Snooker table query

Yesterday i played a best of 19 match in a different club i hadnt played in before.

We soon noticed a few bizarre runs of balls into the middle pocket from acute angles though and upon inspection (looking down the line of the cushion) we realised the pocket protuded out a bit from the line of the cushion.

This table is wrong isnt it, the hole of the pocket shouldnt be visible when looking down the line of the cushion.

Some of the in-offs defied logic, i was heading round to play some of my next shots only to suddenly notice the white had vanished when it was last seen heading safely down the table.

Made the match a bit of a lottery and in the end i lost 10-8 sadly in a classic nip and tuck match where the score went 0-1,1-1 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 4-5, 5-5, 5-6, 6-6, 6-7, 7-7, 7-8, 8-8, 8-9, 8-10.

The club was a classic old fashioned style club that hadnt changed a bit since it was opened in the 80s.

I used to play a shot when I was bucking about when I came across tables with pockets like this. To prove my point, like you, I'd put the cue ball tight against the cushion, hit the cue ball dead weight along the cushion up towards the middle pocket & watch it drop in.

Bad luck in getting beat by the way. Don't let the table beat you as uts hard enough making sure the fella your playing doesn't beat you too......!

JohnFromLondonTown wrote:I used to play a shot when I was bucking about when I came across tables with pockets like this. To prove my point, like you, I'd put the cue ball tight against the cushion, hit the cue ball dead weight along the cushion up towards the middle pocket & watch it drop in.

Bad luck in getting beat by the way. Don't let the table beat you as uts hard enough making sure the fella your playing doesn't beat you too......!

ah good thinking, never even thought to try out that shot along the cushion to prove the point. Very frustrating, twice i played great cut backs on the black only for the cueball to find a bizarre route into the middle bag.

Once we became fully aware of the generous pockets i was trying cuts from acute angles into the middle bag that were more like shots you would attempt at pool than risk on a snooker table. On the contrary though, the baulk and top pockets were incredibly tight which didnt suit my usual power play, always feel more confident and accurate playing shots with pace, sure if they miss it can look erratic and a hit and hope but ir negates the risk of the balls running off on suspect club cloths as well as minimising the chance of hanging the ball over the pocket or jawing it for your opponent to step in and profit from.

Witz78 wrote:

JohnFromLondonTown wrote:I used to play a shot when I was bucking about when I came across tables with pockets like this. To prove my point, like you, I'd put the cue ball tight against the cushion, hit the cue ball dead weight along the cushion up towards the middle pocket & watch it drop in.

Bad luck in getting beat by the way. Don't let the table beat you as uts hard enough making sure the fella your playing doesn't beat you too......!

twice i played great cut backs on the black only for the cueball to find a bizarre route into the middle bag. Ouch.

Once we became fully aware of the generous pockets i was trying cuts from acute angles into the middle bag that were more like shots you would attempt at pool than risk on a snooker table. On the contrary though, the baulk and top pockets were incredibly tight which didnt suit my usual power play, always feel more confident and accurate playing shots with pace, sure if they miss it can look erratic and a hit and hope but ir negates the risk of the balls running off on suspect club cloths as well as minimising the chance of hanging the ball over the pocket or jawing it for your opponent to step in and profit from.[/quote]
You can hit them as hard as you like as long as your controling them at the same time.

See it all the time

In the Rileys club i play at,Some tables will put you off potting in the black pocket unless it is dead straight or near to it.

I tend to use the middles more and keep going across for blues and pinks.

Some shots i have played on these tables defy logic and i have been playing snooker for 26 years ,I dont want to sound like a bad workman blaming his tools but there are 3 tables out of 12 or so that are any good.

The Cueist wrote:<doh> See it all the time

In the Rileys club i play at,Some tables will put you off potting in the black pocket unless it is dead straight or near to it.

I tend to use the middles more and keep going across for blues and pinks.

Some shots i have played on these tables defy logic and i have been playing snooker for 26 years ,I dont want to sound like a bad workman blaming his tools but there are 3 tables out of 12 or so that are any good.

I used to play with this old boy, Ken Griffiths was his name, still alive too, bless him. He always told me this...."Every pocket has a middle to them John. If you hit the pocket there, then they'll drop." How right he was too.
If I play on tight pockets Cueist, & this is genuine, I always take a second out to stand over a Black pocket & look to see where I need to at least hit the pocket to make sure they drop. Doesn't always work mind you.

When I played last week I kept missing the black off the spot, it rattled out on both sides and I realised it was an optical illusion and I had to aim almost near jaw. I got there in the end but it was weird, hitting balls exactly where you're aiming and they don't go in. As for middles cut into the table, annoying on safeties, makes thin cuts easier so you can go for shots you wouldn't normally. That's how I look at it.

