Pocket Reducers....a question about them

Low500

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a 9 foot Gandy for training and all pockets have been shimmed up to 4 1/4 inches.
I'd like to make them even smaller.
Will these "pocket reducers" I've seen advertised allow me to do this and make the pockets tighter but still allow the standard pool balls to enter??
I don't want to spend money and find out that the balls won't go through them.
(the people I've talked with at the sites selling them seem to be clueless).
Any comments will be appreciated.
Thanks.
 

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Pro Pocket Reducers should work and make the pockets really tight......likely 3.5 - 3.75” at the corners.
 

LightsOut

Jason
Silver Member
If it’s just for accuracy practice, use a piece of chalk on one side or the other of the jaw. If you move it when pocketing the object ball, it’s a miss.

Cheap (free) easy way to test your in-pocket aiming (every shot should be aimed like this anyway). And you still have a very playable table at 4.25 for any guests you may entertain?
 

Low500

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If it’s just for accuracy practice, use a piece of chalk on one side or the other of the jaw. If you move it when pocketing the object ball, it’s a miss.
Cheap (free) easy way to test your in-pocket aiming (every shot should be aimed like this anyway). And you still have a very playable table at 4.25 for any guests you may entertain?
That is a very economical solution, no doubt.
I never allow anyone to know I even have a pool table so there are never any games played on it. It's a torture chamber for training only in a wretched building out back with cheap cloth, tight pockets, insects, noise from machinery, and only one 25 watt lightbulb. (playing in the darkened poor lighting, where one can barely see, makes a person concentrate more)So, something more permanent will be in order for me.
Until the reducers arrive, I will utilize your idea with the chalk. (should've thought of that myself....that's good thinking on your part).
Thank you for your input.
 

LightsOut

Jason
Silver Member
Sure thing. That does sound pretty bleak for a practice room.

Put the chalk IN the pocket, against either face and on the shelf. Remember every repetition is recorded equally by the motor cortex, so practice success!
 

KMRUNOUT

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a 9 foot Gandy for training and all pockets have been shimmed up to 4 1/4 inches.
I'd like to make them even smaller.
Will these "pocket reducers" I've seen advertised allow me to do this and make the pockets tighter but still allow the standard pool balls to enter??
I don't want to spend money and find out that the balls won't go through them.
(the people I've talked with at the sites selling them seem to be clueless).
Any comments will be appreciated.
Thanks.

If you're referring to the green rubber Practice Pro reducers, I've used them EXTENSIVELY. I used to play on a table that was just a hair over 4.25. They take off 1.5". So on that table it was just under 3". Pretty damn tough. It was like winning the World Championship to run all 15 balls on that setup. So you're looking at about a 2.75" pocket potentially. The balls will go in, but damn...

KMRUNOUT
 

Tennesseejoe

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a 9 foot Gandy for training and all pockets have been shimmed up to 4 1/4 inches.
I'd like to make them even smaller.
Will these "pocket reducers" I've seen advertised allow me to do this and make the pockets tighter but still allow the standard pool balls to enter??
I don't want to spend money and find out that the balls won't go through them.
(the people I've talked with at the sites selling them seem to be clueless).
Any comments will be appreciated.
Thanks.

Since you do not want to spend money for naught and all comments are appreciated; try this for extreme accuracy.

Set an object ball 3 inches past the side pocket. On the same side of the table put the cue ball on the head string. Both balls should be 1/4 inch off of the rail. This will give you the effects of small pockets.

After making this shot with both high and low English, then try it with side spin. In making this shot with side spin the cue ball should stop and spin in place. This is a very revealing experience.
 

FeelDaShot

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a 9 foot Gandy for training and all pockets have been shimmed up to 4 1/4 inches.
I'd like to make them even smaller.
Will these "pocket reducers" I've seen advertised allow me to do this and make the pockets tighter but still allow the standard pool balls to enter??
I don't want to spend money and find out that the balls won't go through them.
(the people I've talked with at the sites selling them seem to be clueless).
Any comments will be appreciated.
Thanks.

I have a set of reducers. They are made of exposed rubber so the balls don't roll off them like typical cushions that are covered with cloth.

The balls go in but you have to hit the shot into the center of the pocket for the balls to drop. There's not much room for error. I have standard gold crown pockets and the reducers only offer about a 1/2 inch of room for error on either side the ball. If you have 4 1/4 inch pockets the reducers will likely be tigher than the width of a ball and obviously not playable. Let me know if you need measurements and I can do that when I get home.

They are a good practice tool but I don't think you would want to play a match with them on. They're too challenging for that.

