the top pros don't compete very often on 4.5" these days. predator tour has tight pockets, MR tour has tight pockets, most satelite MNT events seem to have tight pockets. there are a few bar table events such as the ongoing bayou event, but they have alternate break.
is there benefit to increasing table difficulty factor on my home table?
- Thread starter CanadianGuy
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the top pros don't compete very often on 4.5" these days. predator tour has tight pockets, MR tour has tight pockets, most satelite MNT events seem to have tight pockets. there are a few bar table events such as the ongoing bayou event, but they have alternate break.
What brand table is currently en vogue for match room? Rasson?
MR uses diamond tables for all their ranking events. the satellite events (other promotors) on the tour use all kinds, rasson, gc clones etc
Progress report.It's an illusion. It's a custom modification of the old Fisher. Handcrafted. It's a spacer that lowered the nose height and tighten the pockets a little. Plastic salvaged and ripped on a table saw.
My table my goal is good play. The rails are ready for a little tlc. Just not a priority. The pockets are butt ugly but won't damage the balls.and play right.
Today's playView attachment 742490
Up the skirt look.
The salvaged guys tie down. The miters are caulked and screwed to furniture grade.
Sick. I think Taylor Swift will win the Superbowl and also deliver me from my sins. Praise be.Progress report.
Up the skirt look.View attachment 742785The salvaged guys tie down. The miters are caulked and screwed to furniture grade.
Ghost of OBC
Well-known member
This is exactly why there should be a standard, or one standard for amateur play and one professional play. Trying to buy a home table knowing competition equipment could be plus or minus 20 percent is ridiculous for a game played on a piece of manufactured furniture. It isn't like we live in a world where manufacturers lack the requisite measuring apparatus to build pool tables to a standard.
The tennis net and lines on a tennis court can be made within a percent of the prescribed standard. Somehow that is unpossible with pool tables?
The tennis net and lines on a tennis court can be made within a percent of the prescribed standard. Somehow that is unpossible with pool tables?
If you don't play good position on a Valley, your shotmaking may help you run out, that's true. But it will 100% still catch up to you. If you're an A player, it might be the difference between running 2 racks or running 4 racks. If your opponent is also an A player, that one position error that got you hooked or you missed the ball is the difference between winning and losing the entire match.That’s just nonsense lol none of that makes sense . I don’t need to play as a good a position on a valley because I know if I‘m off who cares. The pockets are so big just hit it smooth with a medium speed .. it will drop right and roll it to the next position or if I actually have to hit it with speed I still have a huge margin of error. I feel no pressure to play great position on a big pocket table because thanks to my home table I know it’s easy to get out of trouble on the valley slush Box. It’s not to say you can’t ever rattle a ball on a valley but it’s a lot harder to which changes everything. It’s like saying if you make a golf hole 5x bigger it won’t make putting easiersorry man but there is 0 common sense to this post.
if its all about pocket size for the top 20 players in the world then sure maybe 4 inch pockets is right for their contests.
but for the vast majority of pool players and just fun players, the tight pockets are a liability to having fun and getting others into the game and wanting to go farther into it.
if on your home table make it however you want its yours. but try shooting at one half of the pocket if you want to hone in your shot making.
then you also get to see exactly by how much you are missing while learning improvement on moving the cue ball around by using the whole pocket for angles
but for the vast majority of pool players and just fun players, the tight pockets are a liability to having fun and getting others into the game and wanting to go farther into it.
if on your home table make it however you want its yours. but try shooting at one half of the pocket if you want to hone in your shot making.
then you also get to see exactly by how much you are missing while learning improvement on moving the cue ball around by using the whole pocket for angles
Agree. You could be "tough" on yourself on your practice table with buckets, while playing the ghost. If you brush the rail in the slightest on the way in, consider it a miss. Ghost wins. Then practice that shot after the set over and over until you can make it without brushing the rail.
Whatever the motivation, yes there is much to be said for conditional workouts. Would the practicer stick to the program? Tighter pockets have that restriction built in and give dimensionally consistent feedback. I find the only use I have for loose pockets is learning to jaw the object ball. Still can't do it past hang speed. Have acquired basic facility with titty banks though.
Been a couple of days since I paid attention. Catching up now and I can't wrap my head around the opinions that the idea of playing on more difficult equipment won't making your overall game better. I just don't understand the logic. Are those in this thread who claim this, not actually tried it..?
The whole reason I reconditioned my home table in the first place was because of the buckets it originally had. I had grown so accustomed to it's slop that when covid finally blew over, I played like utter crap at my local room. The frustration was so high that I literally took a knife to my cloth after league to force the rework...lol. Fast forward a year or so, and the 4.25 pockets at home have made my average play on point nearly all the time. The only situation where it hasn't notably helped me is when I travel to rooms with tightly cut diamonds. Where I struggle with the accuracy they require. Notice a trend...? If my table had the slate of a diamond and subsequent shelf depth. I'm sure I'd be playing lights out there. Why..? Because the zones in which you need to hit the pocket to drop balls becomes muscle memory and not a conscious adjustment as it it is now.
