BILLIARD ART.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 276, 20 November 1926, Page 27

BILLIARD ART.

-CUSHION FIRST , CANNONS. DIFFERENCE IX TABLE 5 .

3t J. R. HOOPER.

X:. 10. Dealing -a!:b rannons made br j:r:kic? the cushion nrs:. I have chosen one of the i>es: for th-e diagram of this ■n'eek. in waich my readers will *?e that. wi;h----.111" the knowledge of the sxrose, iv would :-e pra.'ticallr impossible to score from rii? position of '-he balis on the taol-?. as r '•■ ? player i« "in kand. r witii ths object, in baaik.

The cannon, however, is no: at all diificult if tie directions of the diagram are followed out. It is merely a question of striking trie cushion a few inches in front of the red. so a«s to mase a haliball conta-ct, and the rest foLows naturally. A little right-hand side is usually required. bm the amount of side depends on the softness of the cushion?. As I pointed oat in a previous article. soft cushions take a lot more side than harder ones, and I have seen tables where this cannon could only be obtained by using no side at all. Another useful "cushion Srst r cannon can be made when the red Ball is about a foot ui> from the right-hand top pocket, and say an inch out from the side cushion, with the object white about tsvo fee: away from the corner pocket, and an inch away from the top cushion. The player, being in hand, cac make a zood cannon by spotting a little to the left of the centre of :i>e t>. and striking the side cushion about two inches in front of the red. so as 10 obtain roughly a half-ball contact, which will giv? him the correct angle to make the cannon on to the white. The beauty of this stroke is that, if played very softly, the red is held in position right, over the corner pocket, and the object white is oni- moved a few inches toward* the '"spot." and so is in splendid position for "lie top-of-t-he-table break to follow by holing the red. The mistake of mo-; players w;ea :n this position is to make the. cacnon by striking the red first, instead of strikins the cushion first, with the result that the red is thrown completely out of position, and absolute safety follows the cannon nine times out of ten. A boat the eajiest -'cushion first"' cannon, and yet one which hundreds of player? know nothing aboti:, is made when the three bails are in a straight line, and about three inches at from the ctieaion, and say eighteen inches apart. by striking the cushion a few inches in front of the first object ball, so as w make a half-ball contact; with it, the correct angle will at cnee be obtained to eannoa off :be cushion on to the second ball. Here again a little side sioald be used to accelerate the speed of the cue bail ofi the cushion after its contact with tic Srs* "call.