Most snooker players don't think much about their tip until it splits, glazes over or pings the cue ball into the top cushion when they meant to stun. The tip is the only part of the cue that ever touches the ball, and every bit of spin, screw and stun comes through it. A worn tip will quietly cost you matches for weeks before you notice.
This guide walks through what to look for when you replace a snooker cue tip, the difference between the main brands, and what hardness and diameter actually mean in play. There's a recommendation for each level of player at the end, plus a few honest opinions about which tips are worth the money.
What a snooker cue tip actually does
A cue tip has two jobs. It grips the cue ball long enough to transfer spin, and it cushions the strike so you can play touch shots without juddering. The chalk on top makes the grip possible. The leather underneath decides how that grip feels.
If your tip is glazed, dished out at the edges or no longer holds chalk, it's costing you control. Most club players go too long between changes. A tip that's gone hard and shiny will skid off the white on power screw shots, and you'll blame the cue.
Signs it's time to replace:
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The tip face has gone smooth and shiny no matter how much chalk you put on
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The edges are mushrooming over the ferrule
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You're miscueing on shots you used to nail
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The tip has worn down to under 2mm of leather above the ferrule
Soft, medium or hard? Choosing tip hardness
Hardness changes how long the tip holds the ball and how much spin you can get on it. It also changes how long the tip lasts before it needs reshaping.
Soft tips grip the ball longer, which makes them better for spin and finesse. The downside is they wear quickly, mushroom faster, and need more attention with a scuffer. Players who like a lot of side and screw tend to prefer them.
Medium tips are the sensible default. They give most of the spin advantage of a soft tip with most of the durability of a hard one. If you're not sure what you want, fit a medium.
Hard tips keep their shape for ages and feel sharper on the strike. They're often chosen by break-builders who want a confident, predictable hit, and by players who hate spending time on tip maintenance. You'll get less grip on power side, but the lower wear means the tip plays the same way for months.
If you play once a week, a medium laminated tip will probably suit you. If you're in two leagues and practising twice between, a harder tip will save you reshaping every fortnight.
Pressed vs laminated tips
Pressed tips are made from a single piece of leather compressed to a set hardness. Elkmaster is the classic example. They've been the default in British snooker rooms for decades, they're cheap, and they play perfectly well once bedded in.
Laminated tips are built from layers of leather bonded together. The layered structure holds shape better, resists mushrooming, and tends to give a more consistent feel from one tip to the next. Most premium tips on the market today are laminated. Kamui, Triple Crown and ADR147 are all laminated.
The honest take: pressed tips are still fine, especially Elkmaster Pro. But if you're spending more than around £30 on a tip change anyway, a laminated tip is usually worth the extra pound or two.
Tip diameter and matching it to your cue
Snooker cue tips usually come in three diameter bands:
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9mm to 9.5mm for professional and serious club cues, where the ferrule is narrow
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10mm as a common middle ground
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10.5mm to 11mm for older or more entry-level cues with a wider ferrule
The tip needs to match the ferrule diameter on your cue. Fit a 10mm tip to a 9.5mm ferrule and you'll have an overhang that mushrooms straight away. Fit a 9mm tip to a 10mm ferrule and you've got exposed brass at the edges.
If you're not sure what size your cue takes, measure across the top of the ferrule with a digital caliper, or take it to a cue maker. Most premium snooker cues sold in the UK today are 9.5mm or 10mm.
The best snooker cue tips by brand
There's no single "best" tip. There are good tips that suit different players and different budgets. Here's how the main ones compare.
Elkmaster
The default tip in British snooker for years. A pressed leather tip, soft to medium, that plays well once it's bedded in. It needs more maintenance than a laminated tip and won't hold its shape as long, but it has a feel that a lot of older players still prefer.
There are two versions worth knowing:
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Elkmaster Cue Tips — the original.
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Elk Master Pro Tips — a denser, harder-wearing version of the same brand.
Best for: traditionalists, club players on a budget, anyone who likes a softer feel.
Kamui
Japanese-made laminated tips, widely used at the top of the pool world and increasingly seen in snooker. Excellent grip, very consistent, and they hold their shape for a long time. Not the cheapest.
