How tight are your pockets?

We have a 9ft Diamond with 4" pockets. The best player in town was disappointed when they recently recovered it. Said he thought they were going to tighten it up! lol ... I like it cause it keeps you honest and makes you try your best to run out. My high run in 9-ball is two b&r on that table. I have seen 5 one time!!
 
i havent set my table up in my basement yet, but originally i had planned to go with super tight pockets. Then seems like i read somewhere, someone was recounting a conversation they had with Lassiter talking about practice tables, and he was saying you dont want to practice on a tight table because it will get you out of stroke and rhythm. Now im rethinking the whole thing, especially after some of the posts on this thread.....what do you guys think about home table setups......super tight, kind of loose, regulation?
 
scottycoyote said:
i havent set my table up in my basement yet, but originally i had planned to go with super tight pockets. Then seems like i read somewhere, someone was recounting a conversation they had with Lassiter talking about practice tables, and he was saying you dont want to practice on a tight table because it will get you out of stroke and rhythm. Now im rethinking the whole thing, especially after some of the posts on this thread.....what do you guys think about home table setups......super tight, kind of loose, regulation?
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From personal experience, I would 100% agree with Lassiter.

A home table? I would make it a little tighter than normal, not much, but just enough so if you run into a tighter table somewhere, you won't get freaked out by it.
 
Black-Balled said:
...................there are far too many shots that cannot be done w/ pockets that tight.
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on my tight table i can do all the shots i've always done. it just makes less room for error that's all. a freind and i used to practice 9 ball on a 12 foot snooker table before tourney's. now those pockets really test your game.
 
How tight is too tight?

Isn't part of the game being able to play to areas of pockets...cheating pockets....to get leave? I've played on tables with unrealistically tight pockets and it gets to the point of almost being lucky if you can run a ball down the rail or just make a long green shots :(

Isn't there some sort of standard measurement, something like 4.5? I would think tournaments would want something regulation/consistent???
 
moccabee said:
Check them out, one of our Gold Crown's just got re-done at Cornfed's here in Columbus, Oh. Just in time for the Viking tour this weekend.

tight_pockets1.jpg

tight_pockets2.jpg
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Because the cut is too angled, once the cloth on that table gets broken in, it will be even more difficult. My hunch is you will not see too many players on this one. In my opinion, this way too much angle for a small pocket.

Chris
 
tight pockets

Mine are 4.25 which are plenty tight for me.

Slows down my straight pool game some.
 
9' Olhausen Drake 4.5", thats small enough for me. If you hit with any speed and are a bit off center the ball rattles and kicks out of the pocket. Slow shots are a lot more forgiving.
 
I think tight pockets are a valuable tool, but aren't god's gift to concentration and shot making. If you want to play pocket billiards on a super tight table, go try your cue at snooker.

One of the things I know about pool is that it's designed so that (in 9-ball anyway) you almost always have a shot -- be it a thin cut, running it down the rail, long and straight in, a carom, combo, cheating the pocket, etc. It's not like snooker, where cutting a ball down the rail is near impossible and generates enormous applause.

But I do know that playing on a super tight pocket table like the picture I posted earlier makes you a LOT smarter in position play. You avoid getting on the wrong side of the ball at all costs, because any fance position work to compensate will usually result in a miss. If anyone's seen SJM play, he really does make the game look easy (as opposed to my game!). Playing on tight pockets forces you to play like this... easy, makeable angles, right side of the ball, etc etc.

At the same time, I do agree with the likes of Lassiter (hard not to!) in that you have to play on a reasonable table to let your stroke out. It's hard to get in the zone and freewheel for a bit if you're afraid to pull the trigger.

To each their own, and to some,... both!
 
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Ernesto made my pockets a tight 4", straight cut (my request). Someone tell me how to attach a photo on here and I will. Thanks.
 
Jay... below the message box while you are typing is "Additional Options"... within "Attach Files" instructions area, click on the "Manage Attachments" button and a pop-up window will open... click on the "Browse" button and another window will open allowing you to choose which file from your hard drive that you want to attach. The easiest is to copy and paste the file to your desk top before you start the process... and then when you get to the last step that I explained... click on the "Desk Top" button in the left margin of your hard drive window... and then double-click on the file that you want to upload... and when you do that the last step is to click on the adjacent "Upload" button (adjacent to the "Browse" button)... and then click on the "Preview Post" button to make sure that your picture was uploaded and looks good. Lastly, click on the "Submit Reply" button... and good luck, brother!! :)
 
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this thread got me thinking...we need a math guru to come up with a "pocket rating" for tables...something we all could use and understand. It should take into consideration rail/pocket angle, shelf depth, and width at opening points and crunch all those variables into a number or average. Then when we say....hey I just put a hundred on that table with an "X" pocket rating...we all will know what equipment it happened on!

ok who has the math dergee? :)

Gerry
 
Too many variables! What about cloth speed/slide, etc?

Really tho, it's good to know. People bring up all the time Mosconi's record run, often citing that it was on a 4 x 8 with obscene buckets.

Gerry said:
this thread got me thinking...we need a math guru to come up with a "pocket rating" for tables...something we all could use and understand. It should take into consideration rail/pocket angle, shelf depth, and width at opening points and crunch all those variables into a number or average. Then when we say....hey I just put a hundred on that table with an "X" pocket rating...we all will know what equipment it happened on!

ok who has the math dergee? :)

Gerry
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My wife and I have a 9 foot Charles Anthony table with 4.75" pockets. I am in the process of finding someone reputable to shim them down to about 4.25" to 4.5". If you know anyone in the Phoenix area let me know.

BVal
 
Mine are 4" but cut straight (by Ernesto). That makes them play a little larger and a rail shot struck with speed will drop as long as it clears the point.

I would warn against side pockets less than about 4.75" - anything smaller takes away a lot of shots.

Pocket.jpg
 
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Well here we go. It's a Brunswick Gipson table, the modern version of the Anniversary. Ernesto made 4" pockets. I can't make a ball on my own table. Doesn't seem to bother Tang and Shane though.

Couldn't upload photo. It said my photo with 127 kilobytes exceeds the forum limit of 100kb's for this type photo. And I pushed it down as far as I could to "economy" setting. Oh well, nice try.
 
Anyone have a pic of the pockets at Hard Times in Sac? I really like how the pockets on the GCIV's in their tournament room play. Out of the pockets that I've tried, those are my favorite. Tight, but not insane.
 
skins said:
on my tight table i can do all the shots i've always done. it just makes less room for error that's all. a freind and i used to practice 9 ball on a 12 foot snooker table before tourney's. now those pockets really test your game.
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I have played on a snooker table with poool balls and found it impossible, for all practical purposes, to shoot a ball up the rail and make it. Now, trying the same and drawing CB a foot or so? Not gonna happen.

I don't know how tight your (pool) table is, or 'the shots you've always done', but I mantain the belief that there are shots that cannot be executed on a super-tight table. I know how to adjust and have no qualms about getting down on a tight one, I just wouldn't want one in my home 'coz I feel it would tie my hands, so to say...

And I am not telling how to adjust for the virgin mary either;)
 
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