tight pockets bad for pool?

I like the idea of all out offense 9/10 ball.....maybe with the same rules that you play a ring game with? I know for a fact when I go for the shot I play better. I may not win, but I feel more confident shooting instead of ducking. I can play safe like we all do, but I feel its the last resort after I look for even low % shots.

Also, many times you go for the shot and end up safe anyway.....you can play it that way obviously, but watch when a player goes for the shot and misses.....it gets safe a lot of times.

all that AND the pressure you apply to your opponent when you fire at everything. Remember back in the day when Earl or McCready would shoot at and make everything?!......you could hear the opponent folding in the chair! :)


yea, offensive pool is WAY fun to watch!

G.
 
Tight pockets are good. You don't want too much slop. But too tight is no good either. If you can't cheat a pocket to one side or the other your not playing pool the way it's meant to be played. I enjoy the smaller pockets because I feel it challenges me more. Tougher pockets = advantage stronger player in my honest opinion. If you don't want to be able to cheat a pocket then play snooker.
 
djpstacked03 said:
Tight pockets are good. You don't want too much slop. But too tight is no good either. If you can't cheat a pocket to one side or the other your not playing pool the way it's meant to be played. I enjoy the smaller pockets because I feel it challenges me more. Tougher pockets = advantage stronger player in my honest opinion. If you don't want to be able to cheat a pocket then play snooker.
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The stronger player depends on your definition of the word strong. Do you mean a great shot maker or a creative pattern player. According to lore, St. Louie Roberts was the former and Buddy Hall the latter. Ask people like Jay Helfert who won more in that match.

Great shot making is great and all (I was accused recently of being a good shot maker, gasp!), but great pattern play earns my respect more. This is, of course, just my opinion. Perhaps that is why I enjoy watching 3 cushion as well. The way the cue ball travels when played at the top level is just way too cool for me.

Anyway, I enjoy all cue sports on tight or loose tables and would love to have access to a 3 cushion table as well. Oh well, I'll just settle for my Diamond...
 
My definition of strong is a player is one who can execute shots well and play patterns well at a consistent level regularly. I see what you mean though. It's kind of a give and take situation. Bigger pockets = easier shotmaking but possibly more options for shape because you can make the ball from more places and vice versa for smaller pockets. Enjoy your tight Diamond table. :wink:
 
realkingcobra said:
I've said it before, I'll say it again. It's not the size of the pockets, the kind of cloth, cushions...or even the tables that is killing this sport...it's the rules!!!

Look, people that don't know a damn thing about boxing, or the ART of it, are switching to MMA fighting....because it's REAL. I understand the "Safety" play in pool....but to a novice audience....it's boring. Pool needs to drop all safety play in 9 & 10 ball and go for your hole...ALL out, if you want to make it more exciting for viewers, and increase attendance! But, most of you are so stuck on the "ART" of pool, that you're missing out on the "ALL OUT WAR" in a match between players. As I've said before, award multiple wins in the game, make the races longer, single enemination....and go for the win....over power your opponent, beat him down....make it a slugfest....but get RID of the safeties all together in rotation games. No one wants to watch a 26 mile marathon, except marathon runners, but they love watching who the FASTEST man on the planet is in a 100 meter dash!!!!

Glen

Glen
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A significant increase in safety play is an unintended consequence of tightening the pockets.
 
good thread

i to have thought of the same thing about pocket size. i think a table should be desirable to play on. if you earn a ball like to see it drop
if you miss just go and sit down . what i think a pocket size should be
is no larger than 4 1/2 no smaller than 4 1/4 with about 1 1/2 shelf
that makes for a fair playing table. i built my own table the jon bilt.
take a look at table and pocket size. it is a true 7 ft. 42x84 has a good roll
plays fine. trying to add pic. pockets on the jon bilt are 4 3/8 point to point. 4 center to center of faceing. shelf is 1 1/2 deep .
take care, john qbs
 

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johnqbs said:
i to have thought of the same thing about pocket size. i think a table should be desirable to play on. if you earn a ball like to see it drop
if you miss just go and sit down . what i think a pocket size should be
is no larger than 4 1/2 no smaller than 4 1/4 with about 1 1/2 shelf
that makes for a fair playing table. i built my own table the jon bilt.
take a look at table and pocket size. it is a true 7 ft. 42x84 has a good roll
plays fine. trying to add pic. pockets on the jon bilt are 4 3/8 point to point. 4 center to center of faceing. shelf is 1 1/2 deep .
take care, john qbs
Click to expand...

Wow. That's pretty cool. I built my own ball cleaner per instructions I found on this website, but this is way cool. You must be dedicated to the game. Cheers...
 
have played sense mid 70s

jalapus logan said:
Wow. That's pretty cool. I built my own ball cleaner per instructions I found on this website, but this is way cool. You must be dedicated to the game. Cheers...
Click to expand...

thanks for your comment , it was a fun project . but i put to much time &
money in it. you can buy a table cheaper than you can build one. i designed my own plans. and started from scratch. don't think i will do
a nother, i was sure to keep all the numbers just in case i change my mind.
take care, johnqbs anderson sc
 
Tide pockets for money games, what u think?
Tide pockets for training......what u think?
actually, I like play little bit tide pockets....coz I dont like people flu into that holes...haha

Some PHI hustlers can play any sizes of pockets with money........
 
