Players are handicapped at the start of a season, with different handicaps for snooker and billiards.

Snooker handicaps range from -14 to +25
Snooker matches should start with the player with the higher handicap getting the difference as a start. For example, a match played between players with handicaps of -8 and +20 would mean that the player with a handicap of +20 will receive a start of 28-0 and the match played as normal from there.

Billiards handicaps range from -48 to +20
Billiards matches are played to 100 points, with both players playing off their actual handicap. Therefore a player on -45 would start with 55 on the board, have to reach 100 to get back to 0 and then score an additional 100 to win.