Tough table due to cloth?

The_Hill

The_Hill

Never counted out
There is a table I have been practicing on a couple times a week that has been kicking my butt! An 8 foot Olhausen with this cheap Mali cloth on it. Mali is what the local retailer puts on it when you buy one, I know because I have a similar table bought from the same place.

Anyway, I have been playing extremely well on Gold Crowns with Simonis, so I have been trying to figure out what it is with this one. I hate it when people make excuses, but it has to be the cloth on this table. I already know the cloth rolls like crap and is very slow and inconsistent. It seems to grab the ball and on some shots actually change the angle, but more often then not the rails seem to grab and put more spin on the object ball allowing it to jar in the pocket. My speed is very inconsistent on this cloth, its dark purple which makes it hard to see the edges of the darker colored balls as well. Its killing me, am I crazy or can cloth make that much of a difference on how the balls roll?
 
no doubt your feeling the effects of the cloth, but also if the balls are dirty they stick together a moment longer during contact changing the angle. Olhausen are nice tables but you can't expect them to play like a Gold Crown. The pocket Jarring is from the soft cushion and thin facings, that's what there known for.
 
sdbilliards said:
no doubt your feeling the effects of the cloth, but also if the balls are dirty they stick together a moment longer during contact changing the angle. Olhausen are nice tables but you can't expect them to play like a Gold Crown. The pocket Jarring is from the soft cushion and thin facings, that's what there known for.
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Good info, I have a similar table, I wounder if shimming the pockets just to make the facings a bit harder would help the problem. No doubt some better cloth will help. I'll try cleaning the balls, and throw some wax on them just to go all the way in the other direction and see what happens.
 
I bought a 9ft imperial table last year, it came with the same mali cloth.

This cloth is cheap! I have the same inconsistancies in speed, it is very slow

compared to samonis or championship. As soon as I have enough money I

am going to buy new cloth and recover my table for the second time in

just over a year. (good thing I recover my own tabels $$$)
 
The_Hill said:
Good info, I have a similar table, I wounder if shimming the pockets just to make the facings a bit harder would help the problem. No doubt some better cloth will help. I'll try cleaning the balls, and throw some wax on them just to go all the way in the other direction and see what happens.
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Get the 3/16" Neoprene facing from Diamond Billiards Products, that should do the trick. Don't double the facing just replace them with these.
 
J.Goosman said:
I bought a 9ft imperial table last year, it came with the same mali cloth.

This cloth is cheap! I have the same inconsistancies in speed, it is very slow

compared to samonis or championship. As soon as I have enough money I

am going to buy new cloth and recover my table for the second time in

just over a year. (good thing I recover my own tabels $$$)
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which table did you get the Black Pearl or Augustine?
 
I bought the black pearl, it was a great deal through gametables4less.com

$1895.00 delivered (with the cheap mali cloth).
 
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The_Hill said:
Its killing me, am I crazy or can cloth make that much of a difference on how the balls roll?
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Simply put - Yes.

There is no playability comparison between a woolen cloth and a worsted cloth like Simonis.
With billiard cloth you get what you pay for.

Buying a table from a dealer you will typically get Mali 10820, Championship Titan or something similar on install.
You won't get a tournament grade cloth like Simonis unless you upgrade.

Overall Mali is less expensive then Simonis in price but they make several cloths, to include a worsted, at different
price points so labeling the "brand" as cheap isn't appropriate.

There's a short history of the company here - http://www.malicloth.com/About.aspx

.
 
I used to dislike tables that did not have Simonis but have learned in the last few months that I simply need to adjust my stroke and use the types of shots that work under the table conditions.

Just like playing golf, you (and everyone else) has to adjust to the conditions. On some tables I don't bank often, on other tables I do not use as much draw, etc. Find your stroke speed on your home table and then test it on any other table and adjust as needed.

I think that my home table (9' Gold Crown III) is competition speed and apparently it is from what I have learned using Bob Jewett's suggestions.Everything on any other table is an adjustment from this table. To me it is all part of being a competitive player.
 
Dartman said:
Overall Mali is less expensive then Simonis in price but they make several cloths, to include a worsted, at different
price points so labeling the "brand" as cheap isn't appropriate.

There's a short history of the company here - http://www.malicloth.com/About.aspx

.
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No I agree completely, I know that Mali makes some good cloth, I just meant the entry level stuff you get with a table is really bad. Don't they have a line called Versa that is a good cloth? I have a 7ft table, I recently played on some bar boxes with Forstman cloth on them and really liked it!

As for adjusting to the conditions, I agree as well, but this is like nothing I've played on, and I've played on some really bad equipment. It just feels like such a waist of time considering it plays like no other table.

Thanks for the insight guys!
 
J.Goosman said:
I bought a 9ft imperial table last year, it came with the same mali cloth.

This cloth is cheap! I have the same inconsistancies in speed, it is very slow

compared to samonis or championship. As soon as I have enough money I

am going to buy new cloth and recover my table for the second time in

just over a year. (good thing I recover my own tabels $$$)
Click to expand...

Well I'm glad to see that I'm not crazy when it comes to the speed inconsistencies. Maybe someone that knows more about cloth can explain this, I can see cloth rolling off, or slow, but how in the world is the speed inconsistent? It seems like it takes x amount of speed to get the ball rolling, and then it rolls fast, but the way it slows down isn't linear. This may be too deep :D but I truly want to understand this.
 
The_Hill said:
No I agree completely, I know that Mali makes some good cloth, I just meant the entry level stuff you get with a table is really bad. Don't they have a line called Versa that is a good cloth? I have a 7ft table, I recently played on some bar boxes with Forstman cloth on them and really liked it!

As for adjusting to the conditions, I agree as well, but this is like nothing I've played on, and I've played on some really bad equipment. It just feels like such a waist of time considering it plays like no other table.

Thanks for the insight guys!
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Mali Vestra is their top shelf worsted cloth.

Most people that walk into a table dealer wouldn't know the difference between the many cloths available.
I've yet to walk into a dealer where there wasn't a table setup with their standard cloth installed.
Someone that "plays" should know better and can upgrade to better cloth.

I've been in this business for a few days (since '95) and have seen a lot more bad installs and environmental problems as opposed to bad cloth. Your typical "standard cloth" is Mali 10820, Forstmann Speedball or Championship Titan and all 3 are good quality. I might add that unless someone really knows cloth then one may not get what they think they're getting.
 
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GordonRamsay said:
anyone have opinions on Gorina Tournament cloth?
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Granito T2000 and Champ Tour Edition are both in the ballpark with Simonis 760 in quality and speed.
You just don't hear much about them.
 
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