OK, so there are hundreds of rooms opening over the past several years- where? And hacks like me ( I guess) don't really know how to play- good for you! I am genuinely happy for you that anything more than 4 1/2 inn pockets frustrate you- but for the other 99.5% of the people in this country who might like to try this game - I have NO DOUBT that having rooms full of 4 1/2 pockets or less has helped kill this sport to the MASSES!
I try to look at it from the perspective of keeping the game alive for what would appeal to most- that must be hard for you to understand for some reason- maybe you are just too good at pool to get it. Congrats on being one of the greats! I am very happy to run a few racks of 8 or 9 ball and also get up a run 40 or so in 14.1 on a standard Gold Crown- and would love to see many more newcomers get to that level as well. That's ALL!
The theory that bad players won't play on tight pockets has one flaw, those players have no idea about how tables are setup in the first place. I have seen people use a half rack of snooker size balls and standard balls for an hour and not notice the size difference. All they would know is that they miss, they have no idea why they miss and won't really care. Since they miss most of the shots anyway, missing another 10,20% is not a big deal for them and I bet none of them would think "those pockets are too little or too big". When we see players look for coin slots on the tables that don't have them, slide the rack to the opposite side from where it is hung, hold cues like they are bats, stand 3 deep around the table getting in the way of everyone, never look at tip but have to roll every cue on a table and check the weight, pocket size is the last thing they are thinking about.
For anyone that is a B or an A player, playing on a tight house table is a badge of honor, you earned the right to get on that table, even if you miss more.
I agree with pretty much everyone about the 4.5" pocket size to be just right, it's small enough to make accuracy needed but large enough so we can shoot some pool and use spin/harder shots and cheating the pocket without being an 800 Fargo. In fact my ideal setup would be a hair over 4.5, maybe half a pinky width over.
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