Professional pool played on 7 footers... I don't get it

[boogeyman]

That's cool if it works...but the state pro pool is in suggests it doesn't.

I get why pool halls want 7 footers and have no complaints about that, they need to produce revenue and if that's the best way to do it, it makes complete sense.

But the pro's should be playing on 9 (or even 10) footers, high value sponsors are not going to pay up to be associated with a bar game (which is what a 7 foot pool table is).

Not sure where you are getting that correlation, vjmehra.
The game has evolved away from the smoky bar rooms years ago.

If a pool player wanna-be sees a 7 foot table, he/she will not think, "ooh a bar table."
They will see a table. Times are a-changing, vjmehra.

Sorry for this double post. System glitch when editing.

 

[vjmehra]

Pros should not have to do anything.
They play on equipment that is afforded to them at tournaments.
They are at the mercy of the TDs.

Fair point, no criticism of the pro's themselves intended. If I were in their shoes I'd play wherever the money is.

Let me explain it in a different way.
By professional players playing on 7 foot tables, that is very conducive to the up-and-coming player who might think, "The game looks easy. Let me play some pool and maybe I can become a pro pool player."

I hope that example screams at you crystal clear.

That doesn't help anyone though...anyone can clear up on a bar box...and I mean literally anyone.

You're right in theory that good participation numbers should be good for the game, but it doesn't translate into fans and sponsorship.

As I alluded to earlier, on this side of the pond most people play on our own 7 foot English pool tables, many give snooker a go, but realise how tough it is and that there is no way they would be good enough, so they have a huge amount of respect for the pro's and go on to become (paying) fans, this in turn leads to revenue and sponsorship.

I think (and feel free to correct me as I'm sure you will) that very few players play on a US bar box then go on to become paying fans.

We all want pool to be higher profile, we all want the game to grow and the pro's to be able to make a decent living so we can watch high quality matches...but no-one (or at least very few) want to watch matches on a table that anyone can clear up on a decent % of the time (for clarity no I'm not suggesting I could beat SVB on a 7 footer, I'm just saying its a hell of a lot easier to play on for everyone, hence the overall degree of skill required is lower and the sponsors have zero to little interest).

 

[Chops02]

i've never understood the comparison to golf used when people start talking about table size. not every pga tour event is played on a huge course over 7500 yards. the heritage in hilton head is played on a course barely over 7000 yards.

currently pool in the usa needs to be played on any sort of equipment a sponsor will pay for them to use since none of the people demanding it be played on 9 footers wants to fork out a few hundred million a year to make a pga tour style tour for the pros in the states. and in the end...we used to have pro pool played on 9 footers on tv...but when they wouldn't quit screwing with the rules people stopped watching because the casual viewer had no clue what was going on.

one reason snooker is so huge all over the world is that the game played at the pro level is virtually the same as it's been for a very long time. john schmidt and corey deuel had a great conversation about this on their tar podcast.

 

[Bobkitty]

[/B]



By the way, golf has toyed with the idea of making the hole bigger.

Never considered for the pros competing in the big tournaments. Only an idea to make the game easier thus faster for the people that can't break 120. Who would watch the top golf pros on a 4,000 yard par 72 golf course? They would not lower themselves in the first place and no body would be interested to watch.

 

[vjmehra]

[/B]

Not sure where you are getting that correlation, vjmehra.
The game has evolved away from the smoky bar rooms years ago.

If a pool player wanna-be sees a 7 foot table, he/she will not think, "ooh a bar table."
They will see a table. Times are a-changing, vjmehra.

Sorry for this double post. System glitch when editing.

Maybe its a cultural thing, over here we have English pool on 7 footers and American pool on 9 footers. I don't think I've ever seen a an American 7 foot table in the UK, but I guarantee you if you showed anyone here a US style 7 foot table and told you pro's played on it, they'd think you were insane!!!

I have only ever seen a 7 foot US table in bars in the US, so perhaps my perception is skewed, but I would assume everyone associates 7 footers with bars and larger tables for tournaments.