My pet hate with tables - and I do like playing on different tables and learning how they roll because they're all different - is when the cushion is low and ball bounces off it. You know the type - where you hit a clip safety back to baulk decent weight, it jumps, accelerates and bounces back off the baulk cushion and ends up near the blue, then when you compensate and hit it softer it doesn't bounce and doesn't reach the baulk line. That and severe roll offs are my gripe. Everything else I take as it comes and learn how to play it.

JohnFromLondonTown wrote:

The Cueist wrote:<doh> See it all the time

In the Rileys club i play at,Some tables will put you off potting in the black pocket unless it is dead straight or near to it.

I tend to use the middles more and keep going across for blues and pinks.

Some shots i have played on these tables defy logic and i have been playing snooker for 26 years ,I dont want to sound like a bad workman blaming his tools but there are 3 tables out of 12 or so that are any good.

I used to play with this old boy, Ken Griffiths was his name, still alive too, bless him. He always told me this...."Every pocket has a middle to them John. If you hit the pocket there, then they'll drop." How right he was too.
If I play on tight pockets Cueist, & this is genuine, I always take a second out to stand over a Black pocket & look to see where I need to at least hit the pocket to make sure they drop. Doesn't always work mind you.

Its so mental though, after a few early misses yesterday of shots wed normally make due to the tight pockets we began to turn down pots into it in favour of safety or a different shot completely.

The middle bags were playing generously too in terms of the number of twitchy pots i had that seemed set to hit the knuckle yet somehow dropped wiping their feet on the way in.

Any advice on this John though? My old achilles heel stuck a few times yesterday when negative thoughts entered my head before routine pots like blacks off the spot and fairly simple pots to the middle where i got an inner voice saying "Your going to miss" before i hut it, or i allowed myself to be distracted by background noise or something in the background on another table in my line of slight but instead of getting up off the shot and re-grouping i went ahead and missed.

Very annoying as im a confidence player and have far better success when i instinctively just get down on a shot and play it straight away without thought.

On the plus side my long potting and long range blues off the spot game was on fire again, actually managed to stoke quite a good few in without playing them at my normal full power.

"My old achilles heel stuck a few times yesterday when negative thoughts entered my head before routine pots like blacks off the spot and fairly simple pots to the middle where i got an inner voice saying "Your going to miss" before i hit it"


If there's a cure, I would pay any price!

Witz78 wrote:

JohnFromLondonTown wrote:

The Cueist wrote:<doh> See it all the time

In the Rileys club i play at,Some tables will put you off potting in the black pocket unless it is dead straight or near to it.

I tend to use the middles more and keep going across for blues and pinks.

Some shots i have played on these tables defy logic and i have been playing snooker for 26 years ,I dont want to sound like a bad workman blaming his tools but there are 3 tables out of 12 or so that are any good.

I used to play with this old boy, Ken Griffiths was his name, still alive too, bless him. He always told me this...."Every pocket has a middle to them John. If you hit the pocket there, then they'll drop." How right he was too.
If I play on tight pockets Cueist, & this is genuine, I always take a second out to stand over a Black pocket & look to see where I need to at least hit the pocket to make sure they drop. Doesn't always work mind you.

Its so mental though, after a few early misses yesterday of shots wed normally make due to the tight pockets we began to turn down pots into it in favour of safety or a different shot completely.

The middle bags were playing generously too in terms of the number of twitchy pots i had that seemed set to hit the knuckle yet somehow dropped wiping their feet on the way in.

Any advice on this John though? My old achilles heel stuck a few times yesterday when negative thoughts entered my head before routine pots like blacks off the spot and fairly simple pots to the middle where i got an inner voice saying "Your going to miss" before i hut it, or i allowed myself to be distracted by background noise or something in the background on another table in my line of slight but instead of getting up off the shot and re-grouping i went ahead and missed.

Very annoying as im a confidence player and have far better success when i instinctively just get down on a shot and play it straight away without thought.

On the plus side my long potting and long range blues off the spot game was on fire again, actually managed to stoke quite a good few in without playing them at my normal full power.

To counteract this peice ""Your going to miss" , what I do is I don't hit it, I either get back up again, depending on how confident you are in yourself, & if your not feeling comfortable, stay down, have a look again & while doing so, remind yourself that you want to pot it because you prefer the feeling of potting that you do of missing.

The first thing I do when I'm out practicing or before I'm gonna play is pot a few straight blacks of the spot & start moving the angle after 2 or 3 pots. Its the cue ball that you hit first don't forget.

JFLT. I will bear this in mind on my next outing at to play Snooker.

Sounds logical to me. "Every pocket has a middle to them".

I will put this into practice.

Thanks John.

Sonny,Blacks rattling in pockets and then having to play as if you want to miss,A nuisance and a sign of a badly set up table.

Know where you are coming from mate.

