Pool table in a small room

K

klwill1192

Member
The space I have for a table is 13'6" x 15'6". It's just a little short for a 7-foot table, and about 18" short for an 8-foot table. I have a bay window at one end of the room that will add some additional length, but it's not going to help a whole lot.

I'm seriously considering Scott Crosby's "pool table on rails" idea, but on the meantime, will I be miserable being 9" short at each end and have to use a 48" shorty cue from time to time?

I'd much rather have an 8' table than a 7', so I'm trying to gauge the level of dissatisfaction with each choice.
 
klwill1192 said:
The space I have for a table is 13'6" x 15'6". It's just a little short for a 7-foot table, and about 18" short for an 8-foot table. I have a bay window at one end of the room that will add some additional length, but it's not going to help a whole lot.

I'm seriously considering Scott Crosby's "pool table on rails" idea, but on the meantime, will I be miserable being 9" short at each end and have to use a 48" shorty cue from time to time?

I'd much rather have an 8' table than a 7', so I'm trying to gauge the level of dissatisfaction with each choice.
Click to expand...
I have an 8' foot in my single car garage, which measures 23' x 12.6'. Only on VERY rare shots do I have to use a shortie cue. Don't let these people turn you off. 99% of a pool table is much better than 0% of a pool table.
 
We built our dining room with the plan to put an 8' dining/billiard table in there. Somewhere between the architect, the builder and the onsite crew the dimensions ended up much smaller. We could fit an 8' with short sticks, but were concerned with balls going off the table and butts going through windows on all sides of the table. We stewed on it for 5 years and finally broke down and bought a 7' table figuring playing on a shorter table was better than not playing at all. YMMV.
 
klwill1192 said:
The space I have for a table is 13'6" x 15'6". It's just a little short for a 7-foot table, and about 18" short for an 8-foot table. I have a bay window at one end of the room that will add some additional length, but it's not going to help a whole lot.

I'm seriously considering Scott Crosby's "pool table on rails" idea, but on the meantime, will I be miserable being 9" short at each end and have to use a 48" shorty cue from time to time?

I'd much rather have an 8' table than a 7', so I'm trying to gauge the level of dissatisfaction with each choice.
Click to expand...

Get a decent 48in cue and it won't bother you at all.
 
klwill1192 said:
The space I have for a table is 13'6" x 15'6". It's just a little short for a 7-foot table, and about 18" short for an 8-foot table. I have a bay window at one end of the room that will add some additional length, but it's not going to help a whole lot.

I'm seriously considering Scott Crosby's "pool table on rails" idea, but on the meantime, will I be miserable being 9" short at each end and have to use a 48" shorty cue from time to time?

I'd much rather have an 8' table than a 7', so I'm trying to gauge the level of dissatisfaction with each choice.
Click to expand...
Here's a chart of how your room size works with different size tables (and a 58" stick). "Actual Stroking Room" shows how much room between the stick's butt and the wall with the stick level and the tip at the cushion nose.

With the smallest 6-footer you'd have 6 1/2" of stroking room widthwise, but only 2" lengthwise (you'd need a shorty stick for some shots that way).

pj
chgo

room size.png
 
Last edited:
klwill1192 said:
I'm seriously considering Scott Crosby's "pool table on rails" idea, but on the meantime, will I be miserable being 9" short at each end and have to use a 48" shorty cue from time to time?

I'd much rather have an 8' table than a 7', so I'm trying to gauge the level of dissatisfaction with each choice.
Click to expand...
If you have already played a good amount on 7 and 8 foot tables then you have a good feel for how much you would or would not actually dislike those, and if not then make it a point to go out and play on each so you can truly find out. You can't just play a couple of games on them to get a true feel though, you need to spend at least a whole evening on one as how you end up feeling about them can easily be different than the way you start out feeling (especially after you realize you aren't putting packages together left and right on those either the way you might have expected based on the way some of the passionate smaller table haters would make it seem like would be the case).

Same with shorty cues. A real cheap easy way to find out exactly how much you will hate them and potentially save yourself a bad choice and a lot of hassle and wasted money on the wrong table choice is to just buy one right now and take it to the pool hall and play with it for a night to see just how much it does or doesn't affect your ability to play shots and how frustrating and infuriating you will find them to use. Seems like a real smart $40 spent (or however much a cheap one costs) considering the cost and importance of your pool table investment.

My experience has been that a table that is smaller than your preference but that fits the space is way more fun and less frustrating than having to use a shorty cue here and there on a table that doesn't fit. Shorty cues that are more than a few inches shorter than standard suck and really affect your ability to play shots. I think most of the people in threads like this that tell people to get a table too big for the space and just use a shorty cue haven't actually ever played on a table where you had to use a shorty cue on occasion because it is maddeningly frustrating and just saps all the enjoyment out of it if it will be more than a super rare occurrence.

