The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-06-01
Expert William Spinks Gives Some
Of His Ideas About the
Game.
Straight Fail, Cushion Caroms and
the Fourteen-I Inch Balk
Line.
Points Which May He Of Interest to 30
ginnsrs Az Well m Some Older
Hands,.

uApoApS JcbtcI uhys ANOhlby cVOLy A0A JOu
meet who really takes an interest in the
game has a few of these ideas peculiarly his
own, and no matter how unreasonable they
may be, Ms q rule no mount of explanation
will convince him that they nre wrong.
There are O few of these errors that may be
termed popular errors, inasmuch as they
arc all shared in by tho large majority of
amateur players everywhere. They origin
ated when the science of billiard playing
was in it's infancy and have been handed
down from one to another up to the present
day. We will take, for instance, the draw
shot. Now the draw is made simply
by striking the cue ball very low, and can
be made in no other way. Yet any number
Of people believe a ball cnn be drawn by
striking it just below the center. This Is
a great mistake. We often see a player who,
to all appearances, in making a draw,
strikes the ball about the center. This is,
however, simply a deception. He really
does aim at the center of the ball, but dur
ing the stroke the butt end of the cue is
raised by a motion of the wrist, causing the
point of the cue to be lowered, SO that after
all the ball is struck very low. This is
only one of many just such notions COM
mon among players.
''Schaefer's run of 5000 points is the
largest on record at straight three-ball bill
lizards. 1t was made in San Francisco just a
year ago against j. f. McCleery, at that
time champion Of. the Pacific coast. The
game was 1900 points, Schaefer to discount
McCleery. In the fourth inning Schaefer
got the balls on the rail and ran the game
out. McCleery had made but fifteen points.
This style of billiards has been practically
discarded some years ago by the worlds
grsat players, not for the reason, as a great
many suppose, that the game is too easy,
but because one player or the other is liable
to run the game out any inning. This
would make contests one sided and unin-
te,esting. The last straight rail contest
for the worlds championship was for 1000
points between Slosson and Schaefer at
Chicago in 1879. The players were quite
u toss up who would win. Schaefer won
the game in three innings, running out on
$50. Slosson made but forty-five points.
This proved that straight rail ives no
longer the game for such mon to
play, and led to the invention of the beau
All games among players of any note to-
day are fourteen-inch balk line. Schaefer
holds the championship of the world at this
style of game.
Cushion caron.s ia even more of a dead
card than straight rail. 1T bars out nearly
all the beauties and real science of the
game, such rs straight draws, masses,
and nearly all nursing and position playing.
Slosson won the worlds championship at
cushion caroms in the tournament at st.
Louis in 1885. but declined to accept it,
saving that he did not approve of the game.
He calls it the butchers game. The great
est run on record at cushion caroms is
seventy-seven, made by Sexton, and at
fourteen-inch balk line 230 points, made
by Sohaefer. The biggest average made
at straight rail is $50, by Schaefer, at balk
line 70. by Vignaux. and at cushion caroms
5M by Sexton. Schsefer is champion of
the world, and without doubt the greatest
player the world has ever seen at all styles
of billiards. Nevertheless he is not SO
much better than Slosson and Vignau1 but
that either of them are liable to beat
him ary time they play. Ives is a great
player for a young man and bids fair to be
champion of the world some day. He is
that ever lived, at that age.
MANY people who play billiards wonder
why they do not improve, why their game
of to-day is no better than it was months
or years ago. The fault is nearly
always in the stroke, which is the
first and most important factor at
the game. Most players when they
discover themselves at a standstill-that is,
when they find they have ceased to i'm
prove, Immediately conclude they have
reached their limit and that no amount of
teaching or practice will make them play
any better. This is a mistake. Billiards
can be taught just the same as anything
else that is a matter of knowledge. It's
true every man will not make a Schaefer,
but / will wager that I can take any anna
teur PLAYER who will apply himself and
improve his game a discount in thirty days.
l would suggest the following few pointers
to amateur players. Never try to initiate
another's style of play. You will surely
individuality. All great players lave a
different style of game. Never hesitate
and study after you have made up your
mind to play a certain way. The first i'm
preston of a shot is always the nearest
correct. For this reason nearly all good
players play rapidly. Let the cue go
Not one player in a thousand strikes the
cue ball solidly enough. This rule appears
particularly in making a draw. A great
many suppose that in making this shot the
cue should be drawn back quickly, az if
that would bring the ball with it. Keep
your eye IN that particular spot ON the OBJ
iect ball which you intend to hit. and hold
the bridge hand perfectly still until the
stroke is entirely delivered. Always endea-
vor to keep the cue as near horizonal as pos
Bible. A poor player always holds the butt
OF the cue too high. Always try to strike
just whore you aim.
Most all great players hold the cue
this rule ! can think of is Slosson. He
the cue firmly. Schaefer holds the
cue very lightly between the thumb and
torehnger. Since such great players differ
30 materially III this respect it makes it
that the only way to hold the cue