Adjusting to different tables

sigep1967

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a 9ft Diamond Professional that I play and practice on daily. When I go to the local pool hall it is Brunswick 8 ft Metro tables that the cloth and balls are so dirty it takes me almost an hour to adjust and even then I have to really think about every shot because I can't shoot them the same as I do at home. Don't even think about sliding the cue ball around the balls and cloth are too dirty it just doesn't work. The cling and throw is ridiculous. Put a little english on the cue ball for shapes and it will grab the rail and just shoot off into places unknown lol. Drives me nuts. What do yall do to adjust to terrible table conditions?
 

BilliardsAbout

BondFanEvents.com
Silver Member
To be honest, I probably shoot with less english than you--fractions of the tip and sides of the tip when I need english, good control with speed, timing and vertical axis for most shots.

There are also little adjustments you can do with bridge and grip to reduce speed on dirty tables. Try a little longer tip gap at address for example, plus slowing down your stroke.
 

sigep1967

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I feel like I have to bunt the balls around. I had one of the guys who is probably the best in that room come over and play at my house. It was hilarious. He literally couldn't make a ball for an hour or so.
If there was somewhere else to play I would go there but they are the only place in town.
 

FranCrimi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Yes, and it works both ways, too. Imagine not having enough room at your home for a table and you have no choice but to practice on those conditions, and then going to a tournament where they build the tables and the cloths and equipment are brand new and not broken in yet.

It's frustrating to adjust or even dumb-down some of the skills you worked so hard to perfect. But your goal is not to play your best game when you compete. It's to play the game that works best on the table you're playing on.

When going from one set of playing conditions to another, you will need practice time to figure out how you will have to adjust. You can't jump right into a match with a 5 minute warmup and expect to play your normal game. Even if you're familiar with both conditions --- when you go from one to another, you will need practice time to switch from one mindset to another. If it's a league or tournament, get there early and practice on the conditions and focus on it. Don't look around the room at everybody else. Stay within yourself and focus on adapting.

Most importantly, if you have no choice, then don't fight it. Think of it as a puzzle to be solved. High level players have a checklist in their heads of things to test on a table they're encountering for the first time. That helps move things along quicker for them, especially when there's limited time to make adjustments. Consider doing that.
 
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sigep1967

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Fran very insightful comment and I totally agree.. I just hate not being able to shoot some of the shots I am used to at home. I literally have to think about it on every shot when playing there because it is so different. I do try to get there early and shoot allot of practice but sometimes is not possible.
 

FranCrimi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Fran very insightful comment and I totally agree.. I just hate not being able to shoot some of the shots I am used to at home. I literally have to think about it on every shot when playing there because it is so different. I do try to get there early and shoot allot of practice but sometimes is not possible.
Oh, believe me... I can relate. I've been in situations where I've had to take a big percentage of things I do best --- my absolute strong suits --- and put them in a closet in my head and leave them there for an entire event. You're lucky in a lot of ways because those conditions are always there for you to practice on and come up with new strategies. You have to get yourself there on off-days and practice. Then the transition on league night won't be so bad.

When I used to play on the WPBA tour, I had to go searching for a pool room that had just recovered a table to practice on the same conditions. It wasn't always easy to find one.
 

WobblyStroke

Well-known member
Ye, adjusting to table speed is one thing...there are methods for finding reference points and adjusting accordingly. But the dirty balls are a killer that is just hard to overcome with anything other than time.

The issue with dirty vs clean balls is that the same contacts give you different results so once you get grooved into seeing a shot a certain way that just 'looks right', all of a sudden that right look produces misses. Given that after a lot of experience most players aim kind of automatically, esp when using english, it takes quite a bit of extra brain energy to consciously focus on and micromanage a process that is usually on autopilot.

I too switch between a couple of places worlds apart in terms of equipment and cleanliness and find speed control to be no issue after a few minutes, but the ball interactions.... especially on the types of shots where I have to cut a ball to a corner at the other end of the table just steal my cookies repeatedly. Just an enormous difference in throw. The best I've managed to do is make those constant conscious adjustments by adding a little outside on shots I might hit flat with clean equipment or just guess at how much more throw I'm going to get and aim up what look like misses. Feels like every shot requires the focus of aiming up combos.
 

boogieman

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
I am not an instructor.