From what I've seen those that do get tables too large for the space don't end up using them much due to this after the newness and excitement of their new table wears off in a couple of weeks or months. Those tables very often ultimately become the full time laundry folding table and a place to store things and no longer see use. We all have our differing preferences though (and abilities) and fortunately it is cheap and easy to find out in advance which one you will most likely actually end up hating more more and therefore be able to save yourself a big expensive mistake one way or the other (but only if you actually put in some decent time trying both).
 
klwill1192 said:
The space I have for a table is 13'6" x 15'6". It's just a little short for a 7-foot table, and about 18" short for an 8-foot table. I have a bay window at one end of the room that will add some additional length, but it's not going to help a whole lot.

I'm seriously considering Scott Crosby's "pool table on rails" idea, but on the meantime, will I be miserable being 9" short at each end and have to use a 48" shorty cue from time to time?

I'd much rather have an 8' table than a 7', so I'm trying to gauge the level of dissatisfaction with each choice.
Click to expand...
There is no way an 8ft table will be enjoyable in that small of space. You are under sized in space specifically in length even for a 7ft'er. Short cues take away from the experience and playing in a cramped space is not fun at least for me. You should have 5ft minimum on all sides of free space from the play area. Easy math is 10 feet free space in width and also in length.
 
I have been to a few homes of experienced players that had little room for a pool table so just pushed it up against a wall one way or the other.
If you want to hit balls enough, it will work! It does require a ball return. You can get very good at banking balls.
 
klwill1192 said:
The space I have for a table is 13'6" x 15'6". It's just a little short for a 7-foot table, and about 18" short for an 8-foot table. I have a bay window at one end of the room that will add some additional length, but it's not going to help a whole lot.

I'm seriously considering Scott Crosby's "pool table on rails" idea, but on the meantime, will I be miserable being 9" short at each end and have to use a 48" shorty cue from time to time?

I'd much rather have an 8' table than a 7', so I'm trying to gauge the level of dissatisfaction with each choice.
Click to expand...

I have around 4" more space on the short rail then you would have with an 8-footer and I would say that your room with an 8-footer is getting very close to simply not enough space to stand properly.

With my room size it is just about do-able still but my ass is parked on the wall and my elbow is 2-3 inches from the wall. I am 5.10-ish. You can buy decent short cues but you also need room for your body. I think I would go with a 7-footer in your room size.
 
Nyquil said:
There is no way an 8ft table will be enjoyable in that small of space. You are under sized in space specifically in length even for a 7ft'er. Short cues take away from the experience and playing in a cramped space is not fun at least for me. You should have 5ft minimum on all sides of free space from the play area. Easy math is 10 feet free space in width and also in length.
Click to expand...
Agreed ..sorry to say.
 
Update:

I found a cheap 8-foot table that is a perfect candidate for mounting on rails as in Scott Crosby's video. The legs are inset from the ends enough that I can use 8-foot aluminum angle for the track and still have enough movement to give me full space at either end, and it's currently at the low end of the range for height, so I won't have to modify the legs to account for the additional height of the rails.

If this works, I will consider upgrading to a nicer table. If not, I'm only out a few hundred bucks and I can reconsider my options.

For those of you who haven't seen it, here's the video I'm talking about:
 
Poolplaya9 said:
If you have already played a good amount on 7 and 8 foot tables then you have a good feel for how much you would or would not actually dislike those, and if not then make it a point to go out and play on each so you can truly find out. You can't just play a couple of games on them to get a true feel though, you need to spend at least a whole evening on one as how you end up feeling about them can easily be different than the way you start out feeling (especially after you realize you aren't putting packages together left and right on those either the way you might have expected based on the way some of the passionate smaller table haters would make it seem like would be the case).

Same with shorty cues. A real cheap easy way to find out exactly how much you will hate them and potentially save yourself a bad choice and a lot of hassle and wasted money on the wrong table choice is to just buy one right now and take it to the pool hall and play with it for a night to see just how much it does or doesn't affect your ability to play shots and how frustrating and infuriating you will find them to use. Seems like a real smart $40 spent (or however much a cheap one costs) considering the cost and importance of your pool table investment.

My experience has been that a table that is smaller than your preference but that fits the space is way more fun and less frustrating than having to use a shorty cue here and there on a table that doesn't fit. Shorty cues that are more than a few inches shorter than standard suck and really affect your ability to play shots. I think most of the people in threads like this that tell people to get a table too big for the space and just use a shorty cue haven't actually ever played on a table where you had to use a shorty cue on occasion because it is maddeningly frustrating and just saps all the enjoyment out of it if it will be more than a super rare occurrence.

From what I've seen those that do get tables too large for the space don't end up using them much due to this after the newness and excitement of their new table wears off in a couple of weeks or months. Those tables very often ultimately become the full time laundry folding table and a place to store things and no longer see use. We all have our differing preferences though (and abilities) and fortunately it is cheap and easy to find out in advance which one you will most likely actually end up hating more more and therefore be able to save yourself a big expensive mistake one way or the other (but only if you actually put in some decent time trying both).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight. I bought a cheap 8-foot table that I'm going to mount on rails. If it doesn't work out as well as I'm hoping, I'm only out a few hundred bucks, and I can reconsider my options. If it works out well, I'll consider upgrading to a nicer table.
 
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