Interesting observation from the Diamond rail basher:
The past week I played in 3 different rooms in the Philadelphia area with Diamond 7' tables. All were Blue label, Simonis cloth, excellent condition, in "player's rooms".
First was Markley Billiards in Norrristown. I play there a ton. The 7' Diamonds are a bit faster than Gold Crown rails, but were quite nice IMO. They are all Blue Label. Half are about 2 years old, and the other half about 10 years old (Dymandwood pre-fire rails). They all play the same in the entire room.
Second was a private Nights of Columbus club in Claymont, Delaware, that had 3 7' Diamonds. I played a 3 set match on one of them. It was the slowest Diamond I've ever played on. I mean slower than a Gold Crown rail. My opponent goes there a lot (he's a Fargo 597), and he thinks they pulled the rail cloth too much during the install. He can't figure it out either. This is a Blue Label, about 10 years old (Dymandwood rails). He said of the 3 tables in that room, two play like that, and the third plays much faster. I only played the one. The third table is much newer, maybe 1-2 years old. I wonder if that one still has the factory cloth on it. Next time I go there I'll try to hit balls on that one.
The third was High Street Billiards in Pottstown, PA. This room just got 6 or 7 brand new Diamonds from this year's expo. Factory cloth install. They were installed about 1 month ago. They were possibly some of the bounciest tables I've played on. There were a few 620 Fargo speed players in this tournament, that all said the same. I played on 3 or 4 of them during the tournament, they all were super bouncy. Interestingly, this room also has 5 or 6 Gold Crown 5 tables. They were deader than a door nail. Someone changed the cushions on them a few years ago to the wrong one (the mechanic that now maintains them told me this). It was quite funny for us to go between the Gold Crowns and the Diamonds in this room. Talk about night and day.
I have not seen this much variation in Brunswick rails (with OEM cushions) in 30 years of playing, that I've seen in one week of playing on Diamond.
That's all for this episode
I'll throw my .02 in for fun.
I played in two tournaments this weekend - both on 7' diamonds. I honestly don't know if they are red or blue label but someone may chime in later to let us know
Also, my FR is just a bit over 600 but this is the first tourney I've played, or any competitive pool, in 4 months.
Friday - Dave's Firehouse in Nampa, ID. Tables were installed approximately 4-6 years ago and we live in the desert so it's generally dry. I got there an hour early to practice given my lack of play (Mighty-X (had to straighten out the stroke), lots of cut shots close to the rail (think Max Eberle 15 shot rotation zig zag - more on that later) - rail shots, lots of banks, lots of 3 railers). By the time I started practicing banks I was pretty much warmed up and I didn't miss too many and it felt good. Rails were good, weren't playing short or long, felt right. For reference, the pool hall I grew up playing in had 9' GC3's, and I played league for almost 10 years on primarily Valley's in the late 90's to early 2000's. Overall they stayed pretty consistent throughout the night, the tables by the front door played a little faster then the 2 in the back. There was less A/C/air movement on those back to tables and with all the people you could feel it was hotter and more humid, they just played a bit slower but just as consistent. I took fourth out of 20'sh players. (first loss I didn't have a chance, I literally had two strokes in the race to 2 - typical Friday bar tourney, 2nd loss I left myself on the rail when I need an inch or two for a stun shot). Overall I liked the tables and after playing on all 6 I didn't find any of them much different.
Saturday - The Pocket of Boise - First Annual Pride Tournament (no reason for anyone to say anything that doesn't have something to do with pool). The tables were installed by none other than
@realkingcobra so I'm hoping he can chime in and let us know what they are (red/blue) and he might/probably knows what the tables at the Firehouse are also. Me and a buddy went there Friday during the day so I could practice on their tables. I hadn't been in there in about 4 years other than this last June 6 and I played on the 9' Diamonds for an hour (side note: I did ok given I hadn't played on a 9' table in years, banks were spot on). The day we practiced there was maybe 20 people in there (I think they have 20'sh tables) and it was ok, my banks were off (this was the morning before the tourney mentioned above) but I just figured it was lack of playing time - I've played no more than 2 times a month for 1.5 hours max each time for the last 6 months. Fast forward to Saturday morning and I get there at around 10 AM, there are about 30 people in the building and I get a table mid-way from the front door to the back and go back to my warm up stuff (Mighty-X, lots of cut shots close to the rail, lots of banks, lots of 3 railers, etc. - stroke - tangent line - speed) and I'm feeling good but banks were still off a bit. By the time the tourney started around 11:30 there was probably 60-70 people in the building. First match was on a table a little further away from the door, first thing I noticed was it played a little slower than the other table, no worries, figured that out pretty quick, as did my partner. I believe I tried 2 banks and missed one. We lost that one hill-hill (that's a story for another day). Second match was on a table further away from the front door and I instantly realized it played MUCH different that the other two. It was much slower and the cloth grabbed the CB much more. Early on I played a shot where I needed to draw the CB about 6" and it literally took off and rolled 2' and left the CB in the corner, felt like an a** regarding my partner but fast forward to when they were on the hill and he played a similar shot and drew the CB about a foot further than expected and left me an awkward angle on the 9 that I would've preferred to follow but was a scratch so I drew it - and it rattled - they were on the hill! One other piece of information: the week before my tourney at the Pocket they held the 3rd stop of the Lucasi West Coast Tour so those tables had way more use than they have had in the previous six months and were definitely dirty, you could see the dirt in the corners. When that 9B rattled my partner said - 2 weeks ago that falls
Point being, the further away from the front door we got - at either tournament - the humidity from the amount of people in the room played a huge role in how the tables played. At the Firehouse the difference was 10-20 people and 20-40 feet so it was negligible to an APA 5 but I could tell the difference but adjust, at the Pocket it was 50-60 people (difference) and 80-100 feet from the front door. Given we live in a dry climate it appears to me, in my experience, the closer you are to the door the drier the tables are and the faster they are. If you live in a humid climate it could be the opposite, door is open so it's more humid up front. Also, during our first match I probably put my jacket on/took it off at least 5 or 6 times because the A/C would kick on and I would get cold, it shuts off and I would take my jacket off.
Another fun side note: I had two friends go to Florida 4-5 years ago for the APA US Amateur Championship and they were talking about how some tables played different from end to end depending on where the A/C ducts were pointing. With the humidity in Florida I have no doubt that was an issue, I've played there.
Given all that, I have no doubt your tables played differently, especially in Philly where it can be humid.
Funny side note about Max Eberle. My #1 practice routine is the Mighty-X (Corey Duel version and my #2 practice routine is Max's 15 ball Zig Zag routine (or some variation -
) so I've watched it a few times. Well Max actually played in the Lucasi tournament the week before and I watched the tournament on YouTube. Fast forward to Friday when I'm practicing and on the table next to me is this guy who looks just like a guy I know from my playing days and he's teaching someone 1P, so I kept looking at him trying to figure it out, hoping he would recognize me, never did. Eventually I go up to the bar and ask, is that guys name Jim XXX... "No, that's Max, some pro player". Turns out he showed up for the Lucasi tournament and never left! LOL. Saturday, before the tournament, I saw him and went up and apologized for staring at him. I hope he stays, he seems like genuine person and if I decide to get back into playing I will seek his advice.
