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Thus (Suppose the adversary's ball)

suppose 2 the adversary's ball, close beside the middle pocket, I the player's ball. 2 The striker should put on left side and play at the right side of the pocket, so as to hit the cushion before his own ball strikes the ball 2. If this stroke be played gently, a losing hazard in the middle pocket is almost a certainty, and the adversary's ball will remain after the stroke at the top of the table. Many long breaks are made off this stroke, as I have found to my cost, C. Hughes once having made a break of eighty-seven off it. Before I ever thought of playing for such a hazard, I should have been content to pocket the white, and make a baulk. 7 FIG. 21.

When a ball is so near a pocket that to make a losing hazard by a fine stroke, hitting the ball played at " direct," is almost impossible, this hazard may be made by hitting the cushion with your own ball before this ball strikes the ball off which the hazard is to be made.

For example (Fig. 22).

Suppose I the player's ball, 2 the ball to be played at, 3 the pocket into which it desired to make the A 1S 3 2 FIG. 22. 1 losing hazard. To attempt to accomplish this hazard by means of a following stroke, with side, would result in the balls I and 2 kissing and a score being missed. By playing to strike the cushion at A, the ball I rebounds from A, strikes 2 on the left and enters the pocket 3. The fact of striking the cushion at A produces the same effect as though the player's ball were at A, and he had to play for the losing hazard from this position.

It is excellent practice for an amateur, not only as regards making losing hazards, but in order to obtain a knowledge of the angles of the table, to practise the following strokes :- Mark out in chalk on the table two circles about three inches in diameter (Fig. 23).

One circle A should be about six inches from the top cushion, and about nine inches from the side cushion; the second circle B should be about one foot from A. Place 6 the red ball anywhere in the circle A, whilst the striker's ball is placed anywhere in the circle B. Then endeavour a to 4 5 6 2 A 6 5 FIG. 23. 5 3 make losing hazard, first in the pocket marked 1; replace the balls and make a second losing hazard in the pocket 2; and so on all round the table, replacing the balls in the circles A and B after each stroke.

When a losing hazard in the whole six pockets can be made in from fifteen to twenty trials, the player may feel confident that he knows something about the angles of the table.

To make the losing hazard in No. I is very easy. No. 2 is made with a slow twist; No. 3 by striking the ball in the circle A very fine, and making this hazard off the top cushion; No. 4 by striking the red ball on the left, and making the hazard off the top and side cushion, as shown by the numeral 4. No. 5 is made by striking the red ball on the right, and making the hazard as shown by the numeral 5. No. 6 is made by striking the red ball nearly full, with a great deal of right-hand side, and hitting the top and right-hand top-side cushion where indicated by the numeral 6.

When the hazards are first tried, probably forty or fifty strokes will be required to make the six hazards; but with practice, which tends to steady a player, they may be made in less than twenty.

Winning Hazards. - To pocket the red ball under certain conditions is essential, and may lead to a good break. To pocket the adversary's ball and make a double baulk is a proceeding equally necessary at certain points of the game.

Before a player's eye becomes accustomed to make a winning hazard, there is no stroke so often missed. To a pool or pyramid player it is essential to make winning hazards well, and in the game of billiards pocketing the red when the adversary's ball is near the top of the table, will be almost certain to lead to a break.

The theory of making winning hazards is very simple; the practice is not quite so easy.

Suppose it be required to pocket the red ball in a given pocket. Draw from the middle of the pocket an imaginary line through the centre of the red ball, where this line would come out on the near side of the red ball is the spot on which 3 the striker's ball should hit (Fig. 24). 2 1