one or both of the object balls. By the Billiard Association Rules, this stroke, "if properly made, is fair, and the referee is the proper person to decide the matter."
One of the most important points for the beginner, as well as for the more experienced player, is the selection of a thoroughly good and reliable cue. Strangely enough, this matter generally receives very little attention, the neophyte being content to take the first that comes to hand. What is even worse, he will change about from day to day,—or from hour to hour,—using cues of different shapes, weight, and balance; and is then surprised that he does not make the progress that he expected.
Reverting to the subject of the half-ball stroke, it is of the greatest importance that all beginners should understand how much depends upon their being able to hit the object ball in the way shown in Fig. 2. Their whole future success as billiard-players will depend upon the accuracy with which they learn to hit the object ball in this particular manner.
First of all, the beginner must learn to hit his own ball freely. We would recommend him to take his first practice-lesson by learning simply how to hit a ball hard—i.e., have only one ball to play with. After he has gained a certain amount of what is called freedom of cue, he must next learn to aim at the object ball, so that he always hits it in what we have described as the half-stroke. To ascertain whether he has acquired sufficient "freedom of cue," let him see how many times he can send his own ball up and down the table.
In learning to simply strike your own ball, it is important to learn to strike it hard without putting on side. Place your ball in baulk, say nearly in the centre of the half-circle; now play straight up at the top cushion hard. If you hit your ball fairly in the centre, the ball will come back straight; if you don't you will put on side, and you can tell how much by the angle at which the ball will rebound from the top cushion. Commence learning, therefore, by hitting your own ball hard enough to send it four to five times up and down the table without side. This is not so easy as many persons would think.
Having learnt to hit his own ball fairly in the centre, the beginner must next learn to hit the object ball a half-ball stroke; and for this purpose it is a very good exercise, at the commencement, to place the red ball on the spot, S (vide Fig. 3), and the striker's ball in position A, that is, just in front of the middle pocket, an inch or two along an imaginary line drawn from the centre of the middle pocket to the edge of the object ball placed on the spot.
The losing hazard off the red into the right-hand top pocket ought now to be a certainty, it being a simple half-ball stroke. After making the hazard, the red ball should, after striking the top cushion, rebound in a line right down the centre of the table (as shown by the dotted line W W).
By watching the direction of the red ball after striking, the beginner will be able to see if he has struck the ball correctly. If he hits it too fine, the red ball will come down the table on the left of the centre line, W W. Should he strike the red ball too full, the red will come down the table on the right-hand side of the line W W.