Tips / Basics
3-cushion basics
Start by watching just three balls: the one you hit, the one you hit first, and the one you hit last after the cushions.
Billiards science: learn more about ball motion from diagrams and papers →
3-cushion rules and scoring
The cue ball is the ball you strike with your cue. Each player uses one ball, white or yellow, and the other two balls are the object balls. The red ball is always an object ball.
One example of a scoring sequence
- 1Hit the first object ball
- 2Cushion 1
- 3Cushion 2
- 4Cushion 3
- 5Hit the second object ball
Without a foul, this scores 1 point under UMB rules. You may also hit cushions first and then both object balls. What matters is at least 3 cushion contacts in total before the cue ball reaches the second object ball. The three contacts do not have to be on three different cushions.
- If you score, you keep shooting; if you miss, it is your opponent's turn. One turn at the table, with consecutive shots, is called an inning. You can shoot several times in one inning.
- Average = points ÷ innings. For example, 12 points in 20 innings is 0.600. It cannot be converted directly into a handicap or a skill percentile.
- The playing surface of a full-size international (match) table is about 2.84 × 1.42 m. Using the rail diamonds and corners, the long side reads as 8 divisions and the short side as 4. Do not confuse it with smaller tables.
Basic scoring: WCBS introduction to 3-cushion ↗ · Table size: UMB Article 11 ↗
How a match runs, and fouls
The play and setup below follow the UMB carom rules. PBA/LPBA and clubs have their own formats, so check which rules apply before you start.
Lag: who breaks?
Each player sends a ball to the far short rail. The player whose ball comes back closer to the near short rail gets to choose who breaks. The referee decides details such as contact with the other ball or the red.
Break: the setup for the first shot only
The red goes on the top spot, the opponent's cue ball on the center spot of the baulk line, and your cue ball on one of the marked spots to its left or right. White breaks in the first inning, and the break must hit the red ball first.
Foul: that shot does not score
Fouls include hitting a moving ball, playing with the wrong cue ball, touching a ball with a hand or clothing, a ball leaving the table, and shooting with both feet off the floor. The turn passes.
Push shot ≠ follow shot
It is a foul if the tip touches the cue ball twice, or stays on it until the cue ball reaches another ball or a cushion. It is different from a normal follow shot that uses topspin.
Frozen balls: not everything goes back to the break
In 3-cushion, if you choose to re-spot, only the frozen balls are moved. To play them as they lie, you can, for example, hit the ball that is not frozen or a cushion first. You may not shoot directly into the cushion the cue ball is frozen against. Check with the referee first.
Ball off the table: re-spot only that ball
The red goes on the top spot, the shooter's cue ball on the center of the baulk line, and the other cue ball in the center of the table. If a spot is covered, use the spot belonging to the ball that covers it. Do not place it on any free spot.
UMB Articles 22–28 and 41: lag, break, frozen balls, balls off the table, fouls ↗. For exceptions such as massé on frozen balls, and for actual rulings, follow the original text and the event's regulations.
How do TV matches differ from club games?
In UMB, a normal point is worth 1; in PBA/LPBA, a legal bank shot (cushion-first) point is worth 2. Target score, number of sets, shot clock, timeouts and whether there is an equalizing inning vary by event and round. Do not memorize it as "always 40 seconds, 40 points." In a club, agree on handicaps, how the game ends and bank shot scoring beforehand.
Common terms
- Cue ball / first object ball / second object ball
- The ball you strike with your cue / the other ball you hit first / the remaining ball you hit last. First and second refer to the order you hit them, not their color.
- Bank shot (cushion-first)
- In 3-cushion, a shot that hits a cushion before the first object ball. Do not confuse it with the lag, which decides who breaks.
- Kiss
- A collision where balls meet again along the route. An unwanted kiss can change the path, but a kiss by itself is not a foul.
- Thickness
- How much the two balls overlap, seen from the aiming direction. Straight on is full (1/1); hitting with half overlap is 1/2. See the dotted ball in the diagram below.
- Tip position / tips of English
- Tip position is where the cue tip meets the cue ball. "Tips" describe how far it is off center, but check the scale your source uses first. Do not convert every source to the same millimeters.
- No spin / stun
- "No spin" usually means no sidespin. Stun means the ball has no topspin or backspin at the moment it hits the object ball. Hitting the center does not always produce stun.
- Running / reverse spin
- Sidespin that helps the ball travel along the cushion it hits is running spin; spin that works the other way is reverse spin. The same right-side tip position can play either role depending on which cushion it enters and how.
- Diamond / cushion contact point
- The diamonds are markings on the rail; the contact point is where the ball actually touches the cushion. They are different places. Also check each system's numbering for start, aim and arrival points.
