AMATEURS AND PROFESSIONALS

THERE is one point in which the game of billiards seems to differ from nearly every other sport, and that is in the enormous difference that exists between professional and amateur players, and we must confess that the cause of this difference is by no means clear.

If we turn to other sports, such as cricket and rowing, dependent upon muscle, pluck, and skill, we find that, as a rule, amateurs are quite able to hold their own against professionals, or, at any rate, that they approach so nearly to them that the difference between the two is but slight.

Billiards is undoubtedly a scientific game, far more dependent on brain than muscle, and at first sight it would appear that, of all games, it would be the best adapted for well-educated amateurs who could afford sufficient time for practice.

It will of course be urged by some that the chief cause of amateurs being so inferior is that they do not practise sufficiently, and that professionals are often obliged to play whether they like it or not.

Again, it may be said that professionals almost invariably begin to play when they are very young, and that that is the secret of being a good player.

The facts of the case, however, do not seem in accordance with these suggestions. There is a large class of amateurs who may literally be said to live in a billiard-room. We have no hesitation in saying that there are many men, of not merely independent means, but of good education, whose daily habit it is to go straight to the billiard-room after a late breakfast, and to remain there till about seven o'clock in the evening; they then leave for dinner, and return in an hour and a half or two hours' time to the table, and remain there till one in the morning; or if the room they frequent be in a club, often till a much later hour. There are men, too, who have led this life for years; they seem to suffer from a species of mania that may be called the "billiard mania;" they are, in fact, never happy out of a billiard-room. Now, surely, you would expect, judging from other sports, that you would find some men who at any rate approach first-class professional play.

Cynically-minded persons would probably reply that if any class of men are so deficient of brains as to lead such a wasted life, it is not reasonable to suppose that they would ever be successful in anything which they undertook. Men, however, have manias for other sports than billiards. Our best amateur cricketers, and those who equal professionals, are those who during the season are never happy out of the cricket-ground. Now, to spend one's life in hitting or pursuing a piece of round leather, often in a broiling sun, over green turf, shows quite as strong a prima facie case of insanity as rolling an ivory ball over green cloth —to the continental mind probably stronger. In the one case, however, as we have said, amateurs are equal to professionals, and in the other there is a great gulf fixed, over which it appears no amateur is able to cross. We believe Cook or Roberts could give 500 points in 1,000 to any amateur in the world, and win with ease.

Again, with regard to beginning to learn billiards in very early life, we do not find any fixed rule. Among the undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge a large number had the advantage of a private table in their own homes, on which they had been accustomed to play from childhood, yet "the cue" was, as a rule, won by a player who had learnt to play on a public table. Alfred Bowles and Hitchen were both magnificent players, of what may be called in billiards a generation past, and yet we believe that both began to play in quite mature life; yet for some time Bowles was the second best player in England, and Hitchen, though not equal to Bowles, was yet far superior to any amateur player.

We believe one great cause of professionals being good players is that they almost invariably have, when they began to learn, seen good play.

Now amateurs when learning play simply for amusement, and all they think about is playing themselves. There are hundreds of young players in London who, if they had their choice of seeing Cook and Roberts play for the championship, or of playing themselves in a private room, would, but for very shame, prefer the latter.

There is no doubt but that the average of play among amateurs in London is far higher now than it was twenty years ago, and we believe this to be chiefly due to the great increase in exhibition, matches that has taken place of late years.

Even now the frequenters of matches are not the "billiard maniacs," but steady lovers of the game. One of the most marked symptoms of the billiard mania is that the patient must play himself.

On entering a room, should no one be playing, he will probably seize a cue and commence knocking the balls about before he takes his hat off. It is almost as great a torture to such an one to see others play without playing himself, as to a dipsomaniac to see others drink without drinking. When the fever is at its height you will see a man absolutely fidget for his turn to come round in a large pool. Now this state of mind is not conducive to learning, and enthusiastic amateurs are to a great extent of this class. They, oblivious of the fact that the game costs them £200 at the least, and that if they played a good deal better it would cost them considerably less, persuade themselves that it is not worth while to spend ten shillings in seeing two men play. We recollect the case, many years ago, of an old gentleman who always wore white neck-cloths, saying that he once paid half-a-crown to be taught how to tie them, and that it was the cheapest half-crown he ever spent in his life. The same will be found to be the case in billiards. There are thousands of players in London who play pool or billiards nearly every evening, but who have never witnessed really good play. Now, were they to go and witness Cook and Roberts play on the 20th at St. James' Hall, and watch each stroke with care, notice how each player strikes his ball, &c., the money expended in obtaining admission would probably be repaid tenfold within three months.

Possibly one cause of the great difference between professionals and amateurs is their mode of living. The class of men whom we have described as literally living in a billiard-room, is undoubtedly a very self-indulgent class, and this self-indulgence is certain to exhibit itself in the quality of food they take. We believe, for a man's nerve to be strong and his eyesight keen, he must take a certain amount of exercise in the open air, keep fairly early hours, and live plainly. Were amateurs to train for billiards, and really work at it like professionals, we cannot see any reason why they should not play as well. On the other hand, if professionals give up working, and lead the life of amateurs, we may expect their game to decline in proportion.