The Rest
Very few amateurs can play with either the short or long rest as ably as with the hand for a bridge. This is mainly due to the fact that, when knocking the balls about, it is seldom that practice is adopted with the rest. Considering the number of strokes during a game that have to be played with the rest, it pays to practise with it. Formerly a player might ask the marker how far the point of his cue was from his ball when he was about to make the stroke, but by the new rules the marker is not allowed to give any such information.
A player, however, may leave his cue and rest in position, and may walk round the table so as to obtain this knowledge from his own observation.
When using either of the long rests, the extra weight of the long cues will cause a greater screw or twist to be given to the striker's ball than would be given if the usual cue had been used, so that a striker usually over-screws when using the long rest.
The same precautions should be used as regards using the cue by working it in a straight line, when the rest is made use of, as when the hand is employed as a bridge; and as the "pump-handle" proceeding is one of the most common causes of failure among amateurs and beginners, too much attention cannot be given to this one item.
The Game of Billiards." There is no such thing as an easy stroke at billiards," was a proverb that Charles Hughes had learnt from his father and uncle, both excellent players; and he impressed this on all with whom he played, and who he considered desired to know something of the science of the game. We may often see, even with some of the best players, strokes missed because they are considered so easy that no trouble is necessary. Besides accomplishing the simple stroke itself, there is something else to think about, viz., where are you going to leave the balls after the stroke? If the easy stroke is played hard, and the balls scattered all over the table, it is a matter of mere luck whether a socalled "easy stroke" is left. If, however, the stroke be played with thought and care, the balls may be placed for the next stroke, and there is nothing more interesting in the game than watching the manner in which some first-class players will make a stroke and leave the balls so that to miss each successive stroke seems almost impossible. The balls seem to be possessed of intelligence, and to travel about the table, and to stop in particular positions, as though they knew what they were about.
Such skill is not obtained by practice alone; brain work is employed, and hence there is mental as also bodily exercise in a game of billiards.
It is a man of only moderate capacity who is content to knock the balls about, and is more delighted when he makes a score by a fluke than when he succeeds in making a stroke for which he played.
The style of game to be played must depend to a great extent on the player to whom you are opposed. If this player be so bad that he is likely to miss the easiest strokes, an open game may be played, and scores tried for which it is two or three to one against your making. A very bad player is as likely to score by hitting hard, and holeing the red ball off three cushions, as he is to accomplish an easy stroke.
With a very good player one must be cautious, and ought to play for few scores that are not almost certain to be achieved, or which have not strong odds in their favour. A very different style of game ought to be played when you are giving thirty points in one hundred, to that which you should adopt when receiving thirty in one hundred. A very strong player must be cramped as much as possible, by having his ball "potted," and being left with a double baulk. A rash stroke which, even if accomplished, might not leave very much, may if missed leave a first-class player a break of over one hundred.
There is a very widespread prejudice, especially amongst novices, against "potting the white," such a stroke being frequently described as "Whitechapel play "; but although it should not be too frequently resorted to when playing a friendly hundred up, owing to its tendency to unduly cramp and prolong the game, it is unquestionably perfectly justifiable and correct to do so 4 when indicated in the course of playing a match or a heat in a tournament, it being the player's duty not only to himself, but also to his backers, to do his utmost to win by any strictly fair and legitimate means.
It must be remembered that, should the player adopt this method of scoring when it is not the game to do so, it is dead against his own interest, as he leaves himself with only one object ball upon the table with which to continue his break.
No player should imagine that victory is a certainty until the marker calls "game."
The opponent may make a good break, then obtain a fluke and continue the break, leave the balls safe, and make another break and win the game. Many years ago I received a lesson, as regards making too sure of the game, when playing with Cook, who was giving me forty in one hundred. The balls had broken so well for me that I had reached ninety-seven to Cook's eighteen. I had a very easy white winning hazard, and could have made a double baulk, and the game would then have stood eighteen to ninety-nine, and a double baulk left for my formidable antagonist. I, however, played for a difficult losing hazard off the red, failed to make it, and left my own ball over the pocket. Cook potted my ball, then holed the red in the middle pocket, leaving his own ball in position for the spot stroke, and won the game without my having another entry.
I remembered too late the advice that had been given me by Charles Hughes in my young days, viz., "When you have the best of the game, keep it."
When the adversary is very much ahead, and has only a short distance to travel to reach game, then it may be advisable to play for difficult strokes, provided that these, if accomplished, must leave a good break.
To play, however, for a very difficult stroke which when made will leave nothing is an error of judgment.
What is called "playing the game," means playing that stroke which will leave the balls in the most favourable position for the player when the stroke has been successfully made. In this one particular nearly all young players and amateurs who have merely knocked the balls about during many years, usually fail most signally. They may be seen during a game electing to play for a stroke which it is three to one against a good player making, and which, if accomplished, would leave nothing, instead of playing for an easy stroke which must leave a good break. It is sometimes almost painful to look on at a game when such errors of judgment are shown, especially [BILLIARDS when in addition one is waiting for the table, to encounter an adversary worthy of one's steel.
