Tight Is Good, But Loose Can Be More Fun

G

gwvavases

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I usually play on 9-ft tables with tight pockets. The pockets on the tables at the pool room whose tournaments I play in once a week are 4-1/4 inches (triple-shimmed) (Hard Times, Sacramento), and the pockets on my table at home are 4-1/2 inches (double-shimmed). Over the last several weeks, I've had the opportunity to play on a few different tables with un-shimmed pockets (5 inches, at least, point to point). Doesn't seem like that big of a difference, but it is.

I love the challenge of tight pockets, but the looser pockets are so much more fun! It's not just that you can be a little off on your aiming and still make balls in the looser pockets that makes it more fun. The whole game is affected. You can "cheat the pocket" a lot more to create greater angles and do things with the cue ball for shape that are just impossible with tight pockets. After being accustomed to tight pockets, those 5-inch pockets seem like vacuums! And that cue ball can really dance! Even on straight-in table-length shots.

Anybody agree?

Do you like em tight? ...or loose? :p
 
When I went out to HardTimes in May I couldn't make a ball for the first 3 hours, the pockets were so tight. But by the end of the day, I regained probably close to 90% of my accuracy.

If conditions were dry year round (as it is in LA), I would love playing on a double or triple-shimmed table. But playing on a humid table---even with large pockets---is enough to drive you against a wall.

-Roger
 
buddha162 said:
When I went out to HardTimes in May I couldn't make a ball for the first 3 hours, the pockets were so tight. But by the end of the day, I regained probably close to 90% of my accuracy.

If conditions were dry year round (as it is in LA), I would love playing on a double or triple-shimmed table. But playing on a humid table---even with large pockets---is enough to drive you against a wall.

-Roger
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I couldn't agree more, Roger. I'll even go as far as saying I doubt I would ever have fallen in love with this game playing in humid conditions. It completely ruins every game but one pocket, and even one pocket is less fun in humid playing conditions.

Tight pockets make a lot of sense in dry conditions. The table will play tough but fair, and it will help you prepare for tough competition. Tight pockets in humid conditions, though, is a bit like having six inch rough on a hole where the fairway is only 15 yards wide. Not only is it no fun, but it doesn't properly prepare you for any kind of competition.

Having said that, I know there are some who have honed their skills well playing in humid conditions, so it's not open and shut.

Best is to play on both tight and loose tables, but to avoid ever playing in humid conditions. Earl Strickland has often made the comment that pool is not nearly as good a game played in humid conditions, and he's absolutely right!
 
Fun? Yes. Skill? NO!

I grew up playing on buckets. Problem is you get in the (bad) habit of cheating the pocket, playing sloppy shape, etc., etc. Then, when you get on a tight table, well - it's pretty ridiculous.

I had my old Olhausen triple shimmed to 4.5" and found the pockets to be still too sloppy. The shims played funny too - they get rounded over and soft.

So I bit the bullet and had my table at home changed out to Artemis rubber, 4" corners, by Ernesto Dominguez. $700 with Simonis but it's like a love affair with the game again. Tight pockets force you to try harder. They make you pay attention. They make you play good angles, and they spit at you when you get sloppy. You can miss the easiest shots because there is no such thing as an easy shot. The premium rubber is a dream - so consistent.

I hear people complaining about tight pockets in different rooms, and I think to myself "Wow, those are pretty big pockets."

Chris
 
Sjm,

Thank god it's finally winter. For the past 3 months my pool playing partner and I were about to tear our hair out every time a ball hits the center of the pocket and pops out, or the cueball hits a rail going 3 miles an hour and rebounds at 10. Or you put a monster stroke on whitey and he draws back 3 inches.

We did get proficient at playing under humid conditions, and it's alot like playing on a tight pocketed table. As Chris says, you have to play good angles cuz you're unable to force anything. You learn certain things like inside follow gets amplified on a humid cushion and outside draw gets muted instead.

Anyway, I see that you live in NY. Where do you shoot?

-Roger
 
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gwvavases said:
Anybody agree?

