Flex said:
The larger pockets favor the better player, if there is no spot, because he'll be able to do things with the cue ball that tigher pockets wouldn't accomodate. That being sad, larger pockets will swallow the 9 ball more easily.
However, in my experience, the better players prefer tight pocketed tables for the high stakes matches... I'm sure they want to minimize their chances of being defeated by a lucky roll...
Flex
I think there are two ways to look at the situation.
1) Tighter pockets might allow a weaker player more chances at the table. I dont consider this a bad thing. If the better player played a poor shot, he shouldn't be rewarded with a ball falling because of a loose pocket. Also, there's no guarantee that the player comming up will be able to run the table once he's up there. So the good thing that results from this is that if a player plays a bad shot, he'll be punished accordingly. After all, it's not whether or not you're the better player, its how well you play that match that wins you the match.
2) Tighter pockets will make it harder to run the table and continue runs. This definately hurts the weaker player. Let's take 2 players. Player A routinely splits the pocket on every shot and have about 1 out of 10 shots that actually contact the 2 pocket rails before finally falling in or missing (sloppy shot). Player B is not so accurate, and about 25% of his shots are sloppy. Player A and B has about the same skills at everything else, etc.
Player A would be, on average, be able to run out much more often on a tight pocket because, on average, his shots would be going in even with tight pockets. So 10% of Player A's sloppy shots would have a chance of missing.
Most of player Bs shots would still go in, but because 25% of his shots are sloppy, he will make more mistakes on average. With larger pockets, more of his sloppy shots would go in and he would, on average, be able to get away with more of his sloppy shots.
So if you think about the long run average, Player A, whose a more accuate shot maker, would average a higher ball pocketing ratio, which leads to longer runs. Player B, whose more prone to making mistakes, would average shorter runs in general. This doesn't mean player B has no chance of winning, it means player B has, on average, less chance of winning. If he is in stroke and his pocketing ability increases for the match, he could very well win. All these comparisons are made assuming player A and B are only different by their pocketing abilities. Other factors come into play, position play, safety play, break, and luck.
