THE BALLS. The American standard balls are 2⅜ inches in diameter, while the English are only 2-1/16. Billiard balls should be carefully protected from sudden changes in temperature by being laid away in bran or sawdust in cold weather. It is a mistake to soak the balls in oil; all they need is to be wiped off with a damp cloth, and polished with chamois skin. The three balls employed in both the English and American games are known as the red, white, and spot white. In play they are distinguished as the cue ball, which is the one struck by the player; the object ball, which is the one that the cue ball first comes into contact with; and the carrom ball, which is the second ball struck by the cue ball in making a carrom.
THE SHOTS. There are three shots common to billiards: The carrom or cannon, in which a count is made by the cue ball striking both the other balls on the table. The winning hazard, in which the object or the carrom ball is driven into a pocket. The losing hazard, in which the cue ball goes into a pocket after contact with another ball. There are five ways of making the principal shots at billiards, and they should be thoroughly mastered by every player. These are: The force, the follow, the draw, the massé, and the side stroke.
The first great principle in billiards is that the cue ball will always travel in the direction in which the cue is pointed. Holding the cue upward, downward or sidewise makes no difference; the line of travel will be a prolongation of the line of the cue. In the three ways of striking the cue ball shown in the diagram in the margin, the ball will go in the direction of the arrow in each instance.
If the cue is held nearly level with the surface of the table the ball will be pushed or rolled along; but if the cue is held perpendicularly, and the ball is struck directly on the top, the ball will be pinched to the table, as in the first figure in the margin, and will not move. If the ball is struck off the centre, as in the second figure, it will travel only a short distance, as a result of the cue’s being forced past it toward the cloth, and will then return with a very strong retrograde motion after touching the object ball. If the cue strikes too near the top, the pinch will be too strong for the cue ball to reach the object ball, and if the cue is not held perpendicularly, the ball will not return. If the cue points toward the centre of the ball, as in the third figure, the ball will be driven forward, without any tendency to return after striking the object ball. The latter shot is useful in making a “close follow,” to avoid making a foul.
The Force Shot. The beginner at billiards should strike his ball always exactly in the centre, until he learns the angles. With moderate strength the effect of the stroke is to cause the ball to roll naturally along the cloth until it reaches the object ball, after which it will be deflected from its original course according to the angle at which the object ball is struck. If the cue ball is struck very hard, however, and very slightly below the centre, it will slide for a certain distance before beginning to roll, and if it reaches the object ball before this sliding motion ceases it will simply come to a stop, or go off at a right angle if the object ball is not struck exactly in the centre. This method of forcing a ball to go off at a right angle is called “screwing” in England.
The Follow Shot. If the cue ball is struck above the centre, the rolling motion is set up at once, no matter how hard the ball is struck, and the effect of contact with the object ball is simply to check the motion for a moment, after which the cue ball rolls forward again, deflected only by the angle at which the object ball was struck. The great art in making follow shots is to let the cue follow the ball, the tip passing at least three inches beyond where the ball stood, as shown by the dotted lines in the diagram. When the balls are very close together the cue must be lifted, and the ball struck very much on one side, the cue being behind the centre, as shown in the third position in the diagram of pinch shots.
