Question for snooker players

T

Trapper

Registered
Hello,

We currently play on a 9.5' table and are looking at purchasing a 6x12 English style table. For those that have played on both the small and large table, can you tell me if if the larger English style table has smaller pockets. I have never played on a 6x12 tournament table and have always wondered how the speed and play varied from our smaller tables. If anyone has played on both, let me know what you think.

Best regards,

Trapper
 
Pockets: shall conform to official templates of the World Professional Snooker Association (app. 89mm at drop)

In American, that's about about 3 1/2 inches:D
 
Well, Trapper, you've opened a can of worms. I don't know where you are, so I will give you some input from my experience on the west coast of the US. Most snooker tables in the states have fast, non-napped cloth such as Simonis 860 or 760. There are usually two different types of pockets, plastic and leather. The leather pocketed tables seem to vary from table to table as to the width of the opening. These pockets usually have the crocheted baskets and they are really only at the back of the pocket with a wire that runs around the front of the pocket under the slate. The plastic pockets are mounted differently and appear to me to be all the same as far as width. In my experience, they are generally more generous than the tables with the leather "irons" (however, I've only played on a couple of tables with the plastic pockets). I have never played on a table here with napped cloth, although I know there are a few around (very few). This is the standard in the UK and probably most of the rest of the world. I think the impetus for the faster cloth in the US was to make the snooker tables play similar to the pool tables. Also, I've only played on one table that has the flattened nose cushions. All the rest have been like pool table cushions.
So as far as your decision is concerned, you'll need to determine if you want the whole experience of the English snooker game, or compromise somewhat with the big table but faster cloth and smaller pockets. No doubt you will have fun and enjoy the game no matter which way you go.
 
Thanks for the reply! I am located in the states and love to play snooker. I am having trouble locating a 6x12 in the states, so I am looking to import one from overseas or Canada. Thanks again for the input.

Best regards,

Trapper
 
The current tournament tables the pros play on over here in the UK are pretty tight and it's very very difficult to pot a ball along the top rail beside the black spot on these tables. In the 1980s the tables here were easier to pot on but they really tightened them up in recent times.

A standard table you would find in a club will be cut a lot more generously usually. All the cloths over here are nap cloths and you don't see too many 9.5' tables, though I have played on a few.

Speaking from a personal point of view, I found making 50+ breaks on a 9.5' table to be not too taxing when compared to doing the same on a full-size table. The ability to reach most shots without a bridge/rest is one significant difference of course and you will probably need some kind of extenstion for your cue if you are looking to play on a 12' x 6' table.

Of course I am talking about the difference in the UK as I have not seen a full-size table in the US, so I can't fully answer your question I'm afraid.
 
Thanks BigMal,

I am referring to the 6x12 regulation table. What brand would you suggest as I have a game room and a group of Saturday regulars who love to play. I have thought about a Riley's 80's table or a Wiraka tournament table with the steel block. You have any suggestions.

Best regards,

Trapper
 
Trapper said:
Thanks BigMal,

I am referring to the 6x12 regulation table. What brand would you suggest as I have a game room and a group of Saturday regulars who love to play. I have thought about a Riley's 80's table or a Wiraka tournament table with the steel block. You have any suggestions.

Best regards,

Trapper
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I'd go with a Riley's :D
 
Make sure you get the napped cloth. Although the pros play on shaved cloth it's not really snooker without it - and an absolute must if you want to try English billiards. Play that game and you'll discover why the table is set up the way it is.

You'll need a proper iron though. Nothing else comes close to a freshly brushed and ironed snooker table for me.

Boro Nut
 
Boro Nut said:
Make sure you get the napped cloth. Although the pros play on shaved cloth it's not really snooker without it - and an absolute must if you want to try English billiards. Play that game and you'll discover why the table is set up the way it is.

You'll need a proper iron though. Nothing else comes close to a freshly brushed and ironed snooker table for me.

Boro Nut
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Still a mystery why the English tables continue to use the napped cloth, though. The Simonis style cloth is so much superior.

Also, I don't see what kind of an effect nap would have on English billiards that would make it a "must".

To OP - pocket openings should be 3 3/8". Do a google search and you'll learn everything you need to know about it.
 
Thanks for the replies. I have wondered myself abouth the napped cloth. I appreciate the input.

Best regards,

Trapper
 
Just out of curiosity, are you playing on a Snooker table at present? If not, have you played Snooker on a 6 x 12? I've seen people come in the pool room and ask for Snooker balls for a 4 1/2 x 9 pool table. Kinda like the guy who came in, got a rack of balls and promptly dumped them on the billiard table, took him 5 minutes to figure out why he couldn't make a ball. We were roaring!
 
