CHAPTER XIV
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Before finishing this book it is desirable to mention a few matters connected with billiards which have not been dealt with in former chapters, though some of them may have been more than once introduced. To begin with, the question is often debated whether in the interest of the game a stake is desirable. Undoubtedly, some advantages are gained when money, however little, is played for; the rules are more strictly obeyed, and the game is treated as serious. On the other hand, there are drawbacks: certain players, often those most anxious to bet, cannot afford to lose, and the miserable result is that the pleasure of the game is sacrificed to money. When played on proper lines, no stimulant beyond the honour of winning and the pleasure of making meritorious breaks is needed for players who are devoted to billiards and have attained certain excellence. In most clubs far fewer games are played of late years for even the small stake of a shilling or half a crown than was the case in the early seventies, but a little excitement is supplied by an occasional handicap. From want of experience, however, the framers often make serious mistakes, which deter persons from entering, and these are perhaps less in estimating the start which should be allowed than in general principles. Hence, with the view of helping framers, a few remarks are offered.
A winning game.
A handicap, to be satisfactory, should be on the American principle: each player should in turn play with every person who has entered, and he who has most games to his credit is the winner. It follows that too many entries should not be allowed, nor, if possible, should there be too great a difference in the class of players. It is better to have more than one handicap than to try to bring together men between whom there is great difference of play. As a general rule, it is probably safe to say that no two men should play in the same handicap when one can give the other much more than a third of the game. In a short game—and those of most amateur handicaps are from 100 to 250 points—more than one-third of the game is so long a start that chance plays too important a part. When there are many competitors, it might be desirable to have one or more handicaps subordinate to the final one, played, if preferred, on the English system, in which the loss of one game disqualifies for further competition; but the final, amongst, say, the best six players, should if possible be arranged on the American plan. As a guide to handicapping, the following rule may be useful. The question is, if A. can give B. twenty in a hundred, and B. can give C. a like number of points, how many can A. give C.? Add the points, and from the result deduct their product divided by the length of the game. Thus, in the supposed case:
20 + 20 − 20 × 20
100 = 40 − 4 = 36;
or A. can give C. 36 points.
Another sort of handicap is sometimes substituted for the ordinary and uninteresting four game when it is wished that more than two players should take part. The method followed is to agree about the points and then string or toss for position—i.e. to determine who shall commence and the sequence of play. Whoever first scores the agreed number of points wins the game and takes the stakes. It has this advantage over the four game that excessive safety play is useless or worse, and that each competitor does his best to score. The luck is to follow a player who leaves easy openings, but, as no one plays specially for safety, a good player is as likely to leave an easy stroke as a bad one.
A few words may be permitted on billiards as a game for ladies. With their superior delicacy of touch and at least equality in all other respects, save perhaps in brute force, there would seem to be no reason why they should not greatly excel at the game. As a fact some, a very few, do play almost as well as good club players; they can make from twenty to forty points in a break, and, this being so, work is all that is required to raise their standard. The game is a healthy one, calling into play not merely the muscles but the mind; and, as to its capabilities for showing a handsome figure to advantage, Mr. Davis’s illustrations are sufficiently eloquent.
Some readers may perhaps regret the absence of a chapter on the French and American game. To them we would urge that a game so beautiful, so scientific, and capable of such development, cannot be satisfactorily treated in short space; and, therefore, it has been thought better simply to refer inquirers to M. Vignaux’s book and to ‘Modern Billiards,’ the American text-book, published by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co., New York. Comparison between the English and French games is scarcely profitable; they differ widely, and each has its advantages. Conspicuous amongst these in favour of the foreign game is the small size of the table which may be set up in ordinary rooms. It is cheaper and more easily lighted than that used in the English game, and, although hazards are eliminated and much interest is thereby lost, the cannon game can be brought on the smaller table to a perfection of which we scarcely even dream.