Nine Footer Vs Bar Box
- Thread starter Johnnyt
- Start date
The above statement is one of the most accurate in the thread so far. Playing on a bar box is like playing the greens. You're always guessing what the table will do. Very frustrating for a "precision player". One thing PHJ forgot to mention is the inconsistencies of the rails.Poolhalljunkie said:
Gene
Some guys adjust well
What always amazes me are guys who can alternate back and forth from the 7 to 9 footers-- sometimes several times during the same day. Obviously some guys can mentally spatially adjust easier than others. Of course those same guys seem to be the ones who can instantly adjust to different table speeds, bank angles, etc.
Shot making is far easier on the 7-foot tables (same size balls and pockets as the 9-footers, but smaller area), but working in close calls for breaking up clusters, and --as Buddy says-- relying less on the side pockets.
I tend to avoid barboxes simply because the equipment tends to be real poor: weird rolls, dirty balls, etc. Also the hair-pulling luck factor present in 9-ball is increased on a barbox. However, now with the advent of the Diamond Smart tables, the equipment allows for much more consistent play.
I don't believe that the prevalence of barbox pool has so much to do with customer demand as it does the individual establisment's profit motive. More tables equals more people playing, equals more revenue.
Doc
What always amazes me are guys who can alternate back and forth from the 7 to 9 footers-- sometimes several times during the same day. Obviously some guys can mentally spatially adjust easier than others. Of course those same guys seem to be the ones who can instantly adjust to different table speeds, bank angles, etc.
Shot making is far easier on the 7-foot tables (same size balls and pockets as the 9-footers, but smaller area), but working in close calls for breaking up clusters, and --as Buddy says-- relying less on the side pockets.
I tend to avoid barboxes simply because the equipment tends to be real poor: weird rolls, dirty balls, etc. Also the hair-pulling luck factor present in 9-ball is increased on a barbox. However, now with the advent of the Diamond Smart tables, the equipment allows for much more consistent play.
I don't believe that the prevalence of barbox pool has so much to do with customer demand as it does the individual establisment's profit motive. More tables equals more people playing, equals more revenue.
Doc
The boxes I usually play on are 8's. The 9's I play on are usually black crowns, which kind of feels like a 9' bar box. Last nite I was playing on gold crowns with tight pockets, I feel that you have to slow ur game down on the gold crowns. I would rather play a strong player on a bar box first because of congestion an slow roll of the table followed by gold crowns because of the tight pockets and last the black crowns. Room owner was telling me something a couple months back about how you can make certain shots on bar boxes that u cant make on 9's, he hasnt got around to showing me what he was talking about though, reading this thread has reminded me though.
Anyway I was waiting around last nite at pool room for the wife who had her poker league banquet there and some guy who was playing buddy that I know who uses a ronnie powel cue from philippines asks me to play some 8 ball so I proceed to beat him 5 games in a row using a house cue ( 2 eros should have been 4) and he has his custom cue and custom breaker and after attempts to try and tell me how to play some shots! lol Anyway I was feeling peak at the time having had some drinks at the nudie bar across the street before I came there and I started to rattle the pockets due to the beers I consumed by about the 8 game so we ended up around 14 - 6 in my fav, he started conceding games when I had 2 balls left on the table haha.
Anyway I was waiting around last nite at pool room for the wife who had her poker league banquet there and some guy who was playing buddy that I know who uses a ronnie powel cue from philippines asks me to play some 8 ball so I proceed to beat him 5 games in a row using a house cue ( 2 eros should have been 4) and he has his custom cue and custom breaker and after attempts to try and tell me how to play some shots! lol Anyway I was feeling peak at the time having had some drinks at the nudie bar across the street before I came there and I started to rattle the pockets due to the beers I consumed by about the 8 game so we ended up around 14 - 6 in my fav, he started conceding games when I had 2 balls left on the table haha.
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Kevin Lindstrom said:
We had a discussion with cue maker Bill Stroud {Joss West} about this several years ago on rsb. Bill said he played a lot of One Pocket, full rack, on 7 foot tables and did well at it. I've seen people play it here in SC with 10 balls instead of 15, but I've never played it on a 7 footer myself.
It's not that it can't be done but I would think that only a real good player could make the switch very often.
As for Straight pool or golf, I agree, playing on a smaller table would defiantly make it a different game.
Banks, maybe, but I'd rather not.
gulfportdoc said:
We have some local tournaments at a pool hall with a combination of big and small tables. When you sign up for the tourney, you get to choose which size table you want to play on. The small tables always trump the big tables when a match is called. It is handicapped and you will see a lot of lower ranked players picking small tables. Not always though as some high-ranked players insist on only playing small tables since that's all they ever play on. I don't like the small tables, but it is kind of interesting going back and forth.
Small tables do leave a bad taste in my mouth for a few days.
cubc said:
Any table can have bad rolls, all depends on how it is maintained.
If you think Diamonds are easier you should try these Diamonds and then tell us what you think.
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=77916
Two additional pics in post #19.
Steve
Ltldebbie said:ridewiththewind said:
LoL! You're funny, I like you!I am in the northwestern part of WA, roughly 75 miles due north of Seattle (The Emerald City). Or about 30 miles or so south of Bellingham, WA.
We actually have a pretty lively pool scene in there parts...as you know, it rains a lot here, and I think that is what helps to keep the scene alive.
I suspect that the pool helps to keep us from going nutz with cabin fever...LoL.
Lisa
sde said:He is a pool teacher not a math teacher and I was going to give a break.
Steve
Boy is my face red! My calculator and I don't really get along that well. Yes, I did use table dimensions rather than actual playing surface to get the approximate sq ft measurements. They all would be slightly less than that. I don't have a clue what I punched in wrong to get the area of a rack of balls. It should be closer to 63.28125 sq inches. But the point remains that while the area of the table gets smaller, the balls still take up the same amount of space, leaving less open area on a smaller table.
Someone know a good math teacher?????????
Steve