10ft or 12ft dilemma!

[craig147]

Hi Craig I had a 10ft before my full size table & although I knew I could fit and play on a 12ft I talked myself into a 10ft just to please the wife

Anyway first of all had it all delivered and fitted and it was a great table but as soon as I got down and played shots I knew I had made a mistake and considering the 10ft was expensive it had to go & it was then I sold that and had a beautiful Riley 12ft delivered.

If you are a little tight Craig it won't stop you doing 99% of practice routines and of course to improve at all in snooker a 12ft will be the best by far.

What I also done was I kept telling myself I made the right decision but my head was telling me different.

Thanks for that mate that is exactly what I am worried about! Nothing worse than regrets when spending a lot of money, your wife must be very understanding ! Ha
It certainly will be a bit tight but my worry is I get a 10ft Table and still end up having to go to the club just as often to practice on a full size table.I will still get good matches in at my club as don't want to stop going as the atmosphere is great but at same time it will be good to play matches at home so provided I feel a 12ft is not unplayable in the space I have got then I will more than likely go down that route! really appreciate all the comments it definitely helps !

[Triedandtested]

Thanks Geoff I will certainly give that a try and see if it helps. I know a full size will be tight and will be a pain in the back side for certain shots when playing a match but I just can't help but feel as prob 80 % of table time will be practicing that a full size table will be more beneficial. I am really struggling to come to a decision and the fact that 8 legged 10ft tables ( which is what I'd want if going for 10 ft ) are harder to come by and 10ft tables in general usually cost quite a bit more than full size tables cause there is a lot more choice obviously I keep thinking full size is the way to go. I will certainly do what you have suggested above though Geoff and hopefully get a better feel of exactly what sort of room I have to play with. Thanks

Hi Craig I had a 10ft before my full size table & although I knew I could fit and play on a 12ft I talked myself into a 10ft just to please the wife

Anyway first of all had it all delivered and fitted and it was a great table but as soon as I got down and played shots I knew I had made a mistake and considering the 10ft was expensive it had to go & it was then I sold that and had a beautiful Riley 12ft delivered.

If you are a little tight Craig it won't stop you doing 99% of practice routines and of course to improve at all in snooker a 12ft will be the best by far.

What I also done was I kept telling myself I made the right decision but my head was telling me different.

[craig147]

Thanks Geoff I will certainly give that a try and see if it helps. I know a full size will be tight and will be a pain in the back side for certain shots when playing a match but I just can't help but feel as prob 80 % of table time will be practicing that a full size table will be more beneficial. I am really struggling to come to a decision and the fact that 8 legged 10ft tables ( which is what I'd want if going for 10 ft ) are harder to come by and 10ft tables in general usually cost quite a bit more than full size tables cause there is a lot more choice obviously I keep thinking full size is the way to go. I will certainly do what you have suggested above though Geoff and hopefully get a better feel of exactly what sort of room I have to play with. Thanks

[Geoff Large]

I have two enquiries at the moment for 10ft or full size dilemma ?

I gave this information to the latest person who wanted my experiences in fitting a large table into a small room with less cue room

place 4 high back chairs to the size of table you require

10ft by 5ft

or 12ft by 6ft

tie string around them to form the slate size at around 31 inch high , now take a cue and walk around this imaginary slate bed and try cueing to a ball on the cushion

this will give you the real image to playing with that table in the room it is going into .
if you think a full size is going to be frustrating on close to cush shots then go for the 10ft

one of the enquiries was for a table with sloping roof making walking around the table slightly bent over all the time , again the 4 chair trick will give you real time experience in that room
better to find out this way than the expense of putting what you think will be ok only to find it frustrating to play .
By buying and fitting a table you then you will have a table you will not play on and wasted time and expense finding out the wrong way , so find out with the 4 chair and string trick first

[craig147]

From reading what Philip has said above it would tend to suggest that a 12 X 6 table is the better choice with less sacrifice all round, cheers !!

[philip in china]

Whilst agreeing with the other people posting I think we are getting a bit carried away. The basic problem, which has cropped up in several threads is summed up as: "I have a very large room but it is not quite big enough to accomodate a full size table with 5' all round. What should I do?"

