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Chapter 16. MORE ABOUT JENNIES AND OTHER SIDE STROKES

In addition to the examples dealt with in my preceding chapter, there is a very short jenny possible occasionally when the object-ball happens to be tight against the side cushion in the direction of baulk and only a few inches from the middle pocket.

When you play this shot you have barely to graze the object-ball, as nearly missing it as you can. Put plenty of pocket side on your ball, and play a brisk, nippy stroke which sends your ball into the pocket like a flash.

You play this shot from the spot on the baulk-line where you can place your ball farthest away from the object-ball. It is a hard shot to make, very great accuracy being called for to strike the object-ball fine enough and sharp enough. Worst of all, it cannot be played to leave much-the best you can hope for is to move the object-ball just far enough from the side cushion to give you a chance of a long jenny into the top pocket. Still, it is a handy shot to know something about-it may enable you to force an opening and get a badly-needed break.

Another Short Jenny

Another kind of jenny, which may be either long or short, is playable when the object-ball is too far from the side cushion for a jenny of the usual kind to be attempted.

Then, if the object-ball is the red, you should take a chance of potting it in the middle pocket instead of trying the jenny if the winning hazard is fairly feasible. If not, you must play the jenny by a three-quarter contact with the object-ball, played rather slowly with as much pocket side on your ball as you can cram on it.

Mostly, I find, my pupils miss this stroke because they will not hit the object-ball thickly enough. They fail to grasp that a follow-through effect is necessary, but they see it after several failures caused through hitting the object-ball too thin for the shot. I mention this because I do not want you to be baffled in the same way.

If you find these short jennies beating you, play a lot thicker on the object-ball than you have been doing. This may cause failure in the other direction, when you can make the necessary allowance in subsequent shots.

What I want you to avoid is the common mistake of attempting to vary the amount of side you use. Never do this, use all the side you can, and score the pocket by gauging the angle and ball-to-ball contact.

"Jenny Effects" Sometimes, you will find the object-ball so awkwardly placed that it is rather too far from the side cushion for an ordinary short jenny, and not quite far enough away for the three-quarter run-through jenny into a middle pocket. You then play a long jenny for the top pocket, making the angle as before, using the same side as before, but playing a decided half-ball rather more slowly than usual.

These shots are not by any means difficult, and when you get to know them, you are not likely to be beaten by any sort of jenny you ought to score, as I think I have now outlined the main types of jennies, both long and short, in my remarks on these shots. Before leaving them, however, I should like to remind you that what may be called "jenny effects" are frequently playable all over the table. This is especially true along the top cushion, where the balls are often left in such a position that a pocket is easy if played on the jenny principle, but very difficult if attempted plain ball. Such leaves are generally finer than half-ball, they may be so fine that the cue-ball merely brushes the object-ball as it glides away into the pocket. These strokes are most useful at close quarters, and should be played freely enough to prevent the side from making your ball turn too much before the pocket is reached. They cannot be made if the object-ball is tight against a cushion, but they are certainties if that ball is just clear of it.

A "Run-through" Stroke

When the object-ball is tight against a cushion, you have to play a stroke which introduces a new use of side. This is shown in Fig. 51, where a very common form of run through is illustrated. As the balls lie, with the object-ball tight against the top cushion, you have only to hit that ball dead full with plenty of left side on your ball to make the pocket. The stroke is easier if you strike your ball high as well as on the side, but you will never go anywhere near it unless you allow your cue to swing freely through your ball.

These run-through losing hazards off a ball tight up against a cushion are a splendid test of cueing. Your ball will kick, and stop, and do all sorts of things except enter the pocket, unless you allow your cue to drive clean through when you deliver it. This is because, in effect, you have to set two powerful rotary motions at work on your ball at the same time, a thing you cannot do if your cueing lacks freedom. You want strong forward spin to take your ball onwards after the thick contact with the object-ball, and you want plenty of side to make your ball hug the cushion and finally spin into the pocket.

Unless you set these ball movements going by free and lissom cueing, you will never make these run-throughs. It is no use merely hitting the cue-ball in the right place and the object-ball in the right place. By doing this you only fulfill half of your contract, the other half is dependent on how you hit the cue-ball.

You want a lot of top and side as well as great freedom of cue when attempting these run-throughs at close quarters. Curiously enough, the same is true at long range. The stroke we discussed in connection with Fig. 37, for instance, the long-range run-through into the right top pocket, must be played with all the top and side you can command. Force is also necessary, and such a clean drive through your ball that you nearly throw your cue at it. Do this, and you will see your ball stick to the cushion as it spins quickly straight into the pocket; but the long-ranger instanced in Fig. 37 is utterly impossible if your cueing lacks the requisite fluency.

The Cue Must go through the Ball

What happens with all these run-throughs off a ball tight against a cushion is that the thick ball-to-ball contact, together with the extra resistance offered by the object-ball touching the cushion, brings the cueball to a momentary stop when the object-ball is struck. Then your attempt to score will fizzle out unless your ball has within itself the requisite rotation to give it fresh impetus m the required direction, and the spin necessary to make it stick to the cushion and "buzz into the pocket", so to speak. And I cannot insist with too much emphasis that this all-important fresh impetus can only come from that free cue delivery you may think I am saying too much about. You would not think so if you were present when I am giving a lesson to a pupil, and heard the many, many times I keep pulling him up to tell him that he must let his cue "go through the ball".

By way of a complete change, Fig. 52 shows a very useful screw shot. The cue-ball is on the centre-spot of the baulk-line, the red is 19 inches from the side cushion and 2 inches nearer baulk than a line taken straight across the table through the centre-spot. If you put screw on your ball, as much as you can, you will score the middle pocket quite easily if you make a half-ball contact with the red. You must play hard enough to bring the red in and out of baulk as shown in my diagram, when you will always leave good position. This is the gist of the matter, is the position. By placing your ball close to the right-hand spot of the baulk-line, and playing plain-ball with more strength than judgment at the red, it is admittedly easier to get in-off than it is by the screw shot I advise. But where will you leave the red? I cannot say, and a very few shots will convince you that you can never be sure where the red will stop if you play the wrong shot because it is a little easier than the screw-loser.

Screw and Fine Contacts

Figure 52 also provides a capital illustration of the fact that screw always takes effect no matter what the ball-to-ball contact may be. Many ordinary cuemen seldom think about using screw unless they wish to screw straight back or very nearly so. This is bad billiards. I do not think you need worry a great deal about the subtle effects of screw when you play a slow shot fine on the object-ball.

This is a refinement which needs a deal of mastering, and is seldom in request except in spot-end play. It will pay you much better to acquire a thorough knowledge of the effect of screw at contacts from half-ball to full-ball than it will to go too far in the other direction, although I advise you to practice screw effects which are decidedly finer than half-ball. These are very useful at times for positional purposes, as you will discover for yourself when you begin to make breaks of fifty or so fairly often.

I prefer to leave it at this instead of giving you diagrams and playing instructions relating to positional effects obtainable by screw acting in conjunction with fine ball-to-ball contacts. Unless you are a fairly useful player, detailed instruction on the matter will set you working at something which is rather beyond your cuemanship; and if you are able to benefit by it you will know when to use it with advantage. It will be quite enough for your purpose and mine if you study the effect of screw at these contacts finer than half-ball, and use the knowledge thus gained for break-building purposes as your game improves.

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