Pool and snooker: how the two games differ

Pool and snooker are often lumped together as "billiards", but they share little beyond the cue and the cloth. The table is much bigger in snooker, the balls are smaller and more numerous, and the winner is decided by points rather than by clearing a group of balls. The figures below are the standard ones for each game, and they show how different the two feel to play.

The table

A full-size snooker table is described as 12 ft by 6 ft. As with pool, the nominal size is not the cloth you play on. The playing area, measured between the cushions, is about 3,569 mm by 1,778 mm, or 140.5 by 70.0 in. A 9-foot pool table plays 100 by 50 in, which is 2,540 by 1,270 mm. Both tables are twice as long as they are wide, to within a fraction of a percent: 3,569 / 1,778 = 2.007.

The snooker table is 1.405 times as long and wide as the 9-foot pool table (3,569 / 2,540), so its area is 1.405 squared, about 1.97 times as large: 6.35 square metres against 3.23. The table sizes post covers the 7, 8 and 9-foot pool sizes in more detail.

The balls

Snooker balls are 52.5 mm across. American pool balls are 2.25 in, which is 57.15 mm, so a pool ball is about 8.9% wider (57.15 / 52.5 = 1.089). The bigger table and smaller balls multiply: along its length, the snooker table is 3,569 / 52.5 = 68.0 snooker balls long and 33.9 wide. The 9-foot pool table is 100 / 2.25 = 44.4 pool balls long and 22.2 wide. Measured in balls, snooker is about 1.5 times the table in each direction (68.0 / 44.4 = 1.53), and the pockets are cut tighter relative to the balls, which is much of why snooker potting is harder.

The counts differ too:

• Snooker: 22 balls. That is the white cue ball, 15 reds and six colours (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black).
• 8-ball pool: 16 balls, the cue ball and 15 numbered object balls.
• 9-ball pool: 10 balls, the cue ball and the 1 to 9.

Pool balls are told apart by number, solid or stripe. Snooker balls carry no numbers at all; each colour has a fixed value, and the player has to know them.

How you win

In 8-ball you claim a group of seven and then pocket the black 8, as the 8-ball rules post sets out. In 9-ball you hit the lowest-numbered ball first, and pocketing the 9 wins; see the 9-ball rules post. Neither game keeps a running score within a rack.

Snooker is scored. A frame is won by the player with more points when the balls are gone, and a match is a set number of frames. The values are:

• Red 1, yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6, black 7.

A turn at the table is a sequence: pot a red, then pot a colour of your choice, then another red, and so on. Colours are put back on their spots after being potted while any reds remain. Once the reds are gone, the six colours are potted in ascending order of value and stay down. That last stretch is worth 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 27 points.

The maximum break

A break is the run of points scored in one visit. The best possible one follows from the values. Pot a red, then the black (7), fifteen times over: 15 × (1 + 7) = 120. Then clear the colours in order for 27 more. The total is 120 + 27 = 147, the maximum break. No such counting exists in pool, where there is no points total to build and the equivalent feat is a "run-out" of the rack.

Take the black away from the red-black pattern and the sums shrink fast: a red followed by a yellow every time would give 15 × 3 + 27 = 72.

Fouls and what they cost

The penalties reflect the scoring. In snooker a foul gives the opponent points, a minimum of 4 and up to 7 depending on the ball involved, and the opponent may also make you play again from where the balls lie. Because points are the currency, a foul is a direct debit from your score.

In pool the standard penalty is positional. Under the usual WPA rules a foul hands the opponent ball in hand, which means they can place the cue ball anywhere on the table, as the rules posts explain. No points change hands, but you may lose the table.

Snooker also has a concept pool lacks in the same form: being snookered, where a ball blocks your direct line to every ball you are allowed to hit. A snooker is a deliberate safety, and a good one can win a frame. The safety play post covers the pool version, where the aim is the same: leave nothing.

Practising the pool side

Everything that transfers between the games is the basic mechanics: cut angle, cue-ball control, speed. 8balls: Pool & Billiards is a pool game, with 8-ball and 9-ball, an overhead and an aiming view, and adjustable aim, power and cue-ball spin, so it suits practising those skills at your own pace.