Diamond Pool Tables - Degree of Difficulty

[jrctherake]

The Red Label Diamond I was practicing on cost me a tournament win against Morra first round of the One Pocket the year he won the Banks.. Had him down 2-1 and could not make a cross corner to close him out to save my life.

Didn't even know there was such a thing as Red Label / Blue Label. I just went thinking that all cross corners were super sensitive to speed. Didn't realize I had been playing on utter garbage.

Short Bus Russ

That has been my experience as well as many, many others. If they had not changed it would have IMO been a disaster for diamond billiards.

Having said the above, I absolutely LOVE blue label diamonds. Even the bar box diamonds and I hate all toy tables in general.

Rake

 

[easy-e]

The Red Label Diamond I was practicing on cost me a tournament win against Morra first round of the One Pocket the year he won the Banks.. Had him down 2-1 and could not make a cross corner to close him out to save my life.

Didn't even know there was such a thing as Red Label / Blue Label. I just went thinking that all cross corners were super sensitive to speed. Didn't realize I had been playing on utter garbage.

Short Bus Russ

Was he making HIS cross corner banks?

 

[ShortBusRuss]

Was he making HIS cross corner banks?

Lol... Let's just say after watching the full finals the night before, my moving priority was to never give him a bank, no matter how tough... It even led to me putting him up in the far corner on his side of the table...

On a positive note... My wife and I just found the perfect place here in Germany last night, with room in the attic for a full 9 footer, and room for a complete gym in a separate room.

Now, just need to hear back from the guy at the European Diamond dealership in Finland on the possibility of getting a Diamond with a three piece slate for the attic.I was gonna try to buy a GC III and get it "Diamondized", but spoke with RealKingCobra, and he reminded me I'll always be able to sell the Diamond at little to no loss if I have to leave Germany..

 

[rtrdriver]

I have to agree on all of your points. I played at Rack-em when you owned it and didn't much care for the way the diamonds played either. It may have been because we were playing on Murray tables most of the time at a place down the street.

They have changed the tables since then; now they have the blue label tables as compared to the red label tables that were at Rack-em. And yes, IMO they are the best playing tables made today. Although it seems many have the opposite opinion.

I'm an old school player that learned on slow thick felt tables with buckets for pockets. When I play on a table, I want to be challenged by it and not have something that anyone with lessor skills can be able to make, in my opinion, slop shots because it's so easy to play on.

I think the reason most of the opinions on Diamond tables are negative, is because you need to be more accurate to make balls on these tables, not hit half way down the rail and the ball still falls in. Or be able to slam a pocket and have it rattle and not go in. These tables have turned the game into a more finesse game rather than an any man's game.

I understand the commercial aspect of the Diamond not being a user friendly table for amateurs. Maybe a room owner should consider having a few other types of tables for those types of players. The best thing would be to cater to both amateurs and the more skilled players. You don't have to have a room full of Diamond tables.

:wave:

I opened up a room in Denver early nineties. We were the first room in CO to have Diamond 9 footers. Welllllllllllllllll, they sucked. Tony of Tonys Hustlers set em up and did a great job, I think we had 16 and a four pack of bar tables and a snooker. Name was Rack Em, and they are still open. I did design the room for ''play''. Anywho, the shelfs were too deep, there were no holders for the rakes, we needed beads at every table for scoring, and the balls banked COMPLETELY different than all the tables in the last century or more. They have come a looooooooooooooong way since then and being at DCC this past year, I actually played on one that played better than any table I have ever played on since the early sixties. They finally got the rails, the pocket shelfs right and they at least have baskets for their alleged ball box area. the Artemis intercontinental 66 cushions play perfect. They bolt up to GC I's and on.