The table that is poorly set up is just that, poorly set up. It is not a basis for comparison for anything except other shitty tables.
GB9 Ball Tour Tight pockets
- Thread starter skor
- Start date
There is no such thing as "basically" missing a shot.
I think that 4.25 is just fine, 4 is too much…
Yes, it did change the game a bit, but so does 9 on the spot and breaking from the box… almost every game starts with a safety battle.
The game was getting too easy for the pros.
It’s definitely more defensive now but just with the right dosage. Snooker is a whole different game.
More flukes
General big pocket play is just ingrained sloppiness and marketing/self promotion thereof. The average "serious" player knows there are various alternate routes available to cover a range of incompetence. Yeah that's the way. I play it. That's also the way those with ingrained precision are able to dominate. Simple headroom.
Sure there is. Watch matches from the 1980s and 1990s. It seems like one or two balls per rack are poorly hit but fall anyways on those buckets. And I'm not talking intentional cheat to move the cue around.
that's what i suspected having watched a little on youtube. didn't look tighter than a diamond with 4.25", which makes sense with diamond shelf being deeper
The British obsession with tight pockets continues...And since they're in charge of pool now, this is what pool has become. Thank goodness there are other cue games to play. I think, really, that what the GB fans want is Chineese 8 ball tables, but they are somehow not willing to jump to that yet, so they're going at it in stages. They should really just rip the bandaid off and go for it. Not that that would solve anything. I've heard people from GB complain that match snooker tables have pockets that are too large. At that point, just play carom.
Well, there is a table who solves all those problems: The Chinese 8 ball table. The Chinese have a very good setup with large prizes and everything. You should totally play that. They even have a 9 ball game which solves most of the unfair aspects of 9 ball by assigning points for missed kicks, run- outs and the like, rather than just counting 9 balls pocketed. It solves every whiners complaint, in every aspect of the game. It has a dress code, it has tight pockets, it has a point system. Yet most people hate it. Go figure. Maybe that's what happens when games are designed by committee, every special interest is catered to and the majority is miserable.
I've played that game, and blackball and snooker. While I find enjoyment in all cue games (even that Chinese 9 ball abomination), my preference is that American pool remains distinct from those games by having traditional size pockets and rails. I prefer the traditional style of play. I'm probably a dinosaur and out of touch, since I'm seeing the trend favouring the other sentiment: That pool is to become a sort of second-rate snooker. It's ok, I guess. I can no longer play pool at a level that entitles me to an opinion, due to illness, anyway. If that should somehow change, that I were to recover, I could always buy myself a home table. It'd be a GC 4 with 4.5 inch or very slightly smaller pockets. I'd play straight pool on it. Maybe 9 ball now and then.
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The game has to evolve.
It becomes too easy.
The cloth is better.
The balls are better.
The cushions are better.
The cues are better.
The rack is tighter.
Even the tables are better.
Everything is done to make it easier…
The players are also getting better.
Something has to pose an obstacle and make it a bit harder.
Tight pockets are a good way to do that.
We are not talking about crazy tight with round openings like on a snooker table…
4.25 to 4.5 inch sound good to me for an open and amateur events. 4 to 4.25 for top pro invitational events.
You’ll always have the Ultimate Pool with big pockets on small tables.
Pool room have tables with big pockets so bangers can make balls and feel good about themselves, makes them stay longer and spend more money.
But serious players should advocate for tighter pockets.
Playing outside your comfort zone will make you better eventually.
It becomes too easy.
The cloth is better.
The balls are better.
The cushions are better.
The cues are better.
The rack is tighter.
Even the tables are better.
Everything is done to make it easier…
The players are also getting better.
Something has to pose an obstacle and make it a bit harder.
Tight pockets are a good way to do that.
We are not talking about crazy tight with round openings like on a snooker table…
4.25 to 4.5 inch sound good to me for an open and amateur events. 4 to 4.25 for top pro invitational events.
You’ll always have the Ultimate Pool with big pockets on small tables.
Pool room have tables with big pockets so bangers can make balls and feel good about themselves, makes them stay longer and spend more money.
But serious players should advocate for tighter pockets.
Playing outside your comfort zone will make you better eventually.
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Look at matchroom since they basically took over 9 ball, the money they have invested. They were always going to make it there own. Weather that was new ball sets, or smaller pockets, its only natural, that others will try and give a similar experience. but Its more about the brand of pool, being played now, solely influenced by these pockets, and there own brand. Snooker is its own thing, thats a whole another world.
Go open a room with all tight pocket tables. You'll be closed in a year. I don't know where u live but in most every room in the US the % of 'good' players to bill paying bangers is TINY. Tight pockets turn flowing rotation games into into boring cinch-pool safety fests. I'll pass. OK for 1p but that's about it.
A given for people in business. They aren't going to be the ones playing either. The aspiring want to feel like they are doing something special; excelling at high end stuff.
I'm not sure about that. I have watched only two of the Ultimate Pool events, the Colorado Shootout last September and the Boston Shootout this month. For the streamed matches, the Colorado event used a Diamond table with 4" or 4 1/8" corners (per Steve Wyatt), and the Boston event used a Brunswick table with quite generous pockets (but actual dimensions not heard by me). However, it was said that Brunswick is developing a new table for Ultimate Pool's use. One change, I think, will be less slope to the rails, so the chalk doesn't keep falling off. But it's possible that the pocket dimensions could be something different as well. We'll see.
early events had a tight diamond and some events had a valley with 4" pockets (played like maybe 4.25 - 4.5" diamond). keep in mind here they're not building a pro tour, they're promoting an amateur league. i wouldn't be so sure brunswick goes below 4.5" for that reason.
They are sticking with the larger pockets as it is more entertaining for the viewers….
UP is not about pool as a sport but as just an entertaining game.
nobody reads retractions but see post #25.
i don't think this is the table of a pool room. the GB9 tables are rolled in, rolled out with the tournament.
I understand that and that’s why most rooms have large pockets.
But the saying that tight pockets is not pool is just ridiculous.
In other places, you play on what you have…
If it’s tight then it’s tight, no place will close down just because of the tables pockets.
I understand the business side of it but when you open a room these days and you get Asian tables (cheaper and smarter business wise), then the standard is 4.5 to 4.7 inches, so it’s not like tight pockets are special order.
BTW, if I’m to assume that all pool rooms in the USA are like that (large pockets) and only a handful of the top American players have access to tight pockets to practice on, then maybe the American players Fargo rating are off compared to the rest of the worlds where tighter pockets are becoming a standard.
Maybe an American 700 player is just a 600 players in comparison to the international level.
Add this to the bar table craze in the U.S and the status of American players in the international arena doesn’t look that bright…
Fargo Ratings don't in a sense "react" to the difficulty of the equipment the way you are thinking. The balance between US and European ratings is determined by the aggregate of what happens when US players play European players. This includes situations in which the US and European players are on easy equipment and other situations in which they are on hard equipment. Importantly, though, the two players in each game are always on the SAME equipment.
Whether practicing or competing on easier equipment is good or bad for player development is a different question, and a nuanced one.