BILLIARDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 749, 23 August 1929, Page 7

BILLIARDS

POTTING THE WHITE By RISO LEVI .1 vthor of "Billiards: The Strokes of the Game." and "Billiards For The Million.'’ I Copt right 3 It is 45 years or more since I began my billiards, and in those far-off days the feeling among amateurs ii general against deliberately potting the white was just as strong as it is today, it was "Whitechapel” then, as it is now. This question of potting the white has been discussed during the intervening years in many boohs on the game and iu articles in the Press, and every writer who has dealt with the subject has shown how ridiculous it is to refrain from potting one's opponent's bail when it is clearly to one's advantage to do so. But notwithstanding all that has been written on the matter, the average player still considers that it is unsportsmanlike and ungentlemanly deliberately to pot the white and then leave a double baulk. And, in his opinion, the offence is aggravated if the player who pots the ball is well ahead. Two friends, or it may be two strangers, play a game, and without a word being said on the matter there is nearly always a tacit understanding that the object white will not be po'ted by either, even though except for such a stroke the balls may be “as safe, as houses." When, however, the game is a club handicap. or it is being played for a substantial stake, all this nonsense about potting the white instantly vanishes, both men play the correct game and never fail to pur. the white down, or at least to attempt the stroke, when it is to their advantage to do so. It is as though these players have one code of honour for ordinary games and another for a stern handicap heat, or when there is money on the game. UNTIL DOOMSDAY If all that has been written from time to time during the last 40 or 50 years on the subject has not changed the ideas of the ordinary player on this question of potting the white, it is pretty safe to say that billiards writers may go on until doomsday telling the average 100-upper that when it is the game to pot the white he should have no qualms about putting it down, without any more success than has crowned the efforts of writers in the past. Knowing what I do of ordinary players and of their feelings on the matter, I would not go so far as to say that they should always pot the white

when there is practically nothing else, on, and when the advantage gained from the pot may be but slight. There can be no question that deliberate potting of the white, not as a positional stroke, but just for the sake of two points—or for four when the ball is overhanging a pocket—often leads to bad blood between two players, especially when the stroke is played at a. critical stage of the game and the opponent may have no opportunity cf retaliating. It may be very foolish on his part, but the average player finds it very galling after he has just failed at a stroke which has left his ball quite close to the pocket to be potted and then given a double baulk. And when this happens three or four times in quick succession, unless he Is possessed. in no mean degree, of the proper billiards temperament, his opponent's tactics are apt to make him inwardly furious, even though he is able to preserve a calm exterior. As a rule, too, the ordinary player gains very little by potting the white, because even though it may be quite easy to follow this up with a double baulk, he is seldom able to place the red in position for what will be an easy stroke afterward, should his opponent fail to disturb either bail. Indeed, even if the red is already in baulk the ordinary player seldom sets up a good position for his next stroke. Again, too much potting the white is very apt to spoil one’s game. The pot may be a practical certainty, and a stroke off the red, though quite on, may be a somewhat uncertain shot. The stroke off the red, however, may, when successful, lead to further scoring. The player who pots the white on every possible occasion. even though he has no hope of scoring after the pot, seldom makes a decent breaa. Too much safety play often proves to be bad billiards. When, however, there is no score at all on except a pot, but it is quite a simple matter to score again after the white goes down, it is sheer folly to abstain from playing the game. Let us suppose that the white is on the brink of a top pocket and that the cue ball is so placed that a four shot is a certainty; also that the red presents a simple centre-pocket in-otf from the D. There are numberless players who when faced with such a position go out for some hopeless stroke off the red rather than put the white down. These men consider that they are playing a nice gentlemanly and sportsmanlike game by refusing to pot the white. Instead, they are playing an exceedingly stupid game Next Articles; .Two Positional Strokes.