jlrowe said:

4 inch pockets are just bad for everyone especially the sport. The player, the room owner, the viewers etc. When they are using 4 inch pockets for pro play of course you as a serious player says well thats what i need to practice on. Oh but, If i can run out on a 4" pocket i have perfect precision. what good is that for the sport. Reminds me of long range precision rifle shooting. The setup and equipment used is ridiculous. Basically, the shooter is setting up all the high tech equipment on the bench and pulling a trigger. I dont know about you but about as exciting as sitting watching cars go by. I would rather see someone like Jerry M or Bob Munden showing their skills and using an old west revolver hitting larger targets at lightning speed. If you want to make the game harder for pros there is a cheaper way. Just make the balls twice as light and require them to use standard equipment or even better required 4 plus oz maple with old palmer ferrules with the metal threads or ivory Rules no low deflection shafts.

Click to expand...

What exactly is the sport? From the looks of the hungry international one-uppers, 4" is the new buckets!

RichT said:

Just for context, in Asia even with high humidity, tables with pockets as large as 4.5 inches are pretty rare and then only kept for beginners and not in great playing condition as a result.

I’ve played seriously for five years now and most of my development has been on 4” pocket Brunswicks here in Japan. The competition tables are often 3.9”. My current private member club has three tables with 3.9” pockets and one table with 4.3” pockets. I don’t have problems running out from a safety battle or break and running out if my leave is good after a break. Also, I like to punch balls and play aggressively but if you have a good stroke smaller pockets are just not an issue. With Matchroom events it is clear that you can hit quite far up the rail and still make the ball. The break is the challenge not the pocket size.

There are caveats. If the tables are not flat, affected by the humidity and have high shelves where the ball does not roll into the pocket then you have issues. This can be quite common in Japan for reference.

I actually play mostly 14.1 and am currently playing on the table pictured which has 4.3” pockets but is in excellent condition. My best breaks this week are 65 and 59. I am yet to get 100 which is my goal. It is obvious to me that I would easily get over 100 if playing on a generously sized pockets table but I am enjoying the challenge!

Back to 9-ball is my observation that Asia and Europe have stronger players because they play on smaller pocket tables and have a better aim as a result. Nobody decent here would play on tables with 4.5” pockets.

Click to expand...

Pretty obvious wouldn't you say? Seems to be a popular fight with the anglers.

Just for context, in Asia even with high humidity, tables with pockets as large as 4.5 inches are pretty rare and then only kept for beginners and not in great playing condition as a result.

I’ve played seriously for five years now and most of my development has been on 4” pocket Brunswicks here in Japan. The competition tables are often 3.9”. My current private member club has three tables with 3.9” pockets and one table with 4.3” pockets. I don’t have problems running out from a safety battle or break and running out if my leave is good after a break. Also, I like to punch balls and play aggressively but if you have a good stroke smaller pockets are just not an issue. I also play faster than anyone I have seen here in Japan. In fact, slow play is the thing I most hate so I generally play faster players only.

With Matchroom events it is clear that you can hit quite far up the rail and still make the ball. The break is the challenge not the pocket size.

There are caveats. If the tables are not flat, affected by the humidity and have high shelves where the ball does not roll into the pocket then you have issues. This can be quite common in Japan for reference.

I actually play primarily 14.1 and am currently playing on the table pictured which has 4.3” pockets but is in excellent condition. My best breaks this week are 65 and 59. I am yet to get 100 which is my goal. It is obvious to me that I would easily get over 100 if playing on a generously sized pockets table but I am enjoying the challenge!

Back to 9-ball is my observation that Asia and Europe have stronger players because they play on smaller pocket tables and have a better aim as a result. Nobody decent here would play on tables with 4.5” pockets.

4 inch pockets are just bad for everyone especially the sport. The player, the room owner, the viewers etc. When they are using 4 inch pockets for pro play of course you as a serious player says well thats what i need to practice on. Oh but, If i can run out on a 4" pocket i have perfect precision. what good is that for the sport. Reminds me of long range precision rifle shooting. The setup and equipment used is ridiculous. Basically, the shooter is setting up all the high tech equipment on the bench and pulling a trigger. I dont know about you but about as exciting as sitting watching cars go by. I would rather see someone like Jerry M or Bob Munden showing their skills and using an old west revolver hitting larger targets at lightning speed. If you want to make the game harder for pros there is a cheaper way. Just make the balls twice as light and require them to use standard equipment or even better required 4 plus oz maple with old palmer ferrules with the metal threads or ivory Rules no low deflection shafts.