Glossary of Cue Sports Terms - C

C

calcutta

A player's auction at a pool tournament. Each player is called and players and spectators bid on the player. The highest bidder(s) pays their bid to the calcutta, and by doing so invest in that player's success. If a player wins or places in the tournament, those who "bought" the player receive a percentage of the total calcutta payout, usually tracking the percentage payout of the tournament prize fund. Typically, players have the option of purchasing half of themselves when the high bid is won by a third party. Like english and scotch doubles, usually not capitalized.

call

Any instance of a player having to say what they are about to do. For example, in straight pool a player must call the pocket in which a ball is intended to be potted. More formal terms, used in rule books and instructional materials, include designate and nominate. Contrast fish, slop.

call-shot

Also called-shot; call-pocket or called-pocket.

Any game in which during normal play a player must call the ball to be hit and the intended pocket; "eight-ball is a call-shot game." Sometimes referred to as "call-pocket", "ball-and-pocket rules", etc., to distinguish it from the common North American bar pool practice of requiring every aspect of shots to be called, such as caroms, kicks, and cushions to be contacted (this is sometimes also ambiguously referred to as "call-shot", but more accurately termed "call-everything" or "call-it-all"). See also gentlemen's call.

called ball

The ball designated by a player to be pocketed on a shot.

called pocket

The pocket designated by a player to which a ball is to be shot.

cannon

British/Australian and sometimes Canadian term for carom.

card

Short for tournament card.

carom

Carom came into use in the 1860s and is a shortening of carambola, which was earlier used to describe the red object ball used in many billiards games. Carom generally refers to any type of strike and rebound, off a rail or ball, but may also be used as short for a carom shot in which a point is scored in carom billiards games by careening the cue ball into the two object balls. Also called a cannon in British terminology.

carom angle

carambole

Also carambola.

1. The red object ball in carom games. The term is thought to be derived from an orange-colored, tropical Asian fruit, called a carambola in English, Spanish and several other languages, in turn from karambal in the Marathi language of India.

2. A general-purpose term for carom billiards games

3. (Obsolete.) Alternate name for the game of straight rail

4. A carom.

catch a stroke

See Stroke, catch a.

center spot

Also centre spot, . The spot (usually unmarked, except in snooker) at the geometric center of the bed of the table. It lies at the intersection of the center string and long string. In snooker, it is more commonly known as the blue spot Uncommonly it is also called the middle spot.

center string

Also centre string. The (usually unmarked) line bisecting the centers of the two long rails (and of the side pockets if any) and the center spot. It thus runs widthwise (i.e. the short way) across the center of the table. Its intersection with the long string, running lengthwise down the middle of the table, defines the position of the center spot.

centre pocket

In the UK, one of the two pockets one either side of a pool, snooker or English billiards table halfway up the long rails. They are cut shallower than corner pockets because they have a 180 degree aperture, instead of 90 degrees. Also sometimes called a middle pocket. These terms are not generally used in the US, where side pocket prevails.

century

Also century break. In snooker, English billiards and other British usage, a break of 100 points or more, which involves potting at least 26 balls consecutively, in snooker, but can be earned via a combination of scoring techniques in English billiards, etc. A century of centuries is the achievement of 100 or more century breaks in a career, a feat few players have performed to date. See also double century.

chalk

A powdered substance placed on a cue's tip to increase its friction and thereby decrease slippage between the tip and cue ball. Cue "chalk" is not actually chalk (calcium carbonate) at all, but a compound of silica and aluminum oxide. Chalk is sold in compressed, dyed (most commonly blue) cubes wrapped on five sides with a paper label, and is applied (properly) in a manner similar to lipstick on the mouth. Chalk is essential to shots involving spin, and failure to use it frequently during a game is likely to lead to miscuing. Modern cue chalk was co-invented by pro player William A. Spinks and engineer William Hoskins. See also talc, often incorrectly referred to as "hand chalk".

chasing one's money

The inability of some players to stop gambling once they have lost money because they "have" to get their money back.

cheat the pocket

To aim at an object ball such that it will enter one side or the other, rather than the center, of a pocket. This permits the cue ball to strike the object ball at a different contact point than the most obvious one. Cheating the pocket is employed for position play, to allow a ball to pass another partially obscuring the path to the pocket, and to prevent scratches on dead-straight shots in cases where draw is not desirable (or may not be dependable, e.g. because of smash-through).

check side

also commonly referred to as "check" is a type of spin imparted to the cue ball to make it rebound from a cushion at a shallower angle than it would if the spin had not been used. Normally played when the natural angle is no good to the player for the next shot.

chesney

Sometimes known as a "Chesney Allen", a slight indentation in the table's slate which can add behavioral aspects to any ball passing over it. Tables containing a chesney are legal for match play, but are generally avoided by serious and professional players.

chinese snooker

A situation where the cue ball is directly in front of another ball in the line of the shot such that the player is hampered by it, having to bridge over it awkwardly with the likelihood of a foul looming if the object ball is inadvertently touched. The term is most common in the game of snooker but is used in U.S. parlance.