To look at it another way, I have paid for a Kazoom subscription to watch pro's play on the Eurotour (which is exclusively 9 footers and 9-ball) and I also have a Eurosport subscription to watch snooker (all 12 footers).

I wouldn't ever consider paying to watch anyone play on a 7 footer (although I accept that is personal preference, I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with doing so, I just struggle to believe given the state of pro pool that there are many that disagree with my stance...if I was wrong it would be pool players playing for circa $450k tomorrow night not snooker players).

 

[Texas Carom Club]

Im a KOZOOM subscriber for carom
Watching 1 cushion now

 

[vjmehra]

Im a KOZOOM subscriber for carom
Watching 1 cushion now

What do you think of the service?

I've always been pretty impressed, especially when they offer multi-table.

 

[Rico]

7ft

7,8,9,10 12fters oh my!From 7ft british 8ball to 6x12 snooker then by now Ronnie O. should be on10x20s.Why dont the snooker players come over and rob everyone?A tight pocket 7ft is tougher than 9ft big pocketed table. A short tight golf course with tough greens (pinehurst #2)is all the course pro,s need.Integrity is why golfers have sponsors.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

What do you think of the service?

I've always been pretty impressed, especially when they offer multi-table.

ive been a customer for 3 yrs
i love it not only the multpile angles, but its hd
then the archives is you miss a match

couldnt be more happy with the service
AND its a measly 8 euros a month cant be beat

 

[vjmehra]

7,8,9,10 12fters oh my!From 7ft british 8ball to 6x12 snooker then by now Ronnie O. should be on10x20s.Why dont the snooker players come over and rob everyone?

Well they arguably do every other year in Las Vegas...Darren Appleton and the other Brits have an English pool background (sorry if that sounds a bit arrogant, I'm not suggesting its the Brits that have always won the Mosconi Cup in recent years, I was just trying to illustrate a point)!

Also to re-iterate, the WC snooker is on right now, the winner gets circa $450k...would you trek across the Atlantic to clear up on a 7 foot table for $5k or whatever (I'm guessing these guys fly business so I doubt the prize money would even cover the flight)?

A tight pocket 7ft is tougher than 9ft big pocketed table.

Its not, not in any situation.

Most table comparisons are subjective, but with apologies, that claim is ridiculous.

A short tight golf course with tough greens (pinehurst #2)is all the course pro,s need.Integrity is why golfers have sponsors.

Golf is a good proxy for pool/snooker, but not a perfect one as you say a short golf course could be really tough, but snooker/pool has a uniform 2:1 table ratio and no water hazards or bunkers!!!

 

[Texas Carom Club]

that claim is ridiculous.

yes indeed.

 

[vjmehra]

ive been a customer for 3 yrs
i love it not only the multpile angles, but its hd
then the archives is you miss a match

couldnt be more happy with the service
AND its a measly 8 euros a month cant be beat

If you're a generalist cue sports fan and ever feel like checking out more action from this side of the pond...the GB9 tour (9-Ball) and IPA tour (English 8-Ball) both offer free HD streaming whenever they have events on. The Kazoom guys are pro's, but both do a decent effort...and its free!

 

[AtLarge]

... A short tight golf course with tough greens (pinehurst #2)is all the course pro,s need. ...

When the US Open was at Pinehurst #2 3 years ago, it played at over 7,500 yards. [And the winner still shot 9 under par.]

 

[Str8PoolPlayer]

Wait till you see the new 5 ft tables!

My close friend owns two upscale bars in San Francisco. Both have a Pool Room
with (3) 3x6 tables having Huge pockets. He earns $600-$800 per table, per week.

Personally, I will not spend my money or time watching Pros play on 7' tables.
10' tables will separate the Best from the Rest. I know, I know, the promoter
won't profit as much ........ so, screw the spectators and what they want to see.

 

[realkingcobra]

That's cool if it works...but the state pro pool is in suggests it doesn't.

I get why pool halls want 7 footers and have no complaints about that, they need to produce revenue and if that's the best way to do it, it makes complete sense.

