Nursery Cannons

[Cyril]

Why doesn’t anyone play nursery cannons anymore. Is it because they are too difficult to master?

[itsnoteasy]

I think they are still played but the rule changes are such that you can't score heavily using just them.

[DeanH]

as INE says, because the old professional billiard players mastered them so well that they could play them ad nauseum they were nearly banned completely but I believe they are now so restricted to only an few continuous strikes so much so that now they are not played at all so to keep the scoring play active with allowed strokes.
I will ask my English Billiard playing buddy for his view

[DeanH]

reply from my billiards playing friend

Cannons are limited to 75 consecutive, nursery or open play.
They are not played much because they are extremely difficult to master.
Some player do - Goodwill, Russell, Hall, Sheehan, Gilchrist, Causier for example.

[Cyril]

Excellent — thanks Dean!

I looked it up in the rules and found the 75 consecutive cannons limit. Thus, 150 points is considerable enough to make it worth while but clearly it is the level of difficulty which makes them favour the traditional top of the table sequence.

[itsnoteasy]

Doesn't the cue ball have to go in and out of balk every so often now, I making scoring off Cannons really hard. I could be way off here, it's been a while since I played league billiards.

[akofb]

Doesn't the cue ball have to go in and out of balk every so often now, I making scoring off Cannons really hard. I could be way off here, it's been a while since I played league billiards.

I'd not heard of that rule, it's an interesting one. We certainly don't play that rule in our league.

[DeanH]

reply from my billiards friend:

At high level tournaments a player's cue ball must go into and out of baulk every 100 points during a break (break not score).
At 80 the ref gives a warning.
If the break does not continue after 80 points, the baulk line crossing is not necessary, a new break is started.

[DeanH]

I'd not heard of that rule, it's an interesting one. We certainly don't play that rule in our league.

I feel that English Pocket Billiards is probably the game that has the largest gap between what is and not allowed at the grass-roots to the top of the game.


Note: Rule Section 3.8 Baulk-line Crossing.

[itsnoteasy]

I'd not heard of that rule, it's an interesting one. We certainly don't play that rule in our league.

Sorry I didn't explain that correctly, we didn't play that rule either but It came in iirc a few years ago when I was playing league billiards.

[DeanH]

Sorry I didn't explain that correctly, we didn't play that rule either but It came in iirc a few years ago when I was playing league billiards.

FYI - I have a mention in a magazine of the "proposed baulk-line crossing" in 1932

[vmax]

reply from my billiards friend:

At high level tournaments a player's cue ball must go into and out of baulk every 100 points during a break (break not score).
At 80 the ref gives a warning.
If the break does not continue after 80 points, the baulk line crossing is not necessary, a new break is started.

Not all, it wasnt applied in this tournament where Mike Russell made this break. Two hours but stay with it as it certainly isn't as easy as Russell makes it look, superb exhibition of cue ball control and at high speed as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CDeoGIHj_4

[Cue crafty]

Good bedtime viewing that... 💤😴

[DeanH]

Not all, it wasnt applied in this tournament where Mike Russell made this break. Two hours but stay with it as it certainly isn't as easy as Russell makes it look, superb exhibition of cue ball control and at high speed as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CDeoGIHj_4

True not all, as mentioned in previous post, English Billiards seems to apply what rules it wants for different events, even today

[itsnoteasy]

I suppose it's billiards way of having different type of tournaments, I in an attempt to get a bigger audience. It seems to be the way now, cricket has umpteen different versions of the same game, golf as well, even snooker has the shootout and six reds, both with different rules to the standard game.