Yes! If I can't make more than a couple of balls in a row, how can I learn to play patterns? If it's all I can do to get the ball in the hole, how will I learn to spin it. Pool becomes much more interesting when you can develop and execute strategy. If a player struggles to meet the minimum level of skill to pocket balls, he or she will never enjoy the game enough to devote the time and effort to become good.
I think challenging equipment should be available for this who have made the decision to dedicate themselves to the game but softer tables are not hurting the game.
Also, how many people here are actually stringing racks together consistently? I shoot plenty of pool and I don't see it happening at all.
From Fargorate:
600 Has run three-in-a-row multiple times and maybe four-in-a row a time or two. High Run in 14.1 of 50-60. There are generally around 30 players at this level per million population
500A good local league player. Runs out first time at the table in about 5% of the games. Close to the median of players in the FargoRate system
I don't think there are that many players that need tight pockets to challenge themselves.
Agreed. The more I hear people in the pool hall whine about needing tighter pockets, the harder it gets to shut up. The fact is, I know these peoples games and they are by far, not able to run out regularly on ANY kind of pool table. Running 2 balls on a tight table should not be more prestigeous than running 2 racks on a 4.75 inch table, but somehow that's what these people think.
Most people in a pool hall are what I call "5 hangers". They can make 5 balls if they are well spread out and preferably close to the pockets, somewhat regularly. Now, they can do this on a tight table too, because it's not much harder to do. There is no tricky position or awkwardly placed balls and little need for big power. When they see players, better than themselves, struggle to get out from a (tricky) 5 ball out on the same table where they can put down the 5 hangers, they get the wrong idea about their own skill. On a table where a better player than the "5 hanger" player may struggle to get out, what happens is that the skill gap actually gets smaller between such a player and the 5 hanger, so results will be more random, not less. Usually the worse player will still lose, but they'll feel more involved, since they're not getting ran out on. Some of the better players power and knowledge gets eliminated due to certain shots no longer being viable, or shots that would be good on other tables staying up. This is especially magnified with deep shelf pockets, where a missed ball frequently gets left hanging in the pocket. After a while people will adjust to this and a skill gap may be reestablished, but not necessarily. Especially if the better player is a naturally more aggressive type. The skill gap will be pushed up the pool hierachy and may now exist between for instance the high 600 to low 700 players and those slightly below, rather than lower down. So there are few blowout matches until you get to this level.