Five basic routes
Before the name, try to say which ball you hit → which cushion comes first → which ball the cue ball reaches. The long rail is the long side; the short rail is the short side. The same long → short → long can be different routes depending on the layout and which way the ball travels around.
Both diagrams only show cushion order. Object ball contact, spin and speed are left out, so do not use them as aiming points or scoring predictions for a specific layout.
Side around
The classic long → short → long family. Don’t fix the thickness from the name alone; also look at the gap between the first object ball and the long rail.
Back around
Many layouts come back long through long → short → long. The first object ball moves too, so check the cue ball’s path and the object ball’s path together to avoid a kiss.
Front around
Plan a path that comes around the near corner. Not every front around is played with ‘1/2 thickness and no English’. Check the reference line for that layout first.
Thin cut
Uses the cue ball’s path after cutting the object ball. Saying ‘hit it thin’ does not decide the cushion order by itself. Also tell a short path apart from an around-the-table path.
Cross-table shot
A path that goes back and forth between the facing long rails. Count the cushion contacts, but set the actual thickness and tip position for the ball layout.
When you connect Five and a Half to a shot that hits a ball, check the starting line and spin after contact with the object ball. Do not plug the bank shot calculation straight into the cue ball's starting position.
Tip position: spin, follow and draw
- Read direction and amount separately. "3 o'clock" means to the right, not maximum spin. Also look at how far the tip is from center.
- A high tip position gives topspin; a low one gives backspin. In a straight-on hit, the cue ball follows forward if topspin remains at contact and draws back if backspin remains. Even when you hit low, backspin can wear off as the ball travels a long way.
- Left or right tip position creates sidespin. It affects how the ball comes off the cushion, but "right always means longer" is not true. Entry angle, speed and the spin left when the ball reaches the cushion all play a part.
- With sidespin, the cue ball can first push out to the side opposite the tip position (squirt). If the cue is elevated, the ball can also curve afterwards (swerve). At first, use less sidespin and repeat your aim.
- "Half the radius" is a rough guide to the miscue limit of a well-chalked tip. It is not a guaranteed safe line or a target tip position for beginners. Start by hitting accurately near the center.
Dr. Dave: tip height and spin ↗ · Effects of sidespin ↗
Each system has its own reference tip position and speed. For Five and a Half, too, check that article's conditions first and change one thing at a time.
When you first hit the ball: travel → slide → roll
The cue tip gives the cue ball speed and spin in a very short collision. Moving forward and spinning in place are separate motions. Below is an example of hitting the center of the ball close to level, with no sidespin.
① Just after a center hit
② Sliding while spinning up
③ Natural roll
What “it travels without rolling at first” really means
The center hit above explains a start with almost no spin. But hit above or below center and topspin or backspin appears right from the hit. “Sliding” does not mean “no spin at all”: tell whether the ball's bottom slips on the cloth.
A low hit that travels far enough without reaching an object ball can go from backspin → no top/back spin → topspin → natural roll. It doesn't change at a fixed number of centimeters; it depends on starting speed, tip position and cloth friction. Nothing switches the spin on later.
What changes after hitting the first object ball?
This time the example is a full hit on a ball of the same size and mass. Much of the cue ball's forward motion passes to the red object ball. The top or back spin left on the cue ball works with the cloth friction, so it follows, stops or comes back. What matters is not the name of the tip position at the start but the spin at the moment it reaches the object ball.
Topspin → follows
- Dashed: cue ball start
- Red: object ball travel
- Yellow: cue ball after impact
No top/back spin → stops
- Dashed: cue ball start
- Red: object ball travel
Backspin → comes back
- Dashed: cue ball start
- Red: object ball travel
- Yellow: cue ball after impact
The white ball is the starting cue ball and the red ball the first object ball. The yellow arrow is the cue ball's path after impact. The second object ball is left out because this is a two-ball principle drill. Real collisions lose some energy, and on a cut the cue ball splits to the side, so don't apply the full-hit example as is. The object ball, at rest at first, also starts out sliding after impact and then rolls from cloth friction. Collision friction can pass some spin to it as well.
Background: Dr. Dave: slide and roll ↗. Angles after ball contact continue in thickness and split angles.
Practice: short and long follow and the follow-through drill →Squirt and curve: starting off line vs. bending on the way
When you hit left or right of center for sidespin, the cue's line and the ball's actual path can differ. Below is an example of right-side tip with the butt of the cue slightly raised.
① Squirt
When the tip and cue ball collide, the ball starts off to the side opposite the tip. With right-side tip it goes to the player's left; with left-side tip, to the right. The amount of sidespin and the cue's shaft affect it.
