Are bar tables hurting the game
- Thread starter JCL
- Start date
xX-Wizard-Xx
Well-known member
I doubt it
it would be on 24hr life-support. far more pool is played on 7ft's in the US than on 9fts. its not even close.
My analogy was just fine. Yes, if a 9 foot and a 7 foot both have the same size pockets, then the 9 would be tougher. But if a 7 foot has substantially smaller pockets, then the difficulty level will be very close for both tables. The margin of error is the same. Its basic geometry.
Want proof? Study Dr Dave's pool table difficulty factor thread. You will find many examples of 7 foot tables with the same difficulty factor as 9 foots.
A valley bar box has the tightest standard side pocket of any American pool table by a significant margin.
Only 10 on that list and only one that's above average at 1.03.
Still, the technical aspects of the two tables or how the game is played on either is not what this thread is about.
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Say what??
You heard me
Not really if your not competitive, or prize for being winner is tiny, why beat yourself up
Howdy All;
I have to this point, read all the comments and have left a "Like" on a few.
Seeing all sorts of arguments made both for and against Bar Box tables.
I'm a person that truly enjoys playing on a 9' table. Trouble is, ... the nearest ones are
60+ miles away. So, a 120 mile round trip fro a few hours of fun. At that expense It should
be a "Chicken Ranch" iykwim. chuckle. Within 1/2 mile there are a country bar and an
Eagles club. That's 3 bar tables. 18 miles in the other direction are 2 VFWs, American Leigon,
a Moose club and I think 2 bars. Total of 10 bar Boxes. Ya enjoy a good game, where ya gonna go?
How 'Open' the tables are is interesting. A 9x4.5=40.5 sq.ft. A 7x3.5=24.5 sq.ft. or 16 sq.ft. less
playin' area somwhere near 30% +or- a few % points. Yet the balls stay the same size. Bar Box
has slightly larger pockets, seems fair to me having to fight "City Traffic"and a small driveway
you'd need a slightly larger garage to park a F-250 with a full sized bed. Drivin' out in the open
spaces (9'er), it's almost like parkin' a Prius in a Barn by comparison. chucklin'
Bar Boxes allow folks to enjoy the game of pool in a convient distance at a reasonable cost.
They help GROW the game they don't detract from it in anyway shape or form. They are keeping Pool Alive.
hank
I have to this point, read all the comments and have left a "Like" on a few.
Seeing all sorts of arguments made both for and against Bar Box tables.
I'm a person that truly enjoys playing on a 9' table. Trouble is, ... the nearest ones are
60+ miles away. So, a 120 mile round trip fro a few hours of fun. At that expense It should
be a "Chicken Ranch" iykwim. chuckle. Within 1/2 mile there are a country bar and an
Eagles club. That's 3 bar tables. 18 miles in the other direction are 2 VFWs, American Leigon,
a Moose club and I think 2 bars. Total of 10 bar Boxes. Ya enjoy a good game, where ya gonna go?
How 'Open' the tables are is interesting. A 9x4.5=40.5 sq.ft. A 7x3.5=24.5 sq.ft. or 16 sq.ft. less
playin' area somwhere near 30% +or- a few % points. Yet the balls stay the same size. Bar Box
has slightly larger pockets, seems fair to me having to fight "City Traffic"and a small driveway
you'd need a slightly larger garage to park a F-250 with a full sized bed. Drivin' out in the open
spaces (9'er), it's almost like parkin' a Prius in a Barn by comparison. chucklin'
Bar Boxes allow folks to enjoy the game of pool in a convient distance at a reasonable cost.
They help GROW the game they don't detract from it in anyway shape or form. They are keeping Pool Alive.
hank
I think part of the difficulty of the side pockets on the valley tables is the way they are cut, it seems to really reduce the angles that balls can be pocketed from.
Those groups, APA, TAP, Valley, BCA are the life blood of Pool, without them Pool does not exist. I sub from time to time and its always amazing to me how many people ask for advise on how to play????? They just want to play as good as the better players in their league and those people are 575-620 Fargo Rated!!
The point is that if they can learn to play like those who they think can play, once they did they would likely want to continue to improve and that would grow and maintain pool. Lets support APA, BCA, TAP, Valley and anything eles that keeps the doors open and the lights on, no matter what table size they have.
Maybe some of these groups should offer free or real cheap beginner pool lessons to keep the interest alive in new players.
I have stated my opinion before on what is holding back pool in America, but I will summarize again...
All sports/competitive ventures have one thing in common. They need young blood in order to both develop talent, and to market that talent to the public.
Where can young people in America play, again? Not in bars. Not in any pool hall that sells alcohol. Which is prolly one of the few profitable ways to run a pool hall.
Young males are much more likely to want to compete at SOMETHING when they hit puberty, because of the excess testosterone... So each sport / competitive venture has a short window to "capture" these young talents. If a young man can't get into a pool hall to be exposed to the game, then what are they gonna do? Stay at home and compete at video games, for nothing more than the cost of a PC or a gaming console, the price of a single game, and possibly a small monthly fee?
That is EXACTLY what they do. The fall of pool in America came almost exactly when competitive video gaming began to rise.
The fall of pool in America is directly attributable to the fact that young boys 13-14 have no structured way to be exposed to the game at that age, due to governmental regulation that prevents them from going to the places competitive pool is played. BCA can't do jack crap about that, unless they are gonna pay for 4 table rooms to be installed at schools, and then allow good adult players to come in and play with the kids. Yeahhhhh.. Good luck widdat.
Europe has a massive advantage over us in this, as pool is structured around private clubs, that as a general rule, allow kids in even if the club serves alcohol. Plus, our American "league" system is NOTHING like Europe's. America's league system is not about competition. It's about making money.
In Europe, kids, if they are good enough, have a direct path towards playing against top pros. In Germany, if you work your way up from Kreisliga as an abject beginner, through Landesliga, Verbandsliga, Oberliga.... Then you have the opportunity to move up to Bundesliga, where you play guys like Filler.
The problem with American pool is it was never about building talent. It's about money. Which is NOT what pool in Europe is about.
There is old saying, there is strength in numbers.
Problem with a boss load of group is Kos, and Kos different set of rules.
Remember when Pro Football was National Football League, and American Football leagues. Now all Pro Football is under the NFL combined league.
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This thread makes me wonder if whatever golf forums that are out there have members bemoaning how putt-putt centers and par 3 courses are ruining the sport of golf in America.
Biloxi Boy
Man With A Golden Arm
America's Pool Hall Culture, and the attendant 9' table, was the product of an attitude or state of mind that was created and refined over a period of many (say 30 or 40) years and which is now, sadly, on its deathbed. It will never be replicated because it cannot be. Wishing for it is like wanting to be 18 again -- nice idea but it ain't gonna happen. Bar Tables did not kill pool halls, but they did not help either. I realized things were not good in the 80's when people began identifying themselves as "bar pool players". My response then, and now, is "who are you kidding, you are either a pool player or you are not". Pool is played on 9' tables.
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Not a bad idea.