Here’s some footage of Frank Taberski performing a number of trick shots, including “Chinese Pool,” which was a popular variation of the game during the early 20th Century. Mike Shamos, in his excellent New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards, described Chinese Pool as a game “in which the cue ball is not stroked but is instead rolled down the groove formed by two cue sticks held parallel to one another.”
The origin of the game’s rather un-PC name remains unclear. Shamos notes that Americans at the turn of the century commonly applied the adjective “Chinese” to anything done in an unusual fashion. He also speculates that it “may relate to the chopstick-like appearance of two cues held together.”
Taberski (the nation’s dominant player shortly before the reign of Ralph Greenleaf) could easily run a rack or more playing this odd variety of the game.
Your article about Frank Taberski was so interesting. What a shooter for the Chinese Pool game, the video was great. My Grandfather Stanislaw Kosinski was a good friend of Frank’s when they both lived in Schenectady, NY.
Stanislaw and Frank own United States Patent for the Cue-Tip, patented August 10, 1920.
Frank died in 1941 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975.
So cool. Thanks for sharing.