baulk line

Lift: A turn in which the player is entitled to remove the ball from its current position and play instead from either baulk line.

His white was level and six inches from Craster's, almost on the baulk line, and the red was on the centre pocket.

Balkline, balk line, balk-line or baulk line may refer to:

The red ball is placed on the 'spot' (the black spot in snooker) and the first player begins by playing in-hand from the "D" behind the baulk line.

It was one that, if he practised it a hundred times, he'd make about eighty of them, and involved bringing both the red and his own white back down the length of the table, and leaving them behind the baulk line.

The significance of this manoevre is that in advanced play, making a break that includes the tenth hoop (called 4-back) is penalized by granting the opponent a lift (entitling him to take the next shot from either baulk line).

Even though the amateur rules applied in this tournament do not include the "Baulk line rule" used in professional events, he is only the fourth player ever to score a break of over 1000 in an official match under modern rules.

An easy way to remember these positions is with the mnemonic, 'God Bless You', with the first letter of each word being the first letter of the three colours as they are racked from left to right on the baulk line.

In some places, the "forward play" rule is followed: After a scratch, the player with ball-in-hand must shoot forward of the baulk line, i.e. towards the rack area, even if all legal balls are behind the baulk line.

Matches held under professional regulations include a rule forcing the player to execute a shot in a way to have his cue ball cross the baulk line, heading towards the baulk cushion, once between 80 and 99 points in every 100 in a running break.

As this break mostly consisted of long runs of close cannons (a total of 902 cannons were scored), the Billiards Control Council established the first version of the baulk-line-rule, in which the cue ball had to cross the baulk line every 200 points during a break.

On the baulk line, looking up the table from the baulk end, the green ball is located where the "D" meets the line on the left, the brown ball in the middle of the line, and the yellow ball where the "D" meets the line on the right.