Glossary of Cue Sports Terms - P

P

pack

1. In snooker, the bunch of reds that are typically left below the pink spot in the early stages of a frame, not including those reds that have been released into pottable positions.

2. A cluster of balls.

3. Same as package.

package

Successive games won without the opponent getting to the table; a five-pack would be a package of five games.

pantsed

Australian: Defeated with all seven of one's object balls (in blackball or eight-ball) remaining on the table. Informal Australian pub play may stipulate that if one loses this badly, one has been "pantsed" and must hobble one full lap around the pool table, with one's pants around one's ankles, or even fully naked. (See also down-trou.)

paper cut

Same as feather (US) or snick (UK) (US, colloquial).

Parker's box

Named after Chicagoan J. E. Parker, it is a 3 1⁄₂ × 7 inch box drawn on a balkline table from the termination of a balkline with the cushion, thus defining a restricted space in which only a set number of points may be scored before one ball must be driven from the area. Now supplanted by anchor spaces, it was developed to curtail the effectiveness of the anchor nurse, which in turn had been invented to exploit a loophole in balkline rules: so long as both object balls straddled a balkline, there was no restriction on counts, as each ball lay in a separate balk space.

parking the cue ball

1. Having the cue ball stop at or near the center of the table on a forceful break shot (the breaking ideal in many games such as nine-ball);

2. Having the cue ball stop precisely where intended.

peas

Also pills, tally balls and shake balls. Small, round markers typically numbered 1 through 16, which are placed in a bottle for various random assignment purposes, such as in a tournament roster, to assign order of play in a multiplayer game, or to assign particular balls to players in games such as kelly pool.

percentage

See play the percentages. Used by itself often with "low" and "high": "that's a low-percentage shot for me", "I should really take the high-percentage one".

pill

Same as pea.

pin

1. A bolt-threaded protrusion inside the joint of the cue, usually protruding from the butt and screwing into the shaft rather than vice-versa. Most modern cues make use of metal pins and collars, but carom billiards cues usually have a wooden pin, and a collarless wood-on-wood joint.

2. Same as skittle.

pink ball

In snooker, the second-highest value colour ball, being worth six points. It is placed on the pink spot. In some (especially American) snooker ball sets it is numbered "6" on its surface.

pink spot

The marked spot on a snooker table at which the pink ball is placed. Regardless of table size, it is exactly midway between the centre spot (blue spot and the face (nose) of the top cushion. Also known as the pyramid spot (sense 2).

piqué

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.

place

To reach a certain position in a tournament. "I placed 17th." "She will probably place in the money this time."

plant

Chiefly British. Same as combination shot.

play the percentages

Using knowledge of the game and one's own abilities and limitations to choose the manner of shooting and the particular shot from an array presented, that has a degree of likelihood of success. This often requires a player to forego a shot that if made would be very advantageous but does not have a high likelihood of success, in favor of a safety or less advantageous shot that is more realistically achievable.

playing area

Also playing surface. The area of the table on which the balls roll, i.e. the table surface exclusive of the rails and the tops of the cushions. The playing surface is defined by the measurements lengthwise and widthwise between the cushion noses (though specifications may simply refer to the cushion faces for short in that context). Artistic pool and other forms of trick shots sometimes call for shots to go beyond the bounds of the playing surface, e.g. a jump shot off the table into a boot on the floor, in Mike Massey's classic "boot shot". The playing surface is what is used, not the entire table, when describing the approximate size of billiard tables of all kinds (e.g. "a 8 × 4 foot pool table").

pocket

1. (noun) An opening in a Billiards table, cut partly into the bed and partly into the rails and their cushions, into which balls are shot (pocketed or potted).

2. (verb) To send a ball into a pocket, usually intentionally.

pocket speed

Also pocket-speed.

1. Describes the propensity of table pockets to more easily accept an imperfectly aimed ball shot at a relatively soft speed, that might not fall if shot with more velocity ("that ball normally wouldn't fall but he hit it at pocket speed"). The less sensitive to shot-speed that a pocket is, the "faster" it is said to be.

2. Describes the velocity of an object ball shot with just enough speed to reach the intended pocket and drop. "Shoot this with pocket speed only, so you don't send the cue ball too far up-table."

pocket template

A rigid, flat piece of material such as plastic that outlines the exact angles and curvature of the knuckles of the cushions at a pocket, the width of their separation across the pocket opening (the jaws of the pocket) and the depth into the jaws where the pocket drop is. The templates thereby determine the size and other playing aspects of the pocket. Such standardization is used especially in snooker and English billiards, for which the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association presently issues pocket templates.. These proprietary templates are tightly controlled, and only provided to approved venues and manufacturers. Each table requires two pairs of templates, as the specifications for corner and centre (side) pockets are entirely different. For each pocket type, one template is used to determine pocket width and other horizontal aspects, while the other measures the face of the cushions including any undercut, the fall of the pocket, and other vertical apsects. See also racking template, training template.

point

1. A unit of scoring, in games such as snooker and straight pool with numerical scoring.

2. A unit of scoring, in team matches in leagues that use numerical scoring instead of simple game/frame win vs. loss ratios.

