173.—"Can you please state the relative standard weight of each set of balls, namely, bonzoline, ivory, and crystalate, and the difference in contact required in playing the same stroke by each kind of ball?"
There is no standard as to weight, except that each ball of a set must weigh the same and be between 2 1/16 in. and 2 3/32 in. in diameter. Crystalate requires a slightly thicker or finer contact than ivory, and bonzoline a slightly thicker or finer contact than crystalate, according to the required direction of the object ball. If it is desired that the object ball shall take the same direction as an ivory ball would the stroke with compositions must be played with check side or a great deal of "top," and with rather more of it with bonzoline than with crystalate.
174.—"When playing out of hand and the object white is on the baulk line, but playable, and the red in baulk, can play be made at the inside of the object white to effect a cannon. Also, when cue ball and object ball are touching the balls are spotted. Does this apply if two object balls are touching, or can they be played at?"
They can be played at. The answer to the first question is also in the affirmative.
175.—"I should be obliged if you will tell me what shape the cue tip should be, and should it be kept rough by using glasspaper or be somewhat hard and smooth?"
Tips become rather flatter and a little harder in use and are then at their best. Sand paper should never be used, but a little tapping with a file roughens the surface a trifle and removes chalk and grease. The great thing in the care of the tip is to chalk very little, but at regular and frequent intervals. Just one turn of the cue is enough. The art of scientific cue tip chalking and attention is one that professionals regard as vital, but that ordinary amateurs rarely trouble about. Hence many irritating miscues in the course of promising breaks. The new self-sticking cue tips, combined with file and clamp, cannot be too highly spoken of.
176.—"A player potted the last red ball left on the table at snooker and in the same stroke he potted the green. Has the next player his choice, or must he play on the yellow ball?"
He must play on the yellow. The choice only belongs to the player who has previously put down the last red, and in this case the opportunity had been sacrificed by the foul stroke.
177.—"Is there any accounting for the fact that, when I am playing with certain players, I get wretched leaves and have the further mortification of always leaving something easy—especially half-ball in-offs—for my opponent?"
It is all a question of confident play or the reverse. The good leaves always go to the player who is having a good time, and you may be sure that the players who beat you in this way are your superiors either in play or temperament. We gather that, as a matter of fact, you also get good leaves and leave bad ones when playing with certain opponents, and the cure for all is to play confidently. If you feel the" dry rot "creeping in at any time, bang the balls, or resort to safety, or do anything rather than become discouraged and demoralized, as this can only result in making a bad case worse.
178.—"The straight pot from the end spot in baulk into the middle pocket on the same side of the table nearly always baffles me. Can you give me any hint in this direction?"
It baffles even the best of players at times and the reason is not far to seek. Make a chalk line from the baulk spot to the pocket and place the red ball on the end of this line. Now look over the centre of the cue ball to the object ball and note the exceedingly small error for margin that there is, and it will at once be apparent to you that unless the cue and the two balls are in absolute alignment when the stroke is made failure can only result. The stroke is both easier and better for position when the red is a shade out of the straight line towards the centre of the table, as the cue ball need not now follow in, even with a plain stroke, and the succeeding in-off from the spot is duly provided for.
179.—"I have read a great deal in The Billiard Monthly and other papers about always playing for position, getting on the right side of both balls in making cannons, leaving an easy stroke to follow, etc., but when I am actually playing and trying to arrange everything to a nicety I seem to play worse than ever. Is not there some simple position rule that even a comparative beginner like myself can profit by?"
There is no general rule.
Your game must be gradually built up as that of other players has been. At the same time, you will do well to remember the prime importance of guiding the red ball near to a pocket in making a stroke and especially to a top pocket. The value of this is obvious: Either a pot or in-off will most likely be left with the red ball, and with something else to follow unless the pot or in-off is very badly played. There is, for example, one position from which nine points at least should be scored, even by a very moderate player, every time it turns up. The red is almost close to a top pocket and the white a little lower down across the table.
If the red is now potted with a shade of side the cue ball is left by the upper shoulder of the pocket, whence it finds its way off the spotted red into the opposite corner pocket and then off the red into the middle pocket. This is, of course, A.B.C. to most players, and yet so obvious an opportunity is constantly missed or muddled.
180.—"I see that the question of open-air billiards has been mooted as a holiday question, and it has been suggested that if a table cannot be advantageously put up in a garden on account of weather conditions, it might at least be placed beneath a well sheltered balcony. But how about the cloth?"
The idea is, of course, impracticable from the point of view of the expert player, but there might be occasions on which a decent game might be obtainable—during such a summer as last, for example, but certainly not during a season like the present one. Atmospheric conditions have an enormous influence on the cloth of a billiard table, and even inside a house may make the play as different in damp weather, where sufficient ironing has not been resorted to, as croquet is on the lawn after heavy rain as compared with hard ground. Speaking of croquet, we may say that, in our opinion, this pastime is at present the best outdoor substitute for billiards, and it is possible that some compromise between billiards and croquet to be played on a hard ground surface might yet be devised.