Pockets we play pool on

ctran

ctran

You watch me.
Silver Member
I took this comparison of pocket size. on the left is the pockets for World 9ball Championship 2014, on the right is pockets we play 8ball, 9ball, 10ball, 14.1 in Vietnam.

We have tables for local games (pool with cards) on which pockets are even more unforgiving.

just sharing :)
 

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My local pool hall is like this. Why they have dozens of 9-foot Gold Crowns with shimmed pockets that rattle out balls while tournament pros play on tables with larger pockets and slick cloth that encourages rattling balls to go in I will never understand.
 
skip100 said:
My local pool hall is like this. Why they have dozens of 9-foot Gold Crowns with shimmed pockets that rattle out balls while tournament pros play on tables with larger pockets and slick cloth that encourages rattling balls to go in I will never understand.
Click to expand...

I cant understand too.

PI and TW players came here to play and they said tough tables actually limit VN players' chance of doing better in international tournaments.

Cloth aside, needs to be new, but I believe pro players should play on tough tables with narrow pockets and deep shelves.
 
If the pic on the left is really from WPA 9b championship, then its not really 4.5" pockets. Maybe more like 4 5/8 or 4 3/4.

I have a new diamond with pro-cut pockets. There are no gaps when measuring with the balls at the throat. So certainly 4.5", no larger.
 
Your right!

Scott Lee said:
The side pockets have no angle. They should never be square like in your pictures.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
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This whole thing about pocket size is over thought, way over blown. If the game was only about straight shooting, nobody would beat Earl, Shaw, Busty, Morris, these guys can make any shot on any table with ease.

As the Great Buddy Hall says the game should come down to who plays the best, not who shoots the straightest.
 
The Tighter....The Better....As Far As I'm Concerned.

This week I'll prepare a thread on Blue Fin Billiards in Fresno, CA.
The reason why Blue Fin has soared to the forefront of pool halls in the Central Valley is because it's owned by great people.
Tommy & Samantha Hill purchased the pool hall last July when it was named the Break Room and before that, it was Diamond.

Tommy is a professional pool player & knows what a successful pool room entails. Samantha is the rudder on the ship that
keeps it headed in the right direction. She's also very active in their business & with all candor, they do have a real partnership.

They've completely remodeled the pool hall and leveled & recovered all the tables in Simonis Tournament Blue, except for two solitary tables.
When I post the article on Blue Fin later this week, you'll understand why. Cudos to Tommy & Samantha for being such terrific owners
In fact, I hope to see more pool halls do this. Stay tuned for more details about Blue Fin Billiards which I promise you'll find intriguing.


Anyway back to the topic of pockets. Tommy knows that better players like to shoot pool on tables with tight pockets. It discourages weaker players whom
tend to struggle and so all the cash games get played on the tables with the tighter pockets. Not as tight as OP's photo of tight pockets but sure good enuf
for my preferences. It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words so here goes. Blue Fin also has a 10" Brunswick Snooker Table & those pockets
are just ridiculously small and curved but it's a fantastic table for playing Golf and of course, Snooker.



Matt B
 

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Matt...Please don't forget to mention that Tommy Hill is also an excellent PBIA/SPF instructor! That's a skill that few professional players, and even fewer room owners possess! :thumbup:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
 
gxman said:
If the pic on the left is really from WPA 9b championship, then its not really 4.5" pockets. Maybe more like 4 5/8 or 4 3/4.

I have a new diamond with pro-cut pockets. There are no gaps when measuring with the balls at the throat. So certainly 4.5", no larger.
Click to expand...

Yes, that was the pockets for WPC 2014, I believe Doha still setting up tables like this for the WPC.

wide pocket, but the shelf is deep though.

Scott Lee said:
The side pockets have no angle. They should never be square like in your pictures.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

I kind of 50/50 on this, we have a local game that reward players for every ball they pocket to the side, most of us grew up playing pool like that and if the pocket is open, then it would be easy.

The PI and TW players they share the same idea that side pockets need to be open with a bit more angle.

King T said:
This whole thing about pocket size is over thought, way over blown. If the game was only about straight shooting, nobody would beat Earl, Shaw, Busty, Morris, these guys can make any shot on any table with ease.

As the Great Buddy Hall says the game should come down to who plays the best, not who shoots the straightest.
Click to expand...

Well, it's true tables affect both players the same. however, even the best need to compromise accuracy and positioning some time, that's the margin.

Black-Balled said:
I wish all side pockets were cut like that, but about 3.8" tighter.

I bet they play a lotta mid- table balls in the corners.
Click to expand...

true, there are circumstances where you can either roll the ball softly to the side or go full cylinder to the corner, most pick the corner pocket.
 
Bavafongoul said:
This week I'll prepare a thread on Blue Fin Billiards in Fresno, CA.
The reason why Blue Fin has soared to the forefront of pool halls in the Central Valley is because it's owned by great people.
Tommy & Samantha Hill purchased the pool hall last July when it was named the Break Room and before that, it was Diamond.

Tommy is a professional pool player & knows what a successful pool room entails. Samantha is the rudder on the ship that
keeps it headed in the right direction. She's also very active in their business & with all candor, they do have a real partnership.

