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The Break
As the first shot in a game of snooker, it is important to get a good break. The best break is to cause as little disturbance to the reds as possible and to get the white back to the baulk cushion.

To play a good break the player should aim to hit the end red about half ball, whilst playing right hand side on the white. If both parts of the shot are judged correctly then the reds should move very little, apart from the two corner reds, which should bounce off the cushions and back to the pack. The white should follow a route, back down the table through the pink and blue, off the cushion near the green and onto the baulk cushion.
In the break shown the white is good but one red is left over the top right pocket. This red usually bounces of the cushion and rolls back to the pack, showing that the player needed to make a better contact with the reds.

Screwing The White
However rude it sounds, the screwshot is one of the most usefull and often used shots in snooker. The idea is to make the white ball spin so that after hittin the object ball it comes back towards the player, this is very usefull for positioning the white ball for the next shot.

To play a screw shot simply aim to the bottom of the white ball. To make the screw shot realy effective it is also important to allow the cue to follow through a little after the shot, to have a nice smooth cueing action and not to grip the cue too tightly. In the shot shown the player screws back to avoid hitting the red nest to the black and also to obtain a good position for potting the next red.

Topspin
Topspibn is used to make the white ball follow through after hitting the object ball, basicly doing the opposite of the screw shot. To play top hit the white ball above centre the higher you hit the white the more spin you apply, the shot must be played smoothly and the cue should flow through after striking the white, otherwise you can cause the white to bounce and the effest of the spin is greatly reduced, this is similar to what happens when you get a kick (see section on kicks).

Side - Run and Check
Side is again used to help position the white ball, but is only effective when the white hits a cushion. mainly side is used to change the angle that the white ball returns from a cushion but it can also increase (run) and decrease (check) the speed of the white.
To play sidespin hit the cue ball either to the right or left of centre, whether it is a run or a check shot depends on the angle that the white hits the cushion. the top demonstration shows run being played by hittin the white on the right and the bottom shows check by hitting the white on the left if however these shots were being played against the opposite cushion then it would be the other way around.
One last point I should make is that, it is not entirely true that side is only effective agains cushions, if a shot is played with a lot of side or over a large distance, then sidespin can cause the white to swerve in most cases this is unnoticable but should be remembered.