Center ball and stun. Don't ask anything from a table with bad conditions because it won't give you anything in return anyway. If there is a roll off hit harder than usual. You'll feel like a banger but you have to play like that to combat an un-level table, dirty or loose cloth.

Dirty conditions suck but it is beneficial to play in as many conditions as you can.

Personally I'll play with a slightly elevated cue in bad or dirty conditions, it might make mistakes worse, but if the CB is in the air it isn't effected by bad cloth at least. Every shot is almost a jump shot, pop shot, or a stun shot. IMO an elevated cue is better in these poor conditions because the CB interacts with the cloth less, but you gotta be able to keep on the bucking bronco ride because an elevated cue makes it more likely to mess up.
 

sigep1967

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I would love to stun/slide the cue ball but it won't do it. The combination of the dirty cloth and dirty balls makes it where you just can't slide the cue ball worth a damn.
 
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bbb

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
I would love to stun/slide the cue ball but it won't do it. The combination of the dirty cloth and dirty balls makes it where you just can't slide the cue ball worth a damn.
i agree with you (i am not an instructor)
especially since the dirty balls will cling and throw more with stun
as wobbly stroke mentioned above
"The best I've managed to do is make those constant conscious adjustments by adding a little outside on shots I might hit flat with clean equipment " (bolded by me for emphasis)
"or just guess at how much more throw I'm going to get and aim up what look like misses."
this is the hard part of adjusting IMO
quick story
not exactly the same situation
but i remember a road player coming to play in a no longer existing poolroom in my town.
the tables had goofy rails
the game was race to 4 for 2k in onepocket
at first his banking looked like an APA3
by the end of the first game they were splitting the center of the pocket
he adjusted very quickly and ended up beating the player in his home room !!!
morale to the story
you can learn to adjust
it just takes time and experience
and i guess if its going to cost you alot of money you learn to adjust faster ...😂
 

FranCrimi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I would love to stun/slide the cue ball but it won't do it. The combination of the dirty cloth and dirty balls makes it where you just can't slide the cue ball worth a damn.
My mantra for myself dealing with those types of conditions is WWED. What Would Efren Do? The conditions in the Philippines where there are no windows and no a/c and 100% humidity and worn equipment are no walk in the park, especially back when Efren was at his peak. Efren rolls the ball better than anyone I've seen. I've come to learn --- when in doubt, roll the ball.
 

FranCrimi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Fran, would you mind elaborating a little and maybe giving an example or two of what you mean?
Sure. If the table is wet or if the cloth is worn down to where you can see the weave, or if the cloth is loose, you can forget about trying to muster up any decent amount of backspin to draw the cb. And if you do manage to muster up some backspin, you really don't know how much draw you will get. Trying to stun shots is also unpredictable, because you don't know how long the ball will continue to slide. Setting up angles to use topspin is about the best bet and the most predictable.
 

Clusterbuster

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Sure. If the table is wet or if the cloth is worn down to where you can see the weave, or if the cloth is loose, you can forget about trying to muster up any decent amount of backspin to draw the cb. And if you do manage to muster up some backspin, you really don't know how much draw you will get. Trying to stun shots is also unpredictable, because you don't know how long the ball will continue to slide. Setting up angles to use topspin is about the best bet and the most predictable.
Thank you. Good to keep in mind.
 

sigep1967

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Wow They actually cleaned the balls yesterday was like playing a different game lol. Guys that were not used to clean balls were missing by a whole diamond was comical. I kept telling them you will have to play to the true angle for a while till they dirty back up.
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
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Wow They actually cleaned the balls yesterday was like playing a different game lol. Guys that were not used to clean balls were missing by a whole diamond was comical. I kept telling them you will have to play to the true angle for a while till they dirty back up.
Go early with paper towels. Wash and dry the balls. That will probably be good enough.

For several years I played in a rec center that had an absentee manager. The part-time help saw him occasionally. I had to brush the table and wash the balls every time I played. (I didn't have my own set at the time.) The kids on the counter didn't mind it when I used the table brush.

I suppose you could brush the table as well, but what it really needs is a vacuuming.
 
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