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"Angle and Cue Delivery - part 1"

As regards Fig. 15, this has been justly called the key-stroke of billiards. It is a great test of smooth and true cueing to make this long loser and bring the red into position off three cushions. Getting the red off the third cushion is the problem, and nothing but free cueing will solve it. As I have stated, you can make this stroke by placing your ball 7 1/2 inches from the centre spot of the baulk line in the direction of the pocket you are playing for. The stroke then becomes a plain half-ball, and can be made to perfection by striking your ball truly in its centre. Tom Newman plays the stroke in this way, but I fancy that Willie Smith spots his ball a shade nearer the centre of the baulk-line, and strikes it rather above its centre. My way of playing the stroke is by placing my ball as far back in baulk as I can, which enables me to gauge the angle better and gives a longer flight to the cue-ball before the red is hit. I place my ball 22 inches from the baulk cushion and 26 inches from the side cushion, thus bringing it to the spot marked by a cross in Fig. 15.