Hoyle's Games Modernized Part 36

STAB, OR STICK-SHOT.--When any one plays to put a ball in and leave his own ball exactly on the spot where the object ball was, or only a very little way beyond it, the stroke is called a stab.

LINE BALL.--A ball whose centre is exactly on the baulk-line.

FOUL.--A stroke which infringes any rule of the game.

OBJECT BALL.--The ball upon which the striker's own ball impinges.

JAMMED.--When the two object b.a.l.l.s touch in the jaws of a pocket, and each touches a different cushion at the same time.

STEEPLECHASE STROKE.--When the striker's own ball is forced off the surface of the table on to, or over, {298} one or both of the object b.a.l.l.s. By the Billiard a.s.sociation Rules, this stroke, "if properly made, is fair, and the referee is the proper person to decide the matter."

One of the most important points for the beginner, as well as for the more experienced player, is the selection of a thoroughly good and reliable cue.

Strangely enough, this matter generally receives very little attention, the neophyte being content to take the first that comes to hand. What is even worse, he will change about from day to day,--or from hour to hour,--using cues of different shapes, weight, and balance; and is then surprised that he does not make the progress that he expected.

Reverting to the subject of the half-ball stroke, it is of the greatest importance that all beginners should understand how much depends upon their being able to hit the object ball in the way shown in Fig. 2. Their whole future success as billiard-players will depend upon the accuracy with which they learn to hit the object ball in this particular manner.

First of all, the beginner must learn to hit his own ball freely. We would recommend him to take his first practice-lesson by learning simply how to hit a ball hard--_i.e._, have only one ball to play with. After he has gained a certain amount of what is called freedom of cue, he must next learn to aim at the object ball, so that he always. .h.i.ts it in what we have described as the half-stroke. To ascertain whether he has acquired sufficient "freedom of cue," let him see how many times he can send his own ball up and down the table. {299}

In learning to simply strike your own ball, it is important to learn to strike it hard _without putting on side_. Place your ball in baulk, say nearly in the centre of the half-circle; now play straight up at the top cushion _hard_. If you hit your ball fairly in the centre, the ball will come back straight; if you don't you will put on side, and you can tell how much by the angle at which the ball will rebound from the top cushion.

Commence learning, therefore, by hitting your own ball hard enough to send it four to five times up and down the table without side. This is not so easy as many persons would think.

Having learnt to hit his own ball fairly in the centre, the beginner must next learn to hit the object ball a half-ball stroke; and for this purpose it is a very good exercise, at the commencement, to place the red ball on the spot, S (_vide_ Fig. 3), and the striker's ball in position A, that is, just in front of the middle pocket, an inch or two along an imaginary line drawn from the centre of the middle pocket to the edge of the object ball placed on the spot.

The losing hazard off the red into the right-hand top pocket ought now to be a certainty, it being a simple half-ball stroke. After making the hazard, the red ball should, after striking the top cushion, rebound in a line right down the centre of the table (as shown by the dotted line W W).

By watching the direction of the red ball after striking, the beginner will be able to see if he has struck the ball correctly. If he hits it too fine, the red ball will come down the table on the left of the centre line, W W.

Should he strike the red ball too full, the red will come down the table on the right-hand side of the line W W. {300}

When the beginner has practised this stroke till he can make a certainty of it, he may then begin to learn how to play what may be called "forcing hazards." For this purpose he can gradually place his own ball lower and lower down the table, as shown in Fig. 3. Suppose, for instance, he places his own ball at B. There is still an easy losing hazard off the red into the top corner pocket, the only difference being that the stroke must be played _harder_. When the ball was placed at A, the losing hazard could be made by simply what is called dropping on to the ball. In fact, the stroke could be played so slowly, that the red ball, after striking the top cushion, would not rebound more than a foot down the table. As, however, the striker's ball is placed lower and lower down the table in the positions shown by the letters B and C, so the stroke must be played harder and harder.

Another perfect half-ball stroke that can be played either slowly or fast, is shown by the two lines, in Fig. 3, drawn from the spot S to the two top pockets. Suppose a ball to be placed in the centre of either top pocket, or a few inches along the line drawn from the pocket to the spot. Then it is a simple half-ball stroke to go in off the red into the other top pocket.

