The joy of black felt pool tables in a tournament

So Saturday I was at an American Poolplayers Association tournament. The showdown was for single 8-ball matches, with the winner of each level division going on to the national trials in Las Vegas. Obviously I was looking to win.

The tournament was in a town called Yorkville, in New York. It was held at Hippo’s pool hall. The start time was stated as 9am for registration. 82 players from the central New York area had qualified and 25 of them were in my division, the level 4. (Levels of players go from 2 – 9 with 9 being highest).

That all sounds simple enough, but some 9+ hours after the start I finished my day. That wasn’t because I won, that was just for me to finish my games and lose. Suffice to say it was a long and less than pleasant experience. The worst of which were the tables we had to play on.

My big gripe about the competition, besides the fact that it took me 5 hours before I played my first match, was that several games were to be played on black felt tables. All the tables were even and 3.5’x7’. The pool hall does have 20 tables that are 4.5’x9’, but according to rules, since there were 8 smaller tables all the matches had to be played on them instead.

Now I don’t know if you have ever played on a black felt pool table. They were created, as I am told, back in the 70’s so you could use a blacklight and play in the dark. Which might be great with glow in the dark balls and a few friends over. But in a pool hall, with regular lights and balls, in a competition, it sucks.

Black felt, with black felt on the bumper rails, means that there is no depth in the table. It is almost impossible to get a solid bead on the corners of the pockets. And shooting the 8-ball is pure hell. A black ball on a black table going into a pocket on even the best lit table would be a challenge, and the lighting was just ok.

But I have to ask, is there anyone who actually owns a pool table with black felt? I’ve played on blue and green, even red once. But black was a miserable first. I have to say that combined with the lethargy of sitting around, and practicing on and off, for 5 hours and then having to play on that table really killed my spirits. I’ve never had to play such an awful tournament, and I’ve been playing in pool tournaments for some 20 years now.

I have no doubt that the national tournament in Las Vegas is better. I have no doubt that even on these smaller tables the felts will be green, maybe blue at worst. But would you bother to go through this kind of pain just to get to Vegas? Would you want to play on a black felt table?

If anyone prefers this, without a blacklight, I really would love to hear your thoughts why. But if anyone is waiting to see me play in Vegas, it won’t be in the singles finals this year. But the team competition is still open. We shall see.

8-ball or 9-ball: which is the harder pool game?

Now I was at my 8-ball pool league game yesterday and yet another question was brought up. This time it had nothing to do with the size of the table (which I continue to assert that playing on bar pool tables is an advantage vs. a full table) but the game in and of itself.

Which is harder, 8-ball or 9-ball?

That’s a tough question as both are games that require a lot of skill and strategy. And the size of the pool table does make a big impact. The larger the table, the less balls are likely to bunch together and the more shots that are likely to be made. But let’s assume the table size is not a factor.

With 8-ball you have potentially double the number of balls to navigate around off the break. That means you must be more accurate with the initial shot and control of the cue ball is vital. A bad Cue ball placement can end a run faster than anything else.



Additionally there is the question of shot order. This is something that 9-ball players really have no concept of. Unlike in 9-ball you can hit any of your balls in any order. Thus if you go for the duck in the corner rather than taking the harder cut shot to the side pocket you may lock yourself behind the opponents ball or leave yourself a lower percentage follow-up shot – like say a double bank.

At the same time you must be concerned with the percentage, or confidence you have, in the shot you are making. If you are attempting a low percentage shot, you must factor in where you will leave the cue ball for your opponent. The ideal placement would involve placing your object ball in to control of a pocket while hiding the cue in a place on the table to negate a clean shot or mandate your opponent to take a low percentage shot – hopefully leading to a run for you.

These are just a few of the things to consider in 8-ball.

For 9-ball life is much easier. The table is essentially wide open. A run is much more doable for players of most any skill level. Dropping the 9-ball off the break is dramatically easier than the 8 in 8-ball. You have far less worry about ball in the way, and any combination that leads to the 9 dropping is a winning shot – as opposed to in 8-ball where the 8 dropping early is an instant loss.



Of course it is harder to force an opponent into making low percentage shots. Thus control of the cue is perhaps more important than in 8-ball. But you have some 25-50% more space on the table to work with.

For me the choice is obvious. 8-ball is the harder game. There are more factors to deal with and more outcomes based on each strike of the cue to an object ball.

There is one caveat though. If you play 8-ball consistently, switching to 9-ball will take practice.

If you are accustomed to 8-ball and switch often what happens is that you will play mid-percentage shots for position. In 8-ball this is a smart move and allows you to control pockets, or arrange for future runs in the game. In 9-ball this means you will be slaughtered.

By playing to arrange future shots you are placing the object ball into position for your opponent to take the run you hope for in the future. A ball that is capturing the pocket will become a duck for the opponent. A run is as easy for you as them, and moreso if you are setting it there for them.

Plus the 8-ball player loses the advantage of more balls potentially in the way or to create a need for low percentage shots. And as I mentioned, shot order is out the window.

This is how I feel about playing pool. I am in both an 8-ball and 9-ball pool league. But what do you feel?

Does size matter in pool tables

So at my most recent pool league match I, again, wound up in an argument over the question about the size of the tables in use. In my league every pool table is the standard bar table – 3.5’ by 7’ – with the exception of my team which is in a pool hall and are 4.5’ by 9’ (both are considered legal by the league). So the question is does the size of a pool table matter, and if it does who benefits.

Now in my league many of the lesser players absolutely hate playing at my home pool tables. The pool tables at Guys & Dolls are all level, clean, maintained and have plenty of space between all 10 tables. When teams come to our home they can practice while games are ongoing, have room to sit, and have the best tables in the league to play on.

When my team is away we play on bar tables. They are mostly all unlevel to varying degrees, usually the only table in the bar, coin-operated, and several get moved during the week. Adding to this is the fact that practice for both teams is limited to before the match starts. And the size of the cue ball is bigger and heavier than regulation.

Now the away tables vary on how bad they might be. The local VFW has brand new tables and they are kept in excellent shape. The rest of the league is not as sensitive on their maintenance. In fact there are 3 tables that are known to be horrendous. One has a 4 inch lean to the left, 2 others are turtle backed – literally the center is higher than the pockets. One of those turtle backed pool tables also has a lean to the right of 2 inches.

So who has the unfair advantage?

In my opinion the local teams are at the advantage (my team always plays more away games than home as everyone complains about our tables). Both because they practice and are used to the difficulties of the various bar tables. Going from one table to the next is merely adjusting to the slightly more or less table lean, more or less table roll, and so on. And on the bigger table they have the advantage (more in 8-ball) in that they can play short and set up every shot for themselves [depending on the ability of the opponent of course].

In their argument we have an unfair advantage. They say the angles are harder to figure out, speed is difficult to determine, and the speed of the felt is very fast in comparison.

But for my team we are dealing with shorter angles, slow felts, have to hit softer shots, and the balls are more likely to cluster than on a bigger table this limiting shots.

Now it’s a given that a good player can adjust to any table. That is not the question. The question is if there is an inherent advantage between playing on one type of table as opposed to another.

I say bar pool table player have a massive advantage, they believe the reverse.

What do you think?