People bitching about 7’ tables

[chenjy9]

My personal opinion (and I know no one cares ) on this topic is that each table size and game brings their own set of challenges to the game. A smaller table helps refine positioning ability because you have to avoid congestion. As the balls get less (making them or playing rotation), the play on the table gets easier since the distances are not as long. As the table gets larger, it starts refining your accuracy more. For a home table that you can practice with or grow up on, I strongly believe in getting the biggest table your home can properly fit. For most, that happens to be a 7 footer, sometimes even an 8 footer. Most houses however, can't properly fit a 9 footer.

From a good for the industry or popularity standpoint however, 7 footers have been absolutely great (even critical) for pool. Pool tables are (regardless of size) large, takes a bit of time to learn, somewhat expensive, and very stationary. As I mentioned earlier, most homes and many businesses simply lack the practical space to properly fit a 9 footer or even 8 footer. Most places can fit a 7 footer however and that's something desperately needed for any game/sport/industry wanting to gain widespread popularity and participation; ease of access. Countless of players and potential players start their journey on 7" barboxes and that's where they fell in love with the game. Take that away and you can kiss pool good-bye.

 

[buckshotshoey]

My personal opinion (and I know no one cares ) on this topic is that each table size and game brings their own set of challenges to the game. A smaller table helps refine positioning ability because you have to avoid congestion. As the balls get less (making them or playing rotation), the play on the table gets easier since the distances are not as long. As the table gets larger, it starts refining your accuracy more. For a home table that you can practice with or grow up on, I strongly believe in getting the biggest table your home can properly fit. For most, that happens to be a 7 footer, sometimes even an 8 footer. Most houses however, can't properly fit a 9 footer.

From a good for the industry or popularity standpoint however, 7 footers have been absolutely great (even critical) for pool. Pool tables are (regardless of size) large, takes a bit of time to learn, somewhat expensive, and very stationary. As I mentioned earlier, most homes and many businesses simply lack the practical space to properly fit a 9 footer or even 8 footer. Most places can fit a 7 footer however and that's something desperately needed for any game/sport/industry wanting to gain widespread popularity and participation; ease of access. Countless of players and potential players start their journey on 7" barboxes and that's where they fell in love with the game. Take that away and you can kiss pool good-bye.

I even remember some 6 foot tables around. They have all but disappeared. 7 foot seems to be a good compromise between available space and playability.

 

[ShootingArts]

I’ve seen plenty of players sleeping at Buffalo’s. The 10’ er plays real good with 4.25 corners.

On a serious note, I’m sorry you lost your home. I feel sorry for everyone that lost their homes all along the path of Ida. We lost ours in Lakeview after Katrina.

Lost a home in Laplace due to Isaac. This place is well inshore and on a 250 elevation. Best I can figure those fast growing sawtooth oaks outran their roots. Didn't measure but DBH(diameter breast high) would have been 24-36" Very very leafy trees, the storm just pushed them over. Funny thing the first winds from this storm pulsed with a very steady rhythm. This made the early winds do the damage. A hay pasture then a cyclone fence were the only things to break the wind before these trees, in other words, nothing!

Fixing to start getting ready to move with no idea where!

 

[BlueRaider]

I just finished my first APA session (8 ball and 9 ball) in a room that's all 7' Diamonds. I previously spent about 3 years in an in-house 9-ball league playing on 8' tables with 2 weeks per session being on a 9' table, and my practice time outside of that was on a mixture of 9' Gold Crowns and 9' Diamonds.

I think there's a huge difference between playing on 7' tables and 9' tables, especially in 9 ball. Coming from even 8' tables in league, I was shocked by how easily even SL 2s can make open shots on 7' tables. On 8' tables, if there's distance, they are liable to miss. And SL 2s and 3s on 9' tables are generally hopeless when there's distance.

Positional demands are also less on the small table. There are certain shots on 9' tables that absolutely demand significant cue ball movement with spin to have any hope of getting a shot on the next ball. But on 7' tables, you can often just hold the ball for a longer shot that's still very makeable. And when you do need to use significant spin, you're always closer to your work, which makes those shots easier.

There is certainly an argument to be made that bigger tables give you more room to work. But I still don't think that even remotely outweighs the increase in difficulty of more distance between cue ball, object ball, and pocket on every shot.

Ideal positional windows are smaller on small tables, sure, but acceptable positional windows tend to be massive. Whereas it's quite easy to come up short or long on a 9' table and have absolutely no shot, and if you do make the ball, you're out of line for the rest of the rack and are scrambling and a huge dog to get out. Shooting yourself back in line on a 7' table requires less skill than on a 9' table IMO.

All that said, I don't mind playing on 7' tables. They level the playing field somewhat and it was an adjustment for me to realize that even the SL 2s with wonky strokes I was being put up against shouldn't be taken lightly because they can run balls on those tables. And I actually got beat a few matches this past session in 8 ball by those same wonky strokes because I failed to run out and they cleaned up the table in no time.

 

[garczar]

Bar-boxes are ok for league play but not for hi-level players. To me its like watching tour pros play golf on a par-3 course. That being said in some parts of the US that's where the action was/is so that's where they play. I'd love to see SVB play Matlock with the big cueball on a good bb.

 

[JuanM]

Bar boxes saved pool, look at all the apa and bca leagues. There are more bars than pool halls. Lots of bar players , lot of towns don’t even have pool halls but most all have bars.

You made me spit coffee. That is ridiculous. Bordering on delusional.

I played APA back in the mid-late 90s. There was ONE day of league a week then. Pretty much the only night other than Friday where you would see women bother to come in. The rest of the week it was gambling and tournaments.

