How long should a snooker practice session be?

Long enough to concentrate on every shot. For most club players 30 to 60 minutes of structured practice, with a target for each routine, does more than hours of potting whatever is in front of them. The article has a 30 minute and a 60 minute plan.

Snooker · 10 min read

Snooker Practice Routines: 7 Drills with Table Layouts, Targets and a Session Plan

Q: What is the line-up in snooker?

The line-up is a break-building routine: the 15 reds are placed in a line up the middle of the table, the colours go on their spots, and you try to clear the table red, colour, red, colour, as in a real break. You count the break and try to beat your best score.

Q: How can I practise snooker on my own?

All seven routines in this article are solo: straight cueing over the spots, long blue, the black off its spot, the colours, the line-up, reds around the black and a pace drill back to baulk. Each has a fixed layout and a target, so you can record a score and see whether you are improving.

Q: What is a good line-up score?

There is no official scale. As a rough guide for club players, a 20 to 30 break in the line-up is a good start, 50 shows solid cueing and positional play, and clearances of 100 or more are the level serious amateurs and professionals work at.

Updated 9 November 2026 · Solo routines for a full-size 12 ft table · Layouts drawn to scale

The seven routines, and what each one trains:

Straight cueing over the spots: a straight delivery.
Long blue: long potting and cue ball control with stun and screw.
The black off its spot: the most-played pot in a break.
The colours: position from one spot to the next.
The line-up: break-building with all 15 reds.
Reds around the black: short-range position in the money zone.
Back to baulk: pace, the basis of safety play.

Potting balls at random feels like practice but teaches very little, because you never play the same shot twice and you never know whether you are getting better. A routine fixes both problems: the layout is the same every time, and there is a score to beat. All seven routines below can be played alone. The layouts are drawn to scale on a 12 ft table (3569 × 1778 mm playing area), with the baulk end on the left.

The pass marks are our suggestions for club players, not an official standard. Move to the harder version of a routine once you reach its pass mark in two sessions in a row.

The routines

1. Straight cueing over the spots

Set-up: Cue ball on the brown spot, no other balls.
How: Play a smooth plain-ball stroke straight up the table over the blue, pink and black spots. The cue ball hits the top cushion and comes back down the same line.
Target: 7 out of 10 return over the spots and finish within a ball's width of the brown spot, or hit your cue tip if you hold the cue still on the line.
Harder: Start from the baulk cushion, so the ball travels the full length twice.

This is the purest test of a straight cue. If the cue ball comes back to one side every time, the cue is crossing the line, which you can fix only with a straighter delivery (see snooker cue action).

2. Long blue

Set-up: Blue on its spot. Cue ball on the line from a top corner pocket through the blue, about 90 cm behind the blue.
How: Ten pots with plain ball. Then ten with stun, so the cue ball stops dead where the blue was. Then ten with screw, bringing the cue ball back towards baulk.
Target: 7 out of 10 for each set. Count a stun only if the cue ball stops within a ball's width of the blue spot.
Harder: Move the cue ball further back towards baulk, and alternate between the two top corners.

It is a long, straight pot, so any miss is the delivery, not the aim. How to aim in snooker shows why a tenth of a degree is enough to miss over this distance, and the screw shot covers the screw back.

3. The black off its spot

Set-up: Black on its spot. Cue ball about 50 cm away, first for a straight pot into a top corner, then for a half-ball pot (the second position in the diagram).
How: Pot the black, re-spot it, put the cue ball back and repeat. Alternate the two top corners.
Target: 8 out of 10 straight, 6 out of 10 half-ball.
Harder: After each pot, the cue ball has to finish in the area between the pink and black spots, as if you were staying on the black in a break.

4. The colours

Set-up: All six colours on their spots, no reds. Cue ball in hand in the D.
How: Pot yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black in that order, as at the end of a frame. Your score is the total value potted before the first miss: 27 is a full clearance.
Target: Beginners: yellow to blue (15) in 1 attempt out of 5. Club players: a full clearance in 1 attempt out of 5.
Harder: Put the cue ball where the previous colour was each time you restart, rather than in the D.

The colours teach position more than potting: each pot is fairly easy, but only if the cue ball arrives on the right side of the next colour.

