Opinions on new 8' Valley Predator home model

RickLafayette

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Never having room in my house for a pool table, I finally had a building built behind my house - 16'x20' - to make into a pool room. I play APA and it's exclusively played on Valley 7' bar tables down here and in Vegas. I have a local Valley distributor who services Valleys constantly. I'm planning on getting the 8' home version. I don't want a Brunswick or a Diamond (No Diamond dealers for hundreds of miles) because I feel practicing on the same table as the one I shoot on in league several nights a week will help my game. I'm only a mid-level player.
Any opinions or experiences with the new 8' Valley Predator? (The one with the flush corners and pockets)
 

Low500

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Never having room in my house for a pool table, I finally had a building built behind my house - 16'x20' - to make into a pool room. I play APA and it's exclusively played on Valley 7' bar tables down here and in Vegas. I have a local Valley distributor who services Valleys constantly. I'm planning on getting the 8' home version. I don't want a Brunswick or a Diamond (No Diamond dealers for hundreds of miles) because I feel practicing on the same table as the one I shoot on in league several nights a week will help my game. I'm only a mid-level player.
Any opinions or experiences with the new 8' Valley Predator? (The one with the flush corners and pockets)
If you get the installer to shim those pockets up to 4 1/4 inches all the way around, including the sides, you will have a great tool to rehearse on. When you get into competition it will be a cakewalk.
It costs a little more to have it done and if the installers haven't been around for a while they will whine and moan..........but it can be done quite easily.
I have two tables...a 9 foot Gandy shimmed up to 4 1/4 all over and also one of the old 7 foot Valleys with the coin operating system ripped out that I picked up cheap from a beer joint that went busted. I had a well known installer put some kind of different rails on that valley that he recommended and triple shimmed the pockets. (side pockets too....don't neglect the sides)
Get cheap slow cloth. Then if you ever get on the good Simonis stuff, you will just sail through the games.
If you're serious about your game, that 8 foot Valley Predator, properly installed for brutal sweat filled workouts, will get you to where you'd like to be.
It won't hold heavy resale value like a Diamond or Brunswick or Olhausen, but we can't have everything, you know. If you want a sweat box for torturous, serious, training...this is a good way to go without spending an arm and a leg.
Sic 'em!
:thumbup:
 

336Robin

Multiverse Operative
Silver Member
I've had a bad experience or two on shimmed tables playing one pocket. The shims can be as problematic as anything. I wouldn't change the pockets if they are pocketing correctly and accepting balls well. You might make the table aggravating to play on because the shim material changes the way it pockets not so much that you have to tighten up your shot making ability. You want to have fun and improve your overall game in how you move and your cue ball control. That's my opinion. A shimmed table for One Pocket can make for a long grinding game that goes on for way longer than it should under half way normal conditions. I'd as soon both players had equal chances to pocket balls than count on more chances because of jacked up equipment where each pocket may play differently.The applications for 9 ball and 8 ball can be similar. If you want to hone your shot making skills buy some pocket reducers. You can take them out when you want to play.


If you get the installer to shim those pockets up to 4 1/4 inches all the way around, including the sides, you will have a great tool to rehearse on. When you get into competition it will be a cakewalk.
It costs a little more to have it done and if the installers haven't been around for a while they will whine and moan..........but it can be done quite easily.
I have two tables...a 9 foot Gandy shimmed up to 4 1/4 all over and also one of the old 7 foot Valleys with the coin operating system ripped out that I picked up cheap from a beer joint that went busted. I had a well known installer put some kind of different rails on that valley that he recommended and triple shimmed the pockets. (side pockets too....don't neglect the sides)
Get cheap slow cloth. Then if you ever get on the good Simonis stuff, you will just sail through the games.
If you're serious about your game, that 8 foot Valley Predator, properly installed for brutal sweat filled workouts, will get you to where you'd like to be.
It won't hold heavy resale value like a Diamond or Brunswick or Olhausen, but we can't have everything, you know. If you want a sweat box for torturous, serious, training...this is a good way to go without spending an arm and a leg.
Sic 'em!
:thumbup:
 
Last edited:

Low500

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've had a bad experience or two on shimmed tables playing one pocket. The shims can be as problematic as anything. I wouldn't change the pockets if they are pocketing correctly and accepting balls well. You might make the table aggravating to play on because the shim material changes the way it pockets not so much that you have to tighten up your shot making ability. You want to have fun and improve your overall game in how you move and your cue ball control. That's my opinion. A shimmed table for One Pocket can make for a long grinding game that goes on for way longer than it should under half way normal conditions. I'd as soon both players had equal chances to pocket balls than count on more chances because of jacked up equipment where each pocket may play differently.The applications for 9 ball and 8 ball can be similar. If you want to hone your shot making skills buy some pocket reducers. You can take them out when you want to play.
Interesting comments, sir.
I made up my mind years ago when I decided to own table(s) that I wasn't intelligent enough to play one pocket and didn't want to invest time in learning it. Although I do enjoy watching the game when it is played by experts...like Pagulayan.
My game(s) were going to be 8 Ball and 9 Ball.....nothing more.
Nobody would ever be a guest in my home to play pool on my table(s). I don't like visitors anyway.
I wanted a hard miserable, TRAINING FIELD.....(like in that old movie Rocky when he trained in the meat house whacking those carcasses) to get down on and sweat for hours. Maybe shooting the same shot 100-200 times, then moving it an inch and shooting it another 100-200 times. Thousands of shots a day...long ones, tough ones, hard long backcuts, etc. etc. etc. never any of those stupid easy ones. I wanted a torture chamber (and I got one)....practice was NOT SUPPOSED to be fun, in my opinion.
I told the installer to give me dead, used rails, with bad rubber...to mix 'em up. Bad pocket fixtures with corners that would hook and tear my clothes in order to break my concentration Cheap ass slow cloth. Poor lighting. Installed in a shed that was cold in the winter and miserably hot and humidity ridden in the summer with insects and bugs swarming. And to shim those pockets up to 4 inches...he messed up and made them 4 1/4 inches. If I ever have it recovered, they're going down to four inches...I'll watch over that. I've even paid the kids next door to come in there and throw stuff at each other across the table, yell and scream, grab the back of my cue stick...anything to break concentration when I'm training
The only thing important to me was that the contraption be perfectly level...that was a must.
That is the kind of thing that I believe is needed for a guy to train on so he can become all the pool player he wants to become.
I guess it's how much pain a fella is willing to endure to get to the point where he is oblivious to what the opponent does or what the railbirds are doing and he only concentrates intensely on his own procedures.
It sure does pay off at match time competition, though, when playing on good equipment.
To each his own I guess. I am a very weird person when it comes to training.
Have a good one........
 

