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Chapter 15. JENNIES AND OTHER SIDE STROKES

Figure 49 shows a more familiar type of long jenny than the one dealt with in my last chapter. This is all to the good, as the average long jenny, when played as it should be, is round about as easy as that shown in Fig. 48 is undeniably difficult. Yet the ordinary hundred-upper seems to think there is something weird about a long jenny, and never fails to applaud the stroke when he sees a professional make it. Really, if you bring the red ball a few inches nearer baulk than the centre-spot, just where a natural angle loser into a middle pocket is not play-able, the long half-ball loser from hand into a top pocket wants more making than an ordinary long jenny ever does, and I have no two opinions regarding which stroke I would sooner face. Just place the balls and try the shots over for yourself.

How to Play Long Jennies

When instructing my pupils how to play long jennies, I always tell them to spot their ball in baulk so that the shot becomes a plain half-ball into the top pocket, and then play it a steady half-ball with as much pocket side as they can put on the cue-ball. To do this the first requisite is to judge the angle correctly. Very well, you begin by placing your ball on the left-hand spot of the baulk-line. Then you place the red four inches from the left side cushion and 3 if inches from the baulk-line. Please be careful about placing the balls very correctly, as I want you to have a good look at the shot before you attempt to play it. What I desire you to note with particular care is the angle. It is a half-ball natural angle into the left top pocket.

You could make the loser by a plain-ball shot played with exquisite truth at almost dead strength on a perfect table with a set of balls fit to be used in the championship.

Such a combination of skill and ideal playing conditions is too much to hope for, but I should like you to try a few plain-ball strokes at the pocket, striking your ball in its centre and taking great care to make a true half-ball contact with the red. Then, if your cueing is good, and you do not play too hard, you will be surprised to see how near you can get to the pocket without an atom of side on your ball. You may even score the pocket once in a way, but I advise you to regard this as an accident. What I want you to memorize is the angle of this shot, because this is the identical angle you must learn to arrange whenever you shape at a long jenny, and the position of the object-ball allows this angle to be made by varying the placing of your ball within the baulk half-circle.

If you cannot make this angle, no matter how you place your ball in baulk, you may be sure that the long jenny is more or less of an abnormal shot which needs a deal of scoring.

This is especially true if the object-ball is so near to the baulk-line and the side cushion that screw must the combined with side to a certain extent to carry your ball to the pocket. A long jenny of this kind is possible within sharply defined limits, but I should have a keen look round the table for a more feasible stroke before attempting it, and advise you to do likewise.

Long Jennies and After Position

Having arranged the angle according to the measurements given in Fig. 49, the rest is relatively easy. All you have to do is to hit the red half-ball with as much left-hand side on your ball as you can impart, and you will see your ball run into the top pocket as if it could not do anything else if it tried. At first, play at whatever strength you find most likely to make your ball enter the pocket with consistent facility. Do this on both sides of the table. Then, having accustomed your eye to the correct angle for the stroke, and learned to play it with the same amount of side every time, strike out for yourself and set up a variety of positions for different long jennies.

Continue to practise these until you acquire confidence as regards making your ball enter the pocket. Do not think about anything else until this confidence is gained. Then you must turn to positional requirements, and strive to play your long jennies so that the object-ball is left in the centre of the table where it offers a selection of natural angle losers. It is very important that you should play your long jennies with this positional effect, but it is better to arrive at this stage by the two distinct steps I have advised, as it is rather too much to try to make the long jenny and leave correct position until after the actual scoring of the shot "comes easy", as we say in the profession.

Side "Makes the Pocket Bigger" When you are playing your long jennies, especially when you happen to strike your ball rather softly for the class of stroke, you will notice that if you have imparted the correct amount of side to your ball it may enter the pocket after bumping several times against the side cushion, and that it is sure to go in if it arrives anywhere in the pocket opening. When this sort of thing happens, just compare it in your mind with what took place during the trial shots you made to prove the angle without any side on your ball.

You will doubtless remember how aggravatingly close your ball went to the pocket time after time, and how seldom it fell into the net, if ever it did. That was because you then had no side to help your ball into the pocket, and by noticing the effect side has of pulling your ball into the pocket, you will have the best illustration I can give you of the value of side in losing hazard play. In effect, it makes the pocket bigger, as is pointed out by every billiard coach when he is taking a pupil through a course of lessons. Nevertheless, whatever you may know about side, and whatever command you may have of it, you should never use it to "make the pocket bigger" unless you are absolutely compelled to do so.

The Danger of Side

So many amateurs, as soon as they see how extremely helpful pocket side is on occasion, fall into the deplorable habit of using more or less side with all sorts of shots which ought to be made by plain ball striking and accurate division of the object-ball. I cannot warn you too strongly against this common fault, and to help you to guard against it, I advise you to adopt this rule: When you are in doubt as to whether or not side should be used to help your ball into a pocket-do not use any-play plain-ball with all the accuracy and judgment you can put into the stroke.

Most unfortunately, the direct opposite is the general rule among amateurs. They play on the principle-"Always use side when in doubt", and their billiards suffers accordingly, very often to the extent of losing full half of scoring ability. This may seem a startling thing to say, but it is so true that in every billiard room of any size there are players whose game would improve fifty in a hundred if they left off playing with side whether it is wanted or not.

The Short Jenny

The short jenny illustrated in Fig. 50, is similar in principle to the long jenny. In execution, however, there is the important point of difference that the permissible margin of error is much less. As I pointed out, you may make the long jenny even if your ball bumps along the side cushion before reaching the pocket. But you will never score a short jenny in this way. The least graze on the near jaw of the middle pocket, never mind the side cushion, will cause a short jenny to fail. If you play slowly enough, your ball will drop if it strikes a portion of the far jaw of the pocket, but this is as much as you can trust side to do for you when you attempt a short jenny.

It is much better to play them as far in the centre of the pocket opening as you can, which is an excellent rule to adopt when playing for any pocket, as it is slovenly billiards to trust to your ball "bumping in" after a perfectly needless contact with the jaws of the pocket. This failing proves terribly costly if a man becomes addicted to it on an easy table and is called upon to play an important game on a standard table. Then, with unfailing regularity, he will see his ball bumping out instead of in the pocket, which is invariably so demoralizing that he has no chance unless he happens to be pitted against another amateur who is in the same predicament. The best remedy, of course, is never to play except on a standard table.

Alternative Methods

To revert to our short jenny, you set up the example shown in Fig. 50, by placing the cue-ball 3 3/4 inches inside the left spot of the baulk-line. Put the red 3 1/2 inches from the right side cushion and 25 1/2 inches from the baulk-line, and you have the stroke arranged to perfection. Once again, I want you to notice the angle, and thus familiarize your eye with the correct method of placing your ball for these most useful strokes. To play the shot, you hit the red half-ball with as much right-hand side on your ball as you can impart to it. As regards strength, the stroke can be made very prettily by playing just hard enough to bring the red away from the side cushion so as to leave an easy loser into the right-hand middle pocket. As so many fine players make the stroke in this way, I have nothing to say against it. But I do think that by playing so slowly your ball is given more chance to turn than is necessary, and I always play with just enough strength to take the red across the table as shown by the continuous line in my diagram, thus keeping my ball straight and eliminating the tricky turning tendency.

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