Example A.—A fine stroke on ball 2 will make the losing hazard and leave that ball about 2′ .
Example B.—Ball 1 played fine on ball 2 will make the losing hazard and leave an opening from baulk.
Example C.—A very useful stroke. Ball 1 played fine on ball 2 will cannon rather full on ball 3, which it will drive as shown by the dot-and-dash line; ball 1 will stop between the other two, and a winning or losing hazard will almost certainly be left in either top pocket.
In playing nursery cannons fine strokes are often useful; indeed, a player who possesses great delicacy of touch may make a series of strokes yet scarcely move balls 2 or 3. These cannons will be considered hereafter, and, therefore, are not at present further noticed.
Fine strokes have the following drawbacks: they must usually be played so softly that the least obstacle or untrueness of ball will cause deflection from the proper path; the target presented by ball 2 is small, sometimes merely an edge; and an error so slight as to be imperceptible in the division of ball 2 may result in leaving the balls safe.
A Push Stroke
The next variety of strokes to be considered are those in which the ball is pushed rather than struck; they are usually subdivided into push and half-push strokes. Great difference of opinion exists as to whether push strokes should be lawful in the game, but at present we are not concerned with what should be, but with what is allowed. The question whether, in the interest of billiards, the stroke should or should not be foul will hereafter be considered; at present, it is permitted by the rules, and without it much delicate play and many long breaks would be sacrificed, consequently a few examples are introduced. In learning this stroke, instruction from an expert is indispensable: there are various ways of playing it, some grasping the cue tightly with both hands to secure rigidity and sliding the bridge, which is bouclée, the forefinger being hooked round the cue and the other fingers shut on the cloth; others somewhat shorten the cue, or hold it further from its butt and play over a bridge in the usual way; but in any case the cue-tip should be brought as close as possible to ball 1, short, of course, of touching it, and not withdrawn before the stroke, but pushed gently and steadily forward. Contact between cue-tip and ball 1 must be preserved till the position occupied by ball 2 is passed, and ordinarily no more strength should be employed than is necessary to carry ball 1 either to ball 3 or to the pocket. The idea of the stroke is that, by dint of steady pushing, ball 2 is removed from the path of ball 1, which is more nearly unaltered on impact the more perfectly the stroke is made. In practice, if the distance between ball 2 and the pocket or ball 3 is considerable, some allowance must be made, and the player cannot safely ignore ball 2; he must not push exactly for the part of ball 3 he desires to hit, or straight for the pocket, but compensate for the throw-off from ball 2 by aiming somewhat fuller than would be necessary were it removed. The more perfect the performer, the more may ball 2 be neglected, and the less compensating allowance is necessary. For example, if the cue-tip were stuck to ball 1, so that interruption to contact was impossible, ball 2 might be wholly neglected; ball 1 could be pushed through a pyramid of balls and made to enter a pocket, or cannon simply by aligning correctly and pushing straight for the object. By common consent, however, long push strokes—i.e. when ball 1 is far from ball 2—are avoided; it is very difficult, if not impossible, to make them without interruption to the contact between cue-tip and ball, and consequently they either fail if the cue be withdrawn, or are foul if it be reapplied.
Some cases when the push stroke is specially useful are shown in Diagram V. A is an example of the commonest and simplest type. Ball 1 pushed on the alignment shown will move ball 2 slightly to the left (thereby opening the losing hazard from baulk), and cannon full on ball 3, leaving a losing hazard in the middle pocket.
B. Ball 1 pushed gently through ball 2 on the alignment shown, will enter the pocket and leave a losing hazard from baulk.