Jerry Conba is well known in the amateur billiards world. Secretary of the Southern Counties League and enthusiastic player in that league and around the A.B.C. and pro/Am circuit. Here Jerry outlines practice routines he has found useful in his own game and which some readers might find useful in theirs.
I would like first to say that I am an avid reader of your Quarterly Review magazine. I have been reading about billiards for over 40 years and am a great admirer of past and present exponents of the game. I have played against some of the best amateurs and some of the best professionals. I once had the pleasure of, "Playing," Mike Russell and sitting through a break of 523 in absolute fascination. I was quite proud of following with a 64.
I tend to practice extensively by myself, as I suspect most billiard players do, by virtue of a lack of playing partners. In more recent years, mainly through playing in the South of England League, and in many Pro-Am and Amateur Tournaments, I began to wonder if there might not be more systematic practice routines that might add an edge to my game.
There is, of course, no recognised maximum break in billiards as in snooker. Of course, to the very good amateur, and most certainly to the professional, the 1000 break is the mountain to climb. Few have succeeded. To many amateurs the achievement of a hundred break is the pinnacle, The Maximum, whilst the two or three hundred break seems to be attainable by only the very best of amateur players.
With that in mind, I found that the following routines have made a significant difference to my game. I have found myself much more concerned about shot selection, always looking for one of the set-piece positions. Other readers might find my routines of interest. I like to think of my practice sessions as being attempts to score a billiards, "Maximum." I use 5 separate set-pieces. These set-pieces are as follows:-
Red on the spot. White one inch in from red and between red and pyramid spot. Begin with cue-ball in any favourable position.
Red on spot. White in the floating white position (The Karnehm/Donaghue box position.) Begin with cue-ball in any suitable position.
Play drop cannons with red on spot and object white alternating between left and right sides of table. Play from hand.
Roll red and white gently over the baulk line to leave middle pocket strokes. Play from hand to get top-of-table position.
I am well aware that there is nothing new in these positions but my own observations are as follows:- Routine one requires great delicacy of touch. Inevitably the object white begins to move down the table. The decision to make the attempt to convert to postman's knock or floating white arrives at about 50 should you get that far.
There is not a lot to say about routine two. Watch Russell or Sethi (or Gilchrist or Foldvari, Ed.) and, of course, practice and more practice.
With three and four I have found that I play the left side drop cannon significantly better than the right side. Walter Lindrum remarked that he always tested a table for this difficulty and even advised leaving his opponent to the left or right of the table if he felt that a weakness existed there in their game. (Presumably when playing safe - or at snooker? Ed.) Five was always regarded by Lindrum as his favoured method of getting to the top. He maintained that the drop cannon had too great a potential for inaccuracy.
For the average 50 break player I would hazard (!) a guess that these practice routines would throw up quite surprising inconsistencies in their game and perhaps give some indication of the relative strength of their overall play. Loss of position in any of the sequences means working harder at the basics, position, strength, and perhaps more importantly, what shots not to play or where to leave a ball relative to the other balls.