3. Another term for knuckle / tittie.

pointing

A term used to indicate balls that are frozen, or close enough that no matter from which angle they are hit from the combination will send the outer ball the same direction. "Are the 2 and 7 pointing at the corner?? Okay, I'll use that duck to get position way over there."

pool glasses

Also pool spectacles, pool specs. Same as billiards glasses.

pool glove

A tight, Spandex glove covering usually most or all of the thumb, index finger and middle finger, worn on the bridge hand as a more convenient and less messy alternative to using hand talc, and for the same purpose: a smooth-gliding stroke.

pool shark

See shark (in all senses).

position

The placement of the balls, especially the cue ball, relative to the next planned shot. Also known as shape. See also position play, leave.

position play

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). Further information: Cue sports techniques

pot

1. (verb, chiefly British) To sink a ball into a pocket. See also pocket (verb).

2. (noun, chiefly British) An instance of potting a ball ("it was a good pot considering the angle and distance of the shot").

3. (noun) Pooled money being played for in money games or tournaments, as in poker and other gambling activities. This very old term derives from players placing their stakes into a pot or other receptacle before play begins.

pot and tuck

A tactic employed in UK eight-ball pool in which a player calls and pots one of the balls in a favorably lying set, then plays safe, leaving as many of his/her well-placed balls on the table as possible, until the opponents commits a foul or leaves a chance that the player feels warrants an attempt at running out.

potter

A British term for someone with little experience or understanding of the game, who may be skilled at potting individual balls but does not consider tactics such as position or safety; "he's a potter, not a player." Compare U.S. banger.

potting angle

The desired angle that must be created between the path of the cue ball and the path of the object ball upon contact to pot the object ball. It is usually measured to the center of the pocket. See also aiming line.

power draw

Extreme application of draw.

professional foul

A deliberate foul that leaves the balls in a safe position, reducing the risk of giving a frame-winning chance to the opponent. The miss rule in snooker was implemented primarily to discourage the professional fouls.

professional side of the pocket

Also pro side of the pocket; sometimes "of the pocket" is left off the phrase.

The long-rail side of a corner pocket. To "aim for the profession side of the pocket" is to slightly overcut a difficult corner-pocket cut shot, to cheat the pocket, rather than undercutting, especially in nine-ball. Erring too much in this direction is "missing on the professional side of the pocket." It is so called because experienced players understand that on a thin cut, overcutting the object ball to a corner pocket will far more often leave the object ball in an unfavorable position, i.e. along the short rail for the incoming opponent than will an undercut, which often leaves the object ball sitting in front of or nearby the pocket it had been intended for on a miss.

By contrast, in eight-ball, except when both players are shooting at the 8 ball, the incoming player after a miss is shooting for different object balls, so this maxim does not apply, and the opposite may be good strategy as, if the object ball stays near the pocket through an undercut, it is advantageously positioned for a subsequent turn and may block the opponent's use of the pocket.

program

Also (chiefly British) programme. Short for shot program.

push

1. Same as push out.

2. Same as push shot.

push out

As an adjective or compound noun: push-out. A rule in many games (most notably nine-ball, after and only after the break shot), allowing a player to "push out" the cue ball to a new position without having to contact any ball, much less pocket one or drive it to a cushion, but not counting any pocketed ball as valid (other foul rules apply, such as double hits, scratching the cue ball, etc.), with the caveat that the opponent may shoot from the new cue ball position or give the shot back to the pusher who must shoot from the new position. In nine-ball particularly, and derived games such as seven-ball and ten-ball, pocketing the money ball on a push-out results in that ball being respotted (which can be used to strategic advantage in certain circumstances, such as when the break leaves no shot on the ball-on, and failure to hit it would give the incoming player an instant-win combination shot on the money ball).

push shot

Any foul shot in which a player's cue tip stays in contact with the cue ball for more than the momentary time commensurate with a stroked shot. In the game of snooker, it is considered a push if the cue strikes the cue ball more than once in a given shot (a double hit) or if the cue stick, cue ball and ball-on are all in contact together during a shot (if the cue ball and object ball are frozen together, special dispensation is given provided the cue ball is struck at a downward or otherwise "off" angle; that is, not directly into the line of the two balls).

put up money

1. For a player to place money for a wager in an openly visible spot (typically on the hanging light above the table, thus the origin of the phrase); this demonstrates that the money is actually present and obviates any need to demand its production from the loser's pocket. "You want to play for 500? Put it up!"

2. To stake a particular amount of money on a gambling player. "I'll put up another 2000, but you'd better win this time."

3. On a coin-operated bar table, to place one or more coins on the rail, or on the bed of the table under the cushion, as a marker of one's place in line (UK: on queue) to play. "You didn't put your quarters up." And alternative is to put one's name on a list, e.g. on a chalkboard.

pyramid

1. 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.

2. Also pyramids. The game of Russian pyramid or any related game.

pyramid spot

1. In pool, same as foot spot: The spot on which the pyramid is racked. Chiefly British today, but also an American usage ca. World War I.

2. In snooker, same as pink spot: The spot on which the pink ball is placed, in front of the pyramid.