Glossary of Cue Sports Terms - R

R

race

A predetermined, fixed number of games players must win to win a match; "a race to seven" means whomever wins seven games first wins the match. See also ahead race for a more specialized usage.

rack (noun)

1. A geometric form, usually aluminum, wooden or plastic, used to assist in setting up balls in games like eight-ball, nine-ball, and snooker. The rack allows for more consistently tight grouping of balls, which is necessary for a successful break shot. In most games a triangle-shaped rack capable of holding fifteen balls can be employed, even if the game calls for racking less than a full ball set, such as in the game of nine-ball. For further information, see the Rack (billiards) main article.

2. Used to refer to a racked group of balls before they have been broken.

3. In some games, refers to a single frame.

4. Colloquial shorthand for "a set of balls".

5. Short for cue rack, wall rack or scoring rack when such abbreviation would not be ambiguous.

rack (verb)

The act of setting up the balls for a break shot. In tournament play this will be done by the referee, but in lower-level play, players either rack for themselves or for each other depending on convention.

racking template

An outgrowth of the training template concept, a racking template is a racking tool used in place of a traditional rigid ball rack for pool or snooker balls, consisting of a very thin, e.g. 0.14 mm (0.0055 in), sheet of material such as paper or plastic with holes into which object balls settle snugly against one another to form a tight rack (pack). The template is placed, stencil-like, in racking position, with the lead ball's hole directly over the center of the foot spot. The balls are then placed onto the template and arranged to settle into their holes, forming a tight rack. Unlike with a training template, the balls are not tapped to create divots, and instead the template is left in place until after the break shot at which time it can be removed (unless balls are still sitting on top of it). Manufacturers such as Magic Ball Rack insist that racking templates are designed "to affect the balls to a minimum", and while pro player Mika Immonen has endorsed that particular brand as a retail product, as of September 2010, no professional tours nor amateur leagues have adopted that or any other racking template. Although Magic Ball Rack implies development work since 2006, other evidence suggests invention, by Magic Ball Rack's founder, in mid 2009, with product announcement taking place in September of that year.

rail

Also (uncommonly) cushion rail. The sides of a table's frame upon which the elastic cushion are mounted and in which the diamonds (sights) are inlaid (on tables which possess them). The term often used interchangeably with cushion.

rake

Same as mechanical bridge; so-called because of its typical shape.

rat in

To pocket a ball by luck; "he ratted in the 9 ball"; usually employed disapprovingly. See also slop.

rebound angle

Same as angle of reflection.

red ball

Also red(s), the red(s).

1. In snooker, any of the 15 balls worth 1 point each that can be potted in any order. During the course of a break a player must first pot a red followed by a colour, and then a red and colour, etc., until the reds run out and then the re-spotted six colours must be cleared in their order. Potting more than one red in a single shot is not a foul – the player simply gets a point for each red potted. Red balls are never numbered "1" on their surface, even in (primarily American) sets in which the colours are numbered with their values.

2. In blackball, one of two groups of seven object balls that must be potted before the black. Reds are spotted before yellows, if balls from both group must be spotted at the same time. Compare stripes; contrast yellow ball.

3. In carom billiards, the object ball that is neither player's cue ball.

referee

The person in charge of the game whose primary role is to ensure adherence by both players to the appropriate rules of the game being played. Other duties of the referee include racking each frame, re-spotting balls during the course of a game, maintaining the equipment associated with the table (e.g. keeping the balls clean), controlling the crowd and, if necessary, controlling the players. Formerly sometimes referred to as the umpire.

re-rack

1. In snooker, the abandonment of a frame upon agreement between the players, so that the balls can be set up again and the frame restarted with no change to the score since the last completed frame. This is the result of situations, such as trading of containing safeties, where there is no foreseeable change to the pattern of shots being played, so the frame could go on indefinitely.

2. In pool, placing of the object balls back in the rack, after a foul break.

re-spot

Also respot.

1. Same as re-spotted black.

2. Same as spot (verb), sense 1 (pool) and sense 2 (snooker).

re-spotted black

In snooker, a situation where the scores are tied after all the balls have been potted, and the black ball is re-spotted and the first player to pot it wins. The players toss for the first shot, which must be taken with the cue ball in the D. A safety battle typically ensues, until an error allows a player to pot the black, or a fluke or a difficult pot is made.

rest

A chiefly British term for a set of mechanical bridges. British-style rests differ from most American-style rake bridges in shape, and take several forms: the cross, the spider and the swan (or goose neck), as well as the rarer and often unsanctioned hook. When used unqualified, the word usually refers to the cross. Rests are used in snooker, English billiards, and blackball.

reverse english

Side spin on the cue ball that causes it to unnaturally roll off a cushion (contacted at an angle) against rather than with the ball's momentum and direction of travel. If angling into a cushion that is on the right, then reverse english would be right english, and vice versa. The angle of deflection will be steeper (narrower) than if no english were applied. The opposite of running english, which has effects other than simply the opposites of those of reverse english.

right

Short for right english (side), i.e. side spin imparted to the cue ball by stroking it to the right-hand side of its vertical axis. Contrast left.

ring game

1. A style of game play in which as many players are allowed to join as the participants choose, and anyone can quit at any time. The term, most often used in the context of gambling, is borrowed from poker. The folk games three-ball and killer are usually played as open ring games, as is Kelly pool.

