So wtf is wrong with a pocket when this happens?

CreeDo

CreeDo

Fargo Rating 597
Silver Member
Note the drawing doesn't show the whole story. I pound the ball down the rail, not at warp speed, just what I'd call 'very firm'. No special english, just center ball to get the CB off the rail.

The ball hits the back of the pocket, dead nuts perfect, doesn't hit a rail on the way in, and hops straight up in the air maybe 4 inches, bounces forward and back between the points a few times, then gets spat out and rolls roughly back towards me.

What specifically is wrong with a pocket that can cause this to happen? I've never seen this at any other pool hall except the dump where they hold my league, where it's happened a half dozen times.

90TSe.jpg
 
Facing issues, or poorly cut compound angle of the rail.

Also a pretty common issue when some 'shmo' deciedes to make a 'tight pocket' table.
 
I have seen this happen when the pocket irons are too low. The iron is supposed to deflect the ball downward but if it is too low it will pop it up and out.
 
Happens often, most that I have seen is on leather pockets. If you ever played in The Billiards Cafe in Ayer, balls do this at less than 50% speed at some tables. I've had it happen on a bank, hit the pocket dead center, ball popped out. If the place you are talking about is in Clinton, their pockets are not easy. They are a cut so they play tight, and the back leather is ripped, exposing the metal. Plus the tables are slow.
 
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RRfireblade said:
Facing issues, or poorly cut compound angle of the rail.

Also a pretty common issue when some 'shmo' deciedes to make a 'tight pocket' table.
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this is a huge issue at one of the local pool rooms i play at... and when you try to explain it to the owner he gets all "IN YOUR FACE" upset with ya...

if you look at several tables especially the older ones, that been refelted several times over the years, where the inside of the rails are and the rail deading goes on the face, look really close.. those agles are supposed to be perfectly straight into the pocket, when they are messed up, the will be concaved in or convexed out and this when you hit them, with any kind of speed or english it will change all that junk and make the ball do something that is not intended like keep it from going in..

lol.. you know there is a problem when the pockets are like buckets and you run the ball down the rail and it still stays out..lol

chris
 
The same thing used to happen at Shootz on table #14, except at Shootz on table #14 you could make this happen in the foot right corner pocket. I pointed it out to the manager and she said "thanks Johnny, I will take care of it" and she walked away. A bussboy came along about 5min later covered the table and the light was shut off. I had to look at this pocket being the curious person that I am and it looked to me like the leather pocket was not flush with the rail, you might want to repost this in the "Talk to the mechanic" and the "Room owner discussion", you would probably get the exact answer. Good post BTW.
 
CreeDo said:
Note the drawing doesn't show the whole story. I pound the ball down the rail, not at warp speed, just what I'd call 'very firm'. No special english, just center ball to get the CB off the rail.

The ball hits the back of the pocket, dead nuts perfect, doesn't hit a rail on the way in, and hops straight up in the air maybe 4 inches, bounces forward and back between the points a few times, then gets spat out and rolls roughly back towards me.

What specifically is wrong with a pocket that can cause this to happen? I've never seen this at any other pool hall except the dump where they hold my league, where it's happened a half dozen times.

90TSe.jpg
Click to expand...

Is this a new pool table diagram, it works again, is my question?
 
itsfroze said:
Is this a new pool table diagram, it works again, is my question?
Click to expand...

The table works at the cuetable.com site if you have a user account there. But the only way to get it on AZ is to make a screenshot and post it. So its not interactive like it used to be.

Regarding the pockets spitting balls out, I'm no mechanic, but there are probably many reasons this can happen. Without a mechanic seeing the table in question, I doubt anyone can give you the specific cause for your table's issue.
 
Yuppp, this happens on my Olhausen even on very slow straight shots down the rail. Very frustrating since I don't consider these fair rejections. It makes Brunswicks seem very easy by comparison.
 
I played a tournament many moons ago on Kangaroo tables (either from the Philippines or Korea, not sure where they're made) that had dimpled rubber lining the bucket pockets...I called them "trampo-pockets" cause anything that rolled hard enough to hit the back of the pocket came straight back at you. Hated them.:mad:
 
beetle said:
Yuppp, this happens on my Olhausen even on very slow straight shots down the rail. Very frustrating since I don't consider these fair rejections. It makes Brunswicks seem very easy by comparison.
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I have the exact same problem on my Olhausen, but in one corner only. You can hit one in perfectly straight, not hitting either rail and it will hit the back of the pocket and come straight out. The weird thing is, is that it happens mostly on soft to soft-medium power shots.

Also english does not seem to be much of a factor in this occurrence. I have noticed that in some cases when you use low english you run the risk of the ball popping back out (on any table) but thats not what is happening here. Maybe we should go over to the table mechanics with this issue, I bet they have a good answer for it.
 
Cree Do,

Several years ago while Classic Billiards in Rochester was still open, I stopped playing there because of the problem you mentioned. As anyone who knows me will attest, I practice as hard as I play. Really need to know when I hit the ball poorly. As the pockets on most of the GC III's available to me did as you describe, I never knew if I hit the ball incorrectly or the pocket spit the ball out.

Looking at the pockets from above, one of the things I noticed was the sides of the pockets were not symmetrical. One side was definitely off angle. To make matters worse, most of the sides were nearly vertical instead of undercut. When the two errors combined, well hit balls would actually jump out of the pockets. Hence my semi-retirement from the game till Camelot Billiards opened with four Diamonds.

Lyn
 
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