There is, however, an item worthy of consideration in connection with what is called "playing the game," viz., that what may be one man's game may not be that of another. A first-class player may feel certain of accomplishing a stroke and leaving the balls in a given position; an indifferent player could not accomplish even the first stroke; consequently he should not play for it. For example, if the red ball were so situated as to enable me to play from baulk and make a losing hazard in the middle pocket, I should play for this stroke, and should endeavour to make it with such strength as to bring the red ball again over the middle pocket. If Mr. Peall found the red ball in a similar position, he would hole the red in the middle pocket, whilst his own ball would run up the table and stop exactly behind the spot, a position from which he would make fifty or one hundred red winning hazards that is, of course, if he were not playing "spot barred." 66 Playing the game," therefore, requires a correct estimate of one's own powers; for there is no more dangerous proceeding than that of attempting to play a game beyond one's power. The stroke you are most certain to succeed in making is the best game to play in the majority of cases. a It is not an unusual result to find that an amateur who has been looking on at "exhibition matches" by professionals, plays during some days afterwards weaker game than he did before seeing the performance. The reason for this falling off is that billiards looks such an easy game when played by good players that the amateur endeavours to make the same strokes that he saw the professionals make.
He is not content to play for a score which he is certain to make, but attempts strokes quite beyond him. Instead, therefore, of making a score of ten or fifteen, he breaks down at the first shot, and leaves his adversary an easy score. The same result often follows taking lessons in the game; that is, for a short time afterwards the pupil does not score as rapidly as he did before he received his instructions. After some time, however, and when he has repeatedly practised the strokes and style he has been taught, he will make an advance of ten or fifteen points in a game of one hundred.
I have known instances where amateurs have had matches on, and a day or two before the match have gone to a professional to take lessons. The result has been BILLIARDS] that they have played their match in a style much below their usual form, they have unlearnt what little they knew, and have not sufficiently learned what they would have benefited by knowing.
When a new style has been taught to an amateur, he should practise this day after day, so as to make it, as it were, his own, before putting it in practice during a game or match.
I was fortunate enough to be present at the match for the championship between John Roberts, senr., and W. Cook, played on February 11th, 1869. I had played many games with Roberts, and had tried to imitate his dashing style. Cook I had never before seen play. The difference in the two styles was most marked. The brilliant forcing strokes of Roberts were replied to by the delicate touches of Cook, which caused the balls rarely if ever to strike more than one cushion, and then as if by reason on their part to come together.
I at once recognised the fact that a new era in billiards had arrived, and that the slow, delicate play was the sure method of making a long score. Upon practising these slow strokes on a table, I found it not so easy as it looked; there was always a tendency to strike the ball too hard; and it was only after several days that I was enabled to feebly imitate the strokes I had seen played during the match. From that day I realised the important fact that the game of billiards should not be played with a cue alone, but that the head has a most important influence in the results of the score.
To strike a ball with the cue so as to give it neither side nor screw is a far more difficult performance than many amateurs imagine. To prove this fact, place a ball on the spot on the right of the baulk line, strike this ball with just sufficient strength to cause it to come back to the bottom cushion, and aim at the centre of the top cushion. The ball after striking the top cushion ought, in coming back, to pass over the spot on the left of the baulk line. If the ball be true and does not pass over the spot, it is due to the fact that "side" has unintentionally been given to the ball when it was struck. Try this stroke a dozen times, and note how often you fail to make the ball pass even within a couple of inches of the left-hand spot. When by practice you can strike your ball truly, the desired result can be obtained every time.
This stroke not only helps to make the beginner take care how he strikes the ball, but also will give him the knowledge of the angles of the table. a Again, place a ball midway between the centre spot in the baulk line and the lefthand spot, and strike the ball so that it passes over the spot in the centre of the table. If the ball be struck true, it will rebound from the top cushion, and will strike the bottom cushion close to the righthand bottom pocket. If the ball be struck very hard, it will rebound at a slightly different angle from that at which it would rebound if struck gently; the ball in returning coming back more nearly at right angles to the cushion on which it strikes. Thus a ball struck with only sufficient force to carry it back to the bottom cushion would strike close to the pocket, whereas ball struck very hard would strike the bottom cushion two or three inches from the pocket. It is singular how few amateur players are aware of the effect produced by the cushions on a ball that is struck very hard. The ball may rebound from the first cushion struck at nearly the correct angle, but the second and third rebound causes the ball to come back, as it were, in the opposite direction to that in which it originally rebounded. For example, place a ball about three inches out of baulk, and about six inches from the cushion. Strike this ball "true" and very hard, and play at the opposite cushion, where the baulk line touches the cushion; after three or four rebounds the ball will come out of baulk. This fact has caused some amateurs to assert that the table was bad, and the cushions foul. It is in reality due to the fact that the ball on striking a fast cushion buries itself slightly in the india-rubber, and is given "side," which causes the ball to rebound as it loses its velocity at an untrue angle.
The Cannon. - The first and easiest stroke to be made at billiards is "the cannon direct"-that is, to cause the ball struck to hit another ball, and bound off and strike the third ball. A cannon is much easier than a hazard, for the reason that, strange as the remark may appear, a ball is for such a stroke about twice the size of a pocket. The proof of this statement is as follows:- Suppose a pocket is three inches and a quarter at the aperture. In order that the ball played with should enter this pocket, it ought not to strike either side of the pocket, but should go directly in. A ball, however, which is 21 inches in diameter will be struck by another ball, provided this other ball travels over the table anywhere within a ball's diameter of the second ball.