Tight pocketed tables and a player's speed
- Thread starter Flex
- Start date
As percieved by whom? the player or an onlooker?
The player will know that the balls barely fit and will either adjust by feathering the ball in and playing position in a manner that doesn't require forcing CB around, or will miss lots. If missing lots, you can watch position play and stroke to get a sense of the true level of ply. You caan also see how much off the shots are...
If its an onlooker, they'd have to either realize the tightness or be misled (yes, myzelled).
The player will know that the balls barely fit and will either adjust by feathering the ball in and playing position in a manner that doesn't require forcing CB around, or will miss lots. If missing lots, you can watch position play and stroke to get a sense of the true level of ply. You caan also see how much off the shots are...
If its an onlooker, they'd have to either realize the tightness or be misled (yes, myzelled).
Pizza Bob said:
Hey, there's a Gold Crown more than triple shimmed on the upstairs balcony at the Chicago Billiards Cafe. The pockets aren't all identical though. Two of them freakin' spit balls back out. They're not only tight, the pocket facings are freakin' curved. You hit the ball and are sure it's going to pot, sucker lays down for you and leaves your buddy a hanger, which he too might miss. Worst table I ever played on!!
Buddy Hall has a famous quote, saying that no matter how tight the pockets are, that doesn't change where the center of the pocket is, because that's what he aims for.
cuetechasaurus said:
Interesting quote, but it's not true unless the OB is in the middle of the table. If you've got an object ball an inch or two off the rail, the tightness of the pocket changes where you should aim, in my opinion. I used to play at two pool halls, on with fairly forgiving GCs, and another with gruesomely tight diamonds with cupped pocket facings. On the GCs, the most consistent way I found to pocket a shot down the rail is to aim for the very end of the rail you're adjacent to. If you overcut a little, you go straight in the pocket off the facing, and if you undercut a little, you'd hit the rail a little further up, but unless you hit it hard, you're in good shape. On the Diamonds, the only way to pocket the shot it to hit the OB directly into the far pocket facing, not too hard, without so much as grazing the rail on the way. Same shot, different pockets, different optimal point of aim.
On a more relevant-to-the-thread note, you have to consider the pocket tightness doesn't just affect potting, it affects position. Firstly, you can't cheat tight pockets as much. More importantly, there are some tables where the pockets won't accept a firm shot from certain angles. Sometimes you have to baby the pockets, and it severely limits your positional options, and even your pattern play. On a tight table, I'll often try to play a few shots toward a safe, since a straight-forward run out pattern is really unavailable because it requires hitting the shots hard or juicing the cue ball.
-Andrew
cuetechasaurus said:
Great quote.
However, on a table with tight pockets, and a long down the rail shot, shooting it straight sometimes isn't the only consideration. If potting the ball is all that counts, that's one thing. But if shooting on a table with slow/slower cloth, on a straight in shot, where you want to draw the cue ball straight back a few to several diamonds, by golly you better have the pocket speed clocked, and also shoot with a touch of inside english to help the ball pot... Very tough.
Flex
Andrew Manning said:
On very tight tables, if the pockets are cut correctly, and a shot is hit as pure as possible on cuts down the rail at fairly hard speeds, the ball should drop. I have experimented with this on different tables. On one of the tables, it has 3 and 1/2 inch pockets, but the pockets are not cut correctly. I froze two balls on the rail so that it was a dead combo to the corner. With a medium hard stroke, the ball would either rattle and not go in, or it would fly off the table. I played on another table with 3 and 1/2 pockets, and it was done by a great table mechanic, so the pockets were cut perfectly. I set up the same shot, and at the same speed and even harder, the ball would drop every time.
Also, what Buddy said about the center of the pocket, I'm sure he also meant that on shots down the rail, he is trying to hit it as pure as can be, i.e. the ob not hitting the rail at all before dropping in the hole (unless it's frozen).
I had a thread on this a while back. I played on a shimmed pocket Diamond and it was a lot easier to drop a ball than it was on my GC with wider pockets with angled facings. The Diamond sucked the balls in like a vacuum whereas my Brunswick would spit them out.
TheBook said:
Good note.
Also, tight pockets are very enjoyable to play on especially when playing a match. If I were to practice I would much rather play more open pockets for not just confidence but you can see were the ball is entering a pocket.
The downside are those pockets that are inconsistently tight with one another is that it can create frustrations and cause a player to loose confidence. Most importantly the pockets should play fair enough so that the player can still finesse the shot and there are considerations;
1. Pocket face should be of a material that will not cause to much bounce
2. Keep in mind that the angle of the pocket face should change as the hole were the ball drops is, in a sense, being pushed back. The pocket face should have a more narrow opening or everything kicks out.
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On loose 9 footers even not so strong players can run out. I played in an open tournament(no masters) on loose gabriels and people were running out left and right. You'd have thought we were all about to turn pro.
I prefer tight pockets that don't bobble at all. I don't know whos bright idea it was to make pockets that bobble. The guy should've been shot.
Another thing that many people misunderstand-the more parallel the pocket facings are the less the pocket bobbles, not the other way around. The angle causes it to bounce off of one facing and then hit the other which causes the ball not to drop. The more funnel like the more it will bobble but the pocket looks bigger. It can get really frustrating when you hit the inside of the point and the ball doesn't drop.
I prefer tight pockets that don't bobble at all. I don't know whos bright idea it was to make pockets that bobble. The guy should've been shot.
Another thing that many people misunderstand-the more parallel the pocket facings are the less the pocket bobbles, not the other way around. The angle causes it to bounce off of one facing and then hit the other which causes the ball not to drop. The more funnel like the more it will bobble but the pocket looks bigger. It can get really frustrating when you hit the inside of the point and the ball doesn't drop.
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