8' Harder Than a 7' Table?

Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
In the last few weeks I've played about a dozen hours on my friends 8' Brunswick with 4 ½" corner pockets. As most of you know my table is a 7' Valley with Tour Edition and Ridgeback rails. I don't find the 8-footer any harder to play on than mine. In fact I believe it's a bit easier than mine because you have more room to get around balls with less clusters. The extra foot long doesn't give me any problem at all. Is it just me or do others feel the 8-foot is not any harder to play on than a 7-foot?

Now when I jump from the 7 to a 9-foot I go from "A" to "C" in a heartbeat. Johnnyt
 
I can't believe you can stand shooting on a 7 ft.

A couple of my friends have them and I flat refuse to play on em'
 
Back in the day there were 5x10's. Jersey Red preferred it over the 4.5x9 when playing one pocket.
There were also 6x12 foot snooker tables. If I remember right, most of the shots were with a bridge.
It certainly does take some getting used to when moving from a 4.5x7 to a 9 footer, but you get used to it. Spending most of your time on the 9 foot table,however, does not make you better when playing on the 7. Go figure.
 
IME the 8 footers are the worst of both worlds..

you don't need the long range accuracy like on a 9 foot and you don't have the tight traffic and tiny position zones that make 7's so difficult..

I play on an 8 foot occasionally to me it plays the easiest of the 3 sizes
 
Tramp Steamer said:
Back in the day there were 5x10's. Jersey Red preferred it over the 4.5x9 when playing one pocket.
There were also 6x12 foot snooker tables. If I remember right, most of the shots were with a bridge.
It certainly does take some getting used to when moving from a 4.5x7 to a 9 footer, but you get used to it. Spending most of your time on the 9 foot table,however, does not make you better when playing on the 7. Go figure.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. Playing on a 9 all the time is the reason i won't touch a 7 anymore in practice.

What's your reasoning before I go further?
 
softshot said:
IME the 8 footers are the worst of both worlds..

you don't need the long range accuracy like on a 9 foot and you don't have the tight traffic and tiny position zones that make 7's so difficult..

I play on an 8 foot occasionally to me it plays the easiest of the 3 sizes
Click to expand...

I agree and I'm glad I didn't buy an 8' to replace my 7'. Now maybe an oversized 8' would be harder for the table length shots. Johnnyt
 
paksat said:
I beg to differ. Playing on a 9 all the time is the reason i won't touch a 7 anymore in practice.

What's your reasoning before I go further?
Click to expand...

You may need to re-read it. I play on the 9's myself. My point was that moving from a larger table to a smaller table will not make you a better player on the smaller table because of shorter shots, etc.
 
I think it depends on the game...

8 Ball on a 7 ft table is going to be very challenging indeed, as there is a lot of 'traffic' and little room to maneuver in. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that 9 Ball on a 7 ft table might actually be easier...not nearly as many balls involved, and shorter shooting distances.

I would think that 8 Ball is easiest on a 9 ft table, for the obvious reasons...more room. I think 9 Ball is most difficult on the 9 ft table.

I have an 8 ft table here at home, because in my neck o' the woods, almost every single bar box is an 8 footer...go figure.

Lisa
 
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softshot said:
IME the 8 footers are the worst of both worlds..

you don't need the long range accuracy like on a 9 foot and you don't have the tight traffic and tiny position zones that make 7's so difficult..

I play on an 8 foot occasionally to me it plays the easiest of the 3 sizes
Click to expand...



i agree 10000 percent 8' boxes are by far the easiest tables, mosconi ran the 527 or what ever it was on a 8' box.

soft shot 's post explaines the reasons why perfectly.
 
the reason people buy 8 footers is because they dont have the room for a nine footer...Usually.

takes a big room for a Nine footer...a whole bunch of people dont have a room like that in their house to dedicate to a pool table.

personally i think 8 footers are the perfect size...
but i like it when i get to play on a good 9 foote...specially 8 ball.
there is nothing special about 7 footers.... 9 ball is too easy and 8 ball a bunch of obsticals you have to negotiate/breakout mor e often.

the games are different on each table...
the cool thing about 8 is its the closest thing to a 7 footer and the closest thing to a 9 footer at the same time....so you can adjust to table size better.. when you do play a 7 or 9 footer.
 
