BILLIARDS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 June 1938, Page 6

BILLIARDS

WHERE CUE POWER COMES FRO.M (By Baulkline.) It is quite usual to hear billiards enthusiasts talking about some player or another possessing wonderful cuepower. In a general sense cue-power H understood to denote ability to execute individual strokes of an abnormal kind, notably screw effects, decidedly out ot the ordinary. Leading players do not (pnsider this definition satisfactory. Cue-power, correctly defined, means handling your cue in a style which gives you power to cope with any and every stroke which may confront you, ps you build your breaks. Wo are

familiar with the type of player whose screw shots will make you stare every now and then, but whose power of cue cannot he relied upon to score a half ball, a long loser with effective consistency. Billiard Temperament. An ideal billiard temperament enables a man to excel when the balls run dead against him—the worse the run the better lie plays. In a sense, he gives of his individual best when the occasion demands. Obviously pluck and grit are indicated here, and of that rare quality which will stand cold storage, Sj to speak, that the best of billiards temperament embodies—some sliai'6 of the deadly calm which men found useful when “pistols for two and coffee for one” marked the dawn of an unforgettable day. A good loser is not only a real sportsman hut an improving player, as lie always learns something from defeat. The had loser makes himself miserable, and is no great joy to other people, and one defeat puts him in a likely frame of mind for his next.