Straight Rail & Baulkine Billiards

[Delaware Lar]

Any more Straight Rail & Baulkine Billiards players around?

I use to watch Ely Castleman play straight rail for hours at Bennie's in Baltimore. It was an art form into itself; nursing the balls, short massr', gather shots.

Straight rail got too esay for to top players. They mastered the game. So then they inventen Baulkline Billiards, where, every other shot, you had to make a shot where at least one ball has to cross a line drawn 18 in from each rail.

Any more of you out there, or is this form of billiards a lost art?

 

[sjm]

Any more Straight Rail & Baulkine Billiards players around?

I use to watch Ely Castleman play straight rail for hours at Bennie's in Baltimore. It was an art form into itself; nursing the balls, short massr', gather shots.

Straight rail got too esay for to top players. They mastered the game. So then they inventen Baulkline Billiards, where, every other shot, you had to make a shot where at least one ball has to cross a line drawn 18 in from each rail.

Any more of you out there, or is this form of billiards a lost art?

There is an entire forum devoted to billiards on AZB. You'll get far more responses there than in the main forum.

 

[bud green]

Actually, only about two or three people seem to post with any regularity in the billiards section.

Not too many straight rail players around here (Northern Cal) except latinos who play caroms or a game where you make 5 caroms and then have to make a three cushion shot.

Some older guys who play in the Bay Area or at Elks lodges seem to mess with straight rail. I've never seen anyone try balkline, much less seen a table with the markings on it.

A lot of billiard players seem to own Dalys' billiard book on playing straight rail or balkline but no one seems to really put in the work to master it.