BILLIARDS

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 1, 6 January 1909, Page 43

BILLIARD S

By an Expert in London " Daily Telgraph.”

The mantle of John Roberts has fallen upon 11 W. Stevenson, one of the most, attractive and rapid scorers the game is likclv to know. This young man has been adding to his reputation week by week since the season commenced, lhere i< m. flourishing or searching after effect m be -on in his play. He is eminently and anv match he may be taking part m is not of the exhibition variety. He may he lenient to a beaten opponent. a> he was recently in the tornnament game at Soho-square; yet he may be depended upon to >how his quality at cverv instalment of the play. There is a crispness about his touch that no other player can compare with. This is his e.-pecial gift which has converted him from the time when 1 first knew him as a promising novice, into the - most polished cueman of the day. It is the. big breaks that Stevenson is always in search of (he has trained himself to make them): and already in two months that have, elapsed since he started his Jong list of engagements he has made

several breaks of over fiOi* . dnts, and any number of four and hve hundred. As those who follow the doings of the leading billiard lights will know. Stevenson advanced a step recently by compiling a truly remarkable break of 733. a performance holding out a strong promise that he may realise his cherished ambition of scoring a thousand oil the balls. It is the speed at which he collects his breaks, the wonderful co-operation of hand and eye. that makes Stevenson the most likely of any we have yet seen to take the record to four figures. The effort takes so little out of him. On the night when he raised an unfinished 135. left over from the afternoon, to the dignity of a completed 733. he put together the remaining 598 points in the wonderfully quick time of thirty-two minutes. This is fast scoring with a vengeance. The average •’hundred up” takes pretty well as long as this. It is the close scoring between the two top pockets, now brought to the very highest pink of perfection, that has brought about such a rate of scoring. The player is on top of the balls all the while. The only time wasted is when the red l>all has to be taken out of the corner pocket and placed upon the billiard spot. And spot boys are trained to be so vigilant and quick in their movements that the smallest possible waste is incurred. Where the points come fastest is in the train of those delicate little runs of close, cannons scored by feathery touches of the cue. They differ entirely from the blood-red flash of the coloured ball as it cracked in with a stab shot or went gently trickling down into the pocket netting by a nicely judged thin cut. You get light and shade in enormous contrast in this monopoly of the professional cueman. Stevenson took up the thread of his unfinished 135 in the most confident manner. He was in one of his happiest scoring mood. There was no hesitation in thought or action. He controlled the balls, turning them and twisting them about apparently to suit his fancy with the greatest ease ami certainty. Runs of cannons were not conspicuous. It was open play of the alternate hazard and cannon order, with an occasional removal of the cueball to the baulk half circle and a ready ret urn, by the medium of the drop cannon, to be selected scoring ground around and about the billiard spot. Only those who have experienced the difficulties of top-of-the-table play could really appreciate the masterly way in which the champion was tending to the balls. 1 hey seemed k>s capricious than usual, and on their best behaviour. The will of the rue steered them to appointed places with

an uncanny certainty. Little screws, .-tab-, follow-through*, and side shots, thick’ thin, and the regulation half-ball contacts, with treated with the same unerring accuracy. The least distuibed person in the room was the player. The tension of the spectators as the score rose by leaps and bounds, and the hundreds kept being hoisted on the mark-ing-board, soon become evident. There is nothing like a very big break or a close finish at billiards to try the nervous system. The stealthy passage of the player's balls in the slower strokes is the most trying of any. You feel bound to assist its progress, if not by word, at anv rate by deed, and the wriggling in the seats at such junctures will tell of the strained feelings around fhe table. For the last hundred of his 733 Stevenson's every movement and the course of his ball was watched with eager eyes, and the silence, broken only bv the monotone of the marker’s recurring call, could have been felt. Then a little cutting stroke, played to just drop the red ball into the right top pocket and bring the cue-ball into position, caused a shiver to go through the spectators. The red ball crawled to the pocket. But it did not drop. It just hung on the lip of the pocket, lacking the power to take the half revolution which would have taken it into the netting. And that halfgroan of disappointment so peculiar to the billiard-room was heard; then the rattle of hand-clapping, which was repeated and more prolonged at The marker’s "733 break, gentlemen!” There is only one reliable means of gauging the real ability of a billiard player. It is to take his average rate of scoring. This is quite a simple matter. You merely divide the total of points scored by the number of innings the player has taken in doing so. Thus, for instance. 100 points in fifteen innings would work out. at a fl 2-3 average. in ten innings a 10 average, in twenty innings a 5 average, and so no. There are as numerous grades of players at billiards as there are races of mankind. They rank from the accomplished professionals, who can go through a week or fortnight’s match with an average of 50 to 60 points per innings, down to the lowliest amateur with his 1 point, per innings return. I have known both these extremes, and most, if not all, of the intermediate class. The biggest and far away the best average ever made by any billiard player under attested conditions in a long game stands to the credit of H. W. Stevenson. In a memorable final heat of the 1005-6 tournament he went through the week’s play at the average rate of 89| points for his e\cry appearance at the table. When it i is taken into account that his opponent, Dawson. was desperately anxious to heat him, and that there were passages i of safety play, the really miraculous na--1 ture of this performance may in some ■ measure be realised. Starting out in • great form. Stevenson moved on an up i grade all the week through. He finished

