8AimGeometry

Snooker Guide for Beginners

Snooker is played with 22 balls: 15 reds worth 1 point each, six colours worth 2 (yellow) to 7 (black), and the white cue ball. You pot a red, then a colour, and repeat; once the reds are gone, the colours go down in order from yellow to black. The highest normal break is 147.

The table is 12 ft long (a 3569 × 1778 mm playing area), the balls are smaller than pool balls and the pockets are tight, so a straight cue action, long potting and safety matter more than in pool. This page collects every snooker guide on the site, by rules, technique, strategy and practice.

Rules3 articlesTechnique9 articlesStrategy & Safety3 articlesPractice1 articleEvents & History4 articles

Rules3 articles

Scoring, fouls, the free ball and the miss, the Shoot Out format and how long matches last.

Snooker Rules Explained: Points, Fouls, Free Ball & the Miss RuleBall values, foul points, when the referee calls a free ball, and why there is no miss once snookers are required. From the WPBSA rulebook, with a snookers-required calculator.Snooker Shoot Out Rules: The Shot Clock, Fouls and the Blue Ball Shoot-OutOne 10-minute frame, a 15 then 10 second shot clock, a cushion or a pot every shot, ball in hand after any foul and a blue ball tie-break. Plus 2026 prize money and every winner.How Long Is a Snooker Match? Times from 107 Pro MatchesWe timed 107 professional matches: about 2 h 15 for a best-of-7, 3 h 30 for a best-of-11. Plus the format of every round and why a World Championship final takes two days.

Technique9 articles

Stance, grip and bridge, cue action, aiming, spin, long potting, the rest and tip care.

How to Aim in Snooker: The Ghost Ball, Sighting and Why Tiny Errors MissAim the cue ball's centre at the ghost ball, judge pots as fractions, set the line standing up and look at the object ball last. On a long pot, 0.1° off line is a ball's width at the pocket.Snooker Stance — Feet, Weight, AlignmentStance is the foundation under cue action — get it wrong and nothing else works. The 4 parts of a proper stance, the alignment test, and the 5 mistakes that wreck potting.Snooker Grip and Bridge Hand: Where to Hold the Cue and How Long a BridgeGrip where your forearm hangs vertical, hold it lightly, keep the wrist straight, build a firm V bridge 25 to 30 cm from the cue ball and raise or lower it for top and screw. Plus the rules.Snooker Cue Action — The Pendulum Stroke ExplainedThe single biggest gap between club players and tournament players is cue action. Four-phase anatomy, six common mistakes, and five drills to groove it in 30 minutes a day.Spin in Snooker Explained: Top, Stun, Screw and Side, and Where the Cue Ball GoesWhere to hit the cue ball for each spin, why a stun stops dead on a straight pot and leaves at 90° on a cut, how far a centre-ball shot slides, the stun run-through and the drag.Snooker Screw Shot — How to Bring the Cue Ball BackEssential for break building and positional play. The 3 levels of screw (stun-back, medium, deep), the 5 mistakes that kill it, and a 4-week drill plan.Snooker Side Spin — Running vs Check Side ExplainedThe most-misused tool in club snooker. The 3 effects of side, when to use running vs check, and how to manage squirt and swerve without wrecking your aim.Snooker Long Potting — 5 Drills to Build ConfidenceLong pots win frames; missed long pots wreck them. The three reasons most miss, and five progressive drills that turn the 12-ft table from intimidating to routine.How to Use the Snooker Rest — Cross Rest, Spider, Swan & Half-ButtThe rest is needed on 20-25% of snooker shots — but most amateurs treat it as the awkward backup. The 4 rest types, the 4 stance changes, and 3 drills.

All technique guides (9) →

Strategy & Safety3 articles

Break-building, opening the pack and safety play.

Snooker Break Building — How to String Your First 30+Getting from "one ball, then I'm done" to a real 30 break is the threshold that separates pub players from snooker players. Four habits that get you there.Snooker: Opening the Pack of Reds — 4 Cluster-Splitting TechniquesMost amateur breaks die because the pack never opens. Four techniques to split reds without losing the cue ball, ranked by control.Snooker Safety Play for Pool Players: 5 Patterns to StealPool players rarely play safety. Snooker players play half a frame of it. Five safety patterns every cue-sports player should have in their toolkit.