5. The line-up

Set-up: All 15 reds in a line up the middle of the table between the brown and the black, leaving the colour spots free. Colours on their spots. Cue ball in hand in the D for the first shot.
How: Clear the table as in a real break: red, colour, red, colour, with colours re-spotted until the reds are gone, then the colours in order. Count the break. A miss ends the attempt.
Target: A 20 to 30 break is a good start, 50 shows solid cueing and position, and 100 or more is the level serious amateurs work at.
Harder: Use only the black (or only pink and black) after each red.

The line-up is one of the most widely used break-building routines because it rewards exactly what wins frames: getting from one ball to the next. Snooker break building has more on planning a break.

6. Reds around the black

Set-up: Black on its spot and six reds in a ring around it, about 17 cm from the black spot to each red's centre. Cue ball near the pink spot.
How: Pot a red, then the black, re-spot the black and go on. A ball potted after disturbing a red still counts; a miss ends the attempt.
Target: All six reds with a black after each: 48 points.
Harder: Eight reds in the ring, or no red may touch another during the clearance.

Most of a big break is played in this small area, with short shots that need precise pace. The ring forces you to think one shot ahead every time.

7. Back to baulk

Set-up: Cue ball on the brown spot, no other balls.
How: Play the cue ball up the table, off the top cushion, so it comes back and finishes in the shaded zone, within about 30 cm of the baulk cushion.
Target: 7 out of 10 in the zone without touching the baulk cushion.
Harder: Place a red near the top cushion and play a thin contact on it first, as in a real safety shot.

Most safety shots are about pace: getting the cue ball back to baulk and stopping it there. Snooker safety play covers the shots themselves.

Session plans

Time	30 minute session	60 minute session
Warm-up	Straight cueing, 5 min	Straight cueing, 10 min
Potting	Long blue, 10 min	Long blue, 10 min · the black, 10 min
Position	The line-up, 15 min	The colours, 10 min · the line-up, 15 min
Pace	–	Back to baulk, 5 min

Swap reds around the black in for the colours on alternate days. Keep each block short enough that you are still concentrating on every shot; a tired, careless session teaches bad habits.

Record card

Write down one score per routine per session. Patterns show up within a couple of weeks, for example long blue improving while the line-up stays flat, which tells you to spend more time on position. Use the button at the top to print this page or save it as a PDF; the card prints with the layouts.

Routine	Target	Score	Score	Score	Score	Score
1. Straight cueing	7/10
2. Long blue (plain / stun / screw)	7/10 each
3. The black (straight / half-ball)	8/10 · 6/10
4. The colours	27 in 1 of 5
5. The line-up	30 → 50 → 100
6. Reds around the black	48
7. Back to baulk	7/10

Common practice mistakes

No score. Without a number you cannot tell a good session from a bad one, and you will drift towards the shots you already like.
A different layout every time. Use the spots, or mark positions with a small piece of chalk or a ball marker, so a score today means the same as a score last week.
Only potting. Breaks are lost on position and frames on safety. Routines 4 to 7 are where most club players have the most to gain.
Changing technique mid-routine. Finish the set, then think about what went wrong. Fiddling with the stance between shots makes the score meaningless.

No table today?

The AimGeometry trainer runs in the browser, free, and gives you a score after every shot: how far off line you were, thick or thin, and by how many degrees. The practice table is a 9 ft pool table and the physics models top and screw but not side, so it is best for the aiming and cue ball control parts of these routines. Our pool drills for beginners follow the same idea of pass marks.

Open the trainer →

FAQ

What is the line-up in snooker?

A break-building routine: the 15 reds in a line up the middle of the table, the colours on their spots, and you clear red, colour, red, colour as in a real break, counting the score.

How can I practise snooker on my own?

All seven routines here are solo, each with a fixed layout and a target, so you can record a score and track whether you are improving.

How long should a practice session be?

Long enough to concentrate on every shot. For most club players, 30 to 60 minutes of structured practice with targets does more than hours of aimless potting.

What is a good line-up score?

There is no official scale. As a rough guide: 20 to 30 is a good start, 50 shows solid cueing and position, and 100 or more is serious amateur level.

Layouts are drawn to scale from the WPBSA table dimensions (3569 × 1778 mm playing area, baulk line 737 mm from the baulk cushion, D radius 292 mm, black spot 324 mm from the top cushion); ball positions not on a spot are approximate. Pass marks are our suggestions, not an official standard. This article contains no sponsored or affiliate links.