Place the white ball an inch or two away from the top pocket along the line drawn, and place the red ball on the spot. Then drop on to the ball quietly. The hazard is easy, and, supposing you play from, say, the left-hand top pocket, you will not only make the losing hazard, but you will leave the red ball in a position for another easy hazard into the middle pocket. Your own ball, the white, for the next stroke will be in baulk; the red ball will, if you play the stroke correctly, travel along the dotted line shown in the diagram, and stop somewhere about R, thus leaving an easy hazard next time into the right-hand middle pocket.

{301}

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3.]

{302}

Having thus practised the half-ball stroke with slow strength and fast strength, the next point to be considered is losing hazards into the top pockets from baulk. These losing hazards may be called the very backbone of the game.

The chief difficulty experienced by a beginner will be to know where to spot his ball in baulk. This will only come with practice. The eye will gradually accustom itself to the angle. A good player can tell at a glance whether or not a stroke is easy. We would recommend any one learning the game to make one or two spots on the table as follows. First place a card or thin piece of wood upright against the top cushion, and then measure down the table 3 ft. 9 in. Make a mark on the cloth (a little cross is best), and then place the red ball on this spot. Next let him place the white ball at K (Fig. 4), the centre spot in baulk. The red ball is placed on the spot A, which, as we have said, is just 3 ft. 9 in. from the face of the top cushion. Now there is an easy losing hazard, if the stroke be played with the ordinary half-ball stroke, into either top pocket off the red ball.

This stroke is capital practice for the beginner, as it gets his eye used to the angle which we have called the "natural" angle.

The advantage of playing the natural angle is that, supposing you fail to hit the ball _exactly_ as you intended, a very slight error in aiming does not alter materially the direction of your own ball after it has come in contact with the object ball. {303}

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.]

{304}

Suppose, now, the beginner has succeeded in going into first one top pocket and then the other several times, let him take the red ball off the spot marked A in Fig. 4, and place it on M, the centre spot in the table. Now let him place his own ball in baulk on the proper spot to go into, say, the left-hand top pocket off M. The proper spot is B in the diagram, but then, where is B? B _ought_ to be seven and a half inches from K, the centre spot in baulk. Similarly, if the player wished to go into the right-hand top pocket off the red ball at M, he would have to spot his own ball on a spot seven-and-a-half inches to the right of K.

As a rule, beginners all make the same mistake. They will, as a rule, spot their ball too near to K, and, of course, the further they are out in their reckoning, the more they have to learn. It would be as well, however, to let a beginner play the stroke. Suppose, for instance, that instead of spotting his ball at B, seven and a half inches to the left of K, he spots his ball only five inches to the left of K. Let him play his stroke, and instead of going into the left-hand top pocket, his ball will strike the left-hand upper cushion several inches below the pocket. Now let him measure the correct seven and a half inches, and, although he will think he is going to miss the stroke, to his own surprise he will make it. It is very good practice to go in off a ball placed on the middle spot M, first into one top pocket, and then into another, being careful always to watch the direction taken by the red ball after the stroke, with {305} an eye to playing the right strength to leave an easy losing hazard next time.

We next come to--

MIDDLE-POCKET HAZARDS.

We will suppose that the beginner has now fairly learned how to play losing hazards in the top pockets, and also how to spot his ball for the natural angle. In playing losing hazards into the middle pockets, it is quite as important that this angle, and this only, should be used. In Fig. 5 we give two ill.u.s.trations of simple hazards into the middle pockets. The hazards themselves are, comparatively speaking, easy; but the chief point to be borne in mind is position--that is, having made the hazard, how can we leave the red ball so that there shall be another easy hazard next time?

The endeavour should be to keep the red ball _in the centre of the table_ as much as possible. As a rule, the game is to play to bring down the red ball over the middle pocket again. Now, in Fig. 5, suppose the player at H tries to go into the right-hand middle pocket off a ball at D, the proper play would be to strike the red ball so that it goes up the table, and, following the dotted lines, returns to D_1. If the player hits the red a trifle too fine the red ball would travel to the left of this dotted line, and a losing hazard would be left off the red into one of the top pockets.

If, however, in playing the stroke, the player hits his ball a trifle too full, the red ball would then probably travel along the dotted line terminating in D_2, and there would be no score left next time. {306}

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.]

{307}

A similar stroke is shown in the left-hand middle pocket. The striker spots his ball at B, and goes into the middle pocket off a ball at A. The endeavour should be to send the red ball up the table in the direction shown by the dotted line A C.

