Billiards Vault

Definition of Sink in shot

Any shot that intentionally accounts for the elasticity of the cushions to allow a ball to bank past an otherwise blocking ball. The moving ball will sink in to the cushion very near the blocking ball giving it sufficient space to get past it or kiss off the back side of it.

24 Random Essential Billiards Terms

A ball hanging over the edge of a pocket.
A natural is an easy shot requiring no side spin. A shot is said to be natural if it does not require adjustments, such as a cut angle, side spin, or unusual force. A natural bank shot, for example, is one in which simply shooting straight into the object ball at medium speed and with no spin will send the object ball directly into the target pocket on the other side of the table.
Chiefly American: The short rail at the foot of the table. Frequently used imprecisely, to mean foot cushion. Compare top rail; contrast head rail.
Same as gapper
A misnomer for hand talc.
Technique using different wood inlays to create picture designs on the butt of the cue.
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 a tip tool for cleaning the edges of you tip after mushrooming occurs.
Any mechanical aid that serves to extend the length of the player's cue, normally added to the end of the butt either by clipping around the end or screwing into the base. Though extensions are used for pool, it is more common in snooker because of the significantly larger table size.
In a tournament where players get limited time to make their shots (common in televised matches), an extension is extra time granted before making a shot; players have a limited number of extensions in each frame.
The full fifteen ball set of pool or snooker object balls after being racked, before the break shot (i.e., same as rack, definition 2, and triangle, defn. 2). Chiefly British today, but also an American usage ca. World War I.
Same as cheating the pocket. Principally used in snooker.
A specific way of holding the shaft in your hand. The closed hand bridge is a hand bridge where the index finger wraps over the cue stick for control.
Also in the zone. Describes an extended period of functioning in dead stroke ("She's in the zone").
Accidentally causing the cue ball or any object ball to leave the table. It is normally a foul.
Describing a pot played at such a pace as to just reach the pocket and drop in without hitting the back.
This is playing to a higher winning score than eight in the game of one pocket.
This is the ball that sits in the front, or apex, position in the rack.
Also piquet. Either a massé shot with no english, or a shot in which the cue stick is steeply angled, but not held quite as vertical as it is in full massé.
When the cue ball is tucked behind the corner of a pocket or behind other object balls against a rail, therefore not allowing a direct shot at the object ball without the cue bouncing off the corner of the rail.
A term also used to mean when the object ball you must hit next is hidden behind other balls against a rail and you are not able to get a clean hit (without hitting other object balls first) on it. e.g. "You hooked me".
See overcut.
Linen made from flax and produced in Ireland which is often used to wrap the gripping area of the butt of a cue.
A Baulk line is line drawn across the table 29 inches from the bottom cushion and parallel to that cushion.
Certain rules say you must designate your shot before taking it. Generally this is just calling the ball to be sunk in which pocket, and is not dependent on touching rails or other balls, but very well can be.
This is a fine powdery substance used to assist the sliding of the cue over the hand bridge.