In theory, every competitor should possess an equal chance of winning a billiard handicap. But this never happens in practice, mainly on account of two reasons.
First, because it is impossible to expect even the most skilful of handicappers to bring the players together to a point when the handicap is made, and secondly, because some players will do all they can to win a fair and strenuous contest, while others will materially discount their chance by refusing to make the most of their time and opportunities.
The first factor does not concern the present article, although it may be pointed out that in clubs where the B.C.C. method of handicapping has taken root there should be no difficulty in framing a handicap as near to the ideal as can be hoped for in this imperfect world.
But the second point concerns the individual player, and when once the handicap is out the man who means to do his best to win has a force on his side which makes a tremendous difference. But this determination must be backed by skill, will power alone cannot win the handicap, it must work in unison with ability, and should be employed in obtaining that ability. If the man who has set his heart on winning is keen enough to practise intelligently, to study the game, and make the most of every opportunity for improvement, he is working on the right lines. This applies to everyone in the handicap, from the back-marker to the limit man, but it applies with increased force to those who get points, simply because they have most to learn. The man who owes a hundred or so is not likely to pick up enough during the progress of a handicap to make an appreciable difference either way, but the man whose game is so imperfect that he is awarded a useful start will find a few practical hints of very real value.
The advice must be adapted to his peculiar needs or it will be worse than useless. Speaking generally, it is fatal to attempt to eradicate faults in position and style during the progress of a handicap. These matters should be remedied in due season, but to tell a man to change his bridge, alter his cue action, place his feet differently, and modify his body pose when he is in a handicap is a very sure method of getting him out of it. Faults of this description must be passed over for the time being, except in the very rare instances where a player can spare the time to take lessons from a professional and devote several hours every day to steady practice. Even then there is the danger of "swapping horses while crossing the stream," and it would be far better to take lessons before entering a handicap. In the vast majority of cases we must take our player as we find him, and just put him up to a few wrinkles which ought to. stand him in good stead when he has to meet his man on the board of green cloth.
Beginning with the player whose start proclaims him to be an undeniable tyro, and assuming he has the opportunity for a little practice, he should place the red ball on the billiard spot and the cue-ball about eighteen inches behind it and in a direct line with the pocket. Let him make this simple straight winning hazard three times in succession, and then vary it by shifting the cue-ball an inch or so to the right or left. If he practises these simple strokes at varying strengths he will find their own brothers turning up in the handicap heats, and recognising them as quite old friends he will play them with confidence, instead of missing them, and saying "I never can pot a ball, you know." His practice will not make him a first-class winning hazard striker, or even a good exponent of this particularly exact stroke. But it will help him by setting him a task he may hope to progress with while the handicap is on. What he does learn will be so much gained which is far better than attempting to master too much, getting confused, and finding his last state worse than his first.
Turning to losing hazards, there is nothing for it except practising the plain half-ball loser. The jenny which spins so beautifully into the pocket is a delusion and a snare to the absolute beginner, so is the spectacular screw back or the pretty kiss hazard. These fascinating strokes must be learned by the player who hopes to become proficient enough to enjoy the full beauties of the game, but the tyro who knows them not, or who has but a fearful nodding acquaintance with them, should leave them severely alone until the handicap is over. He should place the red ball on the billiard spot once more, put the cue-ball not too close to the red anywhere on a line drawn from the centre of the corner pocket, and play the half-ball loser into the opposite corner pocket, taking care to aim to make the centre of his own ball progress truly towards the rim of the object ball, and swinging the cue freely, so that its tip is brought into contact with the centre of the cue-ball at the instant of striking. The stroke should be played from each side of the table, and invariably with the idea of leaving the red over the middle pocket.
By way of variety the cue-ball can be set up anywhere on a line drawn from the centre of the middle pocket to the billiard spot, and the natural angle loser practised once more off the spotted red, always remembering that a true stroke brings the red back over the spots in the centre of the table, and that if the cue-ball is adjacent to the side cushion there is no harm in playing the stroke with sufficient freedom to bring the red in and out of baulk. When this becomes wearisome, move the red to the centre spot, place the cue-ball on the baulk line seven inches from the centre spot of the" D, and play the half-ball loser over again into the corner pocket. Once again, play it on each side of the table, and strive to bring the red round into position over the middle pocket. These strokes are quite enough for the man with the long start to bother about; if he improves in playing them he will go far in the handicap, and some who really know all about these ordinary strokes would be well advised to spend a little time over them instead of rehearsing more ambitious efforts. George Gray owes His proud position to his absolute mastery of every variety of plain ball stroke.