Thoughts on pool ,life and 5 inch pockets
- Thread starter deanoc
- Start date
i hope you are kidding. with today's top players on a gc with 5" they might as well settle it with the lag and don't bother playing. i'm not dissing gc:s or 5", but the pro level has risen way too high for that equipment
Logical,
Perhaps you don't know Dean well enough.
He always said he couldn't play even when he could.
Bill Stroud
So a "straight cut" pocket would be more, maybe 145 degrees. That is a pocket with no flared opening and the outer edges of the pocket from the throat to the mouth would extend on a straight line to the playing surface. We used to play on tables like that and they weren't easy by any means.
A straight cut would be 135 (90+45).
I prefer pockets like that. I have my sub rails extended, and the geometry changed to 138 deg with a 12 deg down angle. 4 3/8" corners, 4 7/8" sides.
If you hit the heart of the pocket, youre fine, you touch the rail, it will hang. Takes balls down the rail fine. :thumbup:
No, the wider that angle the smaller the throat, more pinched at the back. 145deg would be a pretty tight throat. Smaller than 140deg would be closer to parallel facings. 140 is about standard.
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i remember when i got on az billiards
i sold 70 deano cues in about 7 days and became well known
before this i had sols expensive cues to dealers like john wright,hawaiian brians,terry at hollywood billiards,rick lansberg at best billiards etc
i was not used to dealing with experts like here on az
a guy called me about a Mottey or Schon and said
"where is the balance point"
I said i don't know how do you find it
he said "i don't know either but everyone on az was
talking about it
from then on I asked my friends Tim Scruggs,Mike Cochran,Jack Potter,
and a few others about ballance point. thet said they didn't take orders to change it and if a guy was interested it was a sign he didn't play good pool
I asked joe salazar where was the balance point on his cues," Red didn't know ,ronnie didn't care,
I asked Dennis Glenn and he told me it was not important,the great players don't care
they pick up a cue and play it if they like it
Si i quit worrying about it
After 70 years playing pool I have never once checked balance point
unless i was playing one handed because Ronnie taught me to hold the cue there for control
Now adays you don't read about it but it was the suckers designer thing on Az
I can not help but feel like all these details are balance point things, most people like to play on tables that they can make balls,most home tables are 8 footer with big pockets
i sold 70 deano cues in about 7 days and became well known
before this i had sols expensive cues to dealers like john wright,hawaiian brians,terry at hollywood billiards,rick lansberg at best billiards etc
i was not used to dealing with experts like here on az
a guy called me about a Mottey or Schon and said
"where is the balance point"
I said i don't know how do you find it
he said "i don't know either but everyone on az was
talking about it
from then on I asked my friends Tim Scruggs,Mike Cochran,Jack Potter,
and a few others about ballance point. thet said they didn't take orders to change it and if a guy was interested it was a sign he didn't play good pool
I asked joe salazar where was the balance point on his cues," Red didn't know ,ronnie didn't care,
I asked Dennis Glenn and he told me it was not important,the great players don't care
they pick up a cue and play it if they like it
Si i quit worrying about it
After 70 years playing pool I have never once checked balance point
unless i was playing one handed because Ronnie taught me to hold the cue there for control
Now adays you don't read about it but it was the suckers designer thing on Az
I can not help but feel like all these details are balance point things, most people like to play on tables that they can make balls,most home tables are 8 footer with big pockets
Excellent point.
I visited Nashville over the weekend, went to Melrose Billiards and met up with a fellow AZ member to hit some balls around. Those old 9ft gold crowns have 5" corner pockets, easy, but fun. With the loud music and filthy unkempt tables, the place was more of a young couples hangout rather than a poolhall.
I rolled the balls onto the table and ran them out, leaving one for a break out shot and racking the other 14. Then I fired the ball in and scattered the rack and ran those out as well. There was a young couple, mid 20's, "playing" pool on the adjacent table. They looked to be on a first date because they did more talking than playing. In fact, they stood between the tables, drinks in hand, and just talked and laughed and carried on as if I wasn't even there. I'd say "excuse me" every time I had to shoot a shot from that side of the table, and they would move just enough to avoid the butt of my cue. So after that rack I just pulled the balls out of the pockers and rolled them over the table, then shot them all in from either end rail or the side of the table that wasn't continually blocked by this couple.
Then my new AZ friend showed up, introduced me to his son, and we had a great time just playing pool and talking about pool. And I found those 5" pockets began to play tougher. I was missing shots that I thought there was no way to miss! I was in a different frame of mind than when I had first walked in.