If you have a straight stroke you will be able play on any table. Length usually plays with your mind when going from a 7 footer to a 9 footer. The games are different though, take 8 ball for example. On a 7 footer there are more clusters and not much area too move the rock around. 8 ball on a 9 footer is a runout game.
 
if 8 ball on a 9 footer is too easy for you...why not play 8 ball but try to pocket your stripesor solids in number order...with no foul for not hitting the lowest on the table,use your other balls to play safe if you have to, but you have to pocket them in number order

a foul(ball in hand) would be fail to hit rail and fail to hit your ball(stripe or solid)first, pocketing your ball out of order gets you a loss of turn and the pocketed ball gets spotted player shoots with cueball where it lies.....makes it waaaay tuffer...

you can just ad an extra row of 4 balls to the back of the rack (2 stripes 2 solids) makes it tuffer too
id like to see pros play this game instead of regular 8 ball
 
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softshot said:
IME the 8 footers are the worst of both worlds..

you don't need the long range accuracy like on a 9 foot and you don't have the tight traffic and tiny position zones that make 7's so difficult..

I play on an 8 foot occasionally to me it plays the easiest of the 3 sizes
Click to expand...

I would completely agree with that. I used to play in a 8 ball league many years ago that was all 8 foot tables. I had that second ball break down to a science on those things, something about the table size just set it up really nice for that break. I made 8, 8's on the break in 48 attempts..or something like that. It would anger a lot of people but it was still fun.
 
I would say an eight footer is easier. A 7 foot barbox definitely takes more cue ball control especially if it has very fast rails like I see at the cities in Charlotte.
 
Johnnyt said:
In the last few weeks I've played about a dozen hours on my friends 8' Brunswick with 4 ½" corner pockets. As most of you know my table is a 7' Valley with Tour Edition and Ridgeback rails. I don't find the 8-footer any harder to play on than mine. In fact I believe it's a bit easier than mine because you have more room to get around balls with less clusters. The extra foot long doesn't give me any problem at all. Is it just me or do others feel the 8-foot is not any harder to play on than a 7-foot?

Now when I jump from the 7 to a 9-foot I go from "A" to "C" in a heartbeat. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

that sounds about right. the difference in size isn't enough to make pocketing balls any harder and there're less clusters to break up because of the extra space.
 
RD3P said:
the reason people buy 8 footers is because they dont have the room for a nine footer...Usually.

takes a big room for a Nine footer...a whole bunch of people dont have a room like that in their house to dedicate to a pool table.

personally i think 8 footers are the perfect size...
but i like it when i get to play on a good 9 foote...specially 8 ball.
there is nothing special about 7 footers.... 9 ball is too easy and 8 ball a bunch of obsticals you have to negotiate/breakout mor e often.

the games are different on each table...
the cool thing about 8 is its the closest thing to a 7 footer and the closest thing to a 9 footer at the same time....so you can adjust to table size better.. when you do play a 7 or 9 footer.
Click to expand...

you hit the nail on the head, if you have a 7 foot table and go straight to a 9 that is a dramatic difference from a 8 however not much , and moving down is not as bad as coming down from a 9 to a seven.


8 ft table shimmed pockets to me is the perfect table to have at home if you play different tables sizes, in league and turnys
 
Glad to see this post as I was thinking about getting an 8ft diamond with pro cut pockets. I was going to sell my valley 7ft to accomodate the space. I was looking to have the different pockets that the Diamond has. There definetly is a big difference going from the 7 ft Barbox to the 9ft. Different games totally. I didn't realize that the 8 ft will be the easiest.
 
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Ridgeback Rails

Hey Johnny T, those ridgeback rails that you have, did you get custom ones that are alittle longer to make the pockets tighter, or the standard valley BB length ? I talked to the guy at ridgeback rails and he told me that I can get them any length that I would want. I was thinking about getting them 1/4 inch longer on each end. That would tighthen up each pocket a 1/2 inch.
What's your opinion ?
 
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