BILLIARD NOTES.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 19, 23 July 1920, Page 5

BILLIARD NOTES.

VARIOUS IN-OFFS, CHIEFLY WITH THE WHITE AS THE OBJECT-BALL. ! An in-off from baulk when the white is situated on the lower angle of a centre | pocket. Such a stroke is always very uncertain even with the very best players, and for ordinary players it would be no- ' thing more or less than a fancy stroke with long odds against its coming off. The stroke played in exactly the same way in every detail as regards line of aim, > strength of stroke, side used, etc., would in all probability vary in result if at-. tempted on two different tables owing to the difference that would most likely exist between the cushions and even on the same j table a difference in strength or the unintentional use . of a slight amount of side would show a considerable difference in ; I'esult-s between two strokes t-hat to all appearances were identical. I have simply given the stroke as an 1 example of what is on the way of an in-off and I have more than once seen a good i amateur increase a big break by getting ' this stroke when nothing else except pot- ' ting the white was* at all on. In the ' ordinary way, hbwever, such a stroke is 1 not worth going for. A STRONG RUN-THROUGH IN-OFF. A position for a run-through, the object white being dead on the cushion, and the cue-ball only an inch or two away from the cushion. Were the cue-ball a few inches farther away from the cushion, the stroke would be the ordinary run-through, icorrectness of hitting being the only es-sentia-1. There would be no possibility of a kiss marring the stroke, for owing to the

object-ball being hit full, or nearly full, it would always come well away from the cushion. When, however, the cue-bali is much behind the object-ball, the full contact that the stroke demands will naturally cause the object-ball to travel towards the pocket in a line so close to the cushion that it will always strike the lower angle of the pocket, and at a point very near the fall of tlie slate. If the runthrough were played in the ordinary way — that is, with only medium strength, one of two things would happen. Either the object-ball, after striking the angle, would fall into the pocxet, or else it would rebound from the angle and be met by the oncoming cue-ball, and the kiss wo ii l of course, make the stroke a failure. Inst-ead, therefore, the stroke ihouid be played with considerable strength, so lliat the speed at which the object-ball strikes the opposing angle will not only prevent it from falling into the pocket, but will also cause it to be thrown from the lower on to the upper angle whence it will run down the table, leaving the oncoming cueball free ingress to the pocket. The cueball should be struck above the centre with pocket side, and it will run along the cushion either straight into the pocket or, should it strike the lower angle, the side — which, 'though check side at. the moment of striking the object-ball will be i running side when the ball strikes ihe opposing angle — will carry it into the pockek When playing the stroke into a top pocket, the object-ball should be kept out of baulk, but if th,e stroke be played with ^ven more strength than is necessary, and on a table with fast cushions, the ball will often go into baulk and remain there.