Best for: serious players who want the longest lasting, most consistent tip on the market.
Triple Crown by Custom Cues
A high-end laminated pressed tip designed for snooker specifically. Holds chalk well, gives confident grip on power shots, and has a fast-growing reputation in UK competition play.
Triple Crown Pressed Tips by Custom Cues
Best for: competition players who want a top-tier laminated tip without paying Kamui prices.
Vortex
A relatively new entry that's earned a strong following. Designed for high grip without being so soft it wears out in weeks. Useful if you play with a lot of side.
Best for: spin players who want grip without constant maintenance.
ADR147
A professional-grade laminated tip used by several touring players. Excellent feel, sharp strike, holds chalk reliably.
Best for: serious players looking for a pro-spec tip with a sharper hit than Kamui.
Brunswick Blue Diamond
A softer leather tip with a smooth, almost cushioned feel. Popular with players who like to feather the white and play touch positional snooker.
Brunswick Blue Diamond Leather Tips
Best for: positional players who prioritise feel over outright durability.
Pro Spin
A solid laminated tip at a sensible price. Not the very top of the range, but well above most pressed tips.
Best for: club players ready to move up from Elkmaster but not yet spending Kamui money.
Century Cues Pro
A UK favourite. Laminated, medium hardness, very consistent. A safe upgrade for almost anyone.
Best for: the player who wants one tip that just works and doesn't want to think about it again for six months.
Tongyi
A budget laminated option that's surprised a lot of players. Won't last as long as the premium brands, but plays well for the money.
Best for: a second cue, a break cue, or trying out a laminated tip without committing.
Fitting a new tip yourself vs sending it to a cue maker
You can fit a snooker cue tip at home with a sharp knife, fine sandpaper, a clamp, and a tube of contact adhesive or super glue gel. The job takes about twenty minutes and there's plenty of guidance online. A spare set of tips is useful to practise on.
The catch: a poorly fitted tip ruins a good tip. If the leather isn't sitting square on the ferrule, or there's a thin film of glue around the edge, the tip will play badly and come off early.
If your cue is worth more than around £200, get a cue maker to fit it. The cost is small and you'll get the tip aligned properly and shaped on a lathe. The same applies if you've never done it before. Pay for the first one, watch how it's done, then have a go yourself next time on a cheaper cue.
While the cue is with the maker, ask them to check the ferrule. A worn or chipped ferrule will damage the next tip too. The Century Cues Pro Titanium Ferrule is one of the better aftermarket replacements.
Looking after your tip
Once the tip is fitted and shaped, it needs almost no work, but a bit of routine maintenance makes it last longer and play better.
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Use a tip scuffer every couple of sessions to keep the surface rough enough to hold chalk. Don't overdo it, you're roughing the leather, not sanding it down.
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Don't over-chalk. Two or three twists between shots is plenty. Caking chalk on builds up on the ferrule and does nothing for grip.
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Wipe the ferrule down occasionally with a clean cloth. Some players use a small amount of Lynch's Cue Balm to keep the shaft and ferrule in good condition.
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Store the cue flat or hanging, never leaned against a wall. Heat and pressure warp shafts, and a warped cue puts the tip out of alignment.
FAQs
How often should I change my snooker cue tip? For a club player who plays once or twice a week, every six to nine months is reasonable. Heavy players changing weekly should be looking at a new tip every three to four months.
What is the most popular snooker cue tip in the UK? Elkmaster is still the most widely fitted by volume, mostly because club players have always used them. Among more serious amateurs, the move to laminated tips like Kamui, Triple Crown and ADR147 has been steady.
Are laminated tips worth the extra money? For most players, yes. They hold shape longer, need less maintenance, and play more consistently. The price difference is rarely more than a few pounds.
Can I use a pool cue tip on a snooker cue? Not ideally. Pool tips are usually larger in diameter and softer than what you want on a snooker cue. Buy a tip designed for the cue you're fitting it to.
What tip do professionals use? It varies. Top players tend to use bespoke tips fitted by their cue makers, with Elkmaster, Kamui, ADR147 and Triple Crown all represented somewhere on the circuit. There's no single "pro" tip.
