Terminology
Wire - Refers to the wire usually above a pool table that has the counter beads on it. It also refers to a handicap of some sort being counted "on the wire." "....played a guy a race to 10 and he gave me 3 games on the wire." Which means, he was playing you 10 to 7. If there is NO physical wire the term can mean any devise used to count. The counters, a piece of paper, coins placed at the diamonds etc. Regardless of the method of counting you're still receiving or giving a number of games "on the wire."
Weight - This is a term borrowed from horse racing. Assume you have three jockeys in a race. Prior to the race Jockey Number 1 gets on the scales with his silks, his saddle etc., and gets weighed. Assume for a moment he weighs 120 pounds. Jockey Number 2 gets on the scales and he weighs 110. Jockey Number 3 gets on the scales and he's the lightest of the three and weighs 100 pounds. Then Jockey Number 3 has to add 20 pounds of actual lead weight to his equipment. Jockey Number 2 has to add 10 pounds of lead weight to his equipment and Jockey Number 1 races au natural.....no added weight. The term has come to mean "an advantage" given to a weaker player by a better player in order to make the match more even. Assume the horse race metaphor for a moment. If two jockeys are racing for a Bijillion dollars and one is definitely better the lesser jockey might insist upon an amount of "weight" be added to his equipment in order to make the race fair. Same is true in Formula 1 racing also. Evvvvvvvvvvvvvvvverybody starts off on an even playing field.
Spot - Same thing. An advantage given to a weaker player by a better player.
Race - The number of games you have to win to beat an opponent. First one to seven wins. That's a race to 7.
Straight Up - This means playing someone even. No advantage given to either player by the other. The advantage given to either player is a big fat zero and the number of games each guy has to win is identical. You're playing "straight up."