2. By extension, a multi-player game that anyone may initially join, but which has a fixed roster of competitors once it begins, is sometimes also called a ring game. Cutthroat is, by its nature, such a game. A famous regular ring game event of this sort is the Grady Mathews-hosted six-player, $3000-buy-in ring ten-ball competition at the annual Derby City Classic.

3. A nine-ball ring game is played by more than two players and has special rules. Typically, the players choose a random method for setting the order of play, with the winner breaking. Safeties are not allowed and there are two or more money balls – usually the five and nine.

road map

A pool table spread in which the balls are extremely easily positioned for a run out, and where little movement of the cue ball on each shot is necessary to obtain position on the next.

road player

A highly skilled hustler making money gambling while traveling. Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler was a road player. One of the most notorious real-life road players is Keith McCready.

rob

1. (Transitive, "to rob") Playing an opponent for money who has a very low chance of winning based on disparity of skill levels.

2. (Intransitive, "to be robbed") Usually unwittingly playing an opponent for money who has a very high chance of winning based on disparity of skill levels.

3. (Intransitive, "to be robbed") Used humorously in exclamations when a shot that looks like it would work did not, as in "Oh! You got robbed on that one!"

rock

Colloquial term for an unusually hard, heavy cue ball made of ceramic instead of the phenolic resin or other modern, resilient plastics most billiard balls are made of. "Rock" cue balls are frequently found on older coin-operated bar tables that do not have magnetic ball-return mechanisms. As with oversized "grapefruit" cue balls, the ball return works because the cue ball is considerably heavier than, and thereby distinguishable from, the object balls. Because of their brittle material, rocks wear out faster that normal cue balls, are prone to chippings, and due to their density also shorten the lifespan of the object balls and the cloth. Their weight has a strong effect on play, as they are difficult to draw (screw), stop and stun, and generate a large amount of smash-through, compared to standard and magnetic cue balls, but do not reduce cut shot accuracy like grapefruit balls.

rocking cannon

Chiefly British: Same as chuck nurse.

roll

1. Describes lucky or unlucky "rolls" of the cue ball; "I had good rolls all night; "that was a bad roll." However, when said without an adjective ascribing good or bad characteristics to it, "roll" usually refers to a positive outcome such as in "he sure got a roll".

2. The roll: same as the lag.

roll-up

A gentle tap of the cue ball with the intention of getting it as tight as possible behind an object ball, in the hope of a snooker. It is most common in the game of snooker, and is often results in a foul in many pool games, in which on every shot, after the cue ball has contacted a legal object ball (a ball-on, then either any ball must contact a cushion or any object ball must be pocketed (potted). A roll-up can be legal in such games when the object ball used for the tactic is very close to a cushion, so that either it or the cue ball lightly touch the cushion after ball-on-ball contact.

rotation

1. Descriptive of any game in which the object balls must be struck in numerical order. Billiard researcher Mike Shamos observes that it would be more intuitive to call such games "'series' or 'sequence'". The term actually derives from the set-up of the game Chicago, in which the balls are not racked, but placed numerically around the table along the cushions (and must to be shot in ascending order). Other common rotation games include pool (obviously), nine-ball, seven-ball, ten-ball

2. The specific pool game of rotation.

round

1. A multi-game division of a match, as used in some league and tournament formats. For example, in a match between 2 teams of 5 players each, a 25-game match might be divided into 5 rounds of 5 games each, in which the roster of one team moves one line down at the beginning of each round, such that by the end of the match every player on team A has played every player on team B in round robin fashion.

2. A level of competition elimination in a tournament, such as the quarterfinal round, semifinal round and final round.

round robin

A tournament format in which each contestant plays each of the other contestants at least once. In typical league team play, round robin format means that each member of the home team plays each member of the visiting team once. This format is used by BCAPL, VNEA and many other leagues. Contrast one-on-one.

round the angles

Describing a shot which requires one or more balls to be played off several cushions, such as an elaborate escape or a positional shot; "he'll have to send the cue ball round the angles to get good position."

rubber match

The deciding match between two tied opponents. Compare hill-hill.

ruckus

A British term (especially in snooker) for the splitting of a group of balls when another ball is sent into them, typically with the intent of deliberately moving them with the cue ball to develop them.

run

The number of balls pocketed in an inning in pool (e.g., a run of five balls), or points scored in a row in carom billiards (e.g., a run of five points). Compare British break (sense 2), which is applied to pool as well as snooker in British English.

run out

1. (verb) Make all of the required shots in a game without the opponent ever getting to the table or getting back to the table

2. (noun) usually run-out, sometimes runout) An instance of running out in a game.

run the table

Similar to run out (sense 1), but more specific to making all required shots from the start of a rack. See also break and run, break and dish.

running english

Side spin on the cue ball that causes it to roll off a cushion (contacted at an angle) with rather than against the ball's natural momentum and direction of travel. If angling into a rail that is on the right, then running english would be left english, and vice versa. The angle of deflection will be wider than if no english were applied to the cue ball. But more importantly, because the ball is rolling instead of sliding against the rail, the angle will be more consistent. For this reason, running English is routinely used. Also called running side in British terminology. Contrast reverse english.