In short
If you're a beginner or casual player, fit an Elkmaster Pro or a Tongyi laminated tip and don't think about it again for a year.
If you're a club player taking the game seriously, a Century Cues Pro, Triple Crown or Pro Spin will give you a noticeable lift over a basic pressed tip.
If you're playing competition snooker, go for Kamui, ADR147 or Triple Crown, and have it fitted by a cue maker.
Browse the full range at Premium Cues' tips collection, and have a look at the cue accessories section for scuffers, chalk and ferrule care while you're there.
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Heyball is one of the fastest-growing games in cue sports, and British players are winning it. England's Gareth Potts and Kelly Fisher took the WPA Heyball World Championship titles in 2025 and defended both in 2026. Yet most UK players have still never played it.
If you play English pool, American pool or snooker, you already know half the game. Heyball uses American balls on a table built like a snooker table, with rules close to eight ball. That mix is exactly why it is so hard. This guide explains what heyball is, how it differs from the games you know, and what equipment you need to try it.
Where the name comes from
Heyball and Chinese 8-ball are the same game. In China it is known as "black eight", and hei is the Chinese word for black. Heyball is the anglicised name that organisers and Joy, the table maker behind the biggest events, now use internationally.
The game grew up in China through the 1980s and 1990s, when snooker was the country's main cue sport and eight ball was catching on. Players ended up with a hybrid: pool balls and pool rules on snooker-style tables.
Heyball, English pool and American pool compared
The short version: American balls, snooker-style table and pockets. The official playing surface is 2540mm by 1260mm, the same area as an American 9ft table.
Why heyball is so hard
The difficulty comes from the combination. A 57.2mm ball is the big American size, and a rounded pocket is far less forgiving than the straight-cut jaws of an American table. Balls that would rattle in on an American table stay out on a heyball table.
Napped cloth adds a second problem. As in snooker, the nap affects how slower balls roll, so pace control matters more than on the fast cloth of an American table. Many snooker players find the game more natural than pool players do for this reason. Many pool players find the ball size and the eight ball rules more natural. Nobody gets it all for free.
The rules in brief
Heyball rules are set by the organiser of each event, and the International Heyball Pool Association (IHPA), part of the World Pool Association, runs the world championship. The details below follow the widely used Rules of Chinese Pool (revised 2017, updated 2019). Tournament versions can differ, so check the rules for any event you enter.
Groups. Fifteen numbered balls. One player takes the solids (1 to 7), the other takes the stripes (9 to 15). Clear your group, then pot the 8 to win the frame.
The rack. The front ball goes on the foot spot, the 8 goes in the centre of the triangle, and the two back corners take one solid and one stripe.
The break. The break must be powerful. The rules count how many times balls cross the head string, with a pot counting towards the total. Men need four crossings, and women and players under 14 need three. A break that drives fewer than four balls to a cushion counts as a deliberate soft break and loses the frame.
Potting the 8 on the break. This is not a foul. The breaker chooses whether to re-spot the 8 and carry on, or break again.
Fouls. The opponent gets the cue ball in hand anywhere on the table.
Calling shots. Not required under these rules, including on the 8. Flukes count.
Top events play long matches. The opening stage of the 2026 Joy Cup Masters Grand Finals was played as races to 13 frames.
The big events and the British success story
Two events stand out.
The Joy Cup World Heyball Masters Grand Finals in Qinhuangdao, China, is among the richest events in cue sports. In 2026 the winner's prize was 5,000,000 yuan, roughly $724,000 at the time.
The WPA Heyball World Championship is where British players have done best. Gareth Potts won the men's title in 2025 and retained it in Pune, India, in 2026, beating Wales's Jordan Shepherd 7-4 in the final. Kelly Fisher won the women's title in both years, taking the 2026 final against Thailand's Waratthanun Sukritthanes in a shootout. Further back, Darren Appleton won the 2015 Chinese 8-ball world title, beating Mark Selby in the final.
The WPA also points out that heyball is the only discipline in which men and women compete at the highest professional level.
