“FLUKE” SHOTS IN BILLIARDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 163, 30 September 1927, Page 11

“FLUKE” SHOTS IN BILLIARDS

MELBOURNE INMAN DESCRIBES “FLUKE OF A LIFETIME” In billiards the really sensational finishes, where the result of a game perhaps hangs on a single shot, or whore one astounding fluke suddenly turns defeat into victory, are much more often seen among amateurs than professionals, says Melbourn Inman, the famous pro., in London “Sporting Life." It is easy enough to account for this. In the first place the amateur usually plays a hundred up, or, perhaps, in a club tournament, 250. The big professional matches are often 18.000 up and. obviously a “narrow” margin of two or three hundred points in suc h a game can seldom be decided by a single stroke. Then, again, when an ordinary player is left with a situation he doesn't know what to do with, he is very apt to have a bang at the nearest ball and "play for a fluke!” WE DON’T DARE! That is a thins which no professional dare do. If the balls are in a practically unscorable position he is obliged to play a safety shot. The risk of trusting to luck would be too great. If the fluke didn't materialise he might let his opponent in for two or three hundred. And. finally, since the professional is studying the positional game all the time and keeping the balls in control, the actual chances of scoring a fluke are much less. His flukes usually come oft when, tn desperation, he attempts a big forcing shot which, in the ordinary way he would leave alone. Then occasionally the object ball races round the table and drops into an unexpected pocket, while the cue ball fails to score. The most startling fluke I ever saw occurred in a needle-keen match between two amateurs who had long been deadly rivals, and who were playing a private game for i£2s a aide. It was only a hundred up. and the scores stood at 97—96 in favour of the striker, who was in hand. ONCE IN A LIFE-TIME The red lay tight against the top cushion, and spot white was in baulk inside the “D.” In the circumstances the player decided that a safety miss was tbe only chance, and he played his ball cn the baulk-line, intending, I suppose, to leave it gently against one of the side cushions. It was then the fluke of a life-time happened. The match was being played in a private house. The floor was polished oak, and there was a strip* of carpet running all round the table At the baulk end the carpet had become rucked up, and just as the player was addressing his ball this carpet slipped a few inches from under The cue caught the ball fairly and squarely with the tip and sent it up the table at a nice, medium pace. It struck the red at the exact point necessary, and kissed in-off as clean as a whistle! I was fortunately not called upon to decide the ethics of this shot It was certainly true that the striker never meant, to hit his bail at all. but on ihe other hand, the stroke was technically correct. It .von the game, and the stakes went with it. All the loser said was: "When the / hang you, old boy, I’ll bet a sovereign to a penny' the bally rope breaks.”