Do tight pockets make you stroke differently?

JB Cases said:
I think he means that on the net everyone plays like a champion. :)

www.jbcases.com
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Well, I know for a fact that both you and I do JB !! :D

I never miss from key board.

I also play on tight pockets in real life too......

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Pidge said:
Even in 8 ball its easy to snooker someone on 7 balls. But to snooker someone on 10-15 balls is just a different level of safety play.
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You sure you're from across the pond? Maybe you forget that many times the reds are all still lumped together at one end and that blockers have been pre-placed elsewhere on the table. Could be a little different if the stack was opened like in 8b, but that's not the case.

Pidge said:
Now back to the original question; the tightest pockets I've played 9 ball on were on a Diamond table. I don't know the pocket size, but 2 balls wouldn't fit past the points. I wouldn't class them as 'tight', just 'tighter'. Didn't make it harder to make balls down the rail and I could cheat the pocket to some extent. Can't say my stroke changed either.
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So why aren't you in the Cup action? Must've just missed the cut, I guess. :rolleyes: From the sounds of it, you miss less than those pros have on such easy conditions.

Pidge said:
I have yet to play on an American style pocket billiards table that I've thought "hmm, this table is too tight". Its hard to have a tight table with pointed rails...the pockets would have to be really small for me to class it as tight. It takes real skill to hit a shot just off the rail into the 2nd diamond and still pocket it! "cheating the pocket at its finest", right...? I think you'll find that is luck and god awful aim.
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See above.

Your last name wouldn't happen to be Point, would it? PidgePoint.. has a ring to it, I'd say.
 
Pidge said:
I have yet to play on an American style pocket billiards table that I've thought "hmm, this table is too tight".
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Try the tables on GB9. They're brutal, and very little fun.

I much prefer big pockets and slow cloths. If I want precision, I'll play snooker or English pool. But I want to bash them about and move the white around the table.
 
TheThaiger said:
Try the tables on GB9. They're brutal, and very little fun.

I much prefer big pockets and slow cloths. If I want precision, I'll play snooker or English pool. But I want to bash them about and move the white around the table.
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Aren't they diamond pros on the GB9? I dunno. I've played on diamonds before with narrow pockets and enjoyed it. The tables at my local and home table are both k steels, with big old pockets and I just prefer the challenge of narrow pockets.

I play snooker and English pool now and again but they bore me. Much prefer the wham bam thank you mam game of 9 ball.
 
Pidge said:
Aren't they diamond pros on the GB9? I dunno. I've played on diamonds before with narrow pockets and enjoyed it. The tables at my local and home table are both k steels, with big old pockets and I just prefer the challenge of narrow pockets.

I play snooker and English pool now and again but they bore me. Much prefer the wham bam thank you mam game of 9 ball.
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No, they're (triple?) shimmed K steels, but don't play anything like the ones in clubs. Any sort of touch on the cushion and it won't go in. They play like bigger English pool tables.
 
Pidge said:
Perhaps I need to flog mine and buy one of the GB9 tables.
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Sam Leisure do/did the tables in Daventry, and you can get them to do your own so they play in an identical fashion. Quite a few tour players do this, both at home and in their clubs. It's not cheap, however, at around £600. You get Simonis 860, Artemis cushions, shims, fitting, leveling etc.
 
TheThaiger said:
Sam Leisure do/did the tables in Daventry, and you can get them to do your own so they play in an identical fashion. Quite a few tour players do this, both at home and in their clubs. It's not cheap, however, at around £600. You get Simonis 860, Artemis cushions, shims, fitting, leveling etc.
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Cheers for that. Already have 860 on my table so might knock a bit off the price.
 
pt109 said:
Well, Pidge....I really want to keep this to words on a screen.
I feel words become even more important when they're from an anonymous
source.
So lets stick to the math.....
You should not compare games of 9-ball to games of snooker...but if you
play either game for 10 hours, the best player wins.

On tight tables, you can afford to miss, playing a ball in or playing a safe.
Often, they can't score in return...even high-level players.
Now, try messing up on a loose table...you most often lose.

I feel loose tables favor 'cue-ball control' and 'choice of shots'.
Tight tables favor accuracy much more.

I have always felt that luck is a greater influence on tight pockets.
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No one plays good on tight pockets without great cueball control. On the tighter pocket tables you will see the better players playing very close shape.
 
Neil said:
I would rather play someone on tight pockets where the skill comes into play more. I've watched guys hit just past the side pocket on the long rail and the ball still goes in the hole in the corner! Big pockets and soft rails make it where you can miss by 3 1/2 diamonds and still make it. That's no fun for me. When I lose, I want it to be because the other guy was better than me. Not because the pocket is essentially 9" wide and he is just slow rolling everything in the general direction of the pocket. There's a few guys here that on some tables I will only play them even. But on a tight table I will give them the 7 and still win.
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It would depend on how tight the table is that determined if weight favored the better player. An example would be giving the last 2 on a snooker table playing 6 ball. Another example, a gaff table with 3 7/8" pockets, the 7 would be huge. Shane can get action giving me the last 2 playing 6 ball on a snooker table. See what I mean?
 
backplaying said:
No one plays good on tight pockets without great cueball control. On the tighter pocket tables you will see the better players playing very close shape.
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I think they play more safeties...they can't afford to make position as
big a part of their decisions.

A little story.....
Cliff Thorburn was known by his peers in the 70's as the best 6x6 player
in the world...the British players had the edge on the long game.
John Virgo came to Canada for a tournament on a 6x12 Gold Crown....
...it had generous 3&5/8ths inch pockets and shallow shelves.
After one game, he said, now I know why Cliff is the best at this half
of the table......
..the pockets gave Cliff the liberty of learning position shots that the
British didn't know...they were too busy trying to make the damn ball.

The new breed have caught up now...I think it is because they're
playing on faster cloth.

George Chenier got the same reception in the early 50's in Britain...
...they called him the master of the cue-ball.
 
My training table has even tighter pockets than this (just a little). Didn't read all the 7 pages but I can say that I don't change my stroke. I just concentrate a little harder.
 
backplaying said:
John, I know you are a good player, but have you tried to shorten the distance of your bridge hand to the cueball? Try it if you haven't.
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Sorry I didn't see this earlier. I play with a pretty short bridge similar to Allen Hopkins. I tried to go to a longer Filipino style bridge a while back but I absolutely can't get into it.
 
JB Cases said:
Sorry I didn't see this earlier. I play with a pretty short bridge similar to Allen Hopkins. I tried to go to a longer Filipino style bridge a while back but I absolutely can't get into it.
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Every so often, I'll find myself trying to emulate Efren's stroke. At first, I start playing great, but then I find myself missing everything.

If there was a pro that I think my natural style resembles the most it would be Alex P.

In style only, of course, not execution :smile:
 
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