Pool Table Pockets Should be 3.75 INCHES WIDE

They should change the pool table pockets to 3.75 inches wide max. It would be more challenging and exciting to watch players in matches than using 4.00+ inch pockets they use now.

"More exciting to watch"
That's a good one.

Not as good as:
"A priest, a Rabbi and a Hustler walked into a bar... Baa Boom..."

But a good first try.

Dale(I'll be here till next thursday)
 
beating the 6 ball ghost is nothing to be ashamed about.....:thumbup:

Not ashamed but just highlighting that even with 5" pockets I still can't beat the nine ball ghost in a race to seven. I agree with you and cringe when some on here say if you play the six ball ghost and make a ball or two on the break the you're only playing four or five ball! Yeah, so the same can be said of the 9 ball ghost that you're only playing the seven or eight ball ghost if you pocket one or two on the break. Hey, I never said I was better than those ghost playing snobs ... I just love the game and hope I can improve to beat that F'in 9 ball ghost. I'll tell you this ... when I do I won't look down my nose at those that are struggling to do the same!
 
They should change the pool table pockets to 3.75 inches wide max. It would be more challenging and exciting to watch players in matches than using 4.00+ inch pockets they use now.

3.75 inch pockets vs. 4.25 inch pockets will make the game boring. Too many safeties played on small pockets. It would however be a good way to force people to learn proper safety play.
 
for tournament they can do whatever they want as they are boring nowadays anyway.

but if you make small pockets in the pool room you wont ever have to wait for a table as no new players will ever want to get good and the marginal ones will never make any balls and quit as pool wont be fun.

oh isnt that where we are at already.
 
3.75 inch pockets vs. 4.25 inch pockets will make the game boring. Too many safeties played on small pockets. It would however be a good way to force people to learn proper safety play.

The game needs more of a challenge. Having an alternate loser breaks rule does help keep players from running packs of racks, having smaller/tighter pockets like snooker would help.
 
When I was 17, our underage pool hall had a snooker table, I loved plYing nine ball on it against anybody back than. I think my eyes were better at that time.
 
I played 8ball on a snooker table...the game took longer than an extended game of OnePocket.

I tried that once, but ended up just wishing the game was over, it was so tough, took forever!

That said I was only about 15 at the time, I'd hope I'm better now!!
 
If you modify the tables to tight pockets, half of the regulars would leave and never come back. The house survives on ball banger's money. We still have a couple tables with 4" pockets and some shooters that can fire them in.
 
For one pocket I agree. For other games I think they need to stay where there at.

I have wondered about this since the first time I saw / heard it. Why or what is the theory about having tighter pockets for one pocket. Doesn't make much sense to me, the ONLY thing I could ever come up with is it makes it easier to get balls out of the hole? For sure you can get deep balls out on a tight table that would never come out on a regular or loose table but for me that single thing does not justify it. I can't stand not being able to hit a ball down the rail with speed when you need to move the cue ball around a little bit. I will say this though - playing on a regular / loose table after a long session on a very tight table yards feel like a pro lol !
 
Anyone here in this forum who thinks that the state of pool needs "more difficult playing conditions" is very misguided. First of all, look at multi million dollar prize funds at every major golf event in the US-did they make the golf hole smaller yet?? NO the golf equipment and golf ball technology made it easier.
Secondly, all of a sudden everyone on this forum runs out consistently on traditional 4 7/8 pockets?? I do not believe that for a minute.
This game of pocket billiards was built on straight pool and the pocket size was absolutely correct for that game and those earlier tables. People came to watch in the thousands and pool hall flourished by the hundreds in major cities because it was a not the size of the pockets that mattered - it was that pocket billiards had an audience reach from the lowest to the highest financial classes in US society. Ever see the old ads from many US companies featuring pool playing- there were many of those in every major periodical.

Success in rebuilding pool in the US has everything to do with marketing reinvention, billiards branding towards the youth in this country, obtaining acceptance of the middle/upper financial class audience, and the resulting corporate financial support- it has nothing to do with pocket size. If anything, you would start by making the game easier, not harder. The entire existing format needs to be scrapped and rebuilt on a new platform that draws masses of people into the game- you will never do that by making the game more difficult. Pocket sizes should be back to the original intent of the game- pocketing balls with a "reasonable" amount of skill, so that the masses of people enjoy a minimum level of success every time they play the game.
 
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... Why or what is the theory about having tighter pockets for one pocket. ...
Tighter pockets let you put a lot more pressure on with safeties, especially when you leave the cue ball on the end rail.
 
Everybody running packs of racks huh? Guess you have better youtube than the rest of the world.
 
Tighter pockets let you put a lot more pressure on with safeties, especially when you leave the cue ball on the end rail.

Ok, but at the pro level generally when playing 9 ball one miss will lose you the game. So in theory would not what you said carry over to 9 ball too? So once a gin why should that be one pocket specific if that is the case?
 
for tournament they can do whatever they want as they are boring nowadays anyway.

but if you make small pockets in the pool room you wont ever have to wait for a table as no new players will ever want to get good and the marginal ones will never make any balls and quit as pool wont be fun.

oh isnt that where we are at already.

I know several good players who won't go to the pool hall because of small pockets. They like to be rewarded for playing, not punished.

It might be better to do several different set ups in the hall so beginners and bangers can have fun and so can better players, each on a table that suits him best.

Golf sets up their courses to be really tough for the pros, then resets them for the club members afterwards. Makes sense to me.


Jeff Livingston
 
They should change the pool table pockets to 3.75 inches wide max. It would be more challenging and exciting to watch players in matches than using 4.00+ inch pockets they use now.

3.75 is too big. They should be 2 1/2 inches wide. That way we could all watch the pros missing just like we do. Wouldn't that be exciting? I'd rather see people playing on 5 inch pockets (buckets) enjoying the game and running 6 packs, and pros running 9 packs and running 400 balls in 14.1 and really having people enjoy playing the game that are beginners. I would like to make the game easy to play and ensure it was fun for everyone that picked up a cue. If that could happen, i'd open my own pool room.
 
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