Do wives or husbands pick red cloth?

If the opacity of the cloth or reflectivity of the cloth could be adjusted to appear more blue or red.

Ive been studying RGB LED bulbs in a pool scenario. If someone has limited vision or blurry vision, then specific lighting patterns can be used to help identify objects.

Basically glow in the dark pool but programmable. A local bowling league has glow in the dark bowling and its fun. Kids like games in dark rooms with cool lights.

If they sold undyed cloth, I would buy multiple sets for experimentation.
 
Burgundy seems far more popular than red for home tables. In our area, non pool playing home owners allow their interior decorator to have the final word on their table cloth color, even though they are clueless on what colors as best to play on. What color goes best with what’s in the room is their only concern. Spruce green seems to be their color of choice, although most players find that color too dark, much like navy blue or black.
I hear you on spruce green, navy and black being too dark. If the 6 or 8 ball is on the end rail I am too blind to see the edge of the ball. It blends into a mass of fuzz.
 
I was always in the blue (ideal modern option) or green (traditional) camp...but grey looks really sharp and the neutrality of it I think would make it look good in almost any space. I've been seeing it used in some tournaments and think it's great on TV too

"The Man" Shane makes gray look better as well ! 😉
 
I picked my wine colored Simonis 860 cloth. I don't regret it. I am the husband.
 
A pool table in the home of a non-player is more or less a piece of fancy furniture. So they go with eye-catching appeal that stands out, like red cloth or cloth with their favorite football team logo all over it. It looks cool/neat, but it's not very practical.

That doesn't mean a world beater can't pick that style of cloth if he or she wants it. But typically it's just for looks.
 
My old eyes have this exact same problem.
I've also got old and terrible eyes, but my problem is never with the cloth / ball color contrast when I'm playing. My problem is watching streamed matches and telling the pink 4 from the orange 5, or the dark red 3 from the maroon 7, and the pale green 6 from the robin's egg blue 7. With the more traditional ball colors, I often find it hard to tell the dark blue 2 from the purple 4, or the dark green 6 from the 8. This problem would go away if the 2 ball were a lighter blue, the 3 ball a consistently fire engine red, the 6 ball a lighter shade of green, and the 7 ball a lighter shade of brown. I prefer green or tournament blue cloth, but with streaming the gray is also fine. I can't even imagine choosing a red cloth, and in a pool room I don't think I've seen one of those for about the last 50 years.

The ball differentiation problem is particularly bad with older non-HD matches, but even with current HD streamed matches I appreciate it when the commentators call out the position of the balls after the break. Cardone used to be especially good about this, and it makes anticipating the runout patterns a lot easier.
 
Here is a photo of a 10-ft snooker table recovered in gray. Most of the snooker players choose this table to play on over the green table right next to it because they enjoy the gray.
 

Attachments

  • 20240104_183953.jpg
    20240104_183953.jpg
    203.5 KB · Views: 98
I sort of dissed gray before I actually seen it on the table. Once I seen it on the snooker table I realized that the contrast between the colored balls and the cloth cause the balls to stand out well. The colored balls really sort of pop to the eye because of the contrast.
Gray cloth seems to be all the rage now that Matchroom has switched to it. In a poolroom, I would be concerned what it would look like with blue chalk marks all over it, that you may not be able to get out.

Many players are going to be reluctant to using gray Master chalk vs blue, and many players with their own cues now have their own premium chalk, none of which I’ve ever seen is gray.

Oscar’s Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento has switched to gray. I may consider switching from tournament blue to gray on our next re-covering, if Oscar can confirm that the use of other color chalks on the table, specifically Master blue, is not a problem in maintaining the looks of the cloth over the long term.
 
Last edited:
Gray cloth seems to be all the rage now that Matchroom has switched to it. In a poolroom, I would be concerned what it would look like with blue chalk marks all over it, that you may not be able to get out.

Many players are going to be reluctant to using gray Master chalk vs blue, and many players with their own cues now have their own premium chalk, none of which I’ve ever seen is gray.

