Also, let the path of ball 1, after impact, receive close attention, and as soon as some certainty in making the hazard is felt, let the exercise consist quite as much in playing to leave ball 1 in or near a desired place as in the success of the hazard. The value of this is all but self-evident, and it is as important in pool or pyramids as in billiards.
Similar practice may, with advantage, be made to the top corner pockets, ball 2 being placed on the billiard, and afterwards on the pyramid spot. The rules for finding what point of 2 should be struck and the points of aim are, of course, unaltered, but attention may usefully be given to the following hint, based on the construction of the cushions at the neck of the pocket. Whether a pocket is easy or not depends, perhaps, more on this than on the actual width at the fall. If the channel is gradually rounded off, with but little rubber in the sides, a ball once in the neck is nearly sure to fall into the pocket; but if there is much rubber in the sides, the same ball would expend its energy in rebounding from side to side, and have no disposition to travel forward into the pocket. Cushions cut square, as it is called, make the pockets more difficult than those sloped gently away; the channel is narrower.
Let ball 2 be placed between the spot and the top cushion, or anywhere on a line connecting a point so chosen and the corner pocket into which it is proposed to play. In this case the point of aim is no longer the true centre of the pocket, nor even the centre of the portion of the pocket which is open from position 2, but a point so chosen that ball 2 may impinge on the neck or side of the pocket entrance, and thence drop in. The accompanying sketch will show what is meant. If ball 2 were played on C, the centre of the pocket, it would strike the cushion A, and very probably rebound to the opposite side, and the hazard would fail: but if, on the contrary, it strike the cushion B at a point T, inside the neck of the pocket, then, unless played very hard, the hazard will to a certainty be made.
Fig. 2
With reference to the position of ball 2, C is termed a blind pocket, because the full width at the fall is not open. Hazards into blind pockets are therefore more difficult than those into open ones; nevertheless, if the player is careful to observe the required point of impact, and to allow accordingly in aim, such strokes can be played with considerable confidence.
When measurements are given whereby the positions of balls on the billiard-table may be found, they must not be supposed to be absolutely accurate. They no doubt are nearly so for the table and balls with which the stroke was played for the purposes of this volume; but tables, balls, cloth, and climate are subject to variation which may make modification necessary, and, moreover, each man has a mode of using his cue as peculiar to himself as is his handwriting. Therefore, once for all, let it be understood that the diagrams and descriptions must be treated as but approximate. All measurements from a cushion are from the edge on which balls impinge to the centre of the ball whose position is to be fixed; those from a pocket are from the middle of the fall. The dotted lines with figures marked in Diagram I., example A, show the measurements whereby the position of ball 2 is determined. Many mistakes are made by inaccurate reading of instructions, and by failure to use the measure correctly, but the eye will prove a useful check; for if the position of the balls, when placed on the table, does not nearly coincide with that shown in the diagram, there is an error somewhere which a little patience and consideration will cause to be discovered.
A few typical strokes are shown on Diagram I.:—
A. Ball 1, on or near the right corner of the Ｄ; ball 2 7½ in. below the right middle pocket, and 8 in. from cushion 3. The measurements are in this instance shown on the diagram as a guide in other cases.
Play a free No. 1 strength. Ball 1, after pocketing 2, should travel to the top cushion, and so far back as to leave an easy winning hazard on a ball on the billiard spot. With slight variation of the position, the stroke may be played slower or faster, as may be desired. If the strength is misjudged, and ball 1 should stop somewhere between the top cushion and the desired position, a losing hazard in the left top pocket may not improbably be possible. The positions of both balls may be considerably varied, whilst the stroke remains virtually unchanged. The further ball 1 is brought to the left along the baulk-line, the fuller is the hazard, and the position of ball 1 after the stroke will be more to the right of the spot than that shown in the diagram.