chuck nurse

Known as a rocking cannon in British terminology. A type of nurse used in carom billiards games. With one object ball frozen to a cushion and the second object ball a few inches away from the rail, the cue ball is gently rebounded off the frozen ball not moving it, but with just enough speed to meet the other object ball which rocks in place, but does not change position. Developed to thwart the restrictions emplaced by the Parker's box.

choke

To commit errors while shooting, especially at the money ball, due to pressure. See also dog, one-stroke.

cinch a ball

To play a shot with the stroke and speed that makes it easiest to pocket the object ball, even at the expense of sacrificing position.

cinch a pocket

To maneuver a ball on a shot so that it will be favorably positioned for later play into a particular pocket, even at the expense of sacrificing position or the inning to achieve that result.

cinch position

To play a shot using a more difficult application of stroke and speed to achieve a certain desired position for the next shot, even at the expense of or sharply increasing the likelihood of a miss.

clean

1. Chiefly British. Describing a pot that goes straight into the pocket without touching either knuckle.

2. Chiefly American. Describing a shot in bar pool: the pocketing of an object ball in a manner such that the target object ball does not kiss any other object ball, and is not banked, kicked, caromed, or combo'd in, and without double-kissing, though it may hit the knuckles, and depending upon local bar-rules may be allowed to contact either of the cushions, not just at the knuckle, that run into the target pocket. Usage example: "The 7 in that corner, clean". Usage can be narrower, to indicate clean other than as already specified, e.g. "bank the 7 in that corner, clean".

clearance

In snooker and British pool, the successful potting of all object balls-on in a single frame. A player is said to have "cleared up" or to have "cleared the table". Also, if a snooker player compiles a break consisting of all 15 reds with colours, then the colours in sequence, this is known as a "total clearance". Compare break and run.

cling

Phenomenon where two balls, (usually the cue ball and an object ball) have some foreign material (often residual chalk or dirt picked up from unbrushed cloth) between them at the point of contact, resulting in the struck object ball being thrown offline from the expected trajectory, and often also affecting the post-impact path of the cue ball. A typical precaution against cling is to ask for the cue ball and/or object ball to be cleaned by the referee in order to remove chalk that is already on the ball prior to the shot. The table cloth should also be clean. However, no precaution can ward against cling resulting from chalk transferred from the cue tip to the cue ball during a single shot. Coincidental cling can therefore cause unpredictable play and occasionally lead to rudimentary shots being missed at even the highest levels of the game. "Cling" (and derived words like "clung", "clinger", "clinging", etc.) may be used as a mass noun, less commonly as a count noun, as a verb, and rarely as an adjective ("cling is annoying", "two clings in one frame", "they clung", "unintentional cling shot", respectively). Also known as skid, or in the UK, kick (sense 2). See also dead ball, sense 2.

closed bridge

Also loop bridge. A bridge formed by the hand where a finger (normally the index finger) is curved over the cue stick and the other fingers are spread on the cloth providing solid support for the cue stick's direction. A closed bridge is less common in snooker play than in other games.Compare Open bridge.

cloth

The baize cloth covering the tables playing surface and rails, usually made from wool or a wool-nylon blend. In use since the 15th century, cloth is traditionally green-colored, chosen for its evocation of grass. Sometimes cloth is improperly referred to as "felt." The properties of the cloth used to cover a table, as well as environmental conditions that can affect it—notably humidity, the degree its been stretched when installed, and its level of cleanness—have a profound effect on play. See also fast.

cloth speed

Same as table speed.

cluster

Two or more object balls that are touching or are close together. More rare uses of the term include the intended action of a gather shot, and a run of points.

cocked-hat double

Also cocked hat double. A term applied especially in snooker for a type of double off three cushions, e.g. around the baulk colours and into a centre pocket. Such a shot is very difficult to make and would not normally be played as anything more than a shot for nothing.

collar

The protector of the joint of the cue on the joint end of the butt and shaft (i.e., the butt collar and shaft collar respectively). Most modern cues use collars of steel and/or other materials, but carom billiards cues usually have a collarless wood-on-wood joint, as do "sneaky petes".

collision-induced side spin

Side spin imparted to an object ball by the friction from the hit of the cue ball during a cut shot.

collision-induced throw

Deflection of an object ball's path away from the impact line of a cut shot, caused by sliding friction between the cue ball and the object ball. One of the two types of throw.

colour ball

Also coloured ball(s), colour(s); American spelling color sometimes also used.

1. In snooker, any of the object balls that are not reds. A colour ball must be potted after each red in the continuation of a break, and are re-spotted until the reds run out, after which the colours must be potted in their order:

• • yellow (2 points);
• • green (3 points);
• • brown (4 points);
• • blue (5 points);
• • pink (6 points);
• • black (7 points).

Although the full term includes "ball" after the colour, they are most commonly referred to with the omission of "ball", just stating the colour (e.g. "he's taken five blacks with reds so far").

