billiard player vs player

billiard player and player both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
billiard player	Yes	No	No	No
player	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, player is a hypernym of billiard player; that is, player is a word with a broader meaning than billiard player:

Other hypernyms of billiard player include participant.

billiard player (noun)	player (noun)
someone who plays billiards	a theatrical performer
	a person who participates in or is skilled at some game
	someone who plays a music as a profession
	a person who pursues a number of different social and sexual partners simultaneously
	someone who takes part in an activity