Pics of the "Fatboy" Rails and Pockets for TAR 21. Yeah they are a wee bit tight.

I agree with Celtic about tables and pockets size. The pros are used to far too easy conditions. Also I think the less luck is involved in the game the better. Its really sad in my opinion that such a precision and creative game is often decided on how much do you get lucky on the break. Now, I'm not saying there is no skill on breaking the balls, but we know there is a lot of luck involved.
Also more tight pockets makes the runout more impressive and a miss more likely and this adds drama on the match. Often when you see an open table you heard from the commentator " he is out" i think this is "sad".
 
And when Shane wins this one the NEXT TAR match between them will be on a table with NO POCKETS. They will play 3 Cushion for 20k. :-)

Actually what would be hilarious would be to see them play on one of those one pocket tables that only has two pockets.

Or not. I am rambling and about to go out with my lovely wife and celebrate........long island teas and everything that follows awaits.

Oh and again, THANK YOU TAR and everybody who is making this happen. Maybe pool will never be super big time but this means more to me than any heavyweight fight, any superbowl, any contest of any kind. Two guys slugging it out for three days on super tough equipment where I KNOW how it feels when they are about to pull the trigger!!!

I swear to GOD if my internet connection fails me then I will throw this laptop out the window and set myself on fire in front of the freaking Chinese Internet Authority's office with a big red Screw YOUR Firewall in blood on my chest.

:-) Rock on TAR. You got my money and my time. No one call me looking for a case, no one email me, just let me sweat it in peace ;-)

Later peeps out da door to da disco!
 
People seem to confuse a tight table which plays good and honest with a tight table which plays bad. If you shoot a clean shot down the rail a good setup table should accept that shot at any speed. This is an example of a table not setup properly, notice how the pocket doesn't accept any shot down the rail. This is how a table should not play.
This is an example of how a table should play, notice the shot at 1:25
 
Jaden said:
On a diamond, the tighter pockets actually help a well struck ball to fall easier. Glen, back me up on this. I played on one of Glen's tight diamonds up at the golden fleece (Dave's place) and it actually took well aimed balls easier.

This has to due with the deep shelves and the tighter pockets not giving the balls as much bounce back and forth room.

I much prefer to play on a 4" pocketed diamond than a 4.5"....

Jaden
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Jaden, you're 100% right. There's a world of difference's in tight pockets. Miter angles, down angles, pocket facings all play a role in how a pocket is going to accept a ball, and from what angle. Even though Fatboy's rails have 4 1/8"th corner pockets, the table IS definitely runnable, I know, I've ran a few racks on it myself...and I quit playing 21 years ago. Think about this Jaden, the Diamond you played on up at the Golden Fleece had 3 7/8" corner pockets, Fatboy's are a 1/4" larger than the table you played on.

Glen
 
]Jaden, you're 100% right. There's a world of difference's in tight pockets. Miter angles, down angles, pocket facings all play a role in how a pocket is going to accept a ball, and from what angle.
Glen[/QUOTE]



this is very true
 
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leonkush said:
I agree with your point, in my experience most of the tight tables that i have played have been bad, I played Russian Pyramids on a 12x6 in Siberia once when I was teaching English and it was a nightmare. In this game the pockets are tighter than a snooker table and the balls are 68 mm (211⁄16 inches). I played on a poor table and my only focus was to get the ball in , position etc stopped being a factor!. The same thing happened when I taught in North Vietnam where the pockets where so tight that the game turned purely tactical.

I think the emphases of the table maker has been to make the pockets tight without necessarily taking into consideration the rest of the variables. Some player's believe that practicing on a tight table such as these will improve their game when they go to competitions. However, essentially the only result is that they subconsciously limit their shot making to adapt to the table. Therefore, even if they go to wider pockets there is little improvement because they have not worked on the full range of potential shots available to them on bigger pockets and thus limit the possibilities available to them. This is why I stopped playing snooker to focus on 9-ball because in snooker you cannot play half on the positional shots due to the table restrictions so it is almost pointless practicing snooker before playing 9-ball because the only real benefits will be derived from potting not position etc. Moreover, this is why I am a strong advocate of having standardized conditions whether they are tight or loose pockets I don't care, you have to know where you are when you play in any tournament and know how to tailor your practice routine to align with these conditions.
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I agree, practicing on tight pockets might interfere with your position play. However, when faced with a tough shot that you have to make (such as the final ball) having practiced on tough pockets can give you extra confidence when shooting on the wider pocket tables
 
leonkush said:
Admitting I have never played on a Diamond table with these types of pockets. if that's the case - excellent. I am generally referring to playing on tables such as Murray tables or even gold crowns which have been customized. In these cases playing your entire shot selection can be difficult. In particular with some positional shots where you may need to be aiming slightly off center of the pocket with side to gain position. in these cases the balls will double jaw or pop
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Leon, sounds to me that you want larger pockets so the game is easier to play. The main thing that tight pockets does (other than making it necessary to aim more accurately) is that you have to get proper position for the next shot.
 
westcoast said:
I agree, practicing on tight pockets might interfere with your position play. However, when faced with a tough shot that you have to make (such as the final ball) having practiced on tough pockets can give you extra confidence when shooting on the wider pocket tables
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Exactly right. Playing on a 4" table makes it much easier to play on a 4.5" table. Also, keep in mind that a tigh table will force you to learn to get proper shape on the next shot and think 3-4 shots ahead.
 
leonkush said:
There is nothing worse than arriving for a competition feeling good only to play on tables with abnormally tight pockets which you haven't had the chance to make adequate preparations. All this does is increase the risk of loss. In these cases it is not always possible to find similar sized pockets in my home country to practice on which is why I am calling for an overall table standardization such as in snooker.
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I am quite sure that both Alex and SVB will each have adequate practice time on this particular table, so neither player will be surprised by these pockets.
 
leonkush said:
Thanks my point exactly...they will have adequate practice because they have been given the "heads up" and thus have the opportunity to do so.

However, the views in this thread are not necessarily on this particular match, my comments and many others so far have been based on the situation of nonstandard table conditions in general - I personally have no interest in the outcome of this match.
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So you have no interest in the match but want to continually re-state your opinion on the conditions its being played under?

Makes sense to me.
 
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