Tips for quickly adjusting to table conditions?

Attitude

I agree with playing for 45min or an hour to get a feel for the table and shooting a few reference shots. But, mental attitude makes a big difference in play as well. You and your opponent are playing on the same table. Don't worry about how bad the table is, have a positive can-do attitude no matter what the table conditions.
 
bbb said:
getting there early to get familiar with the table is the best advice
here is another idea
take a standard shot
for example cueball in center of table
object ball one diamond up from corner and one ball off the side rail
pocket ball and go 3 rails to center of table
same set up
pocket ball and go across table 1 rail/2 rail
another idea
cue ball on foot spot
object ball 3 ball out from center of side pocket
make ball go end rail to end rail
with these few shots you should have a general idea of how the table plays except for table rolls
my 2 cents
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This is good advice. To the OP, I would also say that if you are playing on a 9 foot table and moving to a Valley, there are other adjustments as well. The bigger/heavy cue ball (effecting not only draw and follow - search Dr. Dave's resources for discussions of the bigger/heavier CB). And that's saying nothing about differences in position play and tactics.

Gideon
 
WillyCornbread said:
This is good advice, and I need to try a little harder or make time to get there earlier. I've been so new to the leagues that I have been hesitant to play ahead of time in front of other people because I didn't want them to know my speed (my rating was low because of being new). I realize how ridiculous this sounds because I'm not great, lol.

I'm going to get there earlier from now on, it seems to be the best idea and I feel a little silly that I didn't just realize that first.

Let me ask it this way though, if you only had 10 minutes on new table what would you do with it to try and mentally adjust?

Thanks for the input everyone :)
Click to expand...
Wait, so you want help figuring out how to play on new tables, but without actually playing on the new table, because you want to hide your artificially low handicap. OK then :speechless:
 
WillyCornbread said:
... There is a pool room close by, but they don't run any tournaments or leagues. If they did I would bail on the bar leagues without question. ...
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I assume that's Jack&Jill. When I played there (a few years ago) there were lots of players up to semi-pros available for matches.

One option is to volunteer to run an in-house league. There are simple systems for that that don't require much admin time.
 
Its hard to adapt to different table conditions if you're a 'roller', which most players are theses days. 'Rolling; the CB into position means you need to know the table
very well. By using more center ball and 'placing' the CB into position, you're using
less movement on the CB. Fast cloth has players 'rolling' the CB rather than 'placing' it. Every table plays different and the 'roller' style makes it harder to adjust than 'placing' ( or stroking' the CB with control. Road players from the 60's and 70's
had to adjust quickly to strange tables or lose the room rent. They shot the balls into the hole, not 'rolled' them in.
Good luck'
ps
Captian, why 760 clothe and triple shim pkts??? That will make you a 'roller' for sure.
Too fast and too tight to move whitey....just asking
 
To sort of answer your original question....

Notice which shots you have trouble with on the strange tables and figure out a test shot or two that's related. If you have a lot of trouble with draw, do a brief draw drill from different distances and to different distances. Bank shots can change a lot. Try a few of the ones you often take. Kick shots are similar. Test for roll-off if you have any inclination to hit the ball softly -- that requires several shots where either the cue ball or object ball is rolling slowly at different angles across the table.
 
To me everything boils down to taking the familiar (your table in the basement) and comparing it to the league tables. there might be many things to check, but most people can't always show up an hour ahead of time.
Four basic things for you to note
1. Look at the pockets. How are they different from your table?
2. Take a base position shot that you know very well from your home table shoot it a few times and note the difference on the new table.
3. Hit some lag shots it practices the lag for your match and it shows you the table roll off
4. Shoot a three rail kick so you know how the table reacts.
 
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