Does playing on a bar box hurt your 9 ft. game??
- Thread starter THE FLASH
- Start date
billiardpete said:
I agree 100% that using the regulation cue ball is critical, but I have found that there are three things to watch out for if you spend a lot of time playing on the bar box. The first is that if you spend time on a bar box you will have to put in a little extra work on maintaining your technique and focus. This is simply because the bar box will not give you as much negative feedback on marginally struck shots and can induce a player to become a little careless in this area.
The second is that playing on the bar box can cause you to become a little careless about maintaining the proper distance between the balls in the sense that it is easier to get away with leaving yourself a little long when you're on the bar box. A 9-footer, especially if it's got tight pockets, will punish you for this sooner or later.
Finally, playing on the bar box can cause you to become a little careless about your angles. Because the shotmaking is a little easier, playing tough recovery routes will be accomplished a higher percentage of time than on the 9-footer. When you're playing on the bar box therefore, you've still got to maintain awareness of whether you are still consistently running the balls the right way if you are to successfully transfer your game to the 9-footer. If you can maintain focus on these three critical areas, you will be able to switch back to the 9-footer without too many problems.
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It is difficult to switch back & forth on a daily basis - both games may suffer as a result.
But bar box play and reg 9ft tables are 2 DIFFERENT GAMES. On a bar box, the different cue balls (mud ball, red dot, blue dot) etc. all behave differently. Strategy is very different, with balls close together, and very small targets for shape. Combos, caroms, kicks and banks rule. When in doubt, middle of the table will usually give you some kind of shot. You will use follow more than draw, and will probably fine tune your stun and run-stun strokes.
On a 9-footer, you have 16 additional square feet of real estate. As a result, strategy and patterns are different. Clusters are not as common, and moving whitey 18+ feet for shape is not uncommon. This would almost never happen on a bar box.
Anyways, point being that the 2 games are very different, with different shot selections and strategem for each venue.
When I leved in Atlanta, I learned to switch between the 2. No choice really, as there is loads of bar box action throughout the mid-south, esp GA, TN, AL. Here on the west coast, you have to really search for a bar box. I kinda miss having quarters lined up down the rail and owning the table for hours (oops, sorry, I'm awake now).
-von
But bar box play and reg 9ft tables are 2 DIFFERENT GAMES. On a bar box, the different cue balls (mud ball, red dot, blue dot) etc. all behave differently. Strategy is very different, with balls close together, and very small targets for shape. Combos, caroms, kicks and banks rule. When in doubt, middle of the table will usually give you some kind of shot. You will use follow more than draw, and will probably fine tune your stun and run-stun strokes.
On a 9-footer, you have 16 additional square feet of real estate. As a result, strategy and patterns are different. Clusters are not as common, and moving whitey 18+ feet for shape is not uncommon. This would almost never happen on a bar box.
Anyways, point being that the 2 games are very different, with different shot selections and strategem for each venue.
When I leved in Atlanta, I learned to switch between the 2. No choice really, as there is loads of bar box action throughout the mid-south, esp GA, TN, AL. Here on the west coast, you have to really search for a bar box. I kinda miss having quarters lined up down the rail and owning the table for hours (oops, sorry, I'm awake now).
-von
No, truthfully I don't think it does. (unless of course you never spend anytime on a 9 foot)THE FLASH said:
I do find the opposite to be true though. I play mostly on 9foot tables and prefer them, how ever one of the leagues I play in play on valley tables and boy if I don't go and get some practice on them the day before I'm not going to do my best.
I'm sure you'll get all kinds of answers but this is my experience.
YES! 
I was just thinking about this. On Wednesdays I play in a league at my pool hall. We play our league matches on 7 ft. Diamond tables. Tight pockets, fast cloth, and regulation cue ball. Between games we often play each other on one of the 9 ft. tables and I have found that when going from the 7 footer to the 9 footers, my ball pocketing is TERRIBLE! But I have found that going from the 9 footer to the 7 footer, ball pocketing, position, break-outs, are all fine. It takes me a while to readjust going to the 9 footer, and no time going to the 7 footer.
I was just thinking about this. On Wednesdays I play in a league at my pool hall. We play our league matches on 7 ft. Diamond tables. Tight pockets, fast cloth, and regulation cue ball. Between games we often play each other on one of the 9 ft. tables and I have found that when going from the 7 footer to the 9 footers, my ball pocketing is TERRIBLE! But I have found that going from the 9 footer to the 7 footer, ball pocketing, position, break-outs, are all fine. It takes me a while to readjust going to the 9 footer, and no time going to the 7 footer.bar box
I think the bar box reminds you that "anyone" can run out on ya. If the balls are open watch out. I am more lilely to give an opponent a "chance" on a 9 footer knowing that Ill probably come out on top. If I apply the same strategy on a bar box I will probably regret it. In this regard I believe the bar box improves your game - all around. Dont give a sucker a chance, thats the message I have learned, thanx to the bar box.
I think the bar box reminds you that "anyone" can run out on ya. If the balls are open watch out. I am more lilely to give an opponent a "chance" on a 9 footer knowing that Ill probably come out on top. If I apply the same strategy on a bar box I will probably regret it. In this regard I believe the bar box improves your game - all around. Dont give a sucker a chance, thats the message I have learned, thanx to the bar box.
