Good to know
Drop pocket vs. gully... what is your preference and why?
- Thread starter Southport Lanes
- Start date
Always cracked me up playing on these perfect rolling laboratory grade tables and the balls would jump the return rails and fall to the floor or get stuck on the side panels - sometimes in hidden spots you had to get under the table and hunt for the ball.
The antique Schmidt tables I learned on, had deep, leather net pockets. Hardly ever had to empty one before the 9-ball ring game was over, and the pocketing sound was kind of a …‘kassshinnk’.
I think my favorite tables were EA Schmidt or Schmidt and somebody. Reaching after fifty years and I might be completely wrong. They had the standard cut leather pockets but the cut diamonds didn't start until a few inches down and there was a "burner" that was the first thing hit, heavy saddle leather protecting the pocket itself. Some old five by tens in a basement near LSU-BR. I liked the sound so much I sometimes played shape just to be able to drive balls cleanly into centerpocket of the corners.
A long dark high ceilinged room that smelled heavily of leather and wood. It wasn't like walking into a church but it had it's own unique feel and smell like a church. They uncovered a table for you and the rack "boy" who would never see seventy again racked the balls, a dime a rack. If I was flush I was a big tipper and would give him a quarter a rack. If things were tight, fifteen cents.
There was a similar place on Chimes near Highland Road but the one I am thinking of was the basement of a frat house if I am not mistaken. You were supposed to have a member of the frat with you to play but after I was a regular I eased in a few times without one.
That place, the old five by tens, the quiet, the rich but not offensive smell, this has always been what a pool hall should be in my mind.
Hu
Southport Lanes
Member
Validation - as well as just checking that I'm not missing something. Plus I haven't bought a new table in decades. I'm old enough to know that I don't know everything - and any time I think I do I should probably ask for advicePerhaps he’s seeking validation.
Nyquil
Well-known member
I bought a diamond pro am (ball return) and I so wish I would have bought the diamond professional (drop pocket) instead for my home table. If you play a lot of straight pool or one pocket then it may be worth it for ball return. The major benefit of drop pocket is your balls will stay prestine for much longer and your cloth will stay cleaner.
why?
Drop pocket for one pocket and some practice routines, gully for the rest.
thanks for the reply
Or, you could just use V10 chalk, thus keeping the balls (and returns) clean, and save on shoe leather.
On a Diamond, maybe but not a Gold Crown.
If it's setup properly it will. I've had ball return on my GCI for a few years now (used to be drop pocket) and I've not had a ball get stuck.
You'd think. One in particular - an old one, had those guided pocket drains and everything. If you hit the ball wrong, it would magically jump the tracks. Thinking about it, must've been the pocket liners spinning the ball onto the rubberized tracks.