Pool Table Conditions - Best & Worst

Cannonball55

Cannonball55

This is cool
Silver Member
Hi,

i think that it is safe to say that all of us can recall certain pool experiences (good & bad) that stick out in our memory, either partially or soley due to the table conditions and/or equipment .

Best - The best playing table that i can ever recall hitting balls on is a Kim Steel . what stuck with me about the table is how beautifully it looked & played . Lively rails and very consistant . Diamond's are tough but they play damn good also, and i've always said that the best table for one pocket is without a doubt a Gold Crown II

Worst - I've played on so many awful tables in my life, but one particular bar room experience sticks out like a sore thumb : On a whim, i stumbled inside a shady, hole in the wall bar room partly due to the sign out front that read "tuesday 9ball tournament" ( it was tuesday ) i figure, what the hell i don't have anything to do i might as well go in here and snap these barflies off and go home . Well, long story short, the designated "table" ( and i question that because it did not resemble any table i'd ever seen ) was a sight to behold! If this barbox was a car it would have over 800K miles and would be deemed as a vehicular hazard by the Dept. of Motor Vehicles . Talk about wear and tear! I'm not exaggerating, i was amazed,curious & baffled all at once . This table ( ? ) looked like it belonged in a Guiness muesum, roped off with a spotlight on it and a caption that reads "you are witnessing the world's most poorly conditioned bar box" . first of all, The "legs" ( ? ) were supported by phone books and magazines ...er excuse me, i think the table was leaning to the right @ least 30 degrees . The "cloth" looked like a pair of fishnet stockings it was so wholey! Omg it was horrible . i honestly thought that these guys were just putting me on and surely this was just an old relic that carries too many memories ( there were unrecognizable stains on the cloth ( ? ) ) for them to just throw away, but no! This was the action ....er "table"(?):yikes: :shocked: :

it was pretty bad, the bar maid was doing double duty as the tournament official/ ball return fixer. The rails were so dead they belonged in a funeral home not on a pool table . Calling this table "horrible" or "terrible" is an insult to all horrible and terrible bar boxes . Well anyway, the tournament was more of a gathering than anything else, it was free and the ...er "table" ( ? ) although it was a coin op long, long, long, long, ago it has'nt seen a quarter in years ( evidently ) so, i figure what the hell i'll play . I could'nt make a ball . everything shifted to the right . the regulars tore me up because they knew where the dips were on that gaffe garbage table.
 
Worst- A barbox that had water leaking from an A/C unit onto the felt. We notified the room owner who assured us that it was only a slow leak. :grin-square:

Best- Anytime I have my cloth recovered on my home table. :cool:
 
tough call

For one shining moment Diamond's in Dallas had the best commercial tables I ever played on. Buffalo's in Metairie(New Orleans) keeps their tables up well and ranks near the top for me too.

Worst was any of a dozen or so that I played on in the days of my misspent youth. They were in old country stores on sagging wooden floors. Often the cracks in the floor were wide enough that to clean them they just swept across the boards and let the dirt and cigarette butts fall through the cracks. Often too, with no ceiling there were plenty of holes in the roof to let in some sunlight and the occasional rain. There must have been some kind of a law that cardboard beer coasters could only be added under the legs in attempts to level the tables never removed, it was common to find one to two inches of beer coasters under all four legs. People had long ago given up on the efforts of leveling these tables and a break often put all the balls along one long rail of the table.

The cloth was usually a grayish once green mess with assorted stains on it that hadn't been cleaned or changed since it was new sometime in the last decade, maybe one or two decades before that. Big rips and tears were common as were bare spots on the table and rails. Broken rails and dead spots were just a gimme. Often a rail or pocket had to be put back in place every time it was hit with a ball and the pockets often spit balls onto the floor. If there was a ball return it was just one more headache since the balls never actually returned. Speaking of which, some of these tables still had clay balls, mismatched balls were common and cleaning them was unheard of. The heat was stifling in those days when air conditioning was a rarity and if there happened to be a fan over the table it rasped along at far too slow a speed to notice any cooling.

Somehow these tables created my interest in pool and I still remember playing on them as great times. I stumbled on a few like this as late as the mid-eighties and may have to make a trip back to see if the stores and tables still exists someday. If they do, I'll bet the cloth and balls are still unchanged and the same beer coasters are still under the legs.

Hu
 
LOL- you need to check out some of the tables on the island- many have been in a tropical open-air environment with zero maintenance.:grin-square:

I know one bar where the cloth is so thin and threadbare that is gets another hole (there are already dozens) if you look at it sideways- if the owner catches you he charges a fine 100 baht (about $3).:p
 
I was in a tournament down in Nagoya about a decade or so ago and the place had like 10 GCIII's in the main area then they had 3 black and silver GCIII's in a VIP area that sat above the rest of the place. I had all my matches in that VIP area and when we were finished for the day a friend and I decided to shoot a little more down in the main area. Man, those GCIII's down in the main are were awesome......at least the one we were playing on. I can't describe the feeling I get from tables but this table played really well. The balls' reaction off the cushions was just.........right......for lack of a better description. The cloth was new and fast, the pockets accepted balls really well. To this day that one table has been the best I've ever played on.

Worst. Too many to count. Anyplace like a game center that has pool tables as an afterthought comes to mind. Raggedy ass cloth, uneven cushions.....egghhhhhh!!!
MULLY
 
at Shooters in Ely NV..

there is a bar box that had structurally failed in some way there are several threaded rods welded to the underside at 45 degree angles and connected to bolts drilled into the concrete floor they are connected to one another using turnbuckles.. thats how they leveled it.. it didn't play to bad though from what I remember.

it was still there as of March of 07
 
Last edited:
softshot said:
at Shooters in Ely NV..

there is a bar box that had structurally failed in some way there are several threaded rods welded to the underside at 45 degree angles and connected to bolts drilled into the concrete floor they are connected to one another using turnbuckles.. thats how they leveled it.. it didn't play to bad though from what I remember.

it was still there as of March of 07
Click to expand...

Wow! That's horrible .......
 
I wish we had pictures of this one we did at xmas. We were doing our charitable contribution for the year. this table, the cloth was GONE from
the side pocket all the way down to the foot! Solution, DUCT TAPE, and lots of it. Half the table covered in duct tape. Took 45 minutes to get all the tape and residue off!!
 
In Miami and at pool rooms only:
Best Tables: Sharpshooters (GC 1/2s), Sunset Billiards (GC IVs)
Worst Tables: Inside Billiards (chinese GC Knockoffs. just terrible)
 
I've played on lots of great tables. Good quality and good set up equals a level table that is solid and has lively cushions.

The worst one I've seen is this old cheapo my father in law had outside on his deck. That slate substitute was warped all to hell and the cloth looked like that fuzzy stuff glued to plastic easter bunnies.
 
The most "challenging" tables to play on are the concrete tables in the Philippines. They are home made and use concrete instead of slate. The surface doesn't drift; it rolls in all differnet directions. There are hills and valleys.
Of course, it being the Philippines, there are "masters" of these tables. The secret is to always shoot hard and play position to a quarter zone of the table. Spotshots, for example, are shot from the wrong side with a lot "a lot" of inside english to position the cue to where it would naturally fall from the correct side.
The best table is any level table.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top