THE FLASH said:
I'll talk only of 8-ball in this post.
I think it all depends on your skill level and what your particular strengths are. So, across the board, I don't think playing on a bar table hurts.
I think if you play exclusively on a bar table, then it will show up on your shotmaking on bigger tables. But, I don't think it takes very long for a decent pool player to adjust.
Likewise, if you play exclusively on 9' table, it will show up pretty quickly with position pattern on smaller tables. This is the iffy one where I think if your pattern play isn't all that strong, then it's going to take longer to get used to a bar table.
The good side of the coin is that against weaker players, pattern play won't matter as much on a bar table for a player who only plays on a 9' table. It will matter tremendously against a good bar player, however.
For the bar table player transitioning to a bigger table, shotmaking will matter more against weaker players (as well as good players) for a bar player playing on a bigger table.
I'm sure I just confused everyone. My simple answer is that it's not a yes or no question, and whatever answers people come up with, the answers don't pertain to everyone. For myself, I find going to a bigger table playing 8-ball is an easier transition than vice versa.
Fred
Gregg said:
I think that a lot of players don't realize how much they get away with on a big table.
It's easy to see if you slop a ball in on a bar table, but that's a pocket size issue. There are plenty of 9' tables out there that have sloppy pockets. And Diamond Smart Table 7 fters have tough pockets, so not much cheating allowed.
Fred
It really depends how much time you've spent recently and overall on both. Personally, it doesn't affect my 9-foot game at all but it would be safe to say that 99% of my play-time is on 9-footers. However, if I play exclusively on barboxes for about a week (which I'll do in Vegas), I'll need a few days to readjust.
Overall, I think exposing yourself to different equipment is good for your game. I don't think it's wise to be too comfortable playing on any single table (or table-type) since competition will frequently require that you play on something unfamiliar. The bottomline is, do what you want to do and don't worry about potential ramifications. All that is psychological hogwash.
Overall, I think exposing yourself to different equipment is good for your game. I don't think it's wise to be too comfortable playing on any single table (or table-type) since competition will frequently require that you play on something unfamiliar. The bottomline is, do what you want to do and don't worry about potential ramifications. All that is psychological hogwash.
Cornerman said:
No, no confusion. I think the question is a bit too general. I've played exclusively on bar boxes first and then moved onto 9' tables and ur correct. SHOT making was a bit to adjust to, but the principles still held true. After playing exclusively on 9' tables, I found going back to bar boxes that it is a bit more challenging as "I know I have to run-out or Im toast!"
But in all honesty, i don't think playing on a bar box will hurt ur 9' game..... it sounds to me that the way the question is structured that the person had already played on a 9' table, and is now playing on bar boxes, and wondering if the person gets back to 9' tables, that the person's game would be affected.... and again no. Of course, the person will have to re-adjust a bit on the shot making.
That's similar to asking if playing 9-ball hurts your Snooker game. I agree with the poster above who said that 9-ball on a 9 footer and 9-ball on a bar box are two different games. The real question is: do you want to be good at both games? If so, be a badass and practice both.
As a big money bumper pool player, I've learned that practicing any cue sport improves your game in all cue sports if you approach it correctly.
--
Tristan
As a big money bumper pool player, I've learned that practicing any cue sport improves your game in all cue sports if you approach it correctly.
--
Tristan
I dont really think that playing on a bar box hurts our game on a 9ft because you have to play them differently. When playing on a bar box, you try and play one-rail shape whenever possible because you do not have the room to move around without running into other balls. On a 9ft table, you can play more rails for better shape if needed since the pocket size difference makes shot making a little tougher. Also, there are alot more clusters to deal with usually on a bar box. I agree that using a regulation cue ball (red circle) makes a HUGE difference.
Southpaw
Southpaw
Cornerman said:
I kind of disagree with the point you're making here. I'm used to playing over 90% of my pool on very loose GCs where my league plays. Recently I played a tournament on tight 7' diamond pro-ams, and I have to say the shot-making is STILL much more forgiving on the 7', especially taking into account that you have to hit the CB a lot harder in general on the 9-footer for any tough positional shots (longer draw shots, around-the-table running english, etc.). I think the distance makes much more of a difference in ball-pocketing than the difference in tightness between even a loose brunswick and a diamond.
-Andrew
I agree with Fred that unless you play almost exclusively on a barbox, the shotmaking is not that big an issue. Most barboxes have pretty big pockets, so that can be an issue if you get used to sloppy shooting.
The biggest problem I have going back and forth is in cueball control. The barboxes around here mostly have junk cloth of some type and all the 9' have Simonis 760 or 860. In addition, the bars have a variety of awful cueballs. So every time I go to a bar, I have to adjust to the cloth, the cueball (which typically deflects less and can't be drawn appreciably, etc.), lousy lighting, in addition to the tighter confines. Ironically, on a small table you need precise position, yet the conditions makes precision extraordinarily more difficult.
The biggest problem I have going back and forth is in cueball control. The barboxes around here mostly have junk cloth of some type and all the 9' have Simonis 760 or 860. In addition, the bars have a variety of awful cueballs. So every time I go to a bar, I have to adjust to the cloth, the cueball (which typically deflects less and can't be drawn appreciably, etc.), lousy lighting, in addition to the tighter confines. Ironically, on a small table you need precise position, yet the conditions makes precision extraordinarily more difficult.