The first thing to be learned in connection with billiard placing is the making with one of the hands of suitable bridges with which to support, steady, and guide the cue. Righthanded players, of course, make the bridges with their left hands, left-handed players with their right hands, and ambidextrous players with either hand as required Assuming the case of the right-handed player, the first thing to be done by such a player is to accustom his left hand to the making of the bridge which long experience has taught the best players to be one that cannot be improved upon for the great bulk of the strokes at the table, and the formation of this bridge may be practised before a cue is taken into the hand at all. To make this bridge carefully observe the following instructions:—
1.—Lay the left hand flat upon the table, or anywhere upon a flat surface.
2.—Raise the knuckles of the four fingers about three inches from the table, keeping them all close together and lightly resting upon the table.
3.— Separate the four fingers slightly so as to broaden the support that they give to the hand.
4.—Bring the ball of the thumb to a point midway between the knuckle and the lower joint of the first finger.
5.—Turn the hand over to the right so that the root of the thumb rests firmly on the table.
6.—If the cue be now placed across the joint of the thumb and against the knuckle of the index finger, it will be found to be provided with a perfect rest or guide for the cue to run across in the making of nearly all the strokes that occur in the usual way.
Sometimes, however, it is of advantage to be able to work the cue in a loop, and here again the experience of the best players is that the most satisfactory and reliable loop for several special purposes is to be formed by bringing the tips of the thumb and index finger together and placing them against the middle joint of the second finger. This looped bridge, raised and depressed, can be adapted to several purposes. There is also a modification of it when working the cue on the cushion and almost parallel with it.
In this case the third and fourth fingers of the hand rest on the cushion, and the middle finger on the table with the joined thumb and first finger brought together against its middle joint.
One other bridge is the masse bridge, in which the second and third fingers are pressed vertically on the table and the cue is worked in a groove formed by bending the first finger as far back as possible beneath the thumb. This forms a fork between the knuckle of the first finger and the joint of the thumb.