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Show I I BIG MATCH I NEXT WEEK Yamada-Slosson Contest Promises to Be Greatest Great-est Billiard Event Staged Bj Arthur n Seymour i "Slosson. he boat m Mornlnci.-r. j 1 beat bin Mornlnsstar. be beat n Slosson That you call heem a goat. J , ain't if" Koll Yamada. the wonderful Japan -! ese billiard player, the man whom many believe is the coming champion cham-pion of the world and the only man I to b?at Hoppe iu the last Interna- II tlonal tournament, was speaking He if, to meet G-unc- Slosson at the Los Angeles Athletic club Febm-J Febm-J ary 19 and 2 In an 800 point 18.? 3 balk line billiard match. The con- ,11 test promises to be the greatest bil liard match that was ever staged on the Pacific coast. The 6cene was San Francisco, where J I went to get a glimpse of the mar velous Jap In action I The peculiar triangle seemed 0 i ', please Yamada as much as the re- counting of bis experiences dellght- 1 ed his audience, and Yamada joined in the laugh that followed his naive ji recital. I regard Yamada as. the best drawls draw-ls Ing card in the billiard world today. When he began bis game In Frisco tkere was not even standing room In Wright's billiard palace. Yamada has been in the gamf leaf W J; than five years, and of this period ; pj only two years have been spent at j 11' the game which we recognize. Before that he played Japanese billiards on j a small table and with four ver i 'j large balls. 3 j Those who understands billiards de-nj de-nj j clare that while Yamada Is now n jjjj sensation he will in the next two: U jj years capture the championship lau- a j rels from Hoppe. Surely he can do M this If the next two years 6how jjj the improvement that the last two S years have witnessed 1 j Yamada Is a little mite of a chap. J Togged out in 6treet clothes he must I HI weigh in the neighborhood of 112 1 jjj pounds, but he is active and muscu-' m lar in the extreme. I "What weight cut do you nse?" I 4 asked him. B "Twenty ounces," responded the 2 it -tie brown man JjJ 4 "Geo," remarked a bystander; "that .cuo must feel like a telegraph pole in your hands." "NU," was Yamada 's comeback "Nit!" echoed another fan "DU! you get that? He uses our slang nl- most as well as he does our cues." Then Yumudn wnt Into action. The shot he had to make was one more I convenient for the left hand than the right, and his deft use of his left hand astonished the crowd. I have seen thr greatest players in the world. Napoleon Ives. Wizard Srhaefer, Carter, atton. Vlgnaux. M a r va . Hrautel. Cure. Sutton and Slosson. but this is the first tim I ever saw any one make a left handed masse in a regular game. Yamada's strong point Is his ma88 work. Old-tlmrrs rlaim that he is the surest at it that they have ever septi b action He explained to me that one of the reasons why he makes masse shots with his left hand Is because he is ambidextrous. You see, the Japanese are not .i l crude as we are In the bringing UD of our children They believe thai the left and rifcht hands should be of equal worth, and instead of walloping i their children as we do for using the I left hand instead of the right they encourage it. Yamada and Slosson will play at the Los Angeles Athletic club cn percentage, per-centage, that la, the winner will ro-eelv ro-eelv the largest part of the pure it is Yamadas own arrangement, for In apite of the 40 years of success r behind Slosson s cue. the Jap is sure j he will be the winner. |