I am a below average player who plays just good enough to beat most bar bangers and my friends that come to my house.
My current table at home is an 8ft presidential billiards that I bought over 10 years ago. I did have the cloth replaced about 6 years ago with simonis 860 and the pockets tightened up a tad.
Well I jumped in and joined an APA league with some friends and I played my first night on a 7ft diamond table. It was a very eye opening experience for me, The way the ball jumped off the rails and the speed of the table was nothing like my table at home. I played terrible even though I won my match. I am thinking that my home table is holding me back because I have to hit the ball so hard to move the ball around the table. I can finally see how the pro's make some of the shots because of the action off the rails.
So I was thinking about upgrading to either a 7ft or 8ft Diamond ProAm. My room is just big enough to play comfortably (no short sticks or banging walls), if I were to put a 9ft table I would be hitting a wall with the cue. So its either a 7ft or 8ft table. I was hoping to save some money over the next couple of months and order the table sometime in January.
My question is how much of a difference does the extra foot make on the playability of the diamonds? Would this be a situation where I should get the biggest table that will fit, or would I be better off learning on a 7ft table since that is what is out in the real world at most places ?
My current table at home is an 8ft presidential billiards that I bought over 10 years ago. I did have the cloth replaced about 6 years ago with simonis 860 and the pockets tightened up a tad.
Well I jumped in and joined an APA league with some friends and I played my first night on a 7ft diamond table. It was a very eye opening experience for me, The way the ball jumped off the rails and the speed of the table was nothing like my table at home. I played terrible even though I won my match. I am thinking that my home table is holding me back because I have to hit the ball so hard to move the ball around the table. I can finally see how the pro's make some of the shots because of the action off the rails.
So I was thinking about upgrading to either a 7ft or 8ft Diamond ProAm. My room is just big enough to play comfortably (no short sticks or banging walls), if I were to put a 9ft table I would be hitting a wall with the cue. So its either a 7ft or 8ft table. I was hoping to save some money over the next couple of months and order the table sometime in January.
My question is how much of a difference does the extra foot make on the playability of the diamonds? Would this be a situation where I should get the biggest table that will fit, or would I be better off learning on a 7ft table since that is what is out in the real world at most places ?