“A NICE LITTLE STROKE.”

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1034, 30 December 1909, Page 11

“A NICE LITTLE STROKE.”

Here is a nice little stroke for markers and others to while away their spare time practising. It is not

a new one, but does not lose any of its attractiveness on that account. This is it: Place the red ball on the spot in the centre of the table. About Bin. or 9in. from the red ball, and in a dead straight line with it and the centre of one of the middle pockets, place the spot white. Then place the plain white about Bin. from the red, in a straight line with it towards the centre of baulk. Spot white Is the cue-ball. The shot is to hold the red in the middle pocket opposite striker, and make the cannon direct. Just let me know how you get on, and if you find it very difficult. It must have been this kind of stroke that a writer doing the Roberts-Weiss match for an evening print last year had in his eye when he described one of the former’s strokes as being “a beautiful square cannon.”—This is the most difficult form of the “stun” stroke known.—New World of Billiards.

The wane of John Roberts as a cueman was accentuated last months when a player of the class of W. Cook defeated him by 1667 points in 10,000 up, with a start of only one-third of the game.