may be nominated as the ball on for that shot, scored at the real ball on's value. It effectively doubles the punishment for a single foul, and if a free ball is awarded while all fifteen reds remain on the table, a break above the standard 147 becomes theoretically possible.

In-off In-off

When the cue ball itself drops into a pocket, equivalent to a scratch in pool. It is a foul worth at least four points, and any other ball potted on the same shot does not count for score. The cue ball is placed back in hand inside the D, so the opponent may choose its position freely. If a red disappears on the same shot, its potential points are lost from the scoreboard along with it, since reds are never respotted.

Long pot Long pot

A pot attempted across most of the table's length. With a playing surface 3,569mm long and pockets cut only a few millimetres wider than the balls, this is among the hardest routine shots in any sport. A frame's momentum often turns on it: land the long pot and a break usually follows immediately, miss it and the opponent typically inherits the whole scoring zone.

Maximum break Maximum break

The highest score obtainable in a single visit under normal conditions, 147. It is built from fifteen reds each paired with the black for 120, plus the colours in order from yellow to black for a further 27. A free ball can theoretically push a break as high as 155, though that has never happened in an official match. Each one made in professional competition is recorded as an event in its own right, and Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record with more than 15.

Miss rule Miss rule

A rule applied on top of the standard foul when a referee judges that a player failed to hit the ball on and did not make a genuine attempt to do so. The opponent may have the balls replaced exactly as they were and demand the same shot again. Where a direct route existed and the player wasn't actually snookered, a second miss draws a warning and a third loses the frame outright, which is why one careless escape can spiral into losing the whole frame.

Pack Pack

The cluster of reds racked in a triangle behind the pink. Reds packed tightly together can't be scored while they stay bunched, so the pack must eventually be opened, but breaking it apart too hard scatters reds toward the baulk end where they become useless. Professionals typically nudge two or three reds free at a time with a thin contact while potting the blue or pink, rather than opening the whole pack in one shot.

Plant Plant

A shot where the ball on strikes a second ball, sending that second ball into a pocket — equivalent to a combination shot in pool. It works when two reds sit touching or nearly touching, positioned so that striking the front one sends the back one directly toward a pocket. Any angle error is effectively doubled across the two balls, making it considerably harder than it looks, and a missed plant usually leaves the table wide open for the opponent.

Pocket Pocket

One of six openings, at each corner and the middle of each long cushion, that balls are potted into. Snooker pockets are cut only a few millimetres wider than a ball and have rounded jaws, making them considerably less forgiving than pool pockets of the same nominal size. Tournaments sometimes tighten the template further to raise the difficulty, which is why players routinely say every table's pockets play differently.

Position play Position play

The skill, and essentially the whole discipline, of placing the cue ball exactly where the next shot needs it. Professionals will decline an easy pot that leads nowhere and choose a harder one that leaves a workable angle instead. The guiding principle is minimising cue ball travel — the less distance it covers, the lower the chance of clipping another ball or losing position by accident.

Pot Pot

Sinking the object ball into a pocket, equivalent to a shot or sink in pool. A successful pot scores that ball's value and keeps the table for the same player. The sport's first principle is that where a pot leaves the cue ball matters more than the pot itself, which is exactly why a professional will sometimes turn down an easy pot that leaves nothing to follow up on.

Re-spot Re-spot

Returning a potted colour to its designated spot on the table. While at least one red remains in play, every colour potted is respotted indefinitely, which is the rule that makes a 147 possible — potting the black fifteen times in a row for seven points each. If the original spot is blocked by another ball, the colour goes on the next-highest open spot, or failing that, as close to its own spot as the rules allow.

Red Red

One of fifteen 1-point balls racked in a triangle behind the pink at the start of a frame. While any red remains, players must alternate potting a red and then a colour of their choice. Unlike colours, a potted red is never respotted and stays down for good. Pairing all fifteen reds with the black scores 120, the base of a maximum 147 break.

Rest Rest

A tool used to support the cue for shots beyond a comfortable reach, a long shaft ending in a cross-shaped head. Variants include the taller spider, used to bridge over other balls, and the swan-neck rest, taller still with a curved neck, along with extensions that lengthen a player's own cue. Full-size clubs keep a set beside every table, and professionals use one repeatedly within a single frame with no stigma attached.

Safety Safety

A shot played to give up on scoring while leaving the opponent no realistic chance either. In snooker this is not a passive fallback but a genuine offensive weapon, and two professionals can exchange twenty or more safety shots without either attempting a pot. A good safety shot is judged not by how it looks but by how difficult the resulting reply is for the opponent.

Screw Screw

Striking below centre on the cue ball to impart backspin, pulling it back after contact with the object ball, equivalent to a draw shot in pool. Snooker cloth has more nap and friction than pool cloth, so pulling the ball back the same distance requires a more precise strike. If screw isn't gripping, lowering the back hand to bring the cue closer to level is almost always the right fix, rather than simply hitting harder.

Side Side

Spin applied by striking left or right of centre on the cue ball, sometimes called English. It's mainly used to change the angle a ball takes off a cushion, opening up a safety position or an escape route. Because it also throws the object ball off line and swerves the cue ball's path, professionals generally avoid it on any shot where potting accuracy actually matters.

Snooker Snooker

The name of the sport, and also the term for a position in which no part of any ball on can be struck in a straight line from the cue ball because another ball blocks the path. A player left snookered must escape off a cushion or concede at least four points and often the same situation again. Laying snookers late in a frame is virtually the only way a losing player can recover a deficit.

Spot Spot

One of the fixed marked positions where colours are placed. Yellow, brown and green sit on the baulk line, blue on the centre spot, pink on the pyramid spot, and black 324mm from the top cushion. As long as any red remains in play, a potted colour returns to its own spot every time. A colour sitting on its spot but blocked by another ball can itself be a strong defensive position.

Stun Stun

Striking the cue ball dead centre and reaching the object ball before any spin can take hold, so that contact stops the cue ball dead or sends it only along the tangent line. On a perfectly straight shot the cue ball stops in place; at an angle it moves off at roughly ninety degrees. Because it minimises how far the cue ball travels, it's the safest positional tool in the game, and most professional break-building is really stun and light screw played over and over.

The D The D

The semicircle, 292mm in radius, drawn on the baulk line. The cue ball must be placed inside it or on the line itself both for the break-off at the start of a frame and any time it has to be replaced after going in-off. Position and angle inside the D are entirely free, so exactly where a player places it effectively sets the angle for that shot. It's also where the cue ball starts if a frame reaches a sudden-death respotted black.

Triple Crown Triple Crown

The collective name for the World Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters, set apart from every other event by prize money and history. Only around a dozen players in the sport's history have won all three across a career. The total number of career Triple Crown titles is a key measure of a player's standing, and Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record with 23.

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