News
Glossary
Terms used across the tour — from rating math to shot names.
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- 10-Ball
- Called-shot rotation on balls 1–10.
- 8-Ball
- Groups of solids and stripes; sink your group then the 8-ball to win.
- 9-Ball
- Rotation game on balls 1–9; legal contact on the lowest ball; pocket the 9 to win.
B
- Ball in hand
- Cue ball can be placed anywhere on the table after an opponent foul.
- Bank shot
- Sending the object ball off a rail into a pocket.
- Break
- The opening shot of a rack.
- Break and run
- Winning a rack in a single visit starting from the break.
- Bye
- A free pass to the next round when there is no opponent.
C
- Called shot
- Shooter must nominate the ball and pocket before the shot.
- Combo
- Combination — pocketing a ball by first striking another.
D
- Double elimination
- Players get a second chance in a losers bracket before being knocked out.
E
- Expected score
- Probability that a player wins a given match based on the rating difference. Drives the Elo update.
F
- Foul
- A rules infraction (miscue, scratch, no rail, etc.) that ends the shooter's visit and typically gives ball-in-hand.
- Frame
- Synonym for rack in some disciplines; a single completed game.
G
- Group stage
- Round-robin groups feeding a knockout stage.
H
- H2H
- Head-to-head — a side-by-side comparison of two players' history against each other.
- Handicap applied
- Badge shown on tournaments where a handicap rule set is active.
- Handicap level (0–9)
- The band a matchup falls into based on the two players' Speedo Rating difference. Level 0 is 'Even', level 9 is the widest gap.
- Handicap rule set
- A named collection of bands (level, diff, race, rule, compensation). Admins can maintain multiple rule sets and choose one per tournament.
- Handicap tournament
- Event where race targets or spots are adjusted based on the rating gap so weaker players have a fair chance.
K
- K-factor
- Maximum rating change per match, maintained by the admin rating settings.
- Kick shot
- Hitting a rail first to contact the object ball.
L
- Lag
- Both players shoot to a rail; closest to the near rail wins the break.
- Live Scores
- Ongoing matches with live win probability, expected frames, and momentum updates.
O
- One Pocket
- Each player owns one corner pocket and scores only there.
P
- Provisional
- A player's rating is marked provisional until they have completed enough rated matches for it to stabilize.
- Push out
- In 9-ball, after the break the shooter may push the cue ball anywhere without needing to hit the lowest ball.
R
- Race to N
- First player to win N racks (games) wins the match.
- Rack
- One game within a match. Also the triangle used to set the balls.
- Rankings
- Tour-wide leaderboard, split into Handicap and Scratch modes.
- Round robin
- Every player plays every other player in the group.
- Run out
- Pocketing all remaining balls in one visit.
S
- Safety
- A defensive shot that leaves the opponent without a clear play.
- Safety battle
- Consecutive safeties as both players try to leave nothing.
- Scratch
- Pocketing the cue ball — a foul in most disciplines.
- Scratch tournament
- Event with no handicap — everyone plays the same race. Rating still updates normally.
- Seed
- Ranking assigned to a player in the draw to keep top players apart.
- Single elimination
- Lose once and you are out. The fastest bracket format.
- Snooker
- Larger table, smaller pockets; reds and colors with a points system.
- Speedo Rating
- Numeric skill score used across the tour. Updated after every rated match using the official Speedo Rating settings.
- Standings
- Discipline-specific results table for a tournament.
- Straight Pool (14.1)
- Continuous pocketing to a target score (e.g. 100).
- Swiss
- Fixed number of rounds; each round pairs players with similar scores. No elimination.
T
- TBD
- "To be determined" — the slot's player is not yet known.
W
- Walk over
- A match awarded because the opponent did not show.