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Chapter 22. SPECTACULAR STROKES

Stroke shown in Fig. 77 is, perhaps, JL more useful than spectacular. It illustrates one of the many cannons made by playing off a cushion before striking the first object-ball. Both object-balls lie almost midway between the billiard spot and the pyramid spot, one on each side of the table. The red is 2 inches from the right-side cushion, and the white 41/2 inches from the left-side cushion.

The cue-ball is in hand, a cushion cannon is the only stroke worth playing, and there are more ways than one of making that. If you play off the left-hand spot of the baulk-line with strong right-hand side on your ball, a well-played half-ball from the white to the top cushion will make the cannon provided you play slowly enough and with plenty of side on your ball. But you have many chances of missing this cannon, and if you get it in the manner described position is decidedly problematical. A better shot is the one shown in my diagram, which you make by placing your ball on the right-hand spot of the baulk-line, and by playing with running side on your ball at a spot in front of the red as shown in my diagram. The cannon is then quite as easy as it is if the previous method is tried, and the position is much more certain because, if you play the cannon carefully off the cushion first, you will take the red ball over towards the white, as indicated by the continuous line in my diagram.

"Cushion First" Strokes

A wider range of cannons can be played on the principle demonstrated in Fig 77, which is particularly useful when the first object-ball is tight against a cushion. Then, by using side and brisk cueing, and by gauging the correct spot on the cushion to hit before the first object-ball is played, many pretty all-round cannons, which are otherwise impossible, can be brought off. I advise you to experiment with these shots, and also with cannons made by playing plain-ball at a cushion in front of the first object-ball to make a cannon direct from that ball to another lying well clear of the same cushion. Another use of the same principle is to play for a cannon or pocket by striking the cushion first in such a way that your ball travels inside instead of outside the fi r s t object-ball, taking "inside" to mean the side of the object-ball nearest the cushion.

Sometimes running side will be necessary, especially when cannons are played, but a great deal can be done by plain-ball striking if you specialize on judging the correct spot where your ball must strike the cushion first. Also, when your ball is in hand, a nice knowledge of angles is required to place it to the best advantage for any of these "cushion first" shots, as they are commonly called. Taking them altogether, there is so much scope offered by these strokes that I prefer to reserve them until my pupils have a useful working knowledge of more orthodox scoring methods. Then I find that a tendency to become too fond of them is not likely to develop, which may often be the case if these alluring shots are practised before the "bread and butter" strokes have received proper attention. There is the further consideration that these strokes are so infinite in their variations, added to the fact that such a slight difference in where the cushion is struck makes such a big difference to the result, that it is much better for a player to leave them alone until his standard of general proficiency is high enough to enable him to work out the application of the principle to the many shots it can be brought to bear upon. It then becomes a most interesting and profitable study instead of the distraction it is likely to be if taken up too early.

Three Balls in Line

Figure 78 brings us a little nearer to the truly spectacular. All three balls are in line as shown in the diagram, and are very nearly touching the top cushion. It looks as if a score is barely possible, which would be the case if the balls were actually touching the cushion. As they lie, however, if you take no notice at all of the red ball, and play to run through the white into the facing top pocket as if it were a clear shot, you will score much more often than not. Strike your ball high and freely and put on plenty of left-hand side to help it into the pocket.

