Omaha daily bee., 1910-02-20
HOPPE THE BEST OF ALL
In Absence of Other Cracks He Stands
at Head of the List.
WILL PLAY HERE SATURDAY
StIII Has Great Possibilities of Ad-
vancement, as He Takes Good
Care of Himself at All
Times.

NEW YORK, Feb. 1g.-With Jake Schae-
fer out of competition, George Sutton in
poor health and George Slosson unable to
show his best billiards in match or tourna-
ment play, Willie Hoppe stands today as
the most finished and capable balkline per-
former In the world. This is the day of
the young player, and although Hoppe may
not be the marvel that Frank Ives was,
still he is the best of the lot. Now and
then he may play a bad game, but his
average Of nearly 30 in 1900 points against
Morningstar puts him in a class above the
others as a match game player.
The new crop Of experts will make things
interesting for years to come. Hoppe,
Morningstar, Cline, Cutler, Sutton, De-
marest and Slosson are the best American
players today, and of these Demarest and
Cutler should improve. Blliardists are de-
ploring the lack of boy wonders" There
is no clever boy like Hoppe being trained
to the balkline, but 1t is possible that there
is budding talent yet uncovered.
Maurice Daily. for instance, believes that
Thomas Hueston is destined to become one
Of the worlds best balkline players II he
applies himself to the game and takes care
of himself. DAILY had never seen Hueston
play until the latter met Jerome Keogh for
the pool title. DAILY refereed the last sec
tion of this match, and he says tina Hues-
ton has a wonderful stroke, peculiarly
adapted to accurate counting at balkline,
II it is developed.
THE boy has great possibilities" says
DAILY, a he may be another Ives. Who
knows? Hoppe is a great player, but to my
way of thinking Ives was the creates
ever"
Coming from DAILY this should encourage
Hueston, who is just old enough now To
settle down to hard practice, He can put
all sorts of twists on a cue ball, and I'M
less his habit Of becoming careless is a
defect that cannot be overcome, he should
in time perfect himself at the delicate nurs-
ing and driving game.
Hueston is one Of the cleverest three
cushion players In the world. He has held
the championship once and is going after
It again next month when he plays Fred
Eames, the man VINO defeated De ORC. a
majority Of experts now believe that 1t is
impossible for one player to excel at both
three cushions and pool. All pool players
are good three-cushioners as a rule, but Il
seems impossible for one man to play both
games at once without losing some Of his
skill at one or the other.
Those who nave seen Hueston al his best
In pool contests can scarcely understand
how he could miss SO many comparatively
easy shots In his match with Keogh. The
wise boys attribute this defect 20 his three.
cushion practice. Alfred De ORC was a
great pool player and is yet, but he found
Il impossible TO retain both the pool and
tLree-cushion titles. He beat Hueston al
the angle game and the latter trimmed him
at pool.
Hueston's ambition Is to own both titles
at once and after that he probably will
drop pool and stick to billiards. lie has
never practiced much At b~alkline. but has
played the game enough 70 demonstrate
that he can be an expert at Il. Jake