BILLIARDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 821, 15 November 1929, Page 14

BILLIARDS

\X HIGH IS ITTE BEST OPENING STROKE? Sy RISO LEVI Author o' "ISilhtirds: 1 i tc strokr .he Uaiif Olid -Hilliards i ’ll 1 01 1 he 1/iiliun." ICopiKiuaij In tbo day.. 1., fore the rule , h , k makes the second of t*o , on.-eenh, misses except under certain con* tions—a foul stroke was framed, tb* usual opening of a game was a aum iu baulk, and this was generally con*, tered by a miss out of baulk l 0 !bc side cushion. Today ~ sood playK seldom opens with a miss in baulk when playing a keen game. bo, lna . if he does this his opponent general].

PI4OR4JM replies with a three-miss into a centre pocket, thus compelling him to play | at the red. When the rule re safety misses was passed, it was to stop safety play carried to an excess—Inman and i Reece on one historic occasion reduce a game they were playing to a fare* by ea«*h giving uo less than 33 consecutive misses—but the governing body quite overlooked the fact that the new rule would do away with thf opening misses which were customary at the time. The rule would hartbeen a good one had it also made a deliberate three-miss a foul stroke, because in this way an end would have been put to consecutive misses | without preventing a player from | countering a miss in baulk with a j miss on to the side cushion, or else- ‘ where. As a matter of fact in my j billiards room at home, a d^liberan; throe-miss is not allowed, and we i have found that this arrangement has | worked out entirely to our satisfac* i tiou. r would suggest that those of my readers who have a table of iheiowu also disallow a deliberate threemiss. In the ordinary way, however, a three-miss is a legitimate stroke, and consequently the player who opens a game generally plays for the single baulk illustrated on Diagram 26. He places his ball at, or near, the end of the baulk liuo. and plays to send the red ball down the table to the vicinity of the baulk pocket, and to cause the cue ball to come to rest 'somewhere near the side i ushion, as indicated ou the diagram. A player who can play a gentle stroke with very accurate strength can still open with a miss in baulk because he can cause his ball so to rebound from the side cushion that it 1 comes to rest just about where he would spot it for the single baulk stroke. If his opponent replies with a three-miss he will be two points to the good when lie plays the single baulk stroke. This doubling the red to the vicinity 1 of the baulk pocket and leaving the cue ball near the side cushion, while by no means a difficult stroke, requires well handling. You can play | it all right two or three times in cnci cession and then very badly the next time. If, as sometimes happens, red is taken too thinly it will strike the side cushion above the centre pocket, and when this happens the opponent may be presented with a good leave. Again even if the red travels into baulk, the cue ball may only rebound a short distance from the top cushion and come to rest nicely placed for an in-off from the D. Some practice of this stroke is therefore advisable, if a player desires to |be at all proficient at it. WHEN A MISS IS A GOOD REPLY When this single baulk stroke has been well played the cannon off the white, which is all that the opponent can hope for. is never a certainty, no matter how good the player may be Very often it is not the game to go out for the cannon. The position may | he such that the red offers nothin? to : the man who has placed it in baulk, and when this is the case his opponent may make his lust stroke a safety miss, if by doing so he can command the red, because by these tactics i** w ill compel his adversary to play at j a ball. Let us suppose, however, that th e man who opens the game plays so good a stroke that the red comes to i rest quite near the baulk, pocket, though not overhanging it. and the cue ball near the side cushion, as illustrated on the diagram. If his opponent goes out for the cannon he may easily miss it, and failure at it generally presents the other player with a goon opening. If the result of the single baulk stroke is at all similar to that indi cated on the diagram, the secoad player, instead of going out for an uncertain cannon, can do much better by giving a miss which places bis ball on or close to the line between his opponent's ball and the red. taking care to 6end his ball a cor* siderable distance out of baulk. If ; succeeds in snookering the red —a*d in order to do so he has not to place his ball exactly on the line between the other balls—he will in all probability. have the advantage of the opening play, because he will have »et up a very nasty position for his opponent. and failure to score from it leave the red for him. This snookering stroke - shown on the diagram. Next Article: A GOOD STANCE.