THE

STRAND

MAGAZINE

An Illustrated Monthly

Vol. XLIII.

JANUARY TO JUNE

Xon&on :

GEORGE NEWNES, LTD., 3—13, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, AND EXETER

STREET, STRAND

1912
George

Grays

Trick

Strokes.

George Gray, whose marvellous breaks have created

so much sensation in the world of billiards, has been

in the habit, after his match play, of giving an ex'

hibition of extraordinary trick strokes, which spectators

have found to be as interesting and as wonderful as

is his game itself. Those who have not seen these

trick strokes and those who, having seen them, wish to

study them will find the tricks fully described and

illustrated in the following article.

N an ordinary billiard-table

it requires considerable cue-

power to make a ball

strike all

six cushions.

Gray not

only does this,

but scores the

cannon shown

in our dia

gram. It will

be noted that

the stroke is

completed

after the cue-

ball has struck

the sixth

cushion. This

means that

the ball must

be hit with

wonderful

power and

I.—A cannon off six cushions.

GEORGE GRAY.

From a Photoffi-apti by " Siwrt <t GeneraL*

accuracy, and many who have quite a

reputation' as billiard sloggers will find this

stroke beyond their very hardest smite.

... Our second

2.—A six-cushion cannon. More difficult

diagram shows

another bril

liant spectacu

lar effort by

Gray. Here,

again, all six

cushions are

utilized, but

the cannon is

slightly more

orthodox be

cause of the

direct contact

with the first

object- ball.

This is another

stroke which

will test the

prowess of the

muscular expo

nent of the

game.
GEORGE GRAY'S TRICK STROKES.

still is the cannon shown below (3). Gray

sends the cue - ball speeding twice round

the table to make the score, and it will be

noted that no fewer than seven cushions

are called into

play before the

stroke is

completed.

This stroke is

far beyond

even the acci

dental efforts

of the average

player.

A pretty and

effective trick

stroke is the

next (4) to de

mand atten

tion. Acannon,

gathering the

balls together,

is ac com-

plishcd, and

the run of the

object-ball is

3.-Twice round the table for a shown ,bv. a

cannon. dotted line,

while a con

tinuous line indicates the course taken by

the cue - ball. An amateur who can put

plenty of screw

and side on a

ball can amuse

himself by

having a shot

at this stroke.

He will doubt

less make the

cannon fairly

often with a

little practice.

His trouble

will commence

when he tries

to leave the

balls together

as Gray does

every time.

Although

the secret of

George Gray's

marvellous

manipulation

of the red ball

in his big

4.—A positional screw cannon.

breaks is undoubtedly plain-ball striking such

as we have never seen before, yet it must not

be hastily inferred that the young Australian

Vol. iliiu-8.

cannot make what are called the " tall"

strokes. As a matter of fact, his collection

of masst and allied strokes is one of the finest

ever brought before the public by a cueist born

in the British Empire, and compares favour

ably with the display of American and Conti

nental exponents of this branch of billiards.

The accompanying diagrams depict a

THE STKAXD MAGAZINE.

10.—An exquisite masse losing

hazard.

object-ball is

right on the

middle pocket

jaw, the cue-

ball close be

hind, and the

only possible

chance of the

losing hazard

is the exquisite

masst shown in

the illustra

tion. It is so

exasperatingto

judge exactly

what to do with this stroke, even by those

who have a fair control of the massi, as the

requisite contact with the far side of the

object must be

judged with

the utmost

nicctyorfailure

is certain. To

sho\v the curl

of the cue-ball

and its contact

q u i te clearly

the object-ball

has been drawn

a shade farther

from the centre

of the pocket

than in the

11.—A sensational six-stroke.

actual stroke.

Coming to what may be called the broader

class of exhibition stroke, the type which never

12.-A "

moving cannon.

fails to raise a

smile, it must

be admitted

that George

Gray holds his

own here. The

novel s i x-

stroke shown

in our eleventh

diagram is

marvellously

clever, even if

not quite in

accordance

with the rules.

Apparently

Gray intends

to make a six-

shot by potting

the red in the

top pocket and

screwing back

into the middle

pocket. Hesends the red

down with awhiz and a

bang, but be

fore the whitehas time toreach its desti-

nation hecatches it withthe point of his