In recent articles on this page we have laid stress on the value of the losing hazard play from hand which leaves similar or other easy strokes to go on with; and this month we propose to show how useful little runs may at times be interspersed with the losing hazards by means of alternate cannons and winning hazards at the top of the table.
The road to the top of the table from baulk is by way of the drop cannon, or of the losing hazard which guides the white behind the spot and which can be followed by a winning hazard, leaving the cue ball in a favourable position for a short pot or cannon at the spot. To make even a short stay at the top of the table, two things have to be carefully avoided and another point carefully observed. The object ball must not be allowed to "cover" or to enter a pocket when not meant to do so, and no stroke must be made which does not leave the cue ball in a suitable position for either a succeeding pot or a cannon of the right sort. By "cannon of the right sort" we mean a cannon that will not leave the balls outside of an easy continuation of the top of the table game. To make either a pot or a cannon which is not absolutely "chess-like" in its relation to the stroke next to follow is to depart from the whole genius of this difficult but delightful and most remunerative phase of near-range billiards.
Whereas the drop cannon and the white guiding loser followed by pot are the golden gate and avenue to top of table play, the movement itself is as largely dependent upon a thorough knowledge of the old spot stroke, as it is upon the cueist's ability properly to guide the red ball towards a corner when making a cannon and the cue ball back near the spot when putting down the red. In its perfection the winner-cannon movement consists of two successive pots followed by a cannon, and fifteen such strokes made in series mean no fewer than forty points, scored, probably, in less than three minutes. One of the two pots is made from the spot and the other near a pocket, and it is in this way that the rule limiting the spot stroke is evaded. Although a second consecutive stroke from the spot can legally be made it is useless so far as the top-of-the-table sequence is concerned, as the red ball has then to be shifted to the centre spot.
The reason why a thorough knowledge of the old spot stroke is so essential in the modern game is that every one of the eight spot strokes has to be used in order to retain the cue ball in a suitable scoring position, and if the striker resorts to a cannon where a (to him) difficult and unfamiliar winning hazard is the only alternative, the probability is that the sequence will then and there end. The eight spot strokes are (1) the straight draw-back, (2) the almost full run-through with side when the two balls point to the top shoulder, (3) the almost full stun stroke when the two balls point to the lower shoulder, (4) the stab three-quarter ball stroke on the top cushion when the two balls point rather wide of the top shoulder, (5) the three-quarter gentle run through when the two balls point rather wide of the lower shoulder, (6) the somewhat thicker gentle stroke when the cue ball is a little higher up, (7) the plain half-ball on to the top cushion when the point of contact has to be midway between the centre and upper edge of the red ball circumference, and (8) the fine stroke either with check or running side on to the top cushion.
It is impossible in this article to give measurements, and all exact measurements in billiard instructions are more or less useless, as precise recurrences of measured portions can rarely be depended upon. Even the eight standard strokes that we have described may present themselves under somewhat varied conditions, for the distance between the cue and object ball may vary, although the line of the balls may be the same. This may involve the necessity of applying follow or some little retardation to the cue ball and the modification or increase at the same time of the amount of strength employed. But as a general working rule it may be taken that there are three principal aims from above the full-ball line and four from below it, and that whilst in the aim from above the full-ball line the cue ball may be centrally struck, in the aims from below such line, with the exception of the plain half-ball stroke, side or stab must be used.
The class of compensation that is necessary to be applied will at once be revealed to the striker after he has decided upon the necessary contact if he asks himself where he wants to leave the cue ball, and how he would treat the stroke if, with the same contact, it were necessary to make a cannon just reaching a ball standing at a desired spot.
This is not so difficult or involved as it sounds. Microscopical exactness is not required, because there is always the cannon on to or from the white to fall back upon, and the almost certainty that this can be so treated as to leave a pot and again a cannon to follow.
Courage as well as experience and cuemanship are needed at the top of the table, although the first quality usually comes as the result of the other two. But there is a great temptation, when the cannon is obvious and tempting, but is not the game, to shirk the pot from the spot, especially with side, and risk the breaking up of the position. Generally speaking the cannon is comparatively useful when the cue ball is below both the other balls, or when the stroke can be so made as to leave it so when the object balls come to rest, or in such a position that a further stroke will restore it to its commanding position. But to elect the cannon instead of the winning hazard merely because it is easier is not billiards at all and still less top of the table billiards.
Another great desideratum in play in this area is very restrained and easy cueing. The less the personality of the striker is infused into the cueing the better. One has just to imagine a cue moving gently to and fro in a perfectly horizontal and parallel course as regards both the bed of the table and the intended line of travel of the ball, and to interfere with what may be termed true mechanics of its action as little as ever possible.