Billiards

by William Broadfoot

Much advantage will result to the thoughtful reader from a careful study of the foregoing remarks on breaks, specially if they are read beside a table on which the strokes may be played; but the same can scarcely be said with regard to any instructions we have seen for playing a break of nursery cannons. Of all strokes on the billiard-table they lend themselves least to description, and the distances between the balls being so small and the paths travelled so very short, that illustration by diagram is at once difficult and of doubtful use. Even if the writer or draftsman thoroughly understands each stroke, it is nearly impossible to convey his knowledge to the reader. As Mr. Rimington-Wilson has remarked, the student cannot do better than consult M. Vignaux’s manual as far as book study is concerned, for the principle underlying the break is the same on French and on English tables. There are, however, practical differences, such as the pockets on an English table, which interfere with the continuation of a long series, and the size of the balls and table, all of which make the break more difficult for us than for the French. On the other hand, our rules permit the push stroke, which is not allowed by French or Americans, and this makes a long break easier for us. Hence it is necessary to endeavour to give some idea of this style of play on our tables, the more so as nurseries form a large part of most long spot-barred breaks.

The only nurseries of cannons that have as yet played an important part in the English game are those made in such a way that the three balls are kept travelling in front of the player, and seldom further than from four to eight inches from the cushion. The series was invented in America under the name of Rail play, and brought to France by Vignaux, where though quite modern it is already barred in match games. Theoretically it consists of the repetition of one simple stroke, whereby the balls are moved slightly forward, the only check to uniformity being when a corner has to be turned or a pocket passed; practically, this normal stroke, position mère, as the French call it, is seldom preserved for any length of break, and the art of continuing to score consists greatly in the skill whereby it is recovered.

A notion of the ideal path of the balls may be gathered from fig. 30, that of ball 2 being a zigzag parallel to the cushion, and that of ball 3 a straight line also parallel; 1′ 1″ 1‴, 2′ 2″ 2‴, 3′ 3″ 3‴ are the positions of the balls after each stroke. In fact the relative position of the three balls remains the same, whilst they are all moved short distances along the cushion at each stroke. Of course to attain this result absolute perfection of manipulation and of implements is necessary, and equally of course, no such conditions exist; after a few strokes the relative position is altered, even if certain requirements of the series be preserved. These mainly are, that a line passing through the centres of 2 and 3 must be inclined, not parallel to the cushion; that ball 3 (of fig. 30) shall never be nearer the cushion than a diameter (2¹⁄₁₆ in.), so that there may be room for ball 2 to be played between it and the cushion, but ball 2 must never pass ball 3; that ball 1 also should never pass ball 3; and that each should follow its rail. These are the chief considerations to be kept in mind when playing the series, the next point of importance being how to continue the break when the relative positions of the balls to each other is modified by various imperfections of play.

Fig. 30.

Fig. 31.

A few of the commonest variations will be mentioned, the object of the strokes being to recover the position mère as soon as possible.

If ball 1 be played with a little right side or screw or too full on ball 2, or a combination of these errors, it will strike ball 3 too fine and come to rest below it, as shown in fig. 31. Ball 3, by having been struck too fine, has not travelled sufficiently, whereas ball 2 may have gone too far, so that the tendency of the error here represented is that the three balls should be left in line, and the series be lost; being only recoverable by a perfect massé—a stroke so rare in the English game that it may be neglected.

In the case supposed it is clear that following the usual nomenclature ball 3 would become ball 2 for the stroke about to be played, but would again become ball 3 in the next stroke after, and confusion might result; hence, for these nursery cannons the cushion is assumed to be cushion 1, or that at the top of the table, and the balls retain their numbers 1, 2, 3, as in the position mère, fig. 30. The player is standing at cushion 6, looking towards cushion 2. First let ball 1 have its centre at A. Play a very fine ball on 3, scarcely moving it and cannoning tolerably full on 2, coming off it to the left; a gentle stroke will leave something like the original position. If ball 1 has its centre at B, and occupies the position of the dotted circle 1′, then in the English game the break is continued by a gentle push very fine on 3, and as full as practicable on 2. One of the chief difficulties of this and other similar strokes when ball 1 is decidedly below the other balls is the correct alignment of the cue. Different persons meet the difficulty in different ways; the majority, who are tall enough and not too stiff, bend over reversing the cue so that its tip points towards instead of away from themselves, the elbow being raised; whereas others lay the cue on the table in the right alignment, then standing as before at cushion 1, raise the tip, having taken hold of the cue about 6 or 8 in. further back between the thumb and forefinger, and leaving the butt on the table, bring the tip forward for a stroke or push as the situation may require. Occasionally a short, stout man is put to considerable inconvenience and disadvantage in playing these shots, and has after each cannon to walk round and play the next with the rest; at first sight the hardship may not be apparent, but if the value of keeping the eyes close to the balls in such delicate work, and the additional labour in walking round a corner of the table, and taking up the rest, say twenty times in a series of forty cannons, be considered, the serious nature of the drawback will not be denied.