Definition of Hazard

An intentionally amateurish stroke to disguise one's ability to play.

This is your pocket for sinking balls in a one pocket game.

This is placed on a ball by hitting it slightly below center. This action makes the ball travel in a motion against its originally hit direction.

This is a shot where the cue ball contacts an object ball and moves it along a path, but because the cue ball is still in motion it re-contacts the object ball and pushes it in the pocket after it stops.

Refers to a person gambling when he has no money. As in, "That jerk can't pay up, he was shooting air barrels the whole time".

USA Pool League. A pool league structured exclusively around eight-ball match play.

A predetermined, fixed number of games players must win to win a match; "a race to seven" means whomever wins seven games first wins the match.

The 'Lady Jane Grey' is a rarely used term to describe a shot in the game of snooker. The cue ball is baulk side of the spotted black after potting a red ball. The black is powerfully potted into a top corner pocket and the cue ball bounces off the top cushion into the red balls, moving them into space, thus allowing the continuation of a break. Named after Lady Jane Grey, the 16th Century Queen of England, possibly because the speed the cue ball must be hit matches the speed with which she was deposed from the throne.

This is a shot where the cue ball follows directly behind the sunk object ball into the pocket right after it falls.

Any ball that may be legally struck by the cue ball.

When complete focus allows you to execute quality billiards play with simplicity and seeming ease.

Also (chiefly British) programme. Short for shot program. The enumerated trick shots that must be performed in the fields of artistic billiards (70 pre-determined shots) and artistic pool (56 tricks in 8 "disciplines").

The inside walls of a pocket billiards table's pockets.

A pool table spread in which the balls are extremely easily positioned for a run out, and where little movement of the cue ball on each shot is necessary to obtain position on the next.

A rare and very difficult trick jump shot that turns into a draw shot upon landing. Requires precise application of spin in addition to the precise application of ball pressure to effectuate the jump. Jump draws are fairly often seen in professional trick shot competition.

This is the point on the object ball where the cue exactly impacts or the point at which two balls touch when they impact.

This is a play where the shot of the cue ball is meant to end up in a certain place to loose your turn, but makes the next attempt difficult for your opponent. The shot is turned over, but will often times lead to a foul, giving you the ball back with a different view or ball in hand. This "safety" play is important if your shot isn't ideal, and you are likely to turn the ball over anyway.

This is the act of keeping your ball location advantages the way they are, and not allowing your opponent to even things out in the game of one pocket.

Hitting the object ball with not enough of a cut angle; hitting the object ball too full or "fat". It is a well-known maxim that overcutting is preferable to undercutting. See also professional side of the pocket.

The material which covers the bed and cushions of a pool table. The cloth used to cover a pool table is very special and can come in a variety of grades. Along with the general quality of the table itself, the cloth play a very important role in how a particular table plays.

This is a relatively simple machine that is used to duplicate inlay cuts within a cue so that the sizing will be accurate. When compared to the technical CNC machines, this is more like a tape measure, but when this effective tool is used to inlay a cue stick, you are getting a cue with genuine handcrafted inlays.

In blackball, a situation where the player cannot see any of the balls she/he wants to hit due to obstruction by other balls or the knuckle of a pocket. The player must call "total snooker" to the referee, which allows a dispensation to the player from having to hit a cushion after contacting the object ball, which is otherwise a foul.

British term referring to the base or metaphorical "feet" of a ball that rattles in the jaws of a pocket before eventually dropping. Usually said of an object ball for which the intention was to pot it.

When you hit the object ball you are aiming for (or the manditory next ball) without the cue ball hitting other object balls first.