mapman72
New member
The Planet Pool Tour held an event this weekend at Great Slates in Cambridge, MD. This room is gorgeous and as always, the tournament went great and the staffs (both Planet Pool and Great Slates) were very helpful. All weekend players were having a great deal of difficulty adjusting to the equipment. I overheard Dennis Hatch, Sparky Farrell, Mike Davis, and other great players talking about how the tables were tough. I thought the tables were tough too, but I couldn't figure out exactly what the problem was. I've definitely played on tables with tighter pockets, but for some reason (other than my lack of ability) I was having a really hard time pocketing balls. I noticed this from the top players as well. In the end, I heard a few explanations for the difficulties and they went like this:
1. The rails were springy but the cloth was slow.
2. The tables were a little "dead" and players were forced to hit balls harder into these fairly tight pockets causing a lot of misses.
3. This room, more than others, is subject to changes in humidity that significantly effect the way they play, especially the rails.
This is not a knock on Great Slates because I think it's one of the nicest rooms I've ever played in, but I was just wondering if these tables are notorious for being tough to play on or if this is something that is caused by humidity changes in this particular room. I think the actual tables are something like these:
http://www.gabrielsbilliards.com/english/billiardtables/pool/matrix.htm
1. The rails were springy but the cloth was slow.
2. The tables were a little "dead" and players were forced to hit balls harder into these fairly tight pockets causing a lot of misses.
3. This room, more than others, is subject to changes in humidity that significantly effect the way they play, especially the rails.
This is not a knock on Great Slates because I think it's one of the nicest rooms I've ever played in, but I was just wondering if these tables are notorious for being tough to play on or if this is something that is caused by humidity changes in this particular room. I think the actual tables are something like these:
http://www.gabrielsbilliards.com/english/billiardtables/pool/matrix.htm