24 Random Essential Billiards Terms
Same as stripes, in New Zealand. Compare yellows, high, big ones; contrast unders.
Chiefly American: The short rail at the foot of the table. Frequently used imprecisely, to mean foot cushion. Compare top rail; contrast head rail.
United States Professional Poolplayers Association The United States Professional Poolplayers Association (UPA) is the governing body for the sport of men's professional pool (pocket billiards) in the United States, in conjunction with the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and its US-national affiliate, the Billiard Congress of America (BCA). Founded in 2002, the association is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
A game of pool played on a table shaped like a rectangle, with or without pockets.
Also known as slop. To pocket a ball by luck; "he ratted in the 9 ball"; usually employed disapprovingly.
This is an attempt where one player answers the other players successful shot or run with a successful shot or run.
When you hit the object ball you are aiming for (or the manditory next ball) without the cue ball hitting other object balls first.
This is the raised portion on the side of the table; the cushions are essentially rubber bumpers covered in the table cloth.
As a result of the opening break shot (the "snap"), usually said of winning by pocketing the money ball ("won on the snap", "got it on the snap", etc.) Employed most commonly in the game of nine-ball where pocketing the 9 ball at any time in the game on a legal stroke, including the break shot, garners a win.
A misnomer for hand talc.
This is when you win a game of one pocket on your opponents break.
This is what happens when a player sends the cue ball into a cluster of balls that will in turn spread out in an unpredictable fashion.
This term refers to a cue stick that is bent or warped, so that the straightness, or lack thereof, of the cue offers less than ideal play. This can occur from storing the cue in the wrong atmosphere, i.e. too warm or humid, or from the quality of wood used during construction. Some cues are coated with fiberglass, carbon fiber or graphite in order to avoid warping.
A cue dedicated to jumping balls; usually shorter and lighter than a playing cue and having a wider, hard tip. Also referred to as a jump stick.
This describes a shot in carom games where the cue ball is driven all the way across the long rail, crossing the table, to score a point.
A reference to the amount of English applied to the object ball from the cue ball.
To apply chalk to the tip of your cue before a shot.
This is a bank in one pocket pool that is sitting at an angle that makes it unsafe to play.
A description of play in carom billiards games in which the balls remain widely separated rather than gathered, requiring much more skill to score points and making nurse shots effectively impossible, and making for a more interesting game for onlookers. Most skilled players try to gather the balls as quickly as possible to increase their chances of continuing to score in a long run.
Chiefly British: Short for side spin. In Canadian usage, the term is sometimes used as a verb, "to side".
This describes a shot in snooker where the cue contacts more than one object ball.
An attempt of a legal clean shot (not a slop shot) that goes badly wrong due to improper stroke, stance, table position or table conditions in which the result of the shot is completely unexpected and not what was predicted at all.
A bridge formed by the hand where no finger loops over the shaft of the cue. Typically, the cue stick is channeled by a "v"-shaped groove formed by the thumb and the base of the index finger.
In eight-ball and related games, describes the situation in which neither player has yet claimed a suit (group) of balls. Often shortened to simply open: "Is it still an open table?" "Yes, it's open."