They've completely remodeled the pool hall and leveled & recovered all the tables in Simonis Tournament Blue, except for two solitary tables.
When I post the article on Blue Fin later this week, you'll understand why. Cudos to Tommy & Samantha for being such terrific owners
In fact, I hope to see more pool halls do this. Stay tuned for more details about Blue Fin Billiards which I promise you'll find intriguing.


Anyway back to the topic of pockets. Tommy knows that better players like to shoot pool on tables with tight pockets. It discourages weaker players whom
tend to struggle and so all the cash games get played on the tables with the tighter pockets. Not as tight as OP's photo of tight pockets but sure good enuf
for my preferences. It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words so here goes. The first two photos are 9' table pockets most Blue Fin patrons use
whereas the next 3 pics are pockets of the tables that I prefer. If I feel like beating myself up practicing, I'll even use Pro Pocket Reducers to reduce the darn
pockets. Blue Fin also has a 10" Brunswick Snooker Table and those pockets are just ridiculously small and curved and it's a fantastic table for playing Golf.



Matt B
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing, Matt.

I do believe the same, when more and more players can shoot, there must be a line to separate a better player and lesser ones, even in the shortest races of sets, those who can work with tighter pockets and still maintain good positioning must be better than those who give up all positioning just to make a shot.

We all play pool to push ourselves to higher limit of the game.
 
Ctran ....you are very welcome and we sip from the same cup about pocket size.

Scott, thank you for covering my "faux pas" about Tommy's teaching credentials.
That was something I'm intending to mention in my pending thread about Blue Fin.

Tommy & Samantha have done so much more to the premises since you held your
pool school there last summer which was right after they had acquired the business.

The walls are covered with pool nostalgia......original posters and photos from the 60's,
70's, 80's & 90's. The place looks like a pool room and new furniture, all the tables are
newly covered and rails refurbished, LED lighting, and a expanding kitchen menu. Keep
in mind that Tommy is also a Chef as well. He's managed the downtown Hilton Hotel
kitchen, owned several restaurants and also has a general contractor's license which is
active since he also operates Blue Fin Pools which installs swimming pools. He's a great
table mechanic and is in demand since he works on Brunswick tables that are over 100
yrs old. He's in demand for installing and recovering tables and I forgot, he's also a darn
good cue-maker as well. He's made several cues and also has a repair shop at Blue Fin
which reminds me I need to get him to replace a tip on one of my cues. So Tommy Hill is
a person with a very diverse background.......Oh yeah, did I mention he was also a pitcher
for the Boston Red Sox in his early career up until he ruined his arm in AAA baseball.

Tommy is a very unique man. I'm pleased & fortunate that he's one of my closest friends.


Matt B.
 
Hi Matt,

It is always glad to learn about pool rooms running by great pool people.

Sad story about Vietnamese pool scene, there are a great number of pool rooms, but just a handful run by pool people, most by investors who dont know the game and the players, who just look at profit and loss and fail to understand that if they make a great pool room, profit will follow stably.

We hardly see a pool room here running for decades or more, that's short-termism, despite a sizable and still growing market.

Just last year, 2 pool rooms opened by former professionals and they are going strong in the right direction.

Tables aside, it's the atmosphere and activities they host that are important.
 
when pool tables had big pockets and shorter shelves pool grew and flourished. it was fun to play and even people learning got to make balls and enjoy the game.

now pockets are much tighter, even the loose ones in pool rooms. and fewer young players are devoting time and moving up. sure othjer things distract them from pool. but we have very little up and comers in the pool rooms which are going slowly broke.
 
The center of the pocket is always the same size . Whittling down pocket size is a personal preference. As I just said, the center is always the same so all that it affects is how much you can cheat the pocket. Once it goes below 4 1/4" it becomes kind of stupid as it just makes playing position in rotation games a pain. To each his own. YMMV.
 
skip100 said:
My local pool hall is like this. Why they have dozens of 9-foot Gold Crowns with shimmed pockets that rattle out balls while tournament pros play on tables with larger pockets and slick cloth that encourages rattling balls to go in I will never understand.
Click to expand...
Same. The Mosconi Cup table the last 3 years (Diamond, Diamond, Rasson) has been a complete joke for taking in bad shots. Balls bouncing way up at the 2nd diamond (and higher for one of Mark Gray's shots) and still dropping in the corner.
 
Are those pockets from a standard pool hall? Setup that way in all the tables?

Side pockets are weird for normal use, no way you can make a ball in them unless you are straight in.

If pool halls had pockets that like, you would see 1 hour 8 ball games among normal players.
 
hang-the-9 said:
Are those pockets from a standard pool hall? Setup that way in all the tables?

Side pockets are weird for normal use, no way you can make a ball in them unless you are straight in.

If pool halls had pockets that like, you would see 1 hour 8 ball games among normal players.
Click to expand...

yes that is the standard, pockets are cut like that, and we normally avoid the side pockets and play position for corner pockets more, but the way I see it, matches on youtube, players do not noticeably play for more to the side.

It would look like some tables at Hard Times Billiards.

game speed is actually much faster than that :D

but yes, some hang the 9 more than others :p
 
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