I heard Roy from Roy's Basement say he has a pair of reducers that he bought in the Philippines that are much higher quality than the ones available in America. Perhaps you should send him a message?
 
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Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The shortcomings of the economical approach is trying to repeat the same shot without having to adjust
or reposition the chalk. If the object ball brushes the chalk moving it laterally, that same shot would likely
get rejected if the reducers were more stationary or fixed. When you miss any shot with stationary pocket
reducers, you just do it over starting with a new or different object ball or retrieve the OB that missed. The
chalk approach is admittedly free but it is also akin to using a short barrel musket when a longer range
machine works a whole lot better. You get to shoot a lot more shots and the pockets will reject more balls.
 

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I will be at Blue Fin on Thurs and wii take photos of the front tables that are shimmed smaller
and are already really tight. Then I’ll use my Pro Pocket Reducers to demonstrate the difference.

If you wanna test your limits, reducers could make the CP under 3” but the OB balls are 2 1/4”.
I’ll take photos & measurements & let’s see what’s revealed. Maybe another Azer has some info?
 

Straightpool_99

I see dead balls
Silver Member
If you are talking about the "Practise pro" brand of reducers, then yes, I do think a normal ball will go. We have a table in my club that's 4.3-4.2 inches in the corners. With reducers, you can still make a ball, but it's incredibly tough. Most sane people will probably give up playng rotation games after 10 minutes. Nutjobs will need about 2 hours. I've spent hour after hour on these things, and I still can't reliably run out 9 ball racks on them, even fairly basic layouts. I've always been a masochist when it comes to pool, though. With the reducers on there is just no margin for error at all. You will literally miss over and over and have no idea why, for the most part. I play snooker on the tightest brand of matchtables, and I still think the tight pool pockets with those reducers are tougher, fortunately the table is at least smaller.

If you glue some pool cloth to the rubber surfaces, they will play slightly more natural. On a tight setup like you have, I'd definitely do that, even if you theoretically make the pocket SLIGHTLY tighter, it's more than made up for by being more forgiving of rubbing/grazing the reducers with drop speeds along the rail.
 
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Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Straightpool is absolutely right. I usually do about 1/2 hr at most, remove the reducers,
and my goodness, seemingly can’t miss after removal. I do not play a rack but use all 15
balls. I set up individual shots and play them until I can pocket at least 3 shots in a row.

Naturally I set up challenging shots that only increase in difficulty with the reduced pocket
openings. Why at least 3x. Well, once could be lucky, twice could be a coincidence but do it
three times in a row & you likely know the shot or are dialed in on that particular shot. Yikes,
when you take the reducers out, the pockets become like the old Gold Crowns with garage
door pockets or it sure seems that way. The reducers make you play center pocket & there
sn’t any slop or slow roll drop in shots either. Either center pocket or the OB gets rejected.
 

trob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I did buy a set of the pocket pro but mostly used them for drills. I’ve used them to play against the ghost and it insanely difficult to run just a basic lay out. You can’t really play a normal game of pool against someone because when you miss they don’t react like a normal pocket the ball bounces of in a crazy direction that isn’t realistic to the game.
 

FeelDaShot

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Below are the measurements with reducers in place for a corner and side pocket
 

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FeelDaShot

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And here's what it looks like without the tape measure in the way.
 

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LocalArtist

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
They will work, at 4.25" your pockets are going to be just large enough to get a ball in, and you can forget running anything down the rail with them installed.

I like using them on my table, 5" pockets on a GCIII. My only complaint is that when playing or practicing shots the spring sticks straight up over the pockets, sometimes they are in the way and force you to jack up on shots that you wouldn't normally have to.

Now Roy, from Roy's Basement has some from the Philippines (I think) that have a much longer spring and it's bent backwards so it lays flat againt the top of the rail. They look much better than the green ones that I use. I've looked for them everywhere on the net and cannot find them anywhere.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I have used a spare set of pocket facings before simply using tacs/pushpins to hold them in place. They are 1/8 " thick, so it reduces the pocket by a quarter inch. You could double them up and reduce it by half an inch.
 

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just an aside observation but the pockets on that table look enormous versus the tables at Blue Fin.
Like I previously wrote, I’ll post photos tomorrow so you can see really tight pockets become smaller.
It is agonizing to practice but your aim actually improves and stroke as well or else object balls with
wiggle or wobble are rejected. It is like a 12 snooker table. Your aim and delivery must be dead on &
after I post some pictures you’ll see what I’m referring to. Then remove them & you almost can’t miss.

Matt B.
 
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