How to practice on a small table?

[Straightpool_99]

I've made my sentiments on small tables clear previously, and I'm not in favor of them for competition or serious play, at least not for pros or advanced players. Personally I have never enjoyed playing on smaller tables and would rather play on snooker tables than bar tables. However I'm in a very busy time right now and can no longer make trips to the pool hall a priority, and will have to sneak in some practice at home. I do happen to have an old 7 foot table that fits in my apartment living room. I bought it on a whim and never set it up. There is no way I can fit a big table in there and the weight of such a table would be a concern as well, otherwise I would have done it without a doubt.

I would only be practicing to maintain my stroke and am not looking to waste time, so I need really tough excercises to get the most out of the little spare time I'm going to have. It will be pure maintainance work, and I'm probably not going to play even a single game. I'm looking primarily for drills that challenge your stroke and touch, the tougher, the better. I'll be using "Practice Pro" pocket reducers, which makes the pockets about 3,25 inches, so that will certainly help.

Any suggestions for drills?

I thought I'd do the Tor Lowry stroke drill for the first few weeks. Has anyone got other suggestions?

 

[PoolBoy1]

Your fretting about nothing. Just practice anyway you want. When playing on larger tables get there early and warm up. Getting the speed of the various tables is more important for position. Don't let a larger table call the shots. Play position properly using less english and using angles and your shots won't be that much longer. Now if the pockets are smaller I'd worry if I had a loose stroke.

 

[JeremiahGage]

You will have much less room for positioning on a smaller table, so I would recommend tight cue ball control drills like the "L" drill.

 

[Donny Lutz]

2 things

I've made my sentiments on small tables clear previously, and I'm not in favor of them for competition or serious play, at least not for pros or advanced players. Personally I have never enjoyed playing on smaller tables and would rather play on snooker tables than bar tables. However I'm in a very busy time right now and can no longer make trips to the pool hall a priority, and will have to sneak in some practice at home. I do happen to have an old 7 foot table that fits in my apartment living room. I bought it on a whim and never set it up. There is no way I can fit a big table in there and the weight of such a table would be a concern as well, otherwise I would have done it without a doubt.

I would only be practicing to maintain my stroke and am not looking to waste time, so I need really tough excercises to get the most out of the little spare time I'm going to have. It will be pure maintainance work, and I'm probably not going to play even a single game. I'm looking primarily for drills that challenge your stroke and touch, the tougher, the better. I'll be using "Practice Pro" pocket reducers, which makes the pockets about 3,25 inches, so that will certainly help.

Any suggestions for drills?

I thought I'd do the Tor Lowry stroke drill for the first few weeks. Has anyone got other suggestions?

Two kinds of shots that are pretty much identical on any table are shooting the cue ball when it's frozen or very close to the rail, and "nudge" shots (often safeties), where you need to move the cue ball only a very short distance.