Facepalm
Pro Pocket Size TOO Small for 9 Ball
- Thread starter Island Drive
- Start date
The funny thing is, golf has indeed become easier to a ridiculous extent but no one is out there saying the hole should be made smaller. On the contrary the powers that be seem to be rooting on technology trampling the game and making its great courses irrelevant.
Meanwhile, here in the pool world we have 400 Fargo players installing 4 inch pockets on their home tables. Insane.
That would be an educational experience. I think it's easy for more advanced players to fixate on "playing the game" and overlook the fanatic learners. Kids included. Makes me wonder what snooker players start on. (?)
Back to golf, I think it's a waste of land and probably nature but that's beside the point.
4 inch pockets are just bad for everyone especially the sport. The player, the room owner, the viewers etc. When they are using 4 inch pockets for pro play of course you as a serious player says well thats what i need to practice on. Oh but, If i can run out on a 4" pocket i have perfect precision. what good is that for the sport. Reminds me of long range precision rifle shooting. The setup and equipment used is ridiculous. Basically, the shooter is setting up all the high tech equipment on the bench and pulling a trigger. I dont know about you but about as exciting as sitting watching cars go by. I would rather see someone like Jerry M or Bob Munden showing their skills and using an old west revolver hitting larger targets at lightning speed. If you want to make the game harder for pros there is a cheaper way. Just make the balls twice as light and require them to use standard equipment or even better required 4 plus oz maple with old palmer ferrules with the metal threads or ivory
Rules no low deflection shafts.
Rules no low deflection shafts.Just for context, in Asia even with high humidity, tables with pockets as large as 4.5 inches are pretty rare and then only kept for beginners and not in great playing condition as a result.
I’ve played seriously for five years now and most of my development has been on 4” pocket Brunswicks here in Japan. The competition tables are often 3.9”. My current private member club has three tables with 3.9” pockets and one table with 4.3” pockets. I don’t have problems running out from a safety battle or break and running out if my leave is good after a break. Also, I like to punch balls and play aggressively but if you have a good stroke smaller pockets are just not an issue. I also play faster than anyone I have seen here in Japan. In fact, slow play is the thing I most hate so I generally play faster players only.
With Matchroom events it is clear that you can hit quite far up the rail and still make the ball. The break is the challenge not the pocket size.
There are caveats. If the tables are not flat, affected by the humidity and have high shelves where the ball does not roll into the pocket then you have issues. This can be quite common in Japan for reference.
I actually play primarily 14.1 and am currently playing on the table pictured which has 4.3” pockets but is in excellent condition. My best breaks this week are 65 and 59. I am yet to get 100 which is my goal. It is obvious to me that I would easily get over 100 if playing on a generously sized pockets table but I am enjoying the challenge!
Back to 9-ball is my observation that Asia and Europe have stronger players because they play on smaller pocket tables and have a better aim as a result. Nobody decent here would play on tables with 4.5” pockets.
I’ve played seriously for five years now and most of my development has been on 4” pocket Brunswicks here in Japan. The competition tables are often 3.9”. My current private member club has three tables with 3.9” pockets and one table with 4.3” pockets. I don’t have problems running out from a safety battle or break and running out if my leave is good after a break. Also, I like to punch balls and play aggressively but if you have a good stroke smaller pockets are just not an issue. I also play faster than anyone I have seen here in Japan. In fact, slow play is the thing I most hate so I generally play faster players only.
With Matchroom events it is clear that you can hit quite far up the rail and still make the ball. The break is the challenge not the pocket size.
There are caveats. If the tables are not flat, affected by the humidity and have high shelves where the ball does not roll into the pocket then you have issues. This can be quite common in Japan for reference.
I actually play primarily 14.1 and am currently playing on the table pictured which has 4.3” pockets but is in excellent condition. My best breaks this week are 65 and 59. I am yet to get 100 which is my goal. It is obvious to me that I would easily get over 100 if playing on a generously sized pockets table but I am enjoying the challenge!
Back to 9-ball is my observation that Asia and Europe have stronger players because they play on smaller pocket tables and have a better aim as a result. Nobody decent here would play on tables with 4.5” pockets.
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What exactly is the sport? From the looks of the hungry international one-uppers, 4" is the new buckets!4 inch pockets are just bad for everyone especially the sport. The player, the room owner, the viewers etc. When they are using 4 inch pockets for pro play of course you as a serious player says well thats what i need to practice on. Oh but, If i can run out on a 4" pocket i have perfect precision. what good is that for the sport. Reminds me of long range precision rifle shooting. The setup and equipment used is ridiculous. Basically, the shooter is setting up all the high tech equipment on the bench and pulling a trigger. I dont know about you but about as exciting as sitting watching cars go by. I would rather see someone like Jerry M or Bob Munden showing their skills and using an old west revolver hitting larger targets at lightning speed. If you want to make the game harder for pros there is a cheaper way. Just make the balls twice as light and require them to use standard equipment or even better required 4 plus oz maple with old palmer ferrules with the metal threads or ivory
Hardly but it isn’t really a legit sport if the challenge is not there. I played snooker when I was younger and it took me five years of effort to make my first century. When I started playing pool on 9-footers I spent two years doing mostly drills until I was happy enough to play matches against anyone who is A ranked in Japan. Then I had more fun because I could actually compete and focus on specific weaknesses rather than needing to work on everything. For me, tighter pockets have made 9-ball into a sport. Before it was just a pub game.What exactly is the sport? From the looks of the hungry international one-uppers, 4" is the new buckets!
Many players quietly maintain ultra tight GCs and such. There is probably a world network of who to call for a real tuneup. lol...
uk_9_ball_convert
Well-known member
The pocket shape makes 4 pockets harder and 2 pockets easier. Really surprised me when I started playing 9 ball that the American tables that I thought had buckets were actually quite tough to pot into the middle pockets compared to a UK table.
uk_9_ball_convert
Well-known member
Yeah apples and oranges. In golf, you playing better on conditions made easier doesn't directly affect your opponents ability to win.
Wait what are 2 pockets? Are you referring to the corners and sides? Ok think I got it. I haven't tried 4" sides yet but I have no issues with minimum aperture angles at any sides I've played on. The treachery is over rated I think. No converging rails to guide the eye. No funnel slop. I agree they probably take more care than snooker sides though.
uk_9_ball_convert
Well-known member
Yeah I mean what British people call the middle pockets and Americans call side pockets - normally I don't mind using American nomenclature, but I if I'm looking from the top of the table all 6 pockets are at the side, and if I'm looking from the side of the table, the ones you call the side pocket are the only ones that aren't at the side, makes no sense to me to call them side pockets.
I find the straight cut of the knuckles/jaws on American tables harder to pot into than the angled cut on a snooker style pocket, can definitely cut balls into the middle/side pockets from more extreme angles on a UK pool or snooker table than you can on an American table. Not played on a Chinese table, but given it's the same shape of pockets I presume it's true there too.