Now Friday is the only weekday there isn't league in the two pool halls I frequent. Hell, the APA has a ladies league that craps up weekend play every so often, along with the absurdly named "master's league". These mobs of lessers choke the life out of the game; you can't even get a practice table when things are going full swing, but if you could, I promise you that the socialites milling around tables with their shitty bar food would have you saying 'excuse me, can i get in here right quick to take a shot?' nonstop.

I despise APA because I have watched it unfold; I have seen with my own two eyes the wickedness it has wrought.

I am not sure if the whole 7' table thing can be blamed entirely on leagues though. That may be due to a shortage of real men in this rotten, decaying, feminized, pretentious hypocritical culture.

If this is what 'saved pool' looks like, I say we go back and aim for a merciful death next time around.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

damn this just gets better and better, continue por favor

 

[garczar]

You made me spit coffee. That is ridiculous. Bordering on delusional.

I played APA back in the mid-late 90s. There was ONE day of league a week then. Pretty much the only night other than Friday where you would see women bother to come in. The rest of the week it was gambling and tournaments.

Now Friday is the only weekday there isn't league in the two pool halls I frequent. Hell, the APA has a ladies league that craps up weekend play every so often, along with the absurdly named "master's league". These mobs of lessers choke the life out of the game; you can't even get a practice table when things are going full swing, but if you could, I promise you that the socialites milling around tables with their shitty bar food would have you saying 'excuse me, can i get in here right quick to take a shot?' nonstop.

I despise APA because I have watched it unfold; I have seen with my own two eyes the wickedness it has wrought.

I am not sure if the whole 7' table thing can be blamed entirely on leagues though. That may be due to a shortage of real men in this rotten, decaying, feminized, pretentious hypocritical culture.

If this is what 'saved pool' looks like, I say we go back and aim for a merciful death next time around.

Classic post. Couldn't agree more about APA.

 

[ShootingArts]

For all the bitch'n and belly ach'n about seven foot tables it would seem that whoever breaks should win every game. Yet when I watch or play the best it isn't a break and run session. Wonder why that is?

Hu

 

[chenjy9]

For all the bitch'n and belly ach'n about seven foot tables it would seem that whoever breaks should win every game. Yet when I watch or play the best it isn't a break and run session. Wonder why that is?

Hu

People like to find things to whine about, it's basically human nature nowadays.

 

[garczar]

For all the bitch'n and belly ach'n about seven foot tables it would seem that whoever breaks should win every game. Yet when I watch or play the best it isn't a break and run session. Wonder why that is?

Hu

Wow, a rare fumble bro. Or just a rhetorical question? All the traffic precludes the breaker from winning every game but between two good players the breaker wins 65-70% of the time. That's a lot.

 

[chenjy9]

Wow, a rare fumble bro. Or just a rhetorical question? All the traffic precludes the breaker from winning every game but between two good players the breaker wins 65-70% of the time. That's a lot.

Doesn't this hold true on all table sizes? Pretty sure those are in line with the recent stats from 2021 US Open.

 

[garczar]

Doesn't this hold true on all table sizes? Pretty sure those are in line with the recent stats from 2021 US Open.

At that level of play,yes. Even in matches at lower Fargo levels the breaker has a clear advantage on bb's.

 

[fastone371]

Tell me about the ten footer. Depending on a few things I generally make it to Buff's every six months. I hit on the snooker table when it was there. The 11.8 Revo seemed like it was gonna make a fine snooker shaft.

I lost my home. I don't know where I am going so I might see a lot more of Buff's or none at all.

Hu

I'm sorry about your home situation, Hu. I hope you get it resolved quickly and safely. Does insurance make you whole or do they consider that an "act of God"?

 

[middleofnowhere]

Bigger table doesn't mean harder, means more forgiving spaces to have a shot lol

Except on a 10-footer, where I cut into the side pocket can look like it's a mile away.

 

[8intheside]

It's not the arrow, it's the Indian.

Everybody knows Efren can't shoot on a bar box, right?

Actually Efren has won both 8 and ball championships on the 7 footers.

 

[ShootingArts]

Wow, a rare fumble bro. Or just a rhetorical question? All the traffic precludes the breaker from winning every game but between two good players the breaker wins 65-70% of the time. That's a lot.

Break and win is considerably different than break and run. I was probably as good a two-way shot player as anyone. All the traffic is a factor of seven foot tables just like the easier shots. Can't consider one without the other. They are part and parcel. Knowing when and how to give up the table can be as important as running tables. Table generalship is needed more on the short track. The bigger the table the better able you are to play area shape and it be good enough. On the bar table you may be dealing with keyholes to shoot through Have to come into the shooting area from the side, then have an inch either way to stop the ball. I played well on ten footers and I don't think anyone in town would play me on a snooker table more than once and it was a fair sized town. Bar table and big ball bar table had different challenges but they were there to keep the game interesting.

I'm sorry about your home situation, Hu. I hope you get it resolved quickly and safely. Does insurance make you whole or do they consider that an "act of God"?

I could fill NPR with threads but the truth is you usually find that insurance you have been paying all these years is meaningless when you need it. I do much appreciate the kind words from you and others. Bottom line is I am weeks away from homeless. If you see a hobo with his bandana sack tied on a nice two piece cue or somebody fishing off a bridge with a similar cue, it will be me. Wonder how carbon fiber shafts are to fish with?(grin)

Hu

 

[PoolFan101]

7ft seems to be taking over. They seem to becoming the norm.

 

[chenjy9]

7ft seems to be taking over. They seem to becoming the norm.

Good! Will bring in more fresh blood and lower the skill level for entry.

 

[garczar]

7ft seems to be taking over. They seem to becoming the norm.

They've been the norm for the last 20yrs. THE biggest reason that the US has SO FEW world-class players. In Asia and Europe they don't play on bb's with the exception of English 8b. Go to the Philipines or Taiwan and try to find one.