If the red is sent up the table to the left of this line, unless very accurate strength is played, there will be probably no score left next time. If, however, the player is careful not to hit the ball at A too full, the ball will travel rather to the right of the line A C, and then, being in the middle of the table, if the strength is insufficient to bring the ball over the _middle_ pocket, there will still be a losing hazard left into one of the top pockets. This is the chief point to be considered in making losing hazards in the middle pockets, and naturally introduces that all-important subject for consideration in learning to play Billiards, viz.--

POSITION.

There are thousands of men who have played Billiards all their lives, but are still very poor players, because in learning to play they never studied position. They play simply for the stroke, and never give a thought to what will happen in the next stroke. If you watch a first-cla.s.s player make a break, you will probably see him make a long series of very easy strokes, any one of which you yourself could have made with the greatest ease. The one difference, in fact, between your play and his would have been this--that you would make the easy stroke, and fail to leave another easy stroke next time, whereas he would _not_ fail; hence _his_ break--a series of easy strokes; hence _your_ break--one easy stroke, and a breakdown.

s.p.a.ce will not allow us to give a long series of {308} diagrams, explaining the various ways of playing for position, but we will indicate a few general principles. First--

LOSING HAZARDS.

In playing for any losing hazard, it should be remembered that the position of one ball after the stroke is fixed: the striker's own ball will be "in hand." Hence, he has only to consider the position of the object ball, which we will suppose to be the red. Now, the object of the player is to leave an easy stroke next time. As a rule, the red ball must be hit in a certain spot to ensure the hazard, the only exception being when the red ball is close to the pocket, and the player's ball close to the red. In this latter case it is often the best plan to just touch or graze the red ball so as hardly to move it, and--supposing, of course, it is not one of the bottom pockets--to leave the red ball over the pocket where it is. If, however, you are some way off the red ball, you will have to hit it in one place in order to make certain of the hazard. Consequently, position will simply depend upon _strength_. It is as well to remember that if a ball is left anywhere near the middle of the table, there is always an easy hazard left next time.

No player can leave a ball on a certain spot _exactly_. The greatest expert cannot do more than leave it "there or thereabouts." In fact, very often, in playing a losing hazard, all we have to do is not so much to play where to leave the red, but _where not_ to leave the red.

Sometimes it may be the best play to try and leave the red ball close to the white ball, so that the {309} next stroke will be an easy cannon. As a rule, however, the best play is to leave the red ball over a pocket, so that you can go in off it again next time. All the best "all-round" breaks are made by a series of losing hazards with occasional cannons. It is in playing cannons that the chief difficulty arises in getting position, but before we discuss cannons, a few words about--

WINNING HAZARDS.

It is evident that after playing a winning hazard the position of the object ball is known--viz., as a rule, on the spot. Should the player put in the white, his only excuse must be to make a baulk; otherwise it is bad play. His opponent, next time he plays, can spot his ball anywhere he likes in the semicircle, and if the other b.a.l.l.s are out of baulk, he is almost certain to score. Consequently, the only winning hazards worth discussing are red winning hazards. In making a winning hazard, the player, as a rule, should try and get near the spot himself, so as to play for the spot, or else play to leave his own ball where there would be an easy losing hazard off the red on the spot next time. In Fig. 6 we give two ill.u.s.trations.

Suppose, first of all, the red ball is over the right-hand middle pocket at H. The proper professional play would be to put the ball in the pocket, and then run up the table towards L, and try and get into position for the spot, but the ordinary amateur, who, when he gets into position for the spot, can only make one hazard and then breaks down, had better not play for the spot at all. In the position given in the diagram, it would be better play to put the red ball in the pocket, and try and leave your own ball at H_1; then there is a certain losing hazard next time off the red into the left-hand top pocket. {310}

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.]

{311}

Again, suppose the b.a.l.l.s are left in the position W (the white ball), and X (the red ball), many beginners would play for the six stroke, but it would be very bad play, as the red ball would be on the spot, and the striker in hand. The proper play is to put the red ball in the pocket and leave your own ball in the jaws of the pocket, thus leaving a certain losing hazard--in off the red into the opposite top pocket--next time; a stroke, too, in which it is always easy to leave the red ball over the middle pocket in the stroke following.