3 Cushion!

A funny thing happened today. Not funny ha-ha, funny strange.
I was hitting some balls, experimenting with cuts, and I drifted into focusing on position, and then the position I was aiming at was another object ball, and all of a sudden I was playing 3 cushion billiards and it was fun, so I broke out a fresh measle cue ball, and a fresh red and a fresh yellow, just to make it look more like 3-cushion.

Then it hit me: this is the first time I ever actually shot 3-cushion billiards. And it surprised me that in the last five-plus years of pool, there has been no carom and no snooker, even though I have always wanted to shoot some carom.

I can't even think of where there might be a carom table in San Diego. There was one table at Family Billiards in Oceanside, but they just closed.

First thing I noticed is that carom billiards requires more brain power. It's a rare thing in pocket billiards that you have to hit 3 cushions for shape, but in carom it's every shot. And the more complex shots require more skill with a cue. I'm impressed, totally.

I did make two points in probably twenty tries, but those two points seemed to give more pleasure, more outright satisfaction, than if I ran 20 into pockets.

Other observations: the first object ball seems to come into play when least expected, such as double hits, or when playing on a pool table, falling into a pocket, and while on the subject of pockets, I found myself not being able to shoot a few shots because the pockets were in the way. Also, the larger balls used in carom would take more english and travel farther with a given stroke, so it seems that would contribute to a more pleasurable experience.

Someday, when I can afford a large house on the oceanfront, I will be sure to have room for a carom table, a snooker table, and a pool table.

And a ping pong table. Oh yeah!

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