Tips on playing the bar box please

While playing in the leagues I got sick of playing with dirty balls all of the time so I brought some Pledge furniture polish to the next match. Everyone liked the idea of playing with clean balls.

However, no one except a friend and I were able to make anything as all of the throw was gone and the players (who did not often play on good tables) could not understand why they could not make anything. We had "5" and "6" handicaps shooting like drunken girlscouts.

So if you are not used to playing on a "dirty" old bar box take care and learn how the balls throw.:D

Friend has a 7' Diamond in his bar and it plays as well or better than my GCIII with Simonis. So I guess it depends on what you find.

Around here they call that concrete ball a "mud ball" and it seems to be a pretty good name.
 
Last edited:
BVal said:
Not all barboxes have a heavier cue ball and the transition is not the same for everybody.

BVal
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more! An older player told me long ago, a good bar table player will eat a big table player alive, 'til the big table player gets used to playing on the bar table. When I first moved to South Carolina, it took me a while {read couple of months} before I could get out with any regularity on a bar box. I was overhitting most shots and overshooting position a lot. Like Jay said, it takes practice to get used to a bar table.
 
Cueball control......as others have said, stop shots....move it as little as possible.....the smaller rails and bigger pockets love to soak up that mudball when you let it loose....
 
All good suggestions above. Would just emphasize two points. Maneuvering the Q with a lighter touch thru a more cluttered table takes a bit more finesse with smaller target zones for the next shot. Identify your problem balls early and maneuver to give yourself a chance to break up those clusters that are all too common.

Guess we're lucky around here (NW Missouri). Almost all bar tables are owned by a local vending company. The Valley bar tables are kept in very good condition and I've seldom seen an oversized cueball! They split the $1 per game with the bar owner (profitable business). The green circle cueball is pretty much standard.
 
Last edited:
WestBeardsley said:
I don?t have a bar box to practice on, and always find myself playing tournaments on the small table, after practicing on a 4.5 x 9.0.

Any one care to share some tip on playing, and winning or the small tables.
Click to expand...
My strategy to run a barbox is I find a pocket for the 8 and plan a patern to end up there at the end.

I play zones, I'll pick a pattern that will get me from one quarter of the table to the next ending up at the zone where my 8 ball shot is. if there's a ball close to a side pocket, I'll save it to get me to my last zone.

This way I keep the CB movement to a minimum. Stop shots and playing 1 rail shape as opposed to 2 and 3 rails if at all possible. I also will only play to bump balls if I need a break out. Because of the smaller space on a bar table bumping is just asking for problems.
 
You have to practice on a bar table. It's so much different than a 9 footer. I could hold my own or beat A players on a bar box that I wouldn't dream of playing even on a 9 footer. Johnnyt
 
Typically, the bar box tables are more apt to have worn cloth, are not level and have deader rails. Also, the side pockets are much less forgiving. The hardest thing for me has always been adjusting to the larger and/or heavier cue balls. For many, this doesn't appear to be a problem. For me... pool is difficult enough as it is without having to consider all of the other stuff. Frankly, I try to stay off the bar boxes!
 
WestBeardsley said:
I don?t have a bar box to practice on, and always find myself playing tournaments on the small table, after practicing on a 4.5 x 9.0.

Any one care to share some tip on playing, and winning or the small tables.
Click to expand...
Moving to a bar table:

  • One rail up and down patterns start to make more sense as opposed to the multiple rail position necessary in 9-ball.
  • Playing to the short side becomes a more viable option.
  • Pocket-to-rail ratio is higher; cutting the object ball into the corner only to have the cueball run one rail into the side pocket seems to come up more and more on centerball shots.
  • Playing 8-ball, leaving that ball for the side pocket as your last or nearly last ball is a recipe for disaster. It's already a disaster on 9' tables, but on smaller tables, it is multiplied.
  • Some bar tables, the side pockets are much smaller.
  • Take advantage of leaving yourself with a longer shot to get the correct angle, since most long shots on the smaller table aren't going to be long.
  • To that point, angles and paths are the higher priority in bar table pool.
  • The difficult of long shots in bar tables is bridging on the cushion, and the stuff on the pocket (like silly metal caps).

Fred <~~~ there are dozens of other little things.
 
Bar Box Playing

1. Play a more general shape area and don't worry about long shots (since there isn't any). This will prevent you from getting on the wrong side of the line (which will kill you on a bar box).

2. Play less angle. Too much angle and you will have a hell of a time staying in line. You can always power up a little with less angle if you have to.
 
mattman said:
If you like to read and also play a lot of 8-Ball, pick up Phil Capelle's book, Play You Best Eight Ball. I found one on amozon.com for $12. Also, The Eight Book Bible is suppose to be pretty good. I just ordered it last week and and still waiting to get it.
Click to expand...

It spots every other book out there 5 balls down, AND the first shot after the break... Oh yeah.. Including Capelle's book.

Russ
 
jay helfert said:
Only one way I know of, and I made the transition many times. You MUST practice on the bar tables. There is no short cut. It is a little easier to go down than to go up.
Click to expand...


i hate playing on shoddy bar boxes, and i neverpractice on them for $1 a game, i practice usually twice a week on 9 footers and the only time i play on bar tables is during tourneys, jay is correct here and if u can u should practice on them even if u dont like them or have descent 7's in your area, im playing my best pool ever on a 9 footer but nowhere near my best on a bar table, if u can't practice on a 7 foot table u may try and use just half of the 9 footer and conjest it with 10-15 balls
________
 
Last edited:
Lots of good information in this thread

One thing I didn't see is that shooting off the rails (jacked up or otherwise) is a must have skill. Seems to happen more to me on the bar box than the 9's.
 
jay helfert said:
Only one way I know of, and I made the transition many times. You MUST practice on the bar tables. There is no short cut. It is a little easier to go down than to go up.
Click to expand...

Jay, I feel the same way you do, but, if you go to www.theactionreport.com and listen to the podcast interviews of McCready and Matlock (he was on there before the ring game), both of them stated that they never practice on a bb. They usually practice on a 4' x 8'. Middle of the road transition, heh.
 
klockdoc said:
Jay, I feel the same way you do, but, if you go to www.theactionreport.com and listen to the podcast interviews of McCready and Matlock (he was on there before the ring game), both of them stated that they never practice on a bb. They usually practice on a 4' x 8'. Middle of the road transition, heh.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna sound like Freddie here. Whatever I say does not apply to monsters like Keith and David. These guys can do it their way. My advice is for the rest of us mere mortals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top