Maybe this is one of those conversations on AZB wherein the level of the players speaking their opinions needs to be considered.
All that said.... The OP wants to become a 700 player. That's a level of commitment to performing your best day in day out and various locations. Growing accustomed to slop at home will not get him there, period. You would either need incredible command on your game to switch up to random conditions, or sculpt your game into some more universal. There is zero downside to having the ability to pot and control the CB on tight equipment, when you have the opportunity to play on something looser. The same can't be said going the other way.
The whole reason I reconditioned my home table in the first place was because of the buckets it originally had. I had grown so accustomed to it's slop that when covid finally blew over, I played like utter crap at my local room. The frustration was so high that I literally took a knife to my cloth after league to force the rework...lol. Fast forward a year or so, and the 4.25 pockets at home have made my average play on point nearly all the time. The only situation where it hasn't notably helped me is when I travel to rooms with tightly cut diamonds. Where I struggle with the accuracy they require. Notice a trend...? If my table had the slate of a diamond and subsequent shelf depth. I'm sure I'd be playing lights out there. Why..? Because the zones in which you need to hit the pocket to drop balls becomes muscle memory and not a conscious adjustment as it it is now.
Maybe this is one of those conversations on AZB wherein the level of the players speaking their opinions needs to be considered.
All that said.... The OP wants to become a 700 player. That's a level of commitment to performing your best day in day out and various locations. Growing accustomed to slop at home will not get him there, period. You would either need incredible command on your game to switch up to random conditions, or sculpt your game into some more universal. There is zero downside to having the ability to pot and control the CB on tight equipment, when you have the opportunity to play on something looser. The same can't be said going the other way.
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Kaci also ran a 10 pack and out in a 10B even streamed by POV Pool some years back. I don’t recall which even it was though.
I agree with this. There probably is something to be said about the level of play. I know a semi-serious bar table player that got a 9 foot Diamond because he figured it would improve his game. It didn't. He sold it and got a bar table. It was just too hard for his level of play to be enjoyable as he was more of just a player than a "sportsman". I just made up that distinction.
I'd say he was probably around a 550. The 650+ range may be the sweet spot for being SURE to enjoy the more challenging table. Those below, probably need to have really driven personalities to enjoy tougher equipment. Many of them end up backtracking later on.Want to say it was at Griff's in Vegas, and I'm nearly certain it was against Pagulayan
You need to pick equipment to match your focus as well. As a BB specialist the move isn't a 9ft. The big table table is different. It's more than just longer pots.I agree with this. There probably is something to be said about the level of play. I know a semi-serious bar table player that got a 9 foot Diamond because he figured it would improve his game. It didn't. He sold it and got a bar table. It was just too hard for his level of play to be enjoyable as he was more of just a player than a "sportsman". I just made up that distinction.
I can say that when I first sighted a long pot into the freshly constructed 4.25 corners on my table. It was a 'oh f*ck' moment, but in short order I got dialed in and will probably never have another table with something larger. I don't know how the break in of new cloth is supposed to take, but I have a year on it with decent play for home, and not much has changed.
As far as other people enjoying the table. Meh, who cares. The cold hard truth here is simple. They don't play enough to have any concept of what a typical customer friendly table plays like. If the shooter lacks the experience to know better than tighter than normal is moot. They're still going to miss and they're still not going to understand why. Other than the ball didn't go in.
It was 8 pack vs Pagualayan
My personal experience is that practicing on a table that is looser than what you compete on sucks for all the reasons mentioned. It’s just hard to feel completely in flow unless you get ample time to warm up, which isn’t always guaranteed.
And then, having the same pocket size isnt ideal either because you always have that comfort factor from knowing just how sloppy you can be and still make that tough recovery ball. So tighter pockets can at least offset some of that familiarity factor, but not all of course.
Yes, you can hold yourself accountable to making the ball clean in practice, but that’s a lot of work to pay attention to what should or shouldn't go. Especially considering that balls potted cleanly to the inside or outside portion of the pocket on a 4.75”+ pocket will wobble on a 4.25” pocket.
And then, having the same pocket size isnt ideal either because you always have that comfort factor from knowing just how sloppy you can be and still make that tough recovery ball. So tighter pockets can at least offset some of that familiarity factor, but not all of course.
Yes, you can hold yourself accountable to making the ball clean in practice, but that’s a lot of work to pay attention to what should or shouldn't go. Especially considering that balls potted cleanly to the inside or outside portion of the pocket on a 4.75”+ pocket will wobble on a 4.25” pocket.
This 100%... My home table is tighter than most diamonds I play on (points measurement), but because of that pesky shelf depth diamond is known for, I'll hang up balls in key moments when my focus is not on correcting for the difference. Again, that correction is a known variable, but a consciously made one. If I played routinely on such a table it would be muscle memory.