Alex Pagulayan at the Jay Swanson Memorial Tournament

[Scaramouche]

And the balls are smaller.Johnnyt

But the balls are smaller too

By 3/16th of an inch

Makes a lot of difference in the weight of the balls.

Snooker pocket 3.33 "
Snooker ball 2.0625"

Pocket to ball ratio 1.61

Pool ball 2.25 "
Pocket 4 "
Pocket to ball ratio 1.77

To get the snooker ratio on a pool table the pockets would have to be 3 5/8"

Now add 3 ft to the table

 

[Celtic]

4" is too tight. Alex could play on anything.

If Alex is that much better then the other players then the tournament talbes that the pros play on should properly reflect his superior skill.

If Mika falls apart on that table then maybe is shows weaknesses in his actual skill relative to Alex, it is nice when a sport ACTUALLY shows such differences and rewards the player who is actually more skilled at the game then his opponent.

Who the heck wants to watch a quarter flipping contest? I want to watch pool played on tables tough enough that the better player wins, not the guy who was simply breaking better that day or who was lucky his opponent got kicked in on a break where he squatted the cueball in the center of the table.

 

[Slh]

By 3/16th of an inch

Makes a lot of difference in the weight of the balls.

Snooker pocket 3.33 "
Snooker ball 2.0625"

Pocket to ball ratio 1.61

Pool ball 2.25 "
Pocket 4 "
Pocket to ball ratio 1.77

To get the snooker ratio on a pool table the pockets would have to be 3 5/8"

Now add 3 ft to the table

Different games. Also if you play proper snooker you should have all close shots. A tight pocket in pool is more important than a tight pocket in snooker. Also in snooker a ball near a cushion is considered safe or you need to develop it. Also to win in pool you must make all the balls, in snooker you can win the frame only making the easier red and leaving the red near the cushions.

 

[jalapus logan]

I think the best players are the ones that can play on any table at any time. Tight, loose, 5x10, bar table, Diamond, Gold Crown, etc etc etc.

SVB is a good example, he plays a variety of games well on a very consistent basis, and wins tournaments on all sorts of different tables.

What I about different standards for different games? I don't know if I would be really excited to play banks on those HT tables but 1P would be OK.

In my opinion, one must consider all games and determine what playing characteristics are the right balance for them all. Banks would not be worth attempting, IMO, on a diamond with 4" pockets for instance. 14.1 on such a table would be brutal as well. Pool is a collection of games, not all of which are rotation based. Creating a professional standard that marginalized these other wonderful games would be short sighted, IMO. And creating tables manufactured from day one to be for each specific game is impractical from an efficiency perspective.

The bottom line is that many areas are lucky to have any pool room at all. Also, IMO, the diamond pro cut table represents a fair challenge for any pro. I went to the derby, as I do eachc year, and I've seen them all miss on these. No one made me think that the tables were too easy, Alex and SVB included. Just my opinion.

Cheers all and happy Friday!

 

[sfleinen]

Right, the dreaded Olhausen rattle. Of course, in the case of "O's" there is more to it besides the shelf depth and the facing angle.

And that irritating noise when the ball *does* pocket -- like dropping a cue ball into an empty plastic spackle bucket, and listening to it bouncing around...

-Sean

 

[Slh]

please don't confuse a tight but fair table with a tight gaffe table.

 

[poolhustler]

The tight tables at Hard Times are set up by Ernesto and are definately not GAFFE tables. They are super tight, but I like my holes that way!!!