Billiards Vault

Definition of Pool table

This is the playing surface for billiards games. Consisting of 6 pockets, cushions on the side, and a felt layer covering the hard table portion, the length is usually twice as long as it is wide, but varies depending on the game at hand.

24 Random Essential Billiards Terms

This is a bank in which the object ball hit will cross the path of the cue ball on the way to its destination.
This is to watch a match with such intensity that there is worry, usually because of a wager on the game.
Also known as joint caps. Plugs that screw into/onto the threads of a joint when a two-piece cue is broken down to keep foreign objects and moisture from contacting the joint mechanism.
When the cue ball contacts three or more cushions in carom games.
A cut shot in which if a line were drawn from the cue ball to the rail behind the targeted object ball, perpendicular to that rail, the object ball would lie beyond the line with respect to the pocket being targeted.
This can be a shot where the best option for you is to sink a ball in you opponents pocket in the game of one pocket. This can also refer to the act of offering an opponent a ball adjustment to even the playing field.
A common way to keep track of games won when playing for small money is to use a coin that is placed under the rail next to the diamonds on the rail. The center diamond at the head of the table is taken as zero, and each diamond from that is considered to be one game. To go 'around the world' is to beat your opponent so badly that the coin travels all the way around the diamonds on the table.
This is a low bet in a game with action.
This is a type of shot that is executed by an object ball caroming off of another object ball in order to gain the pocket.
This playing to a number less than eight in a game of one pocket.
Either of the two longer rails of a billiards or pocket billiards table, bisected by a center pocket and bounded at both ends by a corner pocket. Also called a long rail.
In snooker, the highest-value baulk colour, worth 4 points.
Any game which uses a rack composed of less than 15 balls.
The ease with which a player is generating cue power, due to well-timed acceleration of the cue at the appropriate point in a shot.
This is an imaginary line that separates the halves of the table by crossing at the middle of the side of pockets.

1- Short for "pool shark", poolshark (US); sharp, "pool sharp" (British)

2- Verb: To perform some act or make some utterance with the intent to distract, irritate or intimidate the opponent so that they do not perform well, miss a shot, etc. Most league and tournament rules forbid blatant sharking, as a form of unsportsmanlike conduct, but it is very common in bar pool.
Noun: Another term for hustler.
Noun: A very good player. This usage is common among non-players who often intend it as a compliment and are not aware of its derogatory senses .

Describes a ball rolling along a rail in contact or near contact with it, or which makes multiple successive contacts with the rail.
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).
In team match play when playing one-on-one matches, if one team is short a player, a player on that team is called back to play a second match.
For example: Team A has 6 players, Team B has 4 players. There will be five individual matches played. For the fifth match Team A can pick a player from Team B to play a second match against their fifth match player.
This refers to a shot that travels on a shallower path due to the english placed on it. This is to come up on the near side of a pocket on a bank shot.
When the object ball lies behind another ball which makes it impossible to be struck by the cue with a direct hit.
A joint type in which the butt and shaft screw together in a tight lock, resulting in a better shot with more hitting power.
Describing a pot played at such a pace as to just reach the pocket and drop in without hitting the back.
Short for top spin, i.e. same as follow.
Chiefly British: The half of the table in which the object balls are racked (in games in which racked balls are used). This usage is conceptually opposite that in North America, where this end of the table is called the foot. In snooker, this is where the reds are racked, nearest the black spot; this is the area in which most of the game is usually played.
Chiefly American: Exactly the opposite of the above - the head end of the table. No longer in common usage.