Assuming that moving house or extending the room are not options then there is a choice:

1. Get a smaller table.
Advantages:
You will be able to cue properly all round the table.
Disadvantages:
You are not getting the full 12' effect. Although practice on a 10' table is very useful it is no substitute for a full size table if you are a serious player.

2. Get a full size table but realise that there might be 1 end where you are going to have to use a short cue.
Advantages:
You have got a 12' table. Most of your play will be absolutely fine.
12' tables are very readily available at extremely good prices.
Disadvantages:
The short cue is not ideal for that small number of shots where it is necessary.

The choice is a personal decision for the owner to make. There must be a compromise one way or the other but either choice is better than no table. Having a table at home which you can use any time you want is a tremendous experience and will help your game.

[DavidStewart]

I had a 10' in a 20' x 16' room. It was OK but I found it frustrating because practising on it didn't prepare me for playing a match on a full size table. Given my time again I'd go for a full size. It's worth looking at the thread by tbones who has a full size in a room that is 22' x 11'! I'd centre it in the room rather than trying to offset it. I had a 6' once and had to use a short cue for some shots but it doesn't happen as often as you think. And of course whenever you're practising it really doesn't matter at all.

[throtts]

Okay, its central to his room,, exactly so. If he moves it up towards the black ball wall then cueing would be better playing from the bulk cush but there is still those safety shots from black cush, and he would have to move his light above the table too. We talked about turning the table across ways if you understand what I mean, that would effect only the cue ball being tight to two of the corner pockets each end and they are limited somewhat shots. He did a drawing of this on that graph paper that planners use and it did seem to prove it would be okay, other than the table going across ways the room which did look odd.

I measure tonight to get the min needed for playing on a full size.

[craig147]

Thanks guys for all your comments it's much appreciated and very interesting to hear. I'm still swaying more towards getting a full size table as I am not planning to have the table central in terms of length so only really going to massively affect shots straight up the table from the black cushion which is not ideal but something I may just have to live with. I know it's not fit for match play snooker but it's mostly for practice and should be able to play most shots. Cheers again !!

[DeanH]

cheers for that throtts, does he have the table central all round or off to one end?

yep if he is going to extend then at least get as much as you can

[throtts]

Hi Dean,

My buddy has a games room ( yes, a full size table in it ), its about 20 foot in length and around 18 1/2 foot in width. I will measure exactly tonight.

The width is awesome, loads of room, you can stand back and really inspect the shot before execution.

The length is a pain in the arse though, when safety is involved in a frame playing from the bulk cush is a no no, just to cramped and using a 48" cue off the cush is rubbish too. He is maybe going to extend the build. It only needs the wall pushed out 2 flaming foot, but the cost is around 6 to 7 k, yikes. I said to him, if your going to do it just go out at least 4 foot because you may as well due to the cost. Problem though is , you have to watch building regs on overall volume, which risk the chance of getting some snotty neighbour ringing up regs and complaining.

Having said the above, and this is it for craig, he would still never have gone for a 10 foot table.

So, 20 length is no good for proper matchplay snooker but okay for break building practice.

[DeanH]

how about going to your friendly local snooker club () with a friend, tape measure and masking tape; measure out the size you will have and see how restricting it is. Your friend can act as the wall behind you
That will clearly show what you will have to play with and you can judge for yourself if you will accept a restriction on space or go for the smaller table.
As I was discussing your dilemma last night with a mate, it is all well and good to chat and try to visualise but there is nothing better than seeing for real what you have and have not.

Let us know how you get on

[throtts]

Cant agree with the above, guys. Playing on a full size in a room of around 20 foot is not big enough for matchplay snooker and using short cues just does not do it, imo. Around the pink and black for practice is okay so the playing room will be just that, a practice room. You do need at least 5 foot all around a full size table.

[philip in china]

There is no doubt you can't beat a full size table in a full size room! You really don't have to go for "second best" though. All you need is a decent short cue for those very few shots where you can't cue properly and they really are very few.

I am in the position of owning both sizes and I would always say go for the bigger one.

If you are buying a used table, economics comes into the equation as well. You will get a second hand 12' table a lot more easily and cheaper than a 10'. So few people have space for a 12' so the demand isn't there!

[craig147]

Will do dean! Hoping to get the roof sheeted over next month or so then I need to save up to get a door cut into the side of the garage for access as sheeting over garage doors at front. Once that's done its full steam ahead !