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Chapter 14. THE USE OF SIDE

Old-world cue-men, those of the time of Kentfield and Dufton, used to play what they called "hazards by the twist". Under this general heading they appear to have included all pocket-strokes, other than those played plain-ball.

I am inclined to regret that the phrase has entirely died out. It may have been general to a fault, but it certainly had the great merit of marking a sharp line between plain-ball strokes and those which demand the use of side, screw, or top, especially side.

These strokes are much too easily confused with plain-ball strokes by the great majority of careless players, or by those who do not realize what a tremendous difference there is between plain-ball and other strokes in actual play.

It is so easy to talk about "just a little side to help the ball into the pocket", but the fact of the matter is that a "little" side is seldom wanted in the open game I advise you to play, so seldom that if you rule it out altogether you stand to gain more than you will lose.

Close billiards is altogether different. At the spot-end of the table deft touches with a "little" side may be wanted in successive shots, and knowing just how much side to use on such occasions is no small part of the beautiful artistry of such wonderful exponents of the gentle art of nursery cannon play as Tom Newman and Claude Falkiner; although I believe that the former relies much more on plain-ball striking than he is commonly credited with doing.

If side Must be Used, Always Use the Maximum

For you, however, there is little or no question in the matter. If you make up your mind never to employ side if you can see a feasible way of scoring without it, you will have your game on a foundation solid enough to support breaks of any magnitude. When circumstances compel you to depart from plain-ball striking, the only really safe general rule for you is to put on as much side as you can impart to your ball, and allow for its effect by dividing the object-ball to give the cue-ball any desired direction after ball-to-ball contact has been made.

Strength of Stroke

Strength of stroke also enters very largely into the problem. If you employ as much side as you can command when playing at slow or slow medium strength, your ball will turn in the direction of the side it carries, when you play with the nap of the cloth; it will turn the reverse way when you play against the nap of the cloth, and will always turn in the direction of the side when you play on a napless cloth. I mentioned this matter in an earlier chapter, but it is so extremely important that I make no apology for repeating it.

Swerve is Not True Side

The vital point is that unless you thoroughly grasp what I have already told you about the action of side, you are extremely likely to make all sorts of mistakes when you attempt to use it.

Your ball will curl away, especially if there is a fairly heavy nap on the cloth, and you may think that the ball is rather foul, the table out of truth, or that you yourself are cueing badly.

Really, it always happens when you use side in the manner I have described, except when your ball has so little table space to cover before hitting the object-ball, that the "curl" has insufficient room to take effect.

When, however, you play at strengths greater than those I have previously specified, your ball will travel straight no matter how much side it has on it. But, mind, this must be true side imparted by a free swing of your cue with the butt kept well down. Then, if you play a fast shot, your ball will keep straight in spite of any amount of side. But if you raise the butt of your cue in the endeavour to strike your ball hard and put on a lot of side, you will set up swerve effect, and the harder you hit the greater the swerve.

Effects of Side Before and After Ball-to-Ball Contact

I hope you will give the foregoing paragraphs very serious consideration. So many pupils come to me who have a fair idea of the effect of side after the object-ball is struck, but never dream of giving a thought to what side does before ball-to-ball contact takes place.

This is indeed an expensive mistake for any class of cue man to make, although it is not at all likely to be noticed by a man to whom a twenty-five or thirty break is something of an event. It invariably begins to make itself most unpleasantly evident when forty or fifty breaks are made once in a way.

Then the deviation of a side-laden cue-ball causes any number of critical strokes to be missed because the necessary correction in direction is not applied, and as such failures are generally ascribed to anything except their true cause, they become inexplicable to the uninformed, and for this reason alone put a stop to any further progress towards billiard proficiency.

This is part of the explanation of a problem I have had presented to me by innumerable pupils.

They come to me and say that they have been making twenty to thirty breaks for years and years, but never show better form although they play almost every day of their lives.

Then I explain to them that they must learn to swing a cue properly. That is the first and biggest part of their problem. Next, when they progress far enough to be taught something about what side really means, I have to tell them what I have already told you, which simply amounts to this-Unless you know exactly what you are doing when you put side on your ball, you are exceedingly likely to aim at one part of the object-ball and hit quite another part, with break-smashing results.

Deviation Due to Side

Figure 48 is a most instructive illustration of what I have written concerning deviation due to the action of side. It is a jenny into a top pocket, and a difficult example of this beautiful shot.

Generally speaking, a long jenny into a top pocket is not nearly so difficult as is commonly supposed when the object-ball is well placed for the shot below a middle pocket. But when the object-ball is above the middle pocket, as the red is in my diagram, then these shots are anything but easy, and when played with the object-ball as far up the table as it is in my diagram, they must be written down as the sort of stroke one is always glad to get.

The reason the shot is so troublesome is due solely to the preliminary action of side before your ball hits the red.

If you place your ball for the jenny as indicated in my diagram, and play slowly enough for your ball to enter the top pocket humming with side, while the red is just cut out towards the centre of the table off the side cushion, you will have made one of the prettiest shots in the game of billiards.

But, as you will very speedily discover, there is a tremendous risk of dropping too full on the red and getting a kiss instead of scoring the pocket. This is because, when you play at this subdued strength, your ball turns to the right on account of the side it has on it, and hits the red much fuller than you have aimed to hit it.

John Roberts, who made this jenny better than any other cue-man ever did, used to aim just to miss the object-ball, and made the stroke by depending on the side turning his ball sufficiently to make the correct ball-to-ball contact. A splendid stroke, well worthy of the great wizard of the cue, and reliable enough in his gifted hands.

But with the vast majority of amateur billiard players it is so very difficult to play at just the right strength to be sure of the ball turning exactly as required, that a more certain method is always preferable.

Strength Affects Side

This is offered by playing the stroke as I always do. Instead of exploiting the slowish shot with all its charm and risk, I play hard enough to take the red across the table and more than half-way back again, thus gaining position as shown in my diagram. By playing at this strength, I keep my ball dead straight-it is moving too fast to turn before hitting the red-and it travels on direct to the pocket where the strong side helps it in. The stroke has to be handled very accurately when played in this manner.

There is no scope for the cue-ball to "bump" somewhere near the pocket and make the jenny because of the powerful side-the ball is travelling too fast for that-all the help you will get from the side only makes sure of the pocket if the direction of your ball is good. But you do know what you have to do-there is no turn-ing movement to allow for before your ball hits the object-ball-a movement it is most difficult to control-and for this reason I always prefer to play the stroke in the manner shown.

For instructional purposes, however, I want you to practise this jenny in both ways. Play it slowly enough to compel allowance for the turn of your ball, and then play it quickly enough to remove the necessity for any such allowance. By doing this you will accomplish two things-you will add a working knowledge of a most useful shot to your game, and, more important still, you will gain a practical insight into an effect of side which is too often regarded by amateurs as scarcely worth while bothering about.

Side as a Last Resort

While doing this, if you do it thoughtfully, you must be struck by the extraordinary complexities which crop up as soon as you put side on your ball. If you are wise, you will allow this to teach you that best of billiard lessons as regards ball movements, which is to leave side alone until you are obviously compelled to use it, and when you do use it, put on as much as you can, so that you will always use an amount of side you are able to handle with confidence because you know what its effect will be. Once you learn this lesson and incorporate its teaching into your game, you will have made a great stride in the direction of break-building. Much of the secret of break-building lies in simplifying the main essentials of your game, and I hope you will try your best to do so in the manner indicated in this chapter.

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