Here's my two cents. To me its like bowling. Remember watching really young children trying to bowl? Lots and lots of gutter balls. What kind of fun was that? Even at twenty five cents a game. Now at two dollars or so, who wants to waste money. Someone with great insight into the situation came up with the inflatable tubes to insert into the gutters. No more gutter balls for the kids. Great idea!!! Lots of young bowlers.

The game of pool is somewhat similar. Too tough pockets make people not want to play. What guy wants to have his girlfriend watch him miss again and again. There is a time and place for "tight" pockets. Each room should have at least one table set up for the better players. Most of the rest of the tables should have bushel baskets for pockets. JMHO.

Lyn
 
Eal's million dollar run was on shimmed Gold Crowns at CJ's Billiard Palace, they were much tighter than normal Gold Crowns of the time. Two balls would fit just inside the points. I played a combo and hung the 1 and another ball together in the pocket and Nick Varner had the shot from about 6 or 8 inches away with the cueball directly in front of the corner and he fired at it a hundred miles an hour and could not force either ball into the pocket. They didn't hang up bad down the rails.

Very tight pockets don't usually hang up as bad as wider pockets. So very tight pockets actually encourage more aggressive play imo, since there is a smaller penalty for missing. That is, as long as you aren't playing call shot, which imo is not meant for rotation games, or 8 ball for that matter.
 
I'm surprised that brick wall hasn't had a hole punched through it by now with everyone that thinks tight pockets is how to make pool better for the masses....from ramming their heads into the same exact spot in the wall over and over again, but...who knows, maybe a few thousand hits in the same spot will at least put a crack in it:grin:

Glen
 
jalapus logan said:
There. I said it. I love playing on my tight a$$ Diamond pro and have enjoyed shimmed gold crowns as well. All egos aside (you know the common woof: you may be able to beat me on this loose table, but let's switch to a table with 0.00025" pockets and I'll rob you...), it could benefit pool substantially in my opinion if pro tournaments were played on tables with pockets at least as large (or angle, facing specs or whatever) so as to allow for the pocketing of more balls. Straight pool high runs would increase, the number of packages in rotation based games would increase, AND SO WOULD VIEWERSHIP AND HOPEFULLY THE POPULARITY OF OUR SPORT. Let's face it, high runs and packages are sexy. Let's encourage more of them.

Now, I'm not advocating playing on tables with big buckets or anything. Rather, just a reversal of the attitude that smaller is better. Maybe specs similar to the gold crowns that Earl ran that 10 pack on back in the day. I went to the last DCC on the last day of the 9 ball event. I watched the final couple dozen players or so for about 8 hours. In all that time, I only watched one player break and run more than one rack in a row. That was Adam Smith with two b&r's in a row. That was it. And these were the best in the world. Still in the field at that time were SVB, Archer, Corteza, and too many other world class players to mention. I say let's make our sport more interesting to average, casual players by making tables play like they did 20 years ago (incorporating modern, improved design elements of course, just not super tight pockets...).

What say you all?
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Most decent Pool Rooms will have a table or two with tight pockets and the remaining table with buckets. There is a purpose for each and I like it that way. I personally could care less what the world championships or the US Open is played on, but if I am playing for the CHEESE ........its gonna be a tight one.
 
I like your thinking. A little less fair for the players maybe but that's how it seems to work, it's a balance between fair and entertaining. watching pros miss is boring. let's stop obsessing over diamond pro cuts and see someone break 600 on video.
 
I would say for Practice tight pockets help making you a better shot maker but on tournaments, I would prefer to play on larger pockets tables...
I practice a lot on tight, I mean really tight pockets tables and that helps me a lot especially on the mental side when I play on larger pockets tables usually used in tournaments. it gives me the feeling that the pockets are buckets!!!
 
If you are talking a recreational/beginning player, larger pockets to make the game more fun. No one wants to play and not pocket balls.
For the more advanced/serious/pro players, I personally think the 4.5 inch pockets are great. I hate playing on tables where they guy misses a shot by 3 diamonds going down the rail, and the ball still falls. If you miss the pocket, you should not be rewarded.
As far as safeties being boring, I think the worst thing to happen in 9 ball is the creation of Texas Express. If you want to see more agressive shooting, and less safeties, go back to the way it was before Texas Express was created in the 1970's. Just my opinion as I started playing before Texas Express was created. I am not a fan of 9 ball as most players will duck rather than take on a difficult shot regardless of the pocket size.
 
onepocketron said:
If you are talking a recreational/beginning player, larger pockets to make the game more fun. No one wants to play and not pocket balls.
For the more advanced/serious/pro players, I personally think the 4.5 inch pockets are great. I hate playing on tables where they guy misses a shot by 3 diamonds going down the rail, and the ball still falls. If you miss the pocket, you should not be rewarded.
As far as safeties being boring, I think the worst thing to happen in 9 ball is the creation of Texas Express. If you want to see more agressive shooting, and less safeties, go back to the way it was before Texas Express was created in the 1970's. Just my opinion as I started playing before Texas Express was created. I am not a fan of 9 ball as most players will duck rather than take on a difficult shot regardless of the pocket size.
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I don't think most players on here even know what "push out" 9 ball is:grin:...you didn't play "duck":grin::grin:
 
marks of a great player

this has been an interesting thread and all the posts as well.
what makes a great player, may not be a pro, but able to put a few racks
together. a lot rides on the individual . it may not be 18,19, or 20 oz cue
7,8, or 9 foot table. tight pockets , large pockets , fast table, slow table
to be a great player . i think the person in question "the player".
must have the ability to adjust to all of these variables.
just my 2 cents , take care, johnqbs
 
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