Pool glossary
Draw
Backspin that pulls the cue ball back after contact.
What it means
Striking below centre so the cue ball spins backwards, reversing after it hits the object ball. British term: screw.
Where the word comes from
Describes the effect — the ball draws back toward you.
How it sounds at a table
"Draw it back for the next one." "There is no next one, it's one shot each."
What it means in a three-strikes night
Genuinely less useful here than in any other pool game, for the reason in that exchange: position play is mostly wasted when your turn ends regardless. The exception is leaving the cue ball somewhere awkward for the next player, which is the only strategic lever the format gives you. Draw is a good way to do that.
The mistake people make
Over-hitting a draw shot on a bar box with a light cue ball. It will fly off the table, which in many houses costs a second life.
Terms that come up alongside it
Written out rather than linked only, because looking up one term usually means you are standing at a table and do not want four more taps.
- English
- Sidespin applied to the cue ball. Striking the cue ball left or right of centre to make it spin sideways, changing how it comes off a cushion and how it deflects on contact.
- Safety
- A shot played to leave your opponent with nothing. A safety is a deliberate defensive stroke: rather than trying to pocket a ball, you aim to leave the cue ball somewhere your opponent cannot do anything useful from.
- Snookered
- Having no direct path to the ball you must hit. You are snookered when another ball blocks every straight line between the cue ball and the ball you are required to contact.
- Scratch
- Pocketing the cue ball, or knocking it off the table. A scratch is the cue ball going down a pocket or leaving the table entirely.
Where it comes up
Draw matters most in three-strikes pool, where a single turn is one shot and the cost of getting something wrong is a life rather than a visit to the table. If you are learning the game, the guide to running a night puts most of this vocabulary in context, and the format pages show which games the term applies to and which it does not.