It is essential, therefore, that he should know that there is a position in which the balls may be placed when a losing hazard (we will leave cannons out of the question for the present) ought to be a certainty, without either side or screw being employed.
As a beginner's future success as a player almost mainly depends upon his ability to see for himself when this position occurs, or to be able"to make this position when he has the option of placing his ball in any part of baulk, I trust I may be pardoned for dwelling at some length on what, perhaps to many fairly good players, may seem a very elementary part of the game.
I would, however, remind these good players that they themselves have possibly still something to learn. I would ask them to place the red ball on, or close to the centre spot on the table, and see how many times running they will make a losing hazard into one of the top pockets. They will probably find that they fail, and that too, very likely on the first attempt. Having failed, I would remind them that it is simply because they do not sufficiently understand the true natural angle. Were the object ball higher up the table or over one of the middle pockety they would make the stroke every time.
In my opinion this stroke, namely, the losing hazard off the red, placed Šn the centre spot into one of the top pockets, the player being in hand, is a test stroke at billiards. I can tell the strength of a man's game (of course up to a certain point) almost directly he begins to play, by simply noticing where he spots his ball when he plays from hand.
It will often be seen that fairly good players spot their ball so as to make the stroke a forcing stroke; beginners, on the other hand, place the ball so that the angle is too narrow, instead of the simple natural angle, when they have no excuse of obtaining a good position by so doing.
It may, perhaps, be asked> Why is the stroke easier when the position of what I call the natural angle occurs than any other \ I would simply answer that all good players have found out the fact by experience. If a man drops an apple he knows it will fell, though he may not understand the *' laws of gravitation." I have been informed, however, that the fact is capable of mathematical demonstration, which would, of course, be out of place here did I even know of any learned professor who would undertake to supply the proof, which would probably be as unintelligible to the majority of the readers of this lesson as it would be to myself. It can, however, be proved that if a ball strike another at rest, there is a certain position in which they may come in contact in which any very slight deviation from the line to be travelled before contact, causes a less deviation from the line travelled after contact, than in any other position. This applies only to the player's own ball.
We have a proof of this from experience in almost every game played. For instance, place a ball somewhere up the table where an ordinary easy losing hazard is possible off it into one of the top pockets. Mark the spot on the cloth, and also the spot where your own ball is placed. Now play for the hazard, and mark the spot where the red ball strikes the cushion. Play the stroke, say half-a-dozen times over, and though you may make the losing hazard every time, you will find, in all probability, that the red ball will strike the cushion in a different spot every time.
This simply proves that the losing hazard is possible if the red ball be struck over, so to speak, a certain rim of its surface. Now the larger this rim the easier the stroke. The narrower the rim, the more difficult the stroke. In winning hazards this rim varies from the case when the ball is on the brink of the pocket to the cut at a right angle."Or, in other words, from the width of the surface of the ball presented to the eye, that is its diameter to zero.
The accompanying diagram illustrates several instances in which the balls are placed so that a losing hazard is possible at the natural angle. The simplest one to begin with is the losing hazard off the red placed on the spot into one of the top pockets.
Thus: Draw an imaginary line from the red ball to the centre of one of the middle pockets, and place the white ball on this line about three or four inches from the pocket. Now go in off the red ball into the opposite top pocket without putting on any side or screw, and without bringing the ball into baulk.
We are supposing, of course, in all experimental strokes that the table is fairly true, and the balls in good condition, and above all things, of equal weight. If one ball be at all heavier than another, all ordinary angles cease to exist. It is for this reason that before any match at billiards, when money is at stake, that it is always customary for the balls to be carefully weighed.
The angle, too, varies slightly with the size of the balls, probably owing to the difference in the weight. Ordinary match-sized billiard balls are 2 1/16 inch in diameter.
Where a knowledge of the natural angle is mostly required is in making losing hazards into one or other o the top pockets, playing from baulk. I have often had pupils who invariably failed to make any such hazards who yet were successful when I spotted the ball for them I have sometimes, too, heard them say, after I have placed the ball for them, * Ah, I am sure I shall not do t from there." However, when they have played, the stroke, if not successful, results in the white ball going o near the top pocket that they are immediately anxious to try again, generally being successful on the second attempt.
I must of course except what I trust I may be pardoned or calling my stubborn pupils. I mean those who, when I have placed the ball for them correctly, insist in playing a forcing stroke. It is, as I have said, this class;hat is the most difficult of all to teach, They come to me to learn, and all the time think secretly that they know best. Perhaps when they read in print the same directions that I have so often told them in the billiard room, they will think more of it, just as a child thinks far more of what the book says than what the man says who wrote the book.
I will now describe a stroke which will be found admirable practice for those who wish to become proficient n losing hazards into the top pocket, which strokes have been well called the backbone of the game. Place a card upright against the top cushion, and with a rule measure a line 3 ft. 9½ in. down the centre line of the table; this, will be of course nearer baulk than the pyramid spot, which is on the intersection of two lines drawn from the centres of the two middle pockets to the centres of the two opposite top corner pockets. Let the player place his ball in the centre spot, in baulk c (vide diagram.) There is now an easy losing hazard into either of the top corner pockets. The stroke should be played, with sufficient strength to bring the red ball near the middle pockets. I would strongly recommend young players to keep practising this stroke till they can do it for a certainty, and what is equally, if not more important, carry the angle in their eye.
I would, however, warn them against one possible cause of failure. My lessons on billiards may be read in some country and private house billiard-rooms, where the spots may be placed very imperfectly. A large lump of sticking-plaster in the centre of baulk, and another in the middle of the table, would render the accurate performance of the stroke I have recommended almost impossible.
When the eye has got thoroughly accustomed to this correct "natural angle," it will be found far easier for the player to spot his ball correctly for other strokes, as he must always endeavour to place his ball so that the angle at the object-ball with the pocket and his own ball is equal to the angle at H (diagram) with the top pocket and the centre spot in baulk.
I think it will be found best to practise these strokes before the easier losing hazards into the middle pockets, s the proper mode of making these latter hazards so much depends on the position in which it is desirable to eave the object-ball at the conclusion of the stroke.