2. In blackball, a generic, collective term for the red and yellow groups of object balls, corresponding to the (originally American, but used much more widely today) solids and stripes, respectively.

combination

Also combination shot, combo. Any shot in which the cue ball contacts an object ball, which in turn hits one or more additional object balls (which in turn may hit yet further object balls) to send the last-hit object ball to an intended place, usually a pocket. In the UK this is often referred to as a plant.

contact point

The point on each of two balls at which they touch at the moment of impact.

containing safety

A type of safety shot in the middle of a safety exchange that is not intended to put the opponent in a difficult situation regarding their next safety, but rather played so as to not leave an easy pot on. A typical example in snooker, which sees the most shots of this kind, is a slow roll-up into the pack.

corner-hooked

When the corner lip of a pocket blocks the path of the cue ball from contacting an intended object ball. Interchangeable with "tittie-hooked".

corner pocket

Any of the four pockets in each corner of a pool or snooker table. They have a 90 degree aperture and as such are cut deeper than center pockets, which have 180 degree apertures.

count

1. A successful shot or score; more common in carom games.

2. The running score during a game inning where multiple successive points have been made.

counter rack

Also counting rack, counter ball rack, etc.

Same as scoring rack.

cradle cannon

A type of nurse shot used in English billiards in which two coloured balls are positioned on either side of the mouth of a snooker table pocket but not touching and, thus placed, can be successively contacted and scored off over and over by the cue ball without moving them. The cradle cannon's first known use was by Walter Lovejoy in 1907. The unofficial record using the shot is held by Tom Reece who in 1907, over the course of a month, scored 499,135 points using the cradle cannon before stopping without missing. This feat prompted the Billiards Association to outlaw the shot. The official record is held by William Cook with 42,746 points scored. Compare anchor nurse.

creep

Deviation of a ball from its initial direction of travel. Often the result of a poor-quality table and may be an artifact of the cloth, the bed, a ball with uneven weight distribution, or simply the floor the table stands on being uneven. It should not be confused with the nap of the cloth.

cribbage

A set of paired balls in the game of cribbage pool that have a number value which combined equal 15. For example, the 8 ball and the 7 ball added together equal 15 and thus constitute one cribbage if pocketed in succession.

cross

Also cross rake or jigger. A type of rest, with a straight shaft and "x"-shaped head for resting the cue upon.

cross-corner

A bank shot that rebounds from a cushion into a corner pocket across the table.

cross double

A British term describing a bank shot in which the cue ball crosses the future path of the object ball. Such shots are usually played into a center pocket because there is the danger of a double-kiss if played to a corner pocket.

cross-side

A bank shot that rebounds from a cushion and into a side pocket.

crotch

The corner formed by the rails on a carom billiards table. In modern straight rail rules, only three counts may be made while both object balls are inside the boundaries of the crotch before one ball must be driven away. The boundaries of each of the four crotch areas are measured by drawing a line from the first diamond on the end rail to the second diamond on the long rail.

Crucible Curse

The phenomenon that (as of 2011) no first-time winner of the World Snooker Championship has successfully defended the title the following year since it moved to the Crucible Theatre in 1977.

cue

1. Noun: Also cue stick. A stick, usually around 55-60" in length with a tip made of a material such as leather on the end and sometimes with a joint in the middle, which is used to propel billiard balls.

2. Noun: Sometimes "cue" is short for cue ball.

3. Verb: Same as stroke, definition 1

cue action

Chiefly British: The posture and timing used by players on their shots, often indicative of how they play in their shot selection. A fast, natural player would tend to be more aggressive whereas a less naturally gifted player might have a slow action and tend to be more conservative on the table. It is widely thought that better snooker players get lower to the table with their chins on the cue, have a straight back leg, their elbow hinging in line with the shot, and a straight follow-through after the cue ball has been struck.

cue ball

Also cue-ball, cueball. The ball in nearly any cue sport, typically white in color, that a player strikes with a cue stick. Sometimes referred to as the "white ball", "whitey" or "the rock". For more information, see the billiard ball main article.

cue ball control

See position play.

cue holder

1. A portable device for holding cues upright and at the ready for immediate use. The most common types are either weighted and placed on a table top, with semicircular cut-outs into which cues may lean, or clamping varieties that firmly affix to a table and which have clips or holes into which cues are placed for added security.

2. Same as cue stand.

3. Same as wall rack.

cue power

A chiefly British term describing the amount of control a player can retain when playing shots with heavy spin and great pace; "it took tremendous cue power to get onto the 2 ball having been relatively straight on the 1".

cue rack

1. Same as cue stand.

2. Same as wall rack.

cue stand

A piece of stand-alone or "island" furniture designed to store cue sticks and sometimes other accessories such as the mechanical bridge (rest), balls, chalk, etc., when not in use. Contrast wall rack.

cue stick

Also cue-stick, cuestick. Same as cue.

cue tip

For more details on this topic, see Cue stick#Tips.

A material, usually leather, placed on the end of a cue stick which comes in contact with the cue ball.

curve shot

Same as semi-massé. Compare swerve shot.

cueist

A player of cue sports.

cushion

The elastic bumpers mounted on all rails of a billiards table, usually made from rubber or synthetic rubber, from which the balls rebound.

cut shot

Technically, any shot that is not a center-to-center hit, but almost always employed when describing a shot that has more than a slight degree of angle.