Random Snooker Question

I have a random question that has been bugging me for a while.

I have a memory from years ago, when I had only just started watching snooker. I think I heard someone refer to what a pool player would call 'cheating the pocket' as 'cribbing the pocket' for a snooker player.

I have been googling and searching for this term recently and can't find any reference to it.

Can anyone here confirm this is a term that has been used in snooker or possibly billiards? Or have I just imagined it?

Yeah it’s real.

If we’re thinking of the same thing, it’s where the object ball is blocked from going into a middle bag, but it’s played at such pace into the near jaw of the middle bag that the cushion rubber deforms and momentarily allows room into the pocket past the blocking ball. I’ve never seen it in snooker. I think it’s something you can only do on a 9 ball table with those sharp jaws.

I’m sure there’s an example or two on YouTube.

Go to around 2 mins 40

https://youtu.be/6TEkuL8-w2o

We might not be talking about the same thing here. I found a few more videos entitled ‘Cheating the Pocket’ or similar, and they just looked like someone simply potting a ball. Nothing remarkable, and not pushing it through the cushion like this.

I can’t find anything either in terms of ‘cribbing’ or ‘crib’ in the context of snooker. But looking at the word itself, I’ve found descriptions such as “copy (another person's work) illicitly or without acknowledgement”.

So I’m guessing cribbing is just slang for ‘cheating’, rather than it meaning anything more specific that might help you get to the bottom of this, although it’s not a term I’ve ever heard used that way. Maybe it’s more of an American thing.

I was drawn in by Minimum Break's thread title as I have a random question of my own which I will ask in the next post to follow. I will start by saying that I have never heard the term "cribbing the pocket" before but I am hardly an expert as I only spent three years learning the game on the British Isles before returning here to my own domestic shores. Obviously then my exposure to the social aspects of the game, terminology, etc. is very limited. What I know is from decades ago. But I can clear up some of Prop's speculation with some authority.

Prop wrote:We might not be talking about the same thing here. I found a few more videos entitled ‘Cheating the Pocket’ or similar, and they just looked like someone simply potting a ball. Nothing remarkable, and not pushing it through the cushion like this.

Prop, the YouTube video you posted is definitely not what is referred to as "cheating the pocket" in American pool/billiard terminology. While it is interesting, I doubt that the situation shown will arise with much frequency and I am not sure that there is even a name for that though the YouTube poster would seem to call it, "pushing the ball through the rail". Personally, I think, "pushin' through the cushion" would have some descriptive charm.

"Cheating the pocket" in American pool parlance on the other hand is something that is done constantly on the pool table. It serves the purpose of getting the White to travel where you need it go for positional purpose by utilizing the generous size of the receiving pocket. Instead of just aiming your object ball to "the pocket", you aim much more precisely into a specific PART of the pocket. Sometimes you don't even aim your object ball into the pocket at all! "Cheating the pocket" is easiest accomplished when the object is just sitting in the jaws, can't-miss-the-pot type of situation. In this case, you may be able to play your White anywhere from a thin cut on the LEFT edge of the object through quarters, halves, and full ball contact and even cut the ball on its RIGHT edge. The pocket is so generous, the ball will go in no matter how you slice it. So "cheating the pocket" just means being smart enough to choose the contact angle such that you can place the White where you want it to go for the stroke following.

As to what I said above about sometimes not even aiming at the pocket at all, you may have seen games on American tables where the object is halfway out along a side cushion between corner and middle pockets and maybe an inch or two off cushion. And then you may know that it is not necessary to play that object ball into the pocket, instead, the object ball might hit the side cushion six or eight inches away from the pocket and still fall into the hole. There may be a positional advantage to play the stroke in this way, actually aiming to hit the cushion quite far away from the pocket but you know the ball will still pot.

Rarely do I see anyone try to parakeet the pocket on the snooker table; there is just too little margin for error. Even when a ball in in the jaws of a corner pocket, cheating the pocket comes with risk because a thin snick and your White might react funny bouncing off the curve of the cushion. Myself, I will occasionally parakeet the middle pockets because they are just wide enough that (if you are confident and stable in your stroke) you might aim the Blue off spot not to the middle of the pocket, but purposely aim to the right or left (Baulk) side of the pocket such as if you ended up straight-ish on that Blue, you didn't quite position to the "correct" side of the Blue so you try to parakeet the pocket on your Blue stroke to compensate and get back into position on the Black side of the table.

Back to Minimum Break, about "cribbing the pocket", you mentioned that perhaps your memory comes from long ago watching or hearing the term in reference to English Billiards. Of course, back in the day, Jack Karnehm was one of the great snooker match commentators and he was a legendary Billiards player. I have noticed Jack dropping Billiards terms in on occasion when I watch old snooker videos. But if "cribbing the pocket" means the same as "cheating the pocket", I can't imagine that would apply to Billiards as potting balls is far less important on the Billiards table. So in pure speculation, I had the thought that maybe "cribbing the pocket" maybe, just maybe, refers to the top-of-the-table play where opponent White is above the Spot, Red on Spot, and the striker plays the Red purposely to NOT POT but end up very close to pocket while cannoning into the opponent's ball. Then he pots Red to come out to continue top-of-table play. Perhaps that could be "cribbing the pocket"? I have zero evidence, but I know it is very common strategy, but I have never (in my admittedly limited Billiards experience) heard anyone define that strategy with a dedicated word or phrase. But there ought to be a term for it....maybe it is "cribbing the pocket". And in my imagination, I can hear Jack using this phrase to perhaps describe a missed Black pot that was left hanging in the jaws of the pocket. Just a guess.

Thanks for the detailed responses Prop and Aces, and sorry I fell asleep last night and forgot to check back.

Yes, I am definitely referring to Aces example of 'cheating the pocket' in pool. Obviously this is a much less common strategy in snooker with the smaller pockets but you do see the top players occasionally pot a ball deliberately in off the jaw to gain better position for the next shot.

That is the type of play I thought I heard referred to as 'cribbing the pocket', so I guess it's just as Prop said that it's a slang term for cheating that someone has used somewhere.

I have a memory of thinking it was a common term within snooker but seemingly it's not very common at all!