BILLIARD ART.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 252, 23 October 1926, Page 27

BILLIARD ART.

CANNON PLAY.

ACCURATE SPOTTING. (Ey J. R. HOOPER.) No. 7. My diagram to-day shows a very good cannon, which is commonly played incorrectly by the average player, who generally takes it off the right-hand side of the object white, and so comes up behind the red, throwing it out of position—and into the bargain—either losing the white in the corner pocket, or finishing up anywhere. If played correctly, as shown in- the diagram, the object white doubles up the table into a nice position between the two centre pockets, while the cannon is made slowly on to the left-hand side of the red. This nearly always leaves an easy losing or winning hazard from the red, which enables the player to continue the break with good position available with either ball.

A little practice at this strpke will train the eye to spot so correctly that the stroke can be made either a natural angle, or played with a little right-hand side to increase the speed of the cue ball after contact with the side cushion. I recommond the latter method, as the stroke can thm be played more slowly, avoiding any chance of bringing the opponent's white into baulk. As I find the extra good cannons are too difficult to describe accurately without a diagram of the table, I will wait for next week's article for the next one, and meanwhile intersperse other strokes which description alone makes quite clear. Most players find both these jennies difficult, for two reasons; firstly, that they do not take the trouble to spot accurately enough for the stroke, and secondly, that they do not get sufficient check, side on the cue ball. Far too many players are content to spot for a stroke, when in hand, to about a quarter of an inch, which is not nearly accurate enough for many shots, the jennies being two good examples. If one is observant, one of the things he will always note in watching a good professional is that at the last moment before playing a stroke from the D he will very often move the cue ball the merest fraction, possibly less than a sixteenth of an inch.- This fraction, however, just makes the difference between success and failure in the stroke, when it is a difficult one like a short jenny. Here again I wish to emphasise the point that there is no rule of thumb method for spotting for such a delicate stroke. Training the eye to see it to a fraction is the only sure road to success. Roughly speaking, the angle for either jenny is a little narrower than the natural spread of one ball off the other, but' the exact spotting to that fraction of an inch can only be obtained as above. The other pit-fall in these difficult strokes is in not cramming on all the check side possible on to the cue ball at the moment of striking. The reason why players fail in this direction is twofold—firstly that they are .frightened to strike the cue ball right o\x\ on the edge, and secondly because they do not follow through smoothly, with the cue, ; It is this latter which makes, all the difference between the side imparted to the ball holding on all the way to the pocket, or dying away to nothing before reaching its destination. This, of course, is more noticeable in the long because the cue ball has so much farther to travel, and the spin required to pull it in off the shoulder of the top-cushion will not be there Unless a good clean follow through of the one has been made.