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"Raising the Butt and the "Jab" Shot"

I have not finished with this six shot position, although I do not wish you to score the six shot just now. Put the balls up as usual, raise the butt of your cue a little, and come down on your ball with a heavy, jab-like action, the direct opposite of the swing I have said so much about. Note the result; you will "stab" the red into the pocket, but your ball will scarcely move, it may even stop dead on the very spot previously occupied by the red ball. This is a very useful stroke in its way. In billiards it is used when you want to pot the red and leave your ball in or near the position of the colored ball; but it is in much more frequent request in snooker and other pool games. Just now, however, I want you to observe how raising the butt and jabbing at the ball deadens the run of the cue-ball, and I am particularly anxious that you shall understand that this effect is always present when the butt is raised and the cueing is stiff; and, mark this, it takes very little

of it to spoil any ordinary stroke. Over and over again do I have to caution my pupils against raising the cue-butt and handling it more or less as if it were a kitchen poker, so you must pardon me for insisting so strongly concerning it. Personally, I think it is merely silly for people to expect to have the balls put on the table and be taught to make all sorts of shots before they even know how to swing a cue properly. The thing cannot be done, take my word for it, and I have had some hundreds of pupils through my hands.