Billiards vs Pool vs Snooker: The Differences, to Scale
Billiards, strictly, means carom billiards: three balls, a table with no pockets, and points for making your cue ball hit both other balls.
Pool is played on a six-pocket table with a cue ball and 15 numbered balls, in games like 8-ball and 9-ball.
Snooker uses the biggest table (about 12 × 6 ft), 22 smaller balls, and is won on points.
All three are played with a cue on a cloth-covered table, and in casual speech the words get swapped all the time. But they are different sports, with different equipment and different skills, and one of the words means different games depending on which country you are in. Here is the difference, with the official numbers and the tables drawn to scale.
Why "billiards" is confusing
- In the United States, "billiards" is the umbrella word for all cue sports, and people often use it to mean pool. A "billiard hall" is usually a pool hall, and the Billiard Congress of America governs pool.
- In the UK, "billiards" means English billiards: a three-ball game played on a full-size snooker table, with points for pots, in-offs and cannons.
- In continental Europe, Asia and Latin America, "billiards" usually means carom games, above all three-cushion, played on a pocketless table.
So when someone says "billiards", the first question is where they are from. The rest of this article uses billiards for the pocketless carom games, pool for the six-pocket games, and snooker for snooker.
Side by side
| Pool (US) | Snooker | Carom billiards | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playing area | 9 ft table: 100 × 50 in (254 × 127 cm). Also 8 ft and 7 ft | 3569 × 1778 mm (11 ft 8½ in × 5 ft 10 in), the "12-foot" table | 2.84 × 1.42 m on a match table (10 ft) |
| Pockets | 6. Corner mouth 4.5–4.625 in, about two balls wide | 6, rounded, for a smaller ball | None |
| Balls | 16: cue ball + 15 numbered | 22: cue ball, 15 reds, 6 colours | 3: two cue balls + one red |
| Ball size | 2¼ in (57.15 mm) | 52.5 mm | 61–61.5 mm |
| How you win | Legally pocket the game ball (the 8 in 8-ball, the 9 in 9-ball) | Score more points in the frame; reds 1, colours 2–7 | Reach a target number of points; one point per successful carom |
| Best-known games | 8-ball, 9-ball, 10-ball, straight pool | Snooker (also English billiards on the same table) | Three-cushion, straight rail, balkline |
| Governing body | World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) | WPBSA | UMB (world), CEB (Europe) |
| Where it's big | US, Philippines, Taiwan, Europe, worldwide | UK, Ireland, China, Hong Kong, Thailand | Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, South Korea, Vietnam, Colombia |
The tables, drawn to scale
Pool: the six-pocket game most people know
Pool is what you find in American bars, basements and pool halls, and it is the most widely played of the three. The cue ball and 15 object balls are all the same size, 2¼ in, and the pockets are generous: the WPA specification puts the mouth of a corner pocket at 4.5 to 4.625 in, roughly two balls wide.
The games differ in what you have to pocket:
- 8-ball: one player takes the solids (1–7), the other the stripes (9–15); clear your group, then pocket the 8. The rules people argue about most (scratching on the 8, calling shots) are covered in our 8-ball rules guide.
- 9-ball: only balls 1 to 9; you must hit the lowest-numbered ball first, and whoever legally pockets the 9 wins. See how to play American pool.
- Straight pool and 10-ball are the other main tournament games.
English pool is a separate branch. The pub game in the UK and Ireland uses 7 reds, 7 yellows and a black on a 6 or 7 ft table, usually with 2-inch balls, and has its own rules (different foul penalties, a "D" to break from). The World Rules themselves do not fix the table or ball size. The details are in English pool vs American pool.
Snooker: the biggest table and the smallest margin
Snooker was invented by British army officers in India in the 1870s as a variation on the billiards games of the day. It is played on the largest table of the three, with 15 reds worth 1 point each and six colours worth 2 to 7. You alternate a red and a colour, then clear the colours in order, and the player with more points wins the frame. Professional matches are played over a set number of frames; see how long a snooker match takes.
What makes snooker so demanding is the combination of size and tolerance. The table is twice the area of a 9-foot pool table, the balls are smaller, and the rounded pockets are much less forgiving of a ball that hits the jaw. A long pot that would drop on a pool table rattles out on a snooker table. Scoring also runs on points rather than "first to pocket the last ball", so fouls hand points to the opponent and safety play is a big part of the game. Our guide to snooker rules explains fouls, the free ball and the miss rule.
Billiards: no pockets at all (carom), or three balls on a snooker table
Carom billiards
A carom table has no pockets. There are three balls: two cue balls (one for each player) and a red. You score a point when your cue ball hits both of the other balls in one shot. In the most popular version, three-cushion, your cue ball must also touch the cushions at least three times before it reaches the second ball, which turns every shot into a geometry problem. The European federation's equipment rules set the match table at 2.84 × 1.42 m between the cushions and the balls at 61 to 61.5 mm, the biggest of any cue sport.
English billiards
English billiards is played on a snooker table with three balls: a white and a yellow (one cue ball each) and a red. Under the WPBSA rules a cannon (hitting both other balls), potting the white or yellow, or going in-off them scores 2; potting the red or going in-off it scores 3. It is the older game snooker grew out of, and it is still played at amateur and professional level.
Which should you play?
- Pool is the easiest to start: tables are everywhere, pockets are generous, and a game of 8-ball takes minutes.
- Snooker rewards precision and patience. If you can pot balls consistently on a snooker table, pool pockets will feel huge.
- Carom is the purest test of angles and spin, since nothing ever drops into a pocket.
The aiming geometry is the same in all three: the ghost-ball method, cut angles and the tangent line work on any table. What changes is the size of the target and the cost of a miss.
Train the geometry that every cue sport shares
AimGeometry is a free browser trainer: aim lines, cut angles and the cue ball's path are drawn on the table, and every shot tells you how far off you were. Start with the overview of the games, then try the aiming lessons.
Open the games overview lesson →FAQ
Is billiards the same as pool?
In everyday American English, often yes: people say billiards and mean pool. Strictly, billiards is the pocketless carom game, or in the UK, English billiards.
Can you play pool on a snooker table?
Not properly. Pool balls (57.15 mm) are bigger than snooker balls (52.5 mm) and the pockets are cut for snooker balls, and the table is twice the size. Some clubs keep tables that can be switched, but a real snooker table and a real pool table are different pieces of equipment.
How much bigger is a snooker table than a pool table?
A snooker table's playing area is 3569 × 1778 mm; a 9-foot pool table's is 100 × 50 in (254 × 127 cm). That is about 1.4 times as long and wide, and almost exactly twice the area.
Which is harder, snooker or pool?
For potting, snooker: the bigger table, smaller balls and tighter pockets leave less room for error. Pool has its own skills (the break, running racks, safeties under ball-in-hand), but most players find snooker less forgiving.
What is the hardest cue sport?
There is no official answer. Snooker is the hardest for potting; three-cushion billiards is often called the hardest for position and spin, because every point needs the cue ball to travel around the table along an exact path.
Related reading: English Pool vs American Pool · 8-Ball Rules · Snooker Rules Explained · How Long Is a Snooker Match? · The Geometry of Pool
Sources: WPA equipment specifications (pool table, ball and pocket sizes); WPBSA Official Rules of the Games of Snooker and English Billiards, September 2024 edition (snooker table and balls, English billiards scoring); CEB (European Carom Billiards Confederation) Material Norms, 2024 (carom table and balls). The 7-foot bar box and the 2-inch English pool ball are common sizes, not figures from a rulebook. This article contains no sponsored or affiliate links.