What table size for room size

[Chili Palmer]

Another solution is to institute a house (or cabin) rule: If the cue ball is near the bad cushion and a short cue would be required for the shot, the player may move the cue ball off the cushion by up to a hand span. (The player's hand must be able to touch both the nose of the cushion and the cue ball after repositioning.)

That will reduce the effectiveness of some safeties, but without that rule some safeties are much more effective than in a large room. I used to play frequently on a table where a post was 58 inches from a corner pocket. The "post hook" was a well-known strategy on that table.

Yep, that would be an acceptable solution also.

The bar I play at frequently has some shelve's on the wall that are just the right height to get in the way of your stroke if the ball is within about 6-10" from the rail. There is no doubt I have played safe's on people utilizing those shelves. There's also a bar in a neighboring town that has a big pole in the way, it's about 4 feet from the table so you can imagine it gets in the way and yep, safety's were well planned there

All that being said - the equipment, whether bad or good, affects both players.

 

[vjmehra]

Yep, that would be an acceptable solution also.

The bar I play at frequently has some shelve's on the wall that are just the right height to get in the way of your stroke if the ball is within about 6-10" from the rail. There is no doubt I have played safe's on people utilizing those shelves. There's also a bar in a neighboring town that has a big pole in the way, it's about 4 feet from the table so you can imagine it gets in the way and yep, safety's were well planned there

All that being said - the equipment, whether bad or good, affects both players.

I have come across this rule once, when playing in Germany against some locals, although oddly it wasn't anything to do with space, just a local rule it seemed, I never took advantage of it myself as it felt so ridiculous!

All that said, what is tolerable in a bar, is one thing, if the local rules insist on it, then so be it, but playing at home that would be even more frustrating than using a short cue!

Personal choice of course, but I would rather not have a table than move the cue ball every time it was on a cushion, its too big a part of the game to take away (incidentally, I too have played safeties by sending the cue ball towards an obstruction if the table was in an awkward corner of a pub, that is using local knowledge to your advantage .

 

[Chili Palmer]

I have come across this rule once, when playing in Germany against some locals, although oddly it wasn't anything to do with space, just a local rule it seemed, I never took advantage of it myself as it felt so ridiculous!

All that said, what is tolerable in a bar, is one thing, if the local rules insist on it, then so be it, but playing at home that would be even more frustrating than using a short cue!

Personal choice of course, but I would rather not have a table than move the cue ball every time it was on a cushion, its too big a part of the game to take away (incidentally, I too have played safeties by sending the cue ball towards an obstruction if the table was in an awkward corner of a pub, that is using local knowledge to your advantage .

I remember when we were kids we would do that stuff but I've never seen it in a pool hall. Regarding the table at home issue, if I only had one end that was an issue and a 52" cue solved the problem it would be a no brainer for me - buy the table. My break cue is about 55" and I can play all day with it, a 52" once in a while wouldn't bother me a bit if that's what it took to have a Gold Crown in my room.

 

[7stud]

The "Shorty Stick Sizes" assume you want 6" of stroking room. For 6" of stroking room without using a shorty, you'll need a "small" 7-footer or any 6-footer. Your "problem" dimension is, of course, length.

pj
chgo

View attachment 639462

Can someone explain how I am supposed to interpret the "Actual Stroking Room" section for a 9' table? What do 19 and -6 mean?

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Can someone explain how I am supposed to interpret the "Actual Stroking Room" section for a 9' table? What do 19 and -6 mean?

With your cue's tip at the cushion nose and the cue level and 90 degrees from the rail, those are the inches of space between your 58" cue and the wall for the room's width and length, respectively - in other words, the minimum stroking room you have.

"19" means there's at least 19 inches of stroking room; "-6" means the space between cushion nose and wall is 6 inches less than 58" (so you'd have to jack up to hit a cue ball frozen to the rail).

pj
chgo

P.S. I'd be glad to share the spreadsheet with anybody who PMs me with a request (and an email address) - you just plug in the dimensions of your own room for custom results.

 

[7stud]

With your cue's tip at the cushion nose and the cue level and 90 degrees from the rail, those are the inches of space between your 58" cue and the wall for the room's width and length, respectively - in other words, the minimum stroking room you have.

"19" means there's at least 19 inches of stroking room; "-6" means the space between cushion nose and wall is 6 inches less than 58" (so you'd have to jack up to hit a cue ball frozen to the rail).

pj
chgo

P.S. I'd be glad to share the spreadsheet with anybody who PMs me with a request (and an email address) - you just plug in the dimensions of your own room for custom results.

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for responding. Here are the calculations to get the 14' 10 room width for a 9' table:

50" playing surface + (2 x 58" cue length) + (2 x 6" stroke length) = 178"
178" => 14' 10"

Where does 19" between the end of cue and the side wall come from? Why isn't it 6"?

Here are the calculations to get a 19' room length for a 9' table:

100" playing surface + (2 x 58" cue) + (2 x 6" stroke length) = 228"
228" => 19'

Where does -6" between end of the cue and the end wall come from? Why isn't it +6"?

 

[7stud]

Ah, I see. You plugged in an actual room size of 17' x 17' at the top of the chart, then your spread sheet calculated what the stroke length would be for that room size rather than the recommended room size. So, for instance, the room width at 17' is 2' 2" wider than needed--or 26", so you have an extra 13" on each side of the table, and because the recommended room width was calculated for a 6" stroke length, you have an extra 13", giving you a 19" stroke length. Similarly, with a 17' room length, you are 2' too short compared to the recommended room length, so you have 1 foot less on each end of the table, which means instead of having a 6" stroke length, you have 6" - 1' stroke length, or -6".

In your spreadsheet, I think you should move the actual room length x width above the columns for the actual stroke length.