up on the last night with a break of o'er 700, and simply |o*t bis opponent, who, ne\ertheless, a'eraged o'er 4<» points per inning? The disparity which exist* between the amateur and the profeaaioaal at billiards it* much more marked than in any other game. The amateur championship ha* seldom seen the winner, semi professional a» he has sometime* been, average at * higher rate than 12 point- per innings. And it needs a very good player, indeed, of the amateur class to make this figure under strange conditions. He is at least fifty per tent. l*etter on a table that he iic accustomed to. and he ran be depended upon to be a shining light amongst billiard ists "here the professional element is unknown. A ten-average player will hold his own in most amateur championship heats. Such averages as seven, the ordinary. A five average I place as the standard of the ordinary useful amateur, the player capable of making his twenty's and thirty’s regularly upon a table he is familiar with. The lower grades of four, three, two. and one are replete with eccentric mannerisms and novel ideas of the play, a tart which does not preclude enjoyment nor an earnestness in handicap and match games, which give- ample compensation for any lack of skill. Personally, 1 should like to hear of every billiard player taking a deeper interest in his average scoring than is now the case. It will tell

him his standing as no analysis of purely stroke-play, which is the common gauge put over a player, can ever do. It is a guide to improvement and knowledge ot what your opponents are capable of. Mistakes may be made by reason of the average test being taken on some game where safety tactics have abounded, or where someone has played "above his form.” But there are exceptions to every rule. In the main the average is the thing to go by at billiards, just as at golf, to throw a light on an

otherwise impossible proposition. I have had an opportunity of viewing the promises at Windmill House, Sbaftos-bwry-avenue, where the Billiard-. (Control Club will take up its quarters with the coming of the New Year. They are ideal for *>he. iuUJided,^pufpose. Thei;e are three large ffdofS. eaek-capable of jibldhiff some half-dozen tables. The club, is, 1 beliexe, intended to be rim on the most up-to-date West-end lines, after the fashion of the Motor C lub and Union. The smaller provincial clubs, institutes, and billiard leagues, which are in greater abundance throughout the province than most may know of. can be affiliated to the union at a merely nominal annual subscription. Each of such bodies will be entitled to nominate a member. The union will also be open to private individuals, who will enjoy all (he comforts and privileges of the best clubs at the most moderate rates. All applications for membership have to be made to the secretary’ of the Billiards C ontrol Club, Craig’s C ourt House. Whitehall. S.W. A most influential active council and professional advisory’ committee have undertaken the supervision of all matters relating to the game, including the drafting of a new code of lules. A professional championship and a Grand National Clubs’ competition are amongst the things promised by the Billiards Control Club, which is promoted solely for the betterment of the great indoor game. There are two most interesting matches on next week’s fixture-list. Those veryold aspirants for the championship, H. W. Stevenson and C. .Daw’son meet in a. level 9,00 V up at Thurston’s Grand Hall, Leicestcu’-square. This is the first time they have, come together since March last year. Theii’ games have always been productive of exceptional performances, and it may well be that next week the record breaks of 826 (Rimington-Wil-son rules) and 892 (Billiard Association rules) will be cut. At Burroughes and Watts’ Grana Salon, Soho Square, another and equally interesting contest will be seen. The filth heat in the professional tournament brings together those most strenuous opponents. the leading lights of the younger school of players, T. Reece and Melbourne Inman. They have me.t in moneymatches a-nd in tournament heats, and, without exception, their rivalry has no parallel in billiard history. Reece is set to concede Inman a start of 500 points, a concession unjustified by tne results of former games. It- was only —*e improvement made by Reece last season during the absence of Inman in Australia and India, and his winning the first prize m last season’s tournament, that shortened his start. One of these young men is the champion of the xuture. a fact which should add interest to what must in any* case be an attractive struggle.