② Curve / swerve
Sidespin with a raised cue tilts the spin axis, and with cloth friction the path bends as the ball travels. In this right-tip example it bends to the player's right. It grows with more cue elevation and more sidespin, and on fast shots the bend shows up later.
The two sometimes cancel out, but the ball doesn't always return to the original aim line. Results change with distance, speed, tip position, cue height and cloth, so you can't memorize “right spin always needs a few mm of correction.” Sidespin alone doesn't make the ball keep circling either: once it reaches natural roll, it goes straight on an ideal flat cloth.
Beginner observation drill
- Hit one cue ball with center tip 3 times and check the starting line first.
- Keep the same spot, target and comfortable speed, add a little right sidespin and compare 3 shots. Keep the cue as level as you can.
- Look at the direction right after the start and the position far away separately. If it's hard to tell, film from above and watch slowly. You don't need to raise the cue a lot to exaggerate the effect.
Reference: Dr. Dave: effects of squirt, swerve and throw ↗. “Throw”, where collision friction changes the object ball's direction, is separate from the cue ball squirt and curve described here.
Thickness and separation angle
The yellow dotted line is the aiming line the cue ball's center travels along; the translucent ball is the cue ball at contact. At 1/2 thickness, the aiming line passes the edge of the object ball.
| Thickness | Object ball angle | Cue ball angle (stun) | Cue ball angle (full roll) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full (1/1) | 0.0° | Stops | Follows |
| 3/4 ball | 14.5° | 75.5° | 27.6° |
| 1/2 ball | 30.0° | 60.0° | 33.7° |
| 1/4 ball | 48.6° | 41.4° | 27.3° |
90°: the angle at which the balls separate
Stun means no topspin or backspin at contact. Except for a straight-on hit, the two balls ideally leave at a right angle. At 1/2 thickness, measured from the original line, the object ball goes 30° one way and the cue ball 60° the other, 90° in total.
About 30°: how a rolling cue ball changes direction
A cue ball that was rolling naturally before contact curves forward afterwards. Between 1/4 and 3/4 thickness, its final direction is about 27–34° off the original line. It is not a rule that it is exactly 30° at every thickness.
Even a center hit starts rolling because of friction with the cloth. So you cannot assume "I hit center, so it's 60°." Look at the distance between the balls and the speed too. Real friction and spin at contact can change the ideal angles in the table, and you should not always correct by subtracting 2°.
Dr. Dave: the 90° rule for stun ↗ · The roughly 30° rule for a rolling ball ↗. These refer to ball collision principles covered in pool teaching material; they are not a formula that guarantees a full 3-cushion route.
Stance and stroke
The goal is to send the cue along a chosen line, again and again, from a comfortable stance. Body shape and eye alignment differ, so do not force your chin and feet into the same position as someone else.
- Standing, choose the aiming line, put the cue on it, then get down. If you need to change your aim a lot once you are down, stand up and set up again.
- Rest your front hand (the bridge) firmly on the cloth. Learn whichever you find comfortable: a closed bridge with a finger loop, or an open bridge with the cue between thumb and index finger. A steady bridge length matters more than reaching far.
- Do not grip too hard, and keep your head and body still. During warm-up strokes, check whether the cue wobbles left or right.
- Deliver the cue smoothly at the speed you planned and finish naturally. Do not force the cue to stop at contact or add power late.
- After the shot, hold your stance briefly and watch the starting direction. You do not need to stay frozen until every ball stops.
The follow-through does not push a ball that has already left
How the ball starts out depends on the tip's position, speed, cue direction and angle at the moment of contact. What you do after the tip leaves the ball adds no spin. A natural follow-through is the result of a good stroke, and a way to check it.
Dr. Dave: fundamentals ↗ · The role of the follow-through ↗
A first drill: 5 shots, same conditions
Practicing alone, put a cue ball in the same place and send it, without sidespin, to one section of the opposite cushion. For 5 shots, keep the start position, tip position and target the same, and record only where it ends up. If the error repeats, change just one condition and compare. This is a repetition drill suggested by this site, not an official skill test.
Practice short and long follow-through and the drive-through shot →Etiquette
- When your opponent is aiming, do not move in their line of sight or talk to them. Cheer when it will not disturb a shot, and give lessons or advice only when the other player wants them.
- Do not tap chalk dust onto the cloth or sit on the table. Watch your distance from others when you move your cue.
- Do not touch, clean or move balls on your own during a game. In tournaments, ask the referee. In a club, too, follow the rules agreed before the game for anything that needs handling.
- If you know you fouled, say so right away, and when your turn ends, give your opponent room to get ready.
- Take scoreboard photos for group records at the agreed time. Do not interrupt your opponent's play to take a photo.
Etiquette is a recommendation for running a group. For rulings on touching balls, see the UMB foul rules above.