My table at home seems to have very tight pockets.. I will take some pictures with a ball and fist in a pocket and maybe a video tomorrow and id like you to compare with the pockets of tables you play on please to find out if they really are tight or its me being silly. Would appreciate, thanks. May also do measurements.

randam05 wrote:My table at home seems to have very tight pockets.. I will take some pictures with a ball and fist in a pocket and maybe a video tomorrow and id like you to compare with the pockets of tables you play on please to find out if they really are tight or its me being silly. Would appreciate, thanks. May also do measurements.

randam05,Hi there mate.

Yep when i next go for a game i will measure and photo on my phone the pockets that are peeing me off on the offending tables.

We can then compare notes.

The Cueist wrote:

randam05 wrote:My table at home seems to have very tight pockets.. I will take some pictures with a ball and fist in a pocket and maybe a video tomorrow and id like you to compare with the pockets of tables you play on please to find out if they really are tight or its me being silly. Would appreciate, thanks. May also do measurements.

randam05,Hi there mate.

Yep when i next go for a game i will measure and photo on my phone the pockets that are peeing me off on the offending tables.

We can then compare notes.

i will do the same next time im down my local club, our snooker league starts next week, cant wait

Witz Good idea mate,And we can compare notes and see if it is the tables or other problems with our cue actions.

Though personally i have a theory that there are problems where the slates join on ill maintained tables that causes jawing as the ball deviates as it makes its way to the pocket.

Some tables are so bad i have played on ,It is nigh on impossible to remember all the offsets to pot balls ,With the nap and against the nap.

My league starts next week too, looking forward to it, especially being reigning player of the season

Will be interesting to compare and I am sure mine most be tight.

randam05 wrote:My league starts next week too, looking forward to it, especially being reigning player of the season

Will be interesting to compare and I am sure mine most be tight.

yeh we should start a thread with our results and match reports etc

Great idea, breaks and so on. Who shall we let start the thread?

randam05 wrote:Great idea, breaks and so on. Who shall we let start the thread?

whosever league match is played first should get the ball rolling (pardon the pun )

whats the format in your league, how many are in it etc

puns are great

Well there are two divisions made up of 14 and 13 teams on each. Each team plays 5 players every thursday night and sixth frame is decided by aggregate. So a team can win 6-0, 5-1, 4-2 or a draw at 3-3. Every player has a handicap which starts at 40 and changes throughout some points in the season and at the end of a season. The best handicap in division 1 is -52! hes very good, not many come close to him. Mine is 15, probably dropped this season yours is?

How about your league setup? quite similar I could imagine.

randam05 wrote:puns are great

Well there are two divisions made up of 14 and 13 teams on each. Each team plays 5 players every thursday night and sixth frame is decided by aggregate. So a team can win 6-0, 5-1, 4-2 or a draw at 3-3. Every player has a handicap which starts at 40 and changes throughout some points in the season and at the end of a season. The best handicap in division 1 is -52! hes very good, not many come close to him. Mine is 15, probably dropped this season yours is?

How about your league setup? quite similar I could imagine.

Our league didnt run last year as the old club shut down and there was a transitional phase before a new venue opened with some tables in it.

It was my idea to resurrect the league, but as theres quite a few new players in it this year were not bothering with handicaps, i dont think anyone has a problem with that, if your beaten fair and square then so be it, unfair IMO to penalise better players.

Weve 16 in the league so each week you have to play an opponent in a best of 6 frames match, after the 15 matches have been completed and youve played everyone once (this will take us up to xmas) the league splits into two, top 8 and bottom 8 (logic behind this was it would give those further down the league a top 8 place to aim for ) plus after "the split" occurs those in the Plate league are more evenly matched and can play on to try and win a trophy, albeit the losers league

whilst the top 8 will carry on playing each other once (takes us up to early March when a lot of people lose interest playing snooker normally ) and the league winner will be crowned.

Should be good fun to get to play a variety of opponents anyway and will be a good way to pass many a winter night.

Oh wow didnt know that leagues would be so so different. Sounds interesting. Let us know how it goes.

How do I add a photo on here? I have clicked the Picture icon and copied and pasted all the info on a photo on my computer into the box and it doesnt show the pic? help please. It says photo URL i need to paste in the box but photos do not have a URL?

They do if you upload them to a photo hosting site

[img]file:///C:/Users/Jake/Pictures/Randoms/IMG_0793.JPG[/img]

randam05 wrote:[img]file:///C:/Users/Jake/Pictures/Randoms/IMG_0793.JPG[/img]

play it again Sam

http://imageshack.us/

try uploading it here then use the code it spits out which reads like a web address i.e. http:// etc etc .jpg

Can you see it?

randam05 wrote:

Can you see it?

right i must warn you that if you fail to upload it for a 3rd time then your opponent will be awarded the frame !

haha oh god well thats the URL the website gave me! grr fustrating..stupid computers. How does everyone else do it!?