The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-29
.HENRY'S LECTURE ON
 BILLIARDS IS FINE
Champion Fancy Shot Civ
 ing Exhibitions Here
EXPLAINS THE GAME
Three Most Difficult Shots, the Draw, the Masse and the Follow, Ex-
 plained to Over Three Hun dred Absorbed Players
By JACK BETHEA.

l No man who loves the science of
 carom billiards, and there are thou
 sands in Birmingham, can afford to miss the daily lectures on this great l game being given by c. w. Henry at l the Greenwood Cave, at 2:30 o'clock in
 the afternoon and S;30 o'clock at night
 all the week. MT. Henry is the pre-
 mier exhibition player of the United
 States and one of the most renowned
 fancy shots in the world.
 1 Monday afternoon and night MT. Hen
 ry devoted his lecture and demonstra- l tion to pocket billiards, but yesterday y ! afternoon he gave a demonstration ot
 carom billiards that left veteran play I CTS who were looking on gasping with l amazement MT. Henry accompanied | his demonstrations with a pleasing
 monologue on the science of the game, which proved extremely enlightening to
 the amateurs seeking instruction. 1 MT. Henry opened with little in- struction on holding the cue. No good | billiard player, he said, choked his cue but held it lightly and firmly just where it was comfortable and short . ened or heightened his grip for various shots. To put running english on the ball he drew back his right hand until ! it was almost at the end of the stick. This he explained forced longer stroke and consequently the ball took more english and it was possible to get the speed without shooting hard Mir. Henry explained the two shots
 most dreaded by those who essay to learn carom billiards-the draw and the masse
 "The draw shot is the most import dc T Henry. Indeed it is the one shot that a player must be able to do well The great fallacy that I find among play CTS as to the draw shot is that it is necessary to get it away with a jerk
 There is no snap needed in a draw shot and it is a mistake to use it. The draw shot should be followed through with the cue and the better this is done the more accurate will be the draw. Nor is it necessary to shoot a draw hard. If the player will follow through in stead of shooting with jerk and try ing to get his cue tip away from the bail he will have much greater sue cess.
 "The masse is shot that is dreaded by amateurs and avoided whenever pos sible, but it is not a difficult one. The great mistake most players make is in hitting the cue ball too thin; conse- quently the english doesn't take and the ball merely rolls to one slde. m the masse the ball should be cued al- most in the center not too hard Tor the english will bring it around.
 There is a third mistake made by most beginners in billiards and that is on the follow shot. The tendency Is to strike the cue ball too high. one can get the same result by cueing the ball just little above the center.
 "A player should keep his eye on the cue ball. Do not watch the red ball or the object ball Keep your eye on the cue ball to see that you hit IL right. I use a 22-ounce cue and advise all billiard players to use heavy one, because ordinary billiard balls are larg- CT and heavier than for pocket bill liardS."
 Three-cushion billiards. MT. Henry said, had almost replaced the straight rail game in popularity, and Is now being played almost exclusively In the east. He showed a number of three cushion shots which were nothing short of marvellous. By the use of top eng fish he doubled a corner, stopped, went back and doubled 1t again and then struck the red Another remarkable feature of his exhibition was his time shots.
 MT Henry's work Monday on DOCK et-billiard table won him such note in local circles that over 300 players assembled yesterday afternoon to watch his demonstration of caroms and the number was increased last night MT. Henry has an extremely pleasing per sonality and instead of as is usual Wlth an expert does not reply to an lnquiry with an offer to explain the shot at so much per hour but answers all questions explicitly and freely. He will be at the Cave the remainder or the week.