Illustration of false and true:
| Inn. | Points. | Game Average. |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | 600 | 40 |
| 30 | 600 | 20 |
| 30 | 600 | 20 |
| 7 | 600 | 85.71 |
| 82 | 82)2400(29.29 | 4)165.71(41.43 |
The average found by dividing by the number of games is grossly extravagant.
Losing Averages.—Properly, the loser’s average can never be higher than the winner’s. To concede that it can is to premiumize its maker’s inefficiency. Setting out to win the opening shot, he had failed, which is the only way, with fewer points, to make the seemingly higher average. It is equally unfair, in a continuous game of several sessions, to concede an average for a fraction of the game. By getting far behind, one player is without limit on any night, while the other is stopped every night by reaching the number of points assigned to every leader.
Except as personal compliments, losing averages are valueless. Their apparent makers do not wholly make them. Much depends upon the other man. The loser reaches a high figure largely because, having aimed to cover a given number of points, he failed to do so. It has often happened that a player with 50 to go has needed as many innings to make them as he had taken to make his other 250. As a rule, losers “let down” near the finish more than winners, and hence their average is dependent less upon themselves than upon those who close the game.
BILLIARD RECORD:
A Compendium of the More Important Public Contests, Match and Tournament, at Both Caroms and Pool.
Compiled from the Most Authentic Sources by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co.
FOUR-BALL GAME
[Up to 1863, all play not otherwise described was at unrestricted caroms, with 2⅜ balls, on a 6 × 12 ft. six-pocket table; from 1863 to 1869, on a 6 × 12 four-pocket, with the various restrictions mentioned; from 1869 to 1873, chiefly on a 5½ × 11 four-pocket, under a new system of counting; and from 1873 to 1876, almost altogether on a 5 × 10 carom table.]
Abbreviations.—P., 2000—12.20—129; S., 1904—157, indicates winner’s total, average, and best run, always in that order, together with loser’s total and high run, without his average, which has never been a record; W., games won in tournament; R., highest run; Av., best winning average; G. A., general (or grand) average; p. b., push-shot barred; c. b., crotching barred (carom table); j. b., jaw barred (pocket table).