You must play almost dead full on the white to send your ball through to the pocket, but there is a little margin allowable in ball-to-ball contact which will send the white somewhat to the right of the red and kiss that ball out of the way. The margin is so very slight, however, that you can scarcely play for it. Your primary object is to send your ball through to make the losing hazard, and the exact contact with the red to kiss that ball away must be regarded as the next thing to an accident. If you think about trying for it, the odds are that you will miss the pocket. But if you do not think about it, there is always a big chance of it happening because you do not strike the object-ball absolutely dead full. If you do hit the object-ball truly in its centre, it will travel straight to the red, your ball will come sprinting after the two others, and "anything may happen", you may cannon, you may pot the red. From the foregoing you will see that the position shown in Fig. 78, is by no means so hopeless as it appears at first sight, and the stroke is worth practising because slight variations of it are frequently playable. Oddly enough, many players never think of anything except some kind of cannon when the balls are left in these positions. They forget how easy it may be to use the first object-ball to knock an intervening ball out of the way to allow the cue-ball to enter a pocket. The same sort of thing can be done when the balls are not near a cushion. It is only a matter of using your judgment as to whether or not the first object-ball can be directed to clear the path for the cue-ball, and I advise you to keep your eyes open for opportunities of the kind in actual play. A "Ten-Shot" Figure 79 brings us to the undeniably spectacular. It is a ten-shot. To make it you place the cue-ball 161/2 inches from the left-side cushion and 22 1/2 inches from the top cushion. The red is tight against the top cushion, 3 1/2 inches to the right of the billiard-spot, and the white is on the brink of the right top pocket. Having arranged the balls carefully in accordance with these measurements, your ball must be struck very hard and high and so far to the left that it carries an abundance of pocket side. Hit the red full in the face, and cue as freely as you can. Then you will see your ball run smartly along the top cushion, hugging that cushion so closely that it pots the white and follows into the pocket after that ball. Meanwhile, the red will travel round the table, as shown by the continuous line in my diagram, and finally come to rest in the same pocket as the other two balls, thus completing the ten-shot.

Mind, I do not guarantee that you will make this shot at your first attempt, or even that you will make it after several attempts. But you are sure to make it eventually if you will only persevere, just stick to it, and in the meantime you will pick up a few extremely useful hints about running through a ball tight against a cushion.

Consistency the Goal

Do not spend too much time over this shot, or any other which is decidedly out of the ordinary. Accuracy is more valuable than anything spectacular. If you seldom miss an easy shot you will always beat a man who sometimes makes a wonderful shot, but is inconsistent as regards shots he ought never to miss. If you wish to make real progress in billiard playing, my advice to you is to place consistency above everything else. It is the stroke you can do every time that wins games for you, and if you make this your billiard motto, I am sure you will never regret it.

You will then see more and more clearly as your skill improves how much depends on plain-ball striking, free cueing, and other things which are apt to be dismissed as elementary by cuemen who think they know very much more about billiards than they really do know.

Position First and Foremost

Never forget that billiards is a game which is never mastered, not even by its most gifted exponents. There are scoring possibilities beyond anything accomplished by Tom Newman and Willie Smith, marvellous players as they are. If you remember this, it will keep you from becoming over- confident, from thinking that you can do more than you are able to accomplish. This advice is most valuable to amateurs who have a fair degree of skill at stroke play, and who are able to score on occasion from all sorts of positions, some of extreme difficulty.

Cuemen of this type are far from uncommon; I often meet with them when playing exhibition games against amateurs. The stroke play they exploit compels my admiration, but their ball control is often exceedingly faulty. I want to warn you against this bad failing. If you study position first, last, and all the time, your billiards must be steadily progressive; but it will always be jerky and uncertain if you specialize in individual strokes, no matter how brilliant they may be.

Billiard Temperament Finally, just a word on the much-discussed question of billiard temperament. To my way of thinking, the best temperament for billiards is what I call steadily observant. You want to school yourself to sit quietly through a break made by your adversary, noting the strong and weak points of his game, and steeling yourself to take no notice of what luck he may get. Your turn will come in this respect, the luck of the game will always even itself out, but nothing can restore your touch and skill if you allow them to be upset because the other man has a fluke or two. By accepting the fortune of war in this way, and watching your opponent steadily enough to see the strokes he does not play any too well, you will learn something certain to be most useful to you when a safety move has to be considered. And, above all, you will cultivate the right billiard temperament -the one thing that will make a big difference in your favour when you are fighting hard "in the pit" against a worthy opponent.

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