336Robin

Multiverse Operative
Silver Member
Low500,
Great post and I understand where you are and I agree with your premise. I took the perspective I did on my previous post for an overall playing experience where you work on your game but......

There is certainly the shot making part of the game that has to be worked on by itself. Intentional focus on how you do what you do is the only way in my opinion to get consistent. I thought enough of that end of the game that I wrote a technique on it from the beginning of shot making to playing side spin with explicit instructions but everyone has to hit a number of balls. I don't think it has to be a million if you analyze what you're doing a little bit and you have good references to go by. Going on 100% feel is tough unless you've devoted some thought to it. Then the amount of feel it takes is much less than 100% and your ability to pocket increases but feel is always there because of the parallax and the distance.

Pool is a funny game. Lots of little pieces you have to arrange into a symphony of processes that you understand.

Be well.



Interesting comments, sir.
I made up my mind years ago when I decided to own table(s) that I wasn't intelligent enough to play one pocket and didn't want to invest time in learning it. Although I do enjoy watching the game when it is played by experts...like Pagulayan.
My game(s) were going to be 8 Ball and 9 Ball.....nothing more.
Nobody would ever be a guest in my home to play pool on my table(s). I don't like visitors anyway.
I wanted a hard miserable, TRAINING FIELD.....(like in that old movie Rocky when he trained in the meat house whacking those carcasses) to get down on and sweat for hours. Maybe shooting the same shot 100-200 times, then moving it an inch and shooting it another 100-200 times. Thousands of shots a day...long ones, tough ones, hard long backcuts, etc. etc. etc. never any of those stupid easy ones. I wanted a torture chamber (and I got one)....practice was NOT SUPPOSED to be fun, in my opinion.
I told the installer to give me dead, used rails, with bad rubber...to mix 'em up. Bad pocket fixtures with corners that would hook and tear my clothes in order to break my concentration Cheap ass slow cloth. Poor lighting. Installed in a shed that was cold in the winter and miserably hot and humidity ridden in the summer with insects and bugs swarming. And to shim those pockets up to 4 inches...he messed up and made them 4 1/4 inches. If I ever have it recovered, they're going down to four inches...I'll watch over that. I've even paid the kids next door to come in there and throw stuff at each other across the table, yell and scream, grab the back of my cue stick...anything to break concentration when I'm training
The only thing important to me was that the contraption be perfectly level...that was a must.
That is the kind of thing that I believe is needed for a guy to train on so he can become all the pool player he wants to become.
I guess it's how much pain a fella is willing to endure to get to the point where he is oblivious to what the opponent does or what the railbirds are doing and he only concentrates intensely on his own procedures.
It sure does pay off at match time competition, though, when playing on good equipment.
To each his own I guess. I am a very weird person when it comes to training.
Have a good one........
 

Low500

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Low500,
Great post and I understand where you are and I agree with your premise. I took the perspective I did on my previous post for an overall playing experience where you work on your game but......
There is certainly the shot making part of the game that has to be worked on by itself. Intentional focus on how you do what you do is the only way in my opinion to get consistent. I thought enough of that end of the game that I wrote a technique on it from the beginning of shot making to playing side spin with explicit instructions but everyone has to hit a number of balls. I don't think it has to be a million if you analyze what you're doing a little bit and you have good references to go by. Going on 100% feel is tough unless you've devoted some thought to it. Then the amount of feel it takes is much less than 100% and your ability to pocket increases but feel is always there because of the parallax and the distance.
Pool is a funny game. Lots of little pieces you have to arrange into a symphony of processes that you understand.
Be well.
I enjoyed your intelligent comments on this subject. No wonder your book is so successful.
Every time some kid or banger asks me the question "what is the most important thing to learn about pool?", my standard answer is:
"You must acquire enough knowledge and skill in your memory bank so when you start missing shots or position play you can DIAGNOSE quickly why it is happening, on your own, and then correct it on your own so you can get back into the groove right away without tinkering and compounding the trouble"
I didn't think that up myself, it came from Billy Johnson. It's a guideline that serves a player well.
Stay happy.:thumbup:
 

RickLafayette

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Well, my table came on Monday and it was damaged in three places. My dealer wouldn't let it off the truck. He told me it looked like it was hit with a fork lift. I told my dealer to have the delivery truck take it back. I can't believe Valley-Dynamo let this happen with all the experience they have delivering tables.
 
Top