The cue: closer to snooker than pool
A heyball cue looks like a snooker cue. It has a slim, tapered wooden shaft, usually ash or maple, a spliced butt and a brass joint, and it is often three-quarter jointed. The difference is at the business end. A 57.2mm ball needs a bigger tip than a 52.5mm snooker ball, so heyball cues carry a larger tip and a slightly thicker taper, and they tend to be heavier.
Our own heyball cues are built this way. They come with a hand-spliced ebony butt, a choice of ash or maple shaft, a titanium ferrule and a fitted Elkmaster cue tip. The tip is sized between 10.5mm and 11.5mm, against the 9mm to 10mm typical of a snooker cue.
Can you use a snooker cue? For a first game, yes. Plenty of snooker players try heyball with their own cue before deciding whether to take it further. The smaller tip is the reason dedicated cues exist, and most players who stick with the game move to one.
Ferrules. Our heyball cues use a titanium ferrule rather than brass, to reduce deflection when you use side. If your current cue has a brass ferrule, a titanium ferrule can be fitted by a cue repairer.
Reach. A 9ft table is a lot longer than a 7ft English pool table. Our heyball cues have a brass extension joint in the butt, and our cue extensions screw in for long shots.
Balls for practice
Heyball uses standard 57.2mm American pool balls. The official specification is 57.15mm, within half a tenth of a millimetre, and 156g to 170g. Any quality American set suits practice at home or at a club. Our American pool balls include Aramith sets and the DynaSpheres 572 range, all at 57.2mm.
Remember that an English pool triangle will not take American-sized balls. You need a full-size American triangle to rack them.
A glove is worth trying
Plenty of heyball and pool players wear a glove on the bridge hand. On a big table with unforgiving pockets, a smooth, consistent bridge matters, and a glove stops the cue catching on a dry or sweaty hand. Our billiard gloves come in left and right-handed versions.
In short
Heyball is eight ball played with American balls on a snooker-style table. The rules will feel familiar and the pockets will not. If you play snooker, your cue action carries straight across. If you play pool, you already know how the game flows. Either way, it is the most interesting thing happening in cue sports right now, and British players are leading the way.
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Every frame starts with the rack. Get it right and the break spreads properly, the game plays as it should and nobody argues. Get it wrong and you either get a dead break that barely moves the pack, or a disagreement two shots in about whether the black was in the right place.
The confusing part is that "pool" means different things depending on which table you are standing at. English pool, American pool, nine ball and snooker all rack differently, and the rule for one will mislead you on another. This guide covers all four, starting with the one most UK players need.
A good triangle matters more than people expect. A loose or worn one leaves gaps between the balls, and gaps are the most common reason a break goes nowhere. Our pool and snooker table triangles are the same Sheffield-made racks used at English pool tournaments.
English pool: reds and yellows
This is the game on pub tables, in leagues and in most UK clubs. It uses fifteen unnumbered balls: seven reds, seven yellows and one black. There are no solids and no stripes.
The black goes in the middle of the pack, sitting on the black spot. It sits in the centre of the third row of the triangle, and the triangle is positioned so that ball lands on the spot. It never goes at the front. This single point causes more racking arguments than everything else combined, usually because someone has picked the game up from American pool.
The black spot is at the opposite end of the table from the baulk line. It sits where two imaginary diagonal lines would cross, each drawn from a middle pocket to the top corner pocket on the opposite side of the table.
The rack pattern
The reds and yellows are not placed at random. The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) Blackball rules set a fixed pattern, row by row from the front ball back:
The reds and yellows can be swapped over, as long as the shape of the pattern stays the same. Notice that the two back corners are always different colours, and that neither colour is bunched on one side. That is the whole point of a set pattern: nobody gets an easier spread off the break because of how the balls were racked.
If your league plays International Rules, set by the International Eightball Pool Federation (the WEPF until it rebranded in 2024), use the diagram in its rulebook. The principle is the same: black on the spot and a fixed spread of colours.
Setting up, step by step
Placing the black on the same spot frame after frame wears the cloth there first. Our English pool rack, the Pro Racker, has an alignment slot designed to reduce that wear around the black spot.
