Safety first is doubtless an excellent motto in many respects, but I query it in a billiard sense and I rarely advise it when giving any billiard instruction. Safety play at billiards is something of a paradox. It seems easy, and it is easy within strict limitations. But when it is taken beyond the fairly obvious, safety play is the most difficult and problematical part of billiard playing. Suppose, for example, you are confronted by the following position: the cue-ball is in hand, the white is so close to the verge of the middle pocket that it is impossible to play it without potting it, the red lies tight against the side cushion.
I cannot warn you too strongly against this common fault, and to help you to guard against it, I advise you to adopt this rule: when you are in doubt as to whether or not side should be used to help your ball into a pocket-do not use any-play plain-ball with all the accuracy and judgment you can put into the stroke.
If his stroke play is too weak for him to take a chance with the run-through, he can run a coup into a pocket, give you three points, and compel you to play at the badly-placed red under the rule limiting consecutive misses, which gives him the best of the argument, because you gave the first miss to leave your single-baulk.
Obviously, therefore, you stand to lose by potting the white and giving a miss in baulk, unless you can give your miss so cleverly that your ball is left exactly where you can play the run-through off the red. This is a very, very difficult thing to do, and when you have done it, you still have your run-through to make in reply to a coup.
It is much better to play them as far in the centre of the pocket opening as you can, which is an excellent rule to adopt when playing for any pocket, as it is slovenly billiards to trust to your ball “bumping in” after a perfectly needless contact with the jaws of the pocket. This failing proves terribly costly if a man becomes addicted to it on an easy table and is called upon to play an important game on a standard table. Then, with unfailing regularity, he will see his ball bumping out instead of in the pocket, which is invariably so demoralizing that he has no chance unless he happens to be pitted against another amateur who is in the same predicament. The best remedy, of course, is never to play except on a standard table.
To revert to our short jenny, place the cue-ball 3 inches inside the left spot of the baulk-line. Put the red 3 inches from the right side cushion and 25 inches from the baulk-line, and you have the stroke arranged to perfection. I want you to notice the angle, and thus familiarize your eye with the correct method of placing your ball for these most useful strokes. To play the shot, you hit the red half-ball with as much right-hand side on your ball as you can impart to it.
In any case, it is long odds that if you make the run-through you will be in a position to pot the white and leave a double baulk, which is scarcely feasible as the balls lie. You might do it if you potted the white with a lot of screw and right-hand side on your ball, and cannoned on the red off the top cushion. Then, if you were lucky enough to move the red to advantage, you would be able to leave a double baulk and get the best of the deal.
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