It is proposed to print monthly upon this page certain clear and concise hints to those—if there be such—who are not above taking advice in regard to their early practice or play at billiards. The hints given will be well worth attention, for they have been born of much tribulation, and after a great deal of vain and apparently hopeless groping in the dark.
The first mistake that the writer made when he took up billiards was to begin to play for pockets and cannons before he had learnt how to strike the cue ball.
Here, then, is the first hint. Put the plain white and the red away and place the spot white at the back of the D in the centre line of the table. Adjust the spot so that it is one inch from the cloth, and put the tip of the cue against the spot.
Discovery No. 1.—The exact centre of a billiard ball is considerably lower than a learner would imagine it to be, just as the top of a tall hat is found to be nearer the floor than one would suppose when it is placed against a wall.
And now, why is the advice given to put the cue ball at the back of the D instead of on the centre spot of the baulk-line? It is given because at the very outset there needs to be learnt that all-important lesson in billiards— than which, indeed, there is none more important—that the cue when delivered against the cue ball must follow through in a straight flowing movement as far as it has been drawn brick, and the baulk line in front of the ball helps to remind one of this.
In carrying out this rule of the follow through, how far should the cue be drawn back? That depends entirely upon the personality and judgment of the striker and the nature of the stroke to be made. Reece brings his cue exceptionally far back for average strokes, and Falkiner exceptionally little. But both make beautiful strokes in their entirely different styles and, it will be observed, they shorten or increase the distance of the bridge hand from the cue and the length of the swing according to the close or open nature of the stroke upon which they are engaged. When the gentlest nursery cannon is being indulged in the swing of the cue is still there just as much as when it is necessary to go all out—although this is rarely resorted to by the accomplished position player—with a spectacular shot. In neither case is there the slightest suspicion of the" poke "—that vice of nine out of ten beginners.
Very well. The cue ball is placed as suggested; the bridge is made by raising, at one and the same time, the knuckles and thumb of the left hand; the cue is placed on the spot on the rail of the table; and the lightly-held cue, after being gently swung twice or three times—not more—in an absolutely straight line, parallel alike with the bed and the sides of the table, is let go at the spot on the cue ball and well up towards the baulk line.
Discovery No. 2.—The ball goes up the tablebut on returning—unless the age of miracles is not yet past—takes a course distinctly wide of the central line of the table, down which it was the striker's intention to bring it, and perhaps finishes even outside the D. What has happened? Either of two things may have happened. The cue ball may have been struck away from its vertical centre, thus imparting unintended side, or the cue may not have been kept parallel with the sides of the table owing to lack of definite aim.
There is a spot in the centre of the top rail of the table, as well as at the bottom, and a piece of billiard chalk may very well be placed on this spot in the early stages of the learner's practice to provide a point of aim.
To be sure the ball could be brought back perfectly straight by carefully keeping the cue over the bottom rail spot and taking care to hit the cue ball spot, but this would be of no use in actual play; and these two spots are only mentioned as being in the nature of object lessons—and very useful ones they are—at the very outset of the learner's attempts.
There are billiard players who still discuss whether the last glance before delivering the stroke should be at the object: or the cue ball.
It should be at the object ball. The cue automatically aligns itself in delivery in the direction of the aim, but if the cue ball be the last looked at, the slightest lateral movement of arm or body is sufficient slightly to deflect the aim, and this, at a table length, would mean a serious deviation.
How elementary all this must seem to the practical player! And yet there are thousands who can make their twenty and thirty breaks who have never yet learned to drive the ball at any speed straight up the table and with perfect freedom from side. Why, in the mere stringing for choice of balls and turn at the commencement of play it is the commonest thing to find the ball of even a good player deviating a little from the straight line.