Hello!
I‘m new here, and just registered before Christmas. I live in Austria and never really played any cue games before, but I always loved watching Snooker matches! So I decided 1 1/2 years ago to get myself a pool table. It is not a brand table but was made by a builder in Poland. He talked me through all the measurements and stuff before I ordered my table, so I knew it will get a bit crowded in my cellar. Here‘s a picture of my table:
I set it up in my old vine cellar. There are a few tricky spots, for example the left side where a vine storage is and the top right corner where my water installations with my water dehardener (is this the right term?
). Most of the table is playable with a standard cue. Some areas, where I have to play a close to 90 degree angle with my cue ball on the rail, I have to use a shorter 120cm jump ball cue. And, to be honest, the corner with my water installations can get very tricky depending on the shot.
Neither the less, I talked through this with the builder and decided to go for a 8ft table. As I do not play competitive in any way, I prefered having the longer shots most of the time, and taking a few drawbacks on some shots from the rail. I play just for fun there anyway
My father is a locksmith, and I worked and learned a lot in his shop. So I am able to customize a few things as well for my table, like triangle holders, cue holders, I made a plateau beneath the table for storing my mostly used balls, and I customized a cue as a rest, because I like to have them look all the same…
I play about 2h per week, depending on my free time, sometimes maybe 3-4. So I am still working on the basics, but I really enjoy it so far!
And I started collecting pool balls. But not as some of you do here (meaning different colors of 8 ball sets, I‘ve read through that pool ball showcase thread), but I try to find different sized balls, and balls for different games, like: Russian Pyramid in 68mm and 57mm, Blackball in 51mm, 57mm and about 60mm (got some used Italian Bocette balls for this set). Snooker balls in 54mm and 57mm, a few Carom balls in 62mm, and a few sets of standard 57mm pool balls. I bought some used collections with interesting sizes to expand the variaty of balls I have. I really like discovering new games besides 8, 9, 10 ball, and the usual stuff. Researching things like that is the main thing I do, besides practicing my cueing game
I’m aware, that some of those games are not meant to be played on an American pool table, but I find it very interesting how the different balls react and how easy/hard it is using them compared to a 57mm set. I‘d really love to expand my collection with more obscure balls like starball, poker ball and things like that, but being a European it seems really hard to find used balls besides 8 ball - or just really very expensive importing them…
I am not sure if my table is build correct though, because my middle pockets are very narrow, and deflect some balls which were already inside the pocket. The nails with which the plastic pockets itself are secured are a very big problem, because the balls bounce back from them! That‘s another reason for me registering here, maybe I can improve my table a bit more
Thanks for reading all of this!
- Alex
