Billiards Vault

Definition of Short count

This playing to a number less than eight in a game of one pocket.

24 Random Essential Billiards Terms

The angle at which a ball approaches a rail, as measured from the perpendicular to the rail.
0-2 Barbecue is a slang billiard term that refers to a single player loosing the first 2 matches in a double elimination tournament. This double loss results in that player being knocked out of the tournament without winning even one game.
This shot is a minimally calculated distressed shot which makes it evident to the opponent you no longer have any hope to winning the game.
This is the raised portion on the side of the table; the cushions are essentially rubber bumpers covered in the table cloth.
A player who was not shooting well during a match but suddenly turns it around and starts playing better and more accurately. e.g. "He was misisng everything for the first part of the match, then found a stroke to come back and win."
When the cue ball contacts three or more cushions in carom games.
This refers to the distance of deflection that the ball comes off of the cue stick after a hit is applied with side spin on it.
A material, usually leather, placed on the end of a cue stick that comes in contact with the cue ball.
In APA, once a player has received at least 10 scores in a format, they will have established their skill level. Their established skill level can go up or down depending on their performance and is calculated by the APA's Equalizer Handicap System.
This is to direct the cue ball by barely contacting an object ball.
In snooker, the pocket nearest the yellow spot.
The Valley National 8-Ball League Association. Founded in 1979, VENA is a non-profit organization established to promote the game of pool on coin-operated equipment. The membership is comprised of men, women and junior players, coin machine operators and manufacturers.
This is to watch a match with such intensity that there is worry, usually because of a wager on the game.
A form of Carom billiards for the masters of the game. Played the same way with two cue balls and a single object ball. Except, in between hitting the opponent's cue ball and the object ball your cue ball must bounce off of three rails (this game is played with an unpocketed specially sized table).
The overall competition between two players, two pairs of players or two teams of players, usually consisting of a predetermined number of frames or games (sometimes organized into rounds).
This is a bank in which the object ball hit will cross the path of the cue ball on the way to its destination.
One-on-one game play.
The horizontal plane directly in the center of the cue ball, which when hit exactly by the cue tip should impart no follow or draw.
In the UK, a long-distance shot played to pot a ball close to a pocket with heavy top spin, so that when the cue ball hits the cushion it bounces off but then stops due to the counteraction of the spin. It is not common in competitive play, being more of an exhibition shot.
The pocket in snooker that is closest to the green spot.
A shot where the cue ball must hit the object ball so as to make it travel out of a straight line, at a different angle, toward its destination.
Skilled playing in which knowledge of ball speed, angles, post-impact trajectory, and other factors are used to gain position (i.e. a good leave) after the target ball is struck. The goals of position play are generally to ensure that the next shot is easy or at least makeable, and/or to play a safety in the advent of a miss (intentional or otherwise).
USA Pool League. A pool league structured exclusively around eight-ball match play.
Chiefly British: The half of the table from which the break shot is taken. This usage is conceptually opposite that in North America, where this end of the table is called the head.