After my new friends packed up and left, I stuck around for a couple of hours, ended up playing a local guy named Pawel, and I was playing lights out pool again. This got me thinking....Deanoc is on to something here. When you can really play pool, pocket size makes no difference. Frame of mind, however, makes a world of difference.
I rolled the balls onto the table and ran them out, leaving one for a break out shot and racking the other 14. Then I fired the ball in and scattered the rack and ran those out as well. There was a young couple, mid 20's, "playing" pool on the adjacent table. They looked to be on a first date because they did more talking than playing. In fact, they stood between the tables, drinks in hand, and just talked and laughed and carried on as if I wasn't even there. I'd say "excuse me" every time I had to shoot a shot from that side of the table, and they would move just enough to avoid the butt of my cue. So after that rack I just pulled the balls out of the pockers and rolled them over the table, then shot them all in from either end rail or the side of the table that wasn't continually blocked by this couple.
Then my new AZ friend showed up, introduced me to his son, and we had a great time just playing pool and talking about pool. And I found those 5" pockets began to play tougher. I was missing shots that I thought there was no way to miss! I was in a different frame of mind than when I had first walked in.
After my new friends packed up and left, I stuck around for a couple of hours, ended up playing a local guy named Pawel, and I was playing lights out pool again. This got me thinking....Deanoc is on to something here. When you can really play pool, pocket size makes no difference. Frame of mind, however, makes a world of difference.
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"Frame of mind." That's why Life and Pool have so much in common. Dean knows that, but most of these disrespectful know-it all wannabees don't. And they show it in everything they do.
If I could break and run consistently(90%) then I could see pro cut pockets.
I would be pursuing high amateur or pro status at that point.
I'm a league player of 8 ball on 7ft valleys. I can't run the table 90% of the time off the break.
I'm gonna play on what I compete on. If the main competition around me was on 9ft pro cut, then that's what I would want.
Pro cut pockets tighten up your game. Just like playing on a valley bb loosens it up. But it's different pool play. We all know the crazy amount of English a player can use on a bar box. But a bar box player like myself doesn't play with all that English on a pro cut table. So I'm not practicing the game I compete at if I'm on a 9ft with tight pockets.
I would be pursuing high amateur or pro status at that point.
I'm a league player of 8 ball on 7ft valleys. I can't run the table 90% of the time off the break.
I'm gonna play on what I compete on. If the main competition around me was on 9ft pro cut, then that's what I would want.
Pro cut pockets tighten up your game. Just like playing on a valley bb loosens it up. But it's different pool play. We all know the crazy amount of English a player can use on a bar box. But a bar box player like myself doesn't play with all that English on a pro cut table. So I'm not practicing the game I compete at if I'm on a 9ft with tight pockets.
My table has 5" corner pockets, and 5 1/2" side pockets. I'm perfectly fine with that.
bc 21 and the rest of you
it is amazing to see how respectful you guys can be
you would not think i had a controversial thread when i said
i am having a lot more fun with 5 inch pockets
you guys are having the same fun
i am free stroking again,just look and fire away
no second thoughts about that pocket won't accept this shot
no thinking how great it is to have small pockets to brag about even if i can't make a ball
it is amazing to see how respectful you guys can be
you would not think i had a controversial thread when i said
i am having a lot more fun with 5 inch pockets
you guys are having the same fun
i am free stroking again,just look and fire away
no second thoughts about that pocket won't accept this shot
no thinking how great it is to have small pockets to brag about even if i can't make a ball
If you only play each other it'll work too!
Not a fan of 5" corner pockets... too easy for the average player to never miss. Not fun to get run out by a person that can barely control their cue ball.
To me tighter pockets doesn't mean pocketing is harder, it just means you need to have a better cue ball to still make all your shots fairly easy. i.e more skill.
To me tighter pockets doesn't mean pocketing is harder, it just means you need to have a better cue ball to still make all your shots fairly easy. i.e more skill.
I don't think it's controversial, or at least it shouldn't be. You've brought up a great point on the subject of pocket size, table difficulty, ect.... And though many enjoy the challenge of playing on tight pocket tables, I'd say many more enjoy playing on easier tables. And that goes for players of all skill levels, any player that can actually have fun playing pool.
There's an estimated 8 million or more pool players just in the US, and as someone else has already mentioned, most of them don't know or don't care about pocket size. They don't know a 4" pocket from a 5" pocket, but one thing is certain: The more balls they can make the more enjoyment they get from playing pool. And more enjoyment means they keep coming back to do it.