Practice1 article

Routines with to-scale layouts and pass marks.

Snooker Practice Routines: 7 Drills with Table Layouts, Targets and a Session PlanStraight cueing, long blue, the black off its spot, the colours, the line-up, reds around the black and a pace drill. Each with a to-scale layout, a pass mark and a printable record card.

Events & History4 articles

Prize money, how the world rankings work, tour cards and Q School, and the Triple Crown events.

Snooker Prize Money 2026/27: Every Event and Round£625,000 for the world champion, £312,500 at the UK Championship. Every 2026/27 event ranked by winner's prize, round-by-round payouts, the one-year money list, what counts for the rankings and tax.How Snooker Rankings Work: The Two-Year Money ListPrize money from ranking events over a rolling two years, updated after every event. What drops off and when, what does not count, seeding cut-offs, the one-year list and the top-64 cut.Snooker Tour Cards and Q School: How Players Turn Pro128 players, two-year cards and a top-64 cut-off. Every route onto the tour in 2026/27, how Q School works and what it costs, the Q Tour, invitational cards and losing a card.Snooker Triple Crown: The Events, Winners and RecordsThe World Championship, UK Championship and Masters compared, 2026/27 prize money, the 11 players who have won all three, and who is one title short.

From other sections, also useful for Snooker7 articles

Pool guides that also cover snooker: how the games differ, racking a snooker frame and the cut angle chart.

Snooker Chalk & Cue Tip Maintenance — Stop MiscueingMost miscues trace to a worn tip or wrong chalk. The 4 tip-care habits, the difference between major chalk brands, and when to re-tip.Billiards vs Pool vs Snooker: The Differences, to ScaleTable sizes drawn to scale, ball sizes, pockets and scoring from the official specifications, and why "billiards" means different games in the US, the UK and Europe.Snooker Cue vs Pool Cue: Tip, Length, Weight and JointAbout 9.5 mm against 13 mm at the tip, ash and brass against maple and fibre, one-piece or 3/4 joints against a centre joint, and whether you can use one for the other game.Cue Tip Size and Hardness: What Actually Changes a ShotA softer tip does not give more spin. Typical tip sizes for pool, snooker and UK pool cues, what diameter and hardness really change, tip shape, layered tips and when to replace.Pool and Snooker Ball Sizes: mm, Inches and Weight ChartPool 57.15 mm, snooker 52.5 mm, UK pool 2 in with a smaller cue ball, carom 61–61.5 mm. Every size and weight with its rulebook source, drawn to scale.How to Rack Pool Balls: 8-Ball, 9-Ball, 10-Ball, UK and SnookerWhere the foot spot is, where the 8 and the 9 go, how to rack red and yellow balls and set up a snooker table, with to-scale diagrams and the rules behind each rack.Pool Cut Angle Chart: Overlap and Aim Point for Every Angle from 0° to 85°Overlap = 1 − sin(cut angle). Overlap, aim offset in inches and millimetres, object ball speed and the stun-shot cue ball path for every angle, plus a simulator you can drag.

Practice drills3 drills

Free in your browser: every shot tells you how far off you were.

Snooker Rules for Beginners — Scoring in 10 MinutesSnooker vs Pool Table — How the Geometry ChangesSnooker Safety Play — Practice Drills for Beginners

Snooker scores and data

Live scores, schedule, results, the season calendar, world rankings and match reports, updated hourly.

Live scoresResultsScheduleCalendarWorld rankingsMatch reports
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Pool20 articlesEquipment5 articlesAll guides

FAQ

What is a maximum break in snooker?

147: all 15 reds, each followed by the black (15 × 8 = 120), then the six colours (2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 27). A higher break is possible only after a free ball is awarded while reds are still on the table; the theoretical maximum is 155.

What are the snooker Triple Crown events?

The World Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters, the three most prestigious events on the tour.

Is snooker harder than pool?

Most players find it harder to pot in: the table is bigger, the balls are smaller and the pockets are tighter, so small aiming errors are magnified. How to aim in snooker shows the numbers.