266.—"I am a subscriber here in New Zealand to your paper and have been for some time, and I have got a great number of useful hints from it. I shall be obliged if you will let me know how far in the middle of the table pockets are cut from the edge of the slate for the standard table. If you will give me this information through your Questions and Answers column I shall be much obliged."
The B.C.C. templates can be obtained from Messrs. Alcock and Co., or Messrs. Heiron and Smith, two of the leading billiard table manufacturers in Australia, and we think that your best plan would be to obtain one of these, as it is difficult to describe in writing the exact shape of a standard pocket.
267.—"I shall be glad if you can, through the columns of your paper, decide the following question: In a game of billiards, if the striker pockets the red (or the white) ball and, at the same time, forces his own ball off the table, does he count that score, or does he count no score to himself and give his opponent two points? By the British Association rules, rule 31 says that 'If a striker hits another ball and by the same stroke any, or all at the balls, are forced off the table two points shall be counted to the non-striker.' Rule 42 says:' If a striker force his own, or any, ball off the table he cannot score.' I take it that the two rules should be read together, namely, two away and no score. It is a frequently disputed point and I should be glad to know if I am right."
The B.C.C. rule (No. 18, under the head of "Penalties") is quite clear on the point. It runs as follows: "If, after contact with another ball, striker's or any other ball is forced off the table, the non-striker shall add two points to his score. For a foul stroke the striker cannot score." The preceding rule (17) states: "Foul strokes are made... (b) By forcing a ball off the table."
268.—"Although amateur players nearly always give the usual opening misses, I have noticed that a professional occasionally opens the match with a single baulk. Is there any reason for this, and is the single baulk more easy to execute from hand than the double baulk?"
The single baulk is more simple than the double baulk, as it can be played with a perfectly plain stroke.
The spotting is from near an end baulk spot and with a rather fuller than half-ball contact on the opposite side of the red. This leaves the white near the top side cushion and the red near a baulk corner pocket, so that if the opponent fails to disturb the red there is good probability of a following easy score. Indeed, this is why, especially in a flying handicap or very short game, a professional often prefers the single baulk to the more classic opening miss, as he knows it is quite possible that he may run to game (in a 100 up) at his second innings.
269.—"Can you tell me, as an Australian reader, what are the chief points in favour of the cylindrical cue that I see advertised in The Billiard Monthly? Will you also please say whether the fact of half the cue length being of equal thickness would not tend to make the tip half more whippy?"
We believe that this last point is provided against in the manufacture and also, if necessary, by reinforcement, by the insertion of steel wire down the centre. As to the advantages, as pointed out in the advertisement, sighting is naturally easier along a parallel body, with which also correct alignment of the cue with a cushion can be better obtained. There is also something to be said as to the more exact delivery of a non-tapered cue when using the rest.
270.—"I have been a regular reader of The Billiard Monthly and am interested in your hundred break pages. Should all breaks recorded in The Billiard Monthly be made in the game? For instance, if a player is playing a hundred up and some time after the game starts goes on and makes a 100 or more break, does that count? I have always understood that when the game ends the break ends, so far as records are concerned."
For the purpose of The Billiard Monthly any properly-attested 100 break is sufficient.
271.— "When the red is spotted, the white over a corner baulk pocket, and the cue ball in hand, I find that the all-round canon is usually spoilt through the cue ball and red ball kissing before the other white ball is reached. What is the best way to prevent this?"
The solution is very simple and applies to many other positions in which the attack is made from hand. Instead of spotting in baulk for the most obvious plain half-ball stroke spot wider—say, at the other side of the D—and use running side.
This alters the relative courses of the first two balls and the kiss is thereby prevented.
272.—"In short and almost straight run-throughs into a corner pocket I find that if I use side in order to 'enlarge' the pocket, as the saying goes, the cue ball comes off too wide unless I aim dead straight at the centre of the object ball. Does this mean that the side has carried the cue ball wide before it reaches the object ball?"
No; it more likely means that, in using side, you are not holding the cue absolutely parallel with what would be its alignment for a straight stroke. The actual side employed in corner pocket run-throughs, where the object ball is nearer to the cushion than the cue ball, would, if anything, have the effect of keeping the cue ball more towards the centre of the object ball rather than farther from it.
273.—"Is it, in your opinion, really essential that an amateur desiring to be a good player should take lessons in billiards? I know many very good amateurs who rather pride themselves on the fact that they have never had a lesson."
There are natural geniuses in every game, but, as a rule, tuition at the very beginning, whether in billiards, golf, cricket, or what not, is of enormous value. Let us enforce this fact by reference to one billiard stroke only—the long loser from hand off the centre spot. It is the stroke with which every billiard tutor takes the measure of his pupil at the commencement of the first lesson and very few stand the test. The amateur who can get this stroke and bring the object ball round off three cushions into position for—at will—the middle pocket loser or the drop cannon after the balls have been spotted has little to learn in cue swing, aim, and free strength, but how many are there who can do it?
Even professionals sometimes fail with this exacting and all-embracing shot.