Do you like em tight? ...or loose? :p
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I practice on those tables at least 3 times a week. The tight pockets were very frustrating when I first started playing at Hard Times. I admit, they were intimidating. They were the tightest pockets I had ever played on, on a regular basis.

After a year now, I still think they are tight, but I now see that they play more consistant (than a year ago) and actually I seem more confident.

When you can do all the things you can do on a 'loose' table on one of those really 'tight' ones, what kind of game would you think you have?

I like them tight.
 
In my ventures playing pool tight pockets are great, but if they are not true that is a veary different story im sure some people know what i mean by you hit a ball right in the pocket and it spits it out at you. thats just not playing pool. just my two cents.
 
buddha162 said:
Sjm,

Thank god it's finally winter. For the past 3 months my pool playing partner and I were about to tear our hair out every time a ball hits the center of the pocket and pops out, or the cueball hits a rail going 3 miles an hour and rebounds at 10. Or you put a monster stroke on whitey and he draws back 3 inches.

We did get proficient at playing under humid conditions, and it's alot like playing on a tight pocketed table. As Chris says, you have to play good angles cuz you're unable to force anything. You learn certain things like inside follow gets amplified on a humid cushion and outside draw gets muted instead.

Anyway, I see that you live in NY. Where do you shoot?

-Roger
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Actually, since I began a new job just over a month ago, I barely play at all. When I do, it's generally at the Amsterdam Billiard club on the west side of Manhattan. Do you play there at all? Also, do you play Tri state Tour events?

Notice you're from Fort Lee, NJ. My brother used to live there in the Winston Towers.
 
I think tight pockets will help you improve your game more than loose pockets. Sure it is alot easier to move the cue ball around and make shots on loose pockets, but loose pockets have a tendency to promote laziness in the head. When you know that the shots are easy to make, you tend not to try to get the perfect shape and you tend to try to force unnecessary shots (the ones you try to cheat the pockets too much and force with unnecessary english). Besides, when you can play on tight pockets, loose pockets only get easier.

ps. they need tighter pockets at major tournaments. Especially the WPC.
 
sjm said:
Actually, since I began a new job just over a month ago, I barely play at all. When I do, it's generally at the Amsterdam Billiard club on the west side of Manhattan. Do you play there at all? Also, do you play Tri state Tour events?

Notice you're from Fort Lee, NJ. My brother used to live there in the Winston Towers.
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I've been to Amsterdam a few times, my friend used to live right there on the corner of broadway and 67th. Now when I go in I usually shoot at Corner, though my trips into the city are getting rarer and rarer.

I play at Orangetown Billiards, at (you guessed it) Orangetown NY. Cleanest pool hall I've ever been in, about 12 miles north of Fort Lee. I know Winston Towers, I drive by them all the time.

We have opposite problems: you just started work so you barely play; I played so much this last semester I probably have to take a leave of absence from school. Rutgers and Orangetown are opposite directions from Fort Lee, lol.

-Roger
 
Tom In Cincy said:
I practice on those tables at least 3 times a week. The tight pockets were very frustrating when I first started playing at Hard Times. I admit, they were intimidating. They were the tightest pockets I had ever played on, on a regular basis.

After a year now, I still think they are tight, but I now see that they play more consistant (than a year ago) and actually I seem more confident.

When you can do all the things you can do on a 'loose' table on one of those really 'tight' ones, what kind of game would you think you have?

I like them tight.
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I've gotten used to tight pockets now, too, especially after I tightened up the pockets on my table at home. Still...there are shots that are possible on a table with 5" pockets that just can't be done on a table with triple-shimmed pockets: sneaking a ball into a pocket when another ball is blocking half of it, or creating a greater angle when cheating the pocket. I certainly feel a greater sense of accomplishment when I run a rack on a tight-pocketed table, and in that sense, it's more fun; but for free-wheeling kind of fun, loose pockets are better. I won't ever play regularly on a loose-pocket table, tho, coz I think it can ruin your game.
 
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