BILLIARDS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 884, 14 February 1907, Page 12

BILLIARDS.

(By

“Pyramid.”)

[The writer of this column will be glad to answer any Questions on the game.]

H. W. Stevenson, the famous cueist, writing to Mr. Boyle, of Sydney, states that he will he in Sydney on April 23, where his family remain while he will make a tour of this colony. He is due in Auckland on May 1, and will then go to Napier, Hastings, Pahiatua, Masterton, to Wellington. Next Christchurch and Dunedin will be visisted, and Stevenson will then return to Wellington en route for Sydney. We shall thus soon have an opportunity of seeing this great player whose recent form has bordered on the mar- * * * * At a benefit tendered to SergeantMajor Fitzgerald in the Grand Hall,

Leicester Square, on Christmas Eve, a unique entertainment was provid- . ed, with the. result that the hall was crammed long before play, and many who offered to pay three times the value for the 5/ seats were unable to obtain admission. The military gentleman is held in such esteem and is such a noted person in English billiard circles, that amateurs and professionals alike offered their services in his interests. Diggle, Reece, and Peall were out of town. A flying handicap of 100 up was arranged as follows: Stevenson and Dawson scratch, Harveson receives 23, Weiss receives 24, Inman receives 25, Lovejoy, Cook, and Mannock receive 30, Elphick and Taylor 33 each. Weiss performed solidly and won right out. The various heats caused some amusement, especially those in which Stevenson and Dawson took part and were defeated without scoring. A “hot pool” was also part of the programme, and it was won by Mr. A. J. Brown, who defeated Inman.

Several correspondents have written asking me to give them some practice positions, and how best to place the balls when alone, so as to get practice which will tend to improve one’s game (writes Sydenham Dixon). For nine out of ten of us I should say the best practice of all is to use two balls only, the red and the white. Start from baulk, placing the red anywhere you like, so long as it leaves a fairly easy loser into one ■of the four pockets. Mark the spot on which the red is first placed, and try how many “losers” you can make. Half an hour’s occasional steady practice on these lines will do much to improve one in what is, after all, the most useful and most paying form of scoring, unless one happens to be an embryo Stevenson.