Conversely, they had a 10-footer at the 7-11 in NYC…they called it the rebel trap.
Why 9' ft. Tables ? Guy...
- Thread starter Guy Manges
- Start date
Years ago, I went with a buddy to a bar in Winter Park CO to buy an 8 foot valley. The bar was sold to a developer and was being torn down. The owner had 2 or 3 6ft tables. He offered to sell one or all them cheap. I passed. Regret it now. At the time I had never heard of them. He referred to them as NYC bar tables. My buddy could have got one of those cheap rather than the 8. It would have been a helluva lot easier getting it down into his basement!
Anthony Beeler has a very good video that explains this in his online billiards academy (which I recommend. )
A lot of times this is a stroke issue. On a 9, your stroke must be longer, level and consistent. The result is more "elbow drop" for players who are used to shorter tables. Particularly going from a 7 to a 9. The solid stroke on a 9 translates down very well, but the solid stroke developed on a 7 can be much shorter with poorer mechanics and doesn't translate upward.
Given a choice:: sure bigger tables for faster more wide open games.They are fun for sure. But given a choice to play full time on, I’d choose a big table. But for a change of scenery smaller tables are fun and present different challenges.
But if you practice rather often on a smaller table, it develops certain parts of your game that then you can bring to the bigger tables to get you out of trouble. Those parts are breaking clusters, and precise CB control.
middleofnowhere
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Thats funny, in the south we called our bar tables with the big ball Yankee traps. Florida humidly, the big dirty cue ball you could not draw more then a few inches. We never cleaned the tables. Half the time the light was off to the side and you might hit a wall or two. The worse it was the better players like Ronnie Sypher, Ed Giger or Gene the machine liked it. Just ask Billy Incardona about playing Ronnie on Miami Beach. Oh, I left out the jukebox up so loud you could feel the music on the pool table. Then the door would open and that Florida humid air would hit the air conditioned air. The table would actually be wet.
middleofnowhere
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The geometry of the small tables can also be a problem. You have constant, often hard cuts. You have to go back and forth with the cue ball trying to get it to where you want it. Small table game can be quite different.
I steered Gene Cooper around Tulsa back in the early 80's. Guy could play. Only got beat bad once and that was by Shuput's running buddy Mike Hyland.
Gene the Machine' Cooper....?
middleofnowhere
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Yup.
Mine is
While the law may no longer be in effect, it WAS law for a good many years. I know a former pool room owner who owned a bar and kept up with the rules and regulations. I have personally never been in ANY bar in NYS that had a pool table that was not a 3 x 6. This changed, I think, somewhere in the very late 1990s. I have not been in a NYS bar since I moved to South Carolina in the fall of 1997. Edit: The same man told us that it was law that no wood cues were supposed to be used in bars, only fiberglass or aluminum. Edit 2: The owner of The Pocket Billiard Lounge in Binghamton, NY told me that for a long, long time pool rooms in NYS had to close at midnight.
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golly , i guess your head would explode if you knew they had 10 and 12ft tables out there
its wide freakn open cracks me up when people say bigger table makes you more accurate
I saw a 3C table once in my doctors house in the Netherlands that was 1.5M or about 5’x2.5’ with normal size balls, proper cloth and cushions, slate was thick-I didn’t check it but it was a real table. Not a POS miniature home table. It was also very old and well used. I’d never seen one before. It had lots of books on it and hadn’t been used in years. At one time it was well used.
This was about 12 years ago. I couldn’t get pics of the table, balls or chalk(well worn). I didn’t see any cues laying around. Was a proper table/
I’d guess it would be much easier than a typical 10’ 3C table.
Never seen one since. Sadly he passed away in 2017.
You ever see one of those?
I haven’t since. Was less than 6’ or 2 meters in length.
Best
Fatboy
seen some in videos on youtube, used by juniors and the best of the best
its been said over there you must prove your proficiency on the smaller ones before you can compete on larger ones
I remember this character well.
We first met at Scott Smiths home in Colorado Springs, I think early 80's or Very late 70's. I tried his mix once, but hey he's hanging with
Scott the Shot.
I have never visited a bar in Bklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island or Queens that had a bar box pool table
without any wood cues. Never visited any bars in the Bronx. Regardless, this seems totally ludicrous.
And shutting down at midnight…..get outta here. I played at Ames at Times Square growing up. There
were still people waiting to get a favorite table to play on at midnight. Maybe some small town in upstate
NY or some other rural locale had a local law but not in NYC….pool rooms stayed open past midnight.
This sounds more like some stories you’d overhear from a drunk at the bar lecturing others about pool.
p.s. COVID restrictions are the only logical reason for pool rooms closing at midnight like bars had to do.
without any wood cues. Never visited any bars in the Bronx. Regardless, this seems totally ludicrous.
And shutting down at midnight…..get outta here. I played at Ames at Times Square growing up. There
were still people waiting to get a favorite table to play on at midnight. Maybe some small town in upstate
NY or some other rural locale had a local law but not in NYC….pool rooms stayed open past midnight.
This sounds more like some stories you’d overhear from a drunk at the bar lecturing others about pool.
p.s. COVID restrictions are the only logical reason for pool rooms closing at midnight like bars had to do.
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That information came from people in the business for many, many years. I have no reason to think they lied. Nor do you.