Yes we are playing on a 9' snooker table now. I have never played on a 6x12. We were thinking about getting a 6x12 for the game room. I built a good size building, so I have the room for the bigger table. The local pool hall had 3 snooker tables and 3 pool tables and that is how I got introduced to the game.

Best regards,

Trapper
 
A couple of times when I was playing snooker with a friend at the PH, this guy would drag someone in with him and get the other snooker table. He would get the regular pool balls and make them play 8-ball with him. Both times the other player quit on him way before I would have. It was pretty funny watching their reaction when they missed an easy straight in shot. I think he got a kick out of it from the way he was smiling to himself.
 
gromulan said:
Still a mystery why the English tables continue to use the napped cloth, though. The Simonis style cloth is so much superior.

Also, I don't see what kind of an effect nap would have on English billiards that would make it a "must".
Click to expand...

You can get the same effect playing on an old bald cloth. You might as well play on ice. It has no soul.

Unlike snooker (which is a potting game, so is all about straight lines), Billiards is a game of graceful curves and finesse, and playing with or against the nap can affect how you play a shot - a spinning ball will curve the opposite way for instance. The nap slows the cloth too, so you can better control the other two balls without losing them into baulk. It's very hard to play good billiards on a fast or bald table.

Believe me, a newly brushed and ironed West Yorkshire napped baize is a thing of beauty. It's the closest thing to walking out at Wembley.

Boro Nut
 
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Boro Nut said:
You can get the same effect playing on an old bald cloth. You might as well play on ice. It has no soul.

Unlike snooker (which is a potting game, so is all about straight lines), Billiards is a game of graceful curves and finesse, and playing with or against the nap can affect how you play a shot - a spinning ball will curve the opposite way for instance. The nap slows the cloth too, so you can better control the other two balls without losing them into baulk. It's very hard to play good billiards on a fast or bald table.

Believe me, a newly brushed and ironed West Yorkshire napped baize is a thing of beauty. It's the closest thing to walking out at Wembley.

Boro Nut
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The old mechanical adding machines had a lot of 'soul' too, but I would still rather use my Dell Inspiron 8600. Progress is progress and the new cloth is far superior to the one-way nap cloth used for snooker. It wears better and the effect of english is consistent in all directions. It's also easier to install and manufacture, making it more affordable, and it doesn't require ironing. Essentially it's a better product that you can get for less money, and it requires less maintenance. I can't see how that would have anything but a positive effect on snooker.

As for billiards, if by graceful curves you're referring to the 'in off' shot played with high inside english then that shot would be unaffected. Meanwhile, 3-cushion players went to Simonis-style cloth years ago, the beauty of their game seems unaffected. In fact, I think it's had a tremendous positive effect because it allows so much more creativity to come into the game. If you watch a few tapes of their competitions, you'll forget that English billiards even exists.

I will agree that a table covered in West Yorkshire 40oz or Hainsworth Toptable is a thing of beauty, but to me it's always been aggravating that any shot against the nap has to play different. Seems like a rediculous compensation that players have to make to adhere to a loose tradition. It does make shots along the top cushion easier, though. If they got rid of it you'd see a lot more of those balls missed.
 
gromulan said:
I can't see how that would have anything but a positive effect on snooker.[\quote]

That depends if you think being able to slow roll a ball into the middle or bottom pockets without any aim compensation is a positive effect. It's easier to do, that's for sure. But by the same token you can't bend a ball in round the pink anymore, and it was just those sort of esoteric skills that sorted out the wheat from the chaff once.

The same principle goes for bowls. There's bowls, and there's crown-green bowls. If they did away with the crown in the middle of the green it would be plain bowls. The same goes for the nap for me.
Click to expand...

As for billiards, if by graceful curves you're referring to the 'in off' shot played with high inside english then that shot would be unaffected..
Click to expand...

Not really. The side you put on depends on the direction of the nap. Playing running side seems wrong, but it works against the nap. Check side is used playing with the nap.

I will agree that a table covered in West Yorkshire 40oz or Hainsworth Toptable is a thing of beauty, but to me it's always been aggravating that any shot against the nap has to play different.
Click to expand...

But that's exactly why I like it. It requires extra skills. It's the feel. It's the responsiveness. It's got life. And if you don't change it, it ends up like bland pooltable cloth anyway.

At the end of the day this guy is going to the lengths of providing some real space, sourcing and importing a real table from a real foreign country, and purchasing real accessories and real equipment to go with it. The last thing he wants to end up playing is a game almost like real snooker.

Boro Nut
 
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