A Few Cue Tips

• It is no use taking aim unless your cue is aligned or parallel with the intended ran of the centre of the cue ball.
• Side is mostly useful for obtaining position for the cue ball in the next stroke. For the making of the immediate shot, except in slow, wide strokes, to enlarge a pocket, or to neutralize increased throw-off, it is mostly a delusion.
• Nine inches is quite enough distance as a rule between the hand or rest and the cue ball.
• A lot of rapid movements of the cue in addressing the ball are not of much use. A mere quiver of the tip is more serviceable if it makes you feel that you have got the right touch or strength.
• A nice little impulse imported to the cue in Its final forward movement is a good thing, especially for the accentuation of side or screw, but it should never degenerate into a nervous thrust or poke.
• At near range the ball need not be forced at rather more than the half-ball angle. Absence of top on the cue ball by dead central striking answers the same purpose.
• Remember that just as striking the cue ball slightly below the centre imparts to it extra throw-off so striking it a little above the centre proportionately lessens the throw-off.
• The worst possible foe to the young billiard student is the tendency or temptation to chop and change about in style, system, etc. Once the right method or stroke is discovered it should be rigidly adhered to.
• When a red ball score is as easy as a white ball score and would leave as good position, the red should naturally be selected, but it is a mistake to go for the easy red in season and out of season. A slightly more difficult white is often better.
• There should be no hesitation about putting down the white where more than two can be made in this way or the opponent's play hampered or the game won. But it is well to remember that putting down the white gives the opponent the entire latitude of the D to play from.
• The cue contacts should be regarded as definite and not vague. There are eight of them besides the centre and they follow the points of the compass at a distance of half an inch from the centre or exactly mid-way between centre and edge. It is possible to get more side, screw, or top by striking still nearer the edge, but it is tricky and often results in an annoying miscue.
• In playing for an all-round cannon when the other balls are in baulk be careful of the cushion contact that results in the cue ball catching the shoulder of the middle pocket.
• With cue ball spotted on a corner of the D and running side applied aim is taken about half-way up the opposite top side cushion for the opposite baulk pocket and a few inches below the top corner pocket for the middle of the bottom rail. These are standing guides and intermediate positions must be judged proportionately.