Snooker words · Beginner
The words you will hear in your first match, grouped the way you meet them.
B · Beginner · 24 words · Step 1 of 2Basic setup terms
Table
The standard table has a playing area of 11 ft 8½ in by 5 ft 10 in (3569 mm by 1778 mm), with six pockets: one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side.
Cue
The long tapered stick used to strike the cue ball with its tip. In snooker it must be at least 3 ft (914 mm) long.
Cue ball
The white ball. It is the only ball a player strikes with the cue, and each player uses the same one.
Striker
The player about to play or in play. Their turn lasts until a stroke scores no points, a foul is committed and the balls stop, or the frame ends.
See also: Frame
In-hand
The cue ball is in-hand before each frame, after it is pocketed or forced off the table, and when the black is re-spotted. The striker then plays it from within the D, in any direction.
Snooker terms
Red balls
Fifteen balls, worth one point each. A player's break starts by potting a red, then a colour of their choice, and so on alternately until the reds have gone.
Coloured balls
Six balls of different values: yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6 and black 7. While reds remain, a potted colour is put back on its spot. After the last red, the colours are potted in order of value and stay off the table.
See also: Table
Pot
When an object ball, after being hit by the cue ball and without any infringement, goes into a pocket. Causing a ball to go in during a foul stroke is pocketing, not potting.
Break
A number of pots in successive strokes made in one turn by the striker. The points scored in the break are the player's break total.
Also called: scoring
See also: Striker
Century break
A single break totaling 100 points or more, a notable achievement.
Maximum break
The highest possible break, 147 points: all 15 reds each followed by the black, then all six colours in order of value. It is very rare.
Also called: 147
Snooker
The cue ball is snookered when a straight-line shot to every ball that is on is blocked, wholly or partly, by a ball that is not on. A cushion cannot snooker the cue ball. The tactic of leaving the opponent snookered gives the game its name.
Also called: the situation
See also: Cue ball
Foul
An infringement that ends the offender's turn. The opponent receives at least four penalty points, and up to seven, and may play on or ask the offender to play again.
Frame
One complete period of play with the balls set up from the start. It ends when a player concedes, when a player with a lead of more than seven points on the last black claims it, or when the first pot or foul happens on the final black. A game is an agreed number of frames.
Match
The whole contest, made up of an agreed number of frames, so the winner is the player who wins the most or the required number of frames.
Ball on
The ball a player may legally hit first with the cue ball, for example a red at the start of a turn or the next colour in order.
See also: Cue ball
Concession
A player can end a frame by conceding it, which the opponent accepts. A conceded frame is won by the opponent.
See also: Frame
General technique terms
English
Spin applied to the cue ball by striking it off-centre, used to control its path after contact.
Also called: side
See also: Cue ball
Position play
Strategically controlling where the cue ball ends up after a shot, to set up an easier next shot.
See also: Cue ball
Chalk
Applied to the tip of the cue to improve grip on the ball and reduce mishits ("miscues").
Miscue
A mishit where the cue slips off the ball due to poor contact, often from insufficient chalk or an awkward angle.
See also: Chalk