But the pro's should be playing on 9 (or even 10) footers, high value sponsors are not going to pay up to be associated with a bar game (which is what a 7 foot pool table is).

Hmmmm, when was the last time ANY sponsors put up money for 9ft or 10ft table tournaments, because they've been around longer in use than ANY sponsors have been?

 

[realkingcobra]

Maybe its a cultural thing, over here we have English pool on 7 footers and American pool on 9 footers. I don't think I've ever seen a an American 7 foot table in the UK, but I guarantee you if you showed anyone here a US style 7 foot table and told you pro's played on it, they'd think you were insane!!!

I have only ever seen a 7 foot US table in bars in the US, so perhaps my perception is skewed, but I would assume everyone associates 7 footers with bars and larger tables for tournaments.

To look at it another way, I have paid for a Kazoom subscription to watch pro's play on the Eurotour (which is exclusively 9 footers and 9-ball) and I also have a Eurosport subscription to watch snooker (all 12 footers).

I wouldn't ever consider paying to watch anyone play on a 7 footer (although I accept that is personal preference, I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with doing so, I just struggle to believe given the state of pro pool that there are many that disagree with my stance...if I was wrong it would be pool players playing for circa $450k tomorrow night not snooker players).

My guess is that you haven't been to Moscow Russia recently, there's a few hundred diamond 7 Foot over there

 

[Black-Balled]

The hotseat match last night between Bergman and SVB was one hell of a match that's all i know.

I don't care what size table, that was fun to sweat both players running 6 and seven packs made one entertaining match imo

Some people just don't like to watch the heavyweights.

I say, let em slug it out.

Bar box lives matter.

 

[vjmehra]

Hmmmm, when was the last time ANY sponsors put up money for 9ft or 10ft table tournaments, because they've been around longer in use than ANY sponsors have been?

Fair point...but my logic here is that it will never happen on 7 footers, over here we have some pretty healthy sponsorship for snooker. I appreciate that both English Pool and snooker are sponsored by betting companies which you guys can't take advantage of, but the differential between the two is immense (English pool prize money for the entire IPA tour in a whole season is similar to what the World Snooker runner up will get I think).

We're not allowed tobacco sponsorship in Europe anymore, do you have the same restrictions? If not, surely someone like Phillip Morris could throw a few $ at it?

But it has to be a marketable product...

Everyone knows (deep down) they can't actually throw a 50 yard TD pass, a 3 pointer on the buzzer or hit a home run with the bases loaded to bring home the World Series*...but everyone also knows they can run out on a 7 foot bar box, so there is no real respect for the pro's and that is the problem.

With snooker its easy to market as everyone realises how tough it is, 9-Ball is harder, but having pro's play on bar tables is just killing any chance of decent sponsorship.

*I'm a Brit so apologies if my US sporting analogies are stupid!!

 

[vjmehra]

My guess is that you haven't been to Moscow Russia recently, there's a few hundred diamond 7 Foot over there

I have not (although I would like to...never been)!

But that doesn't matter if there isn't a professional scene...which I don't believe there is.

Hence my point still stands, 7 footers don't lead to a viable professional pool tour/scene.

 

[jokrswylde]

Here is what i don't get... who decided a 9 fter was the standard? Why settle for nine? Real pro pool should only be played on 10 or 12 footers. They would be much more challenging than a tiny 9 footer.

7 foot tables are a natural progression. I guarantee some pool hall owner back in the day looked at his room of ten footers and thought himself "hey, if i go to those new small nine foot tables, i can get two or three more in here. Profit!

I would guess more people play on 7 footers than any other size, so it's only fitting that the pros have some tourneys on them. As previously noted, it ain't like the world 9 ball is being played on one.

The matchup, atmosphere, crowd, money... all those things go into making an entertaining tourney...i try not to be a size snob and enjoy pool... in all its iterations.

Maybe, in my new pool sanctioning body, i will dictate that all professional tourneys must be played on 10 footers. Any tourney played on the small 9 and 7 foot tables MUST refer to themselves as amateur tourneys.