The Washington herald., 1915-01-17
How to Play Billiards, the Great Indoor Game;
: Lessons Cleaned from Work Of Worlds cra
Beginner Is First Told How
Game Is Played, Then In
structed How to Play 1t.
By J. CLINTON RANSOM.


Champion Billiard Players League; we
have seen the veterans, Frank Sherman
and Alfredo De ORC, pitted against one
another in pocket billiards, and seNcra
tournaments in balk-line and pocket bil'
lizards are in progress or are TO be staged
before summer. 1t seems fit, therefore
with this growing interest in billiards to
record a few observations about the
''gentlemans game"
First, billiards, whether straight-rall,
balk-line three-CushiOns, or pocket bill
lizards, is one of the finest Of indoor
games, and ought to be cultivated much
more generally than it is. The game is
not only most interesting sport, but il
is one Of great possibilities in TIE way
Of skill, accuracy, and scientific eXecu-
ton. I would not concede greater skill
or science to the golf. tennis, or baseball
player than to the billiard player who
really masters the game or acquires such
mastery as to play respectfully well. And
strange enough, when IT came TO organ
izing the champion billiard players Of
America into a league to play in the
various cities, only nine men could be
found in balk-line to join it Three
cushion billiards might marshal a greater
number, as pocket billiard undoubtedly
would but at best the number Of men who
are accounted masters in billiards is ri
diculously small considering the univer-
salty and excellence of the game
How the Game Is Played.
Billiards is now played on a nat
table 10 by S feet, covered with green
cloth. the rails of the table being Of
rubber to furnish the necessary elac-
ticity for the balls. Three ivory balls
are used in the game. each 275 inches
in diameter, and, according to the
quality of the ivory, weighing about
71-2 ounces. The balls are propelled
by cues made of wood with leather tips,
the weight of the cue varying from l5
to % ounces, according to the predelec-
ton of the player. In pocket billiards
fifteen object balls and one cue ball is
used. The pocket billiard table is 5 by
10 feet and has pockets at each corner
and midway of the side rails. into which
the balls are propelled. The billiard
equipment, as usually installed, costs
for the table $3.50. the balls s22.50 each,
and the cues s. each, one of the most
valuable equipments of any game
played in this country.
Now, / take it. that the average bill /
lizard player. in the beginning, ap- |
preached the game in a wholly wrong |
attitude. The champions of all forms |
of the game. who have been here this |
season, have demonstrated by their play
that it is first OF all a gentle game.
There is no slam banging by them
either in billiards or pocket billiards.
True. they sometimes shoot with force,
and sometimes send the balls round and
round the table. but this is never done
except for a definite purpose. to make
a difficult play or get out OF a tight
place. Nine shots out of ten by these
masters OF the cue are gentle strokes
made with infinite skill and care.
But the average young player seems
10 think that the costly equipment of
the billiard table is made for about the
same purpose as the machine guns we
read so much about in the European
war. namely. to be used rough and to
be beaten about with sledge hammer
stroke and terrific speed
Go Easy with Your shots.
This attitude toward the game is wholly
wrong, in the young player as well as
the old. Nothing is more common than ,
I" See in billiard parlor several loud
voiced Young men slamming the balls
into o-kcts or !ashinE them about the | :
liable as though ivory were steel and :
rubber armor plate. Let it be said that /,
the usual way Of playing billiards, espe- !
claIiN among young players is wholly the :
wrong way, and that no excellence can
b" achieved in the game until the player
has divested himself entirely of the slain
lang methods. The strong cue and the 7
last stroke never got a man ANYTHING ,
In billiards, and never will, as the Cx-
D"rience and example OF all the expert ,
layers fully proves Then, why tolerate \
.ad play or try to perpetuate it? Bill h
iards Is not a game of hard shots or 1
long shots, and the sooner the player q
gets that INTO his mind and begins 10 il
'uIuVai" the gentle stroke the better for 4
his game. lie will never learn 10 play q
well, and never cease to be a loser until I,
ne quits his oVeroncrEetic practices. Com G.
pare II YOU will. the gentle moderate y
playing OF The expert and the noisy slam q
nlnS OF tho fool amateur. and then get
ioWn TO serious practice to master the A
nicer points of the finest and most manly n
yame ever invented for the recreation and A
lelectation OF man q
A few words as 10 tho conD,r.,;,., =
merits of the different forms of the psr,,e a.
'ocket billiards, as played by the experts. "
'eEins with the fifteen balls in close fri a
nguIar form at the upper end Of the 81
able, with the base Of the triangle eight
en- inches from the upper rail. The cue b,
all is placed at the lower end of the h.
able and the first stroke is. termed the m
reak, and is usually a safety shot k
After the first rack. the balls arc PLAYED $,
n TO one ball which remains on the m
able, OF which the player breaks in the pi
ext rack, making the game continuous. ! c
n this game the balls are pocketed by s,
irect shot. b. banking. by kissing one al
all against another, or by any means HI
he player can devise to accomplish tbe m
nd sought. Pocket billiards has numer- in
us variations, such as continuous pooI hi
hooting the ball off in order from one al
D fifteen. pin pool bottle pool. and ntber 70
lell-known forms of the game.
Pocket billiards Popular. en-
Pocket billiards is on the who'll. AMI :.
asier game than billiards, and appeaIs =
D young men for that reason. In tbe ~
ahds Of experts il Is a remarlsabIe 70 70
anne, giving room for the highest de- 81.
rec OF skill and scientific accuracy OF 10 ~
troke. To play the game well, poeketing tI
he object ball and gaining position for gu
following shot requires the greatest
and attention Noisy bows ap
-ith their minds full Of other things thar at
be gams and shooting swift, never did an
nd never will develop high-class play. a'
{ the game Is a social diversion ana Gu
OF one or skill there may be some reason ed
,T the conduct seen in the average bill Sc.
ard room but il is explicsble on no
her basis. an
Billiards consists In earoning one ball NJ
sainst the other and counting when both 10
re hit, The game develops the simple Re
arom shot. The draw shot. the cushion ar
rot. the follow and combinations OF one tn
! more OF the fundamental strokes de
lrRigh rail billiards allows the balls 10 Th
played in any position and r.fvea III