Oscar’s Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento has switched to gray. I may consider switching from tournament blue to gray on our next re-covering, if Oscar can confirm that the use of other color chalks on the table, specifically Master blue, is not a problem in maintaining the looks of the cloth over the long term.
Master sells gray chalk(sry just saw you mentioned). And many also have said the gray chalk works good with the blue cloth. So I wouldn’t be surprised if blue goes ok with the gray. But the gray might get a bit darker over time rather than lighter, like bolder color cloth, using the blue. I don’t think with regular cleaning you’d have an issue though.

Now if someone decides to use predator blue chalk on it that could be an issue
 
Last edited:
Master sells gray chalk(sry just saw you mentioned). And many also have said the gray chalk works good with the blue cloth. So I wouldn’t be surprised if blue goes ok with the gray. But the gray might get a bit darker over time rather than lighter using the blue. I don’t think with regular cleaning you’d have an issue though.
I am aware Master comes in gray, but pool players are creatures of habit, and some of them will be reluctant to use gray chalk on their own cues.
 
I am aware Master comes in gray, but pool players are creatures of habit, and some of them will be reluctant to use gray chalk on their own cues.
I know. Well maybe. At the same time a lot of those same players weren’t using blue when the cloth was green. So why do they need blue now? But like I added on quoted post that predator chalk would make me cringe if I had just changed to a gray cloth. No way on that. It’s messy as hell.
 
I am aware Master comes in gray, but pool players are creatures of habit, and some of them will be reluctant to use gray chalk on their own cues.
I tried switching to Masters gray in the past after having a cue refinished hoping to reduce the discoloration that blue provides. I really didn’t like it, particularly when compared to Sky Blue and ended up giving the remaining pieces in the box back to the room owner who sold it to me.

I have been curious what chalks advanced/pro players are using in those tournaments. I like the gray cloth that is becoming popular. My suggestion would be to make sure you find a chalk that you like before deciding to switch to such a light colored cloth.
 
I tried switching to Masters gray in the past after having a cue refinished hoping to reduce the discoloration that blue provides. I really didn’t like it, particularly when compared to Sky Blue and ended up giving the remaining pieces in the box back to the room owner who sold it to me.

I have been curious what chalks advanced/pro players are using in those tournaments. I like the gray cloth that is becoming popular. My suggestion would be to make sure you find a chalk that you like before deciding to switch to such a light colored cloth.
The pros are using Toam or the new Predator Pure chalk. Not all of them but a quite a few of them.

Some are still using masters blue but it's not a big deal as the cloth gets changed after the tournament.
 
The pros are using Toam or the new Predator Pure chalk. Not all of them but a quite a few of them.

Some are still using masters blue but it's not a big deal as the cloth gets changed after the tournament.
I’m referring to a poolroom where we change our cloth every 1 or even 2 years, if it’s well maintained. It’s impossible to patrol what color chalk all players with their own cues and chalk are using.
 
I’m referring to a poolroom where we change our cloth every 1 or even 2 years, if it’s well maintained. It’s impossible to patrol what color chalk all players with their own cues and chalk are using.
Our local room owner won’t allow gray or tan on his tournament blue cloth and another pool room in our state that uses tan cloth is pretty strict about allowing only tan chalk. People grumbled initially, but got over it. But those were the days before the expensive brands became popular.
 
I worked at a hall in high school that had all red tables, 30 or 32, even the snooker table. Hated it, the chalk made everything red and didn't come out of your clothes easily either. It was a great room, layout was nice, bar was nice and in a separate room. We had a couple of big tournaments that drew some high level pros of that time, including Efren and Bustamante. They would come once and not come back, same with road players. They all said it was because of the red tables.
 
The best is red cloth with green cushions which reminds me of the red green show. I dont know how much it was aired in the US, It's a Canadian cultural thing.. :-)

"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."
 

Attachments

  • Untitled.jpg
    Untitled.jpg
    263.5 KB · Views: 62
Back
Top