What are the holes of the pool table called?

A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which cue sports are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, pool, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth (usually of a tightly woven worsted wool called baize), and surrounded by vulcanized rubber cushions, with the whole elevated above the floor.

Pockets, usually rimmed at the back with leather or plastic traditionally have drop pockets, which are small receptacles below each pocket to catch the balls. Most modern pool tables may instead employ a ball return, a series of gutters inside the table, which channel the balls into a collection compartment on one side of the table, in a similar manner to the ball return on a bowling alley. On a coin-operated table, the object balls are deposited inside an inaccessible compartment window until the table is paid again, allowing the balls to be released into the collection chamber, while the cue ball is usually separated into its own ball return, often utilizing a different sized ball. A disadvantage to drop pockets is that if too many balls go into the same pocket, it will fill up the receptacle and prevent any more balls from going in that pocket, requiring that some be moved out of the pocket manually before shooting again.