Ball sizes for English pool
English pool object balls come in two sizes: 2 inches (51mm) and 2 and one sixteenth inches (52mm), which is close to snooker size. The cue ball is often slightly smaller, typically 1 and seven eighths inches (47.6mm) on a 2 inch set. That difference is deliberate. It lets coin-operated pub tables separate the cue ball from the object balls and return it after a pot.
Check which size your table and triangle are built for before buying. Most English pool triangles, including ours, are made for 2 inch sets. Our pool balls are listed by diameter for exactly this reason.
American pool: solids and stripes
American eight ball uses fifteen numbered balls at 2 and a quarter inches (57.2mm). Balls 1 to 7 are solids, 9 to 15 are stripes and the 8 is black.
Here the rule flips. The front ball of the triangle goes on the foot spot, not the 8.
Our American pool balls are the full 57.2mm size. They will not fit an English pool triangle, so the two are not interchangeable.
Nine ball
Nine ball uses a diamond-shaped rack rather than a triangle, and only the balls numbered 1 to 9.
Nine ball is played on American tables with American-sized balls. If you are watching professional pool on television and the players are potting in number order, this is the game.
Snooker
Snooker uses twenty two balls: fifteen reds, six colours and a cue ball, all at 52.5mm. The reds go in a triangle and each colour has its own marked spot.
The reds
Rack the fifteen reds in a triangle at the top end of the table, with the back row parallel to the top cushion. The front red should sit as close to the pink as possible without touching it. As with pool, the pack needs to be tight.
The colours and their spots
Standing at the baulk end and looking up the table, the three baulk colours run left to right: green, brown, yellow. The old way to remember it is "God Bless You".
The order you pot them in
While reds remain, each red is followed by a colour of your choice, and that colour goes back on its spot. Once the last red and its colour are gone, the colours are potted in value order and stay down: yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black.
Full-size snooker balls are 52.5mm. On a smaller home table you may be using undersized balls, and the spot positions scale with the table rather than staying at the measurements above.
Five things that go wrong
A loose pack. The most common fault by far. If the balls are not touching, the energy from the break disappears into the gaps instead of spreading the pack. Push the balls together from the back before lifting the triangle.
Dragging the triangle off. Lift it straight up. Dragging it pulls the front balls out of position and loosens everything behind them.
Racking English pool like American pool. The black at the front instead of in the middle on the spot. It happens constantly.
Ignoring the pattern. Bunching all the reds on one side gives whoever ends up on reds a much easier table after the break.
A worn or warped triangle. Wooden triangles distort over time and cheap plastic ones develop play at the corners. If you cannot get a tight pack however you push the balls, the triangle is usually the problem rather than your technique.
Keeping the table fit to rack on
Chalk dust and grime build up around the spots faster than anywhere else on the table, because that is where the balls sit between frames. Cloth that has gone shiny or greasy under the pack stops the balls sitting tight and changes how the pack spreads.
Brushing the table along the nap after each session takes less than a minute. Our billiard table brushes are made for the job, and a brush costs far less than a re-cloth.
If you are practising alone rather than playing frames, snooker training balls with marked spots show exactly what the cue ball is doing, which a plain white will not.
In short
If you remember one thing, make it this: English pool puts the black on the spot in the middle of the pack, and American pool puts the front ball on the spot. Everything else comes down to the right pattern, a tight pack and a clean lift.
For anyone kitting out a table from scratch, our DynaSpheres cue sports balls include the official balls of the World Nineball Tour, and the snooker sets are graded by how closely the balls match each other in weight. That consistency shows most clearly in exactly the moment this guide is about: how a tight pack behaves when you hit it.
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We design a lot of what we sell, and the case we are proudest of has just landed. The Premium Cues Stellar Professional is our own aluminium hard case, designed to our exact specifications and made for players who will not compromise on protecting their cue. It arrives in both one-piece and 3/4 jointed formats, so whatever you play with, there is a Stellar to match.
This is the case we now reach for first when someone asks us what we would carry ourselves.
Our case, our name on it
Plenty of shops sell cases. Fewer put their own name on the front and stand behind it. The Stellar is a Premium Cues design from the ground up. Read More...
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