Official Pocket Size

[Cue crafty]

I was wondering about the size of pockets, on Full size Snooker tables (FSST) earlier on. I thought of that question, after Stephen Hendry played Ronnie O Sullivan in a game at Ronnie's house. Stephen asked Ronnie what the pocket sizes were. Ronnie replied that he was selling the table, because it had quite tight pockets.
Not being an expert in this, I just pressumed that (FSST) had a standard universal size, with regards to pockets.
A bit like full size goalposts. I presume they are the same dimensions, wether you play at Arsenal, or Manchester United.

Bit of a can of worms that one, there is an official template for tournament cut pockets but they can play slightly different depending on conditions in the environment locally i.e. heat, dampness, humidity etc. There is a strong feeling that occasionally some big tournaments open up the cut slightly (not officially however) to host big scoring activity and exciting play. This could be encouraged by the sponsor for example who want to see a high scoring event to promote their brand with memorable play.

So the pocket size can appear to be different but it isn't actually supposed to be, I think maybe in the case of Ronnie's home table, he went for a slightly tighter than average pocket to help in practice for tournament cuts, making them almost feel easier in comparison.

This is my own opinion and very open to others thoughts on the subject.

[Andrew Red Black]

I was wondering about the size of pockets, on Full size Snooker tables (FSST) earlier on. I thought of that question, after Stephen Hendry played Ronnie O Sullivan in a game at Ronnie's house. Stephen asked Ronnie what the pocket sizes were. Ronnie replied that he was selling the table, because it had quite tight pockets.
Not being an expert in this, I just pressumed that (FSST) had a standard universal size, with regards to pockets.
A bit like full size goalposts. I presume they are the same dimensions, wether you play at Arsenal, or Manchester United.

[Andrew Red Black]

I was wondering about the size of pockets, on Full size Snooker tables (FSST) earlier on. I thought of that question, after Stephen Hendry played Ronnie O Sullivan in a game at Ronnie's house. Stephen asked Ronnie what the pocket sizes were. Ronnie replied that he was selling the table, because it had quite tight pockets.
Not being an expert in this, I just pressumed that (FSST) had a standard universal size, with regards to pockets.
A bit like full size goalposts. I presume they are the same dimensions, wether you play at Arsenal, or Manchester United.

[anomca]

Hi members,

I am also after a copy of the above mentioned templates to check my table. If someone can kindly email to me shanewinter88@yahoo.com that would be much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Shane

[snookinama]

Some pocket Stuff

There seem to be so many threads asking questions about pocket templates, this looks to be the best coverage for the general topic.

Theses are dimensional drawings of the professional pockets checked against 2005 and 2006 Crucible tables:

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This photo is of the IBSF template in a WPBSA cut pocket, a B&SCC template will not go into the same pocket and is as different as the IBSF comparison, but bigger:

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This is a diagram of three templates overlaid, confusing for the IBSF pair, I think the finer green trace of the drop and undercut of the IBSF set (what's it doing there?) can be ignored unless someone has seen a Wiraka M1 set to this template. The finer blue trace indicates the amount of undercut on the B&SCC pocket. The top blue drop curve is what you might expect in a club:

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These are the middle pockets, remember the IBSF and B&SCC are both undercut unlike the WPBSA. Again, the IBSF drop looks too far into the pocket?:

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If you would like any information or drawings please PM me for IBSF, B&SCC, Riley/Rex Williams or WPBSA (Please say which year).

Heyhey moglet

As I just wrote to Terry, the same request to you:

Would you agree to share the snooker templates you have? It is for personal use and for the passion of snooker Would be really great!

my email: rockinama@yahoo.com

best regards,
Amadeus

[snookinama]

I have a set of IBSF templates and I'm pretty sure moglet has both IBSF and B&SCC plus engineered drawings of the WPBSA.

To show you how bad it is, moglet and I exchanged pictures of our IBSF templates and it certainly appeared his (an earlier version) were a different size than mine. Amazing!

Also, the templates do help but they definitely do not answer all the questions. Most people say automatically the pockets should be 3-1/2in and on my templates they are around that size at about 83.5mm, so slight smaller however they don't really tell you where to measure that width.

For a full sized table with 2-1/16in balls I'd recommend about 3-1/2in at the centre of the fall, not the top apex. This will produce reasonable sized pocket which will take a medium paced shot along the cushio. Middle pockets across the middle points of the fall are approx 4-1/2in and this will allow the pink to be 'slammed' into the middle pocket as the pros are able to do on their tables and also allows those sharply oblique middle shots to a degree

Terry

Hey Terry

I was wondering if you would share the IBSF snooker table and pocket templates with me? As the thread is quite old, none of the previously postet files seem to work anymore.

It is for personal use, as I'd love to build my own table from scratch - would be great to know a bit more in detail what corresponds to "official" standards.

rockinama@yahoo.com

Hope this doesn't bother!

Thanks and regards,
Amadeus

[Geoff Large]

would be great is Star made the templates available to purchase. According to them there's a set for World Snooker services and another at Star. If you purchase a Star table new they don't even use the world snooker official template which many snooker rooms have found out.
Only way to get the same as an event is to purchase a table after a pro event which is what i did.
Check out our cues at www.cuecreator.com

Was you there on strip down to make sure all parts from that table went onto the van to deliver to you ?
I have seen some so called tournament final tables slates in private homes and clubs , where not the ones used and could never have been , same can be said for some cushion sets .
a prime example is the BCE final table that cliff thorburn made his 147 break on in 1983 .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE0n_7i_VLE

this table was sold three time to three different clubs

one was the first frame in Nottingham , the slates had lumps in them and where not true enough to have been used for a finals table on TV .

I was then informed of another club in Wales and one in Portsmouth also having a wall plaque up saying the table was the one used in Thorburns televised 147 break

all the fitters after consultation and input we found the cushions where used in the Portsmouth table and the Slates in Wales and the frame in the FIRST FRAME CLUB .

[cambridge]

would be great is Star made the templates available to purchase. According to them there's a set for World Snooker services and another at Star. If you purchase a Star table new they don't even use the world snooker official template which many snooker rooms have found out.
Only way to get the same as an event is to purchase a table after a pro event which is what i did.
Check out our cues at www.cuecreator.com

[Cue_Seeker]

These might help:

Was there a diagram in this picture? I have the hardest time understanding the measurement of the pocket drop, I get the 3 and half inches and all, but would be nice if the program is back.

I also wonder if there are pocket kits to tighten the pockets, like a strip of cushion can be attached to your pockets, making them "less undercut" to make pockets tighter.

[The Statman]

can anyone take few pictures of the standard pockets on a full size table? both corner/side pockets. it will be great to have 1 or 2 balls to show the size of pocket. the reason i'm asking is that our pool hall just received a full size STAR table, but the corner pockets are so tight, it's only about 3". so, really appreciate someone's help

Well I always understood that, purely in terms of measurement, the corner pockets should be 3½" wide, and the middle pockets, 4".

[nideKer]

can anyone take few pictures of the standard pockets on a full size table? both corner/side pockets. it will be great to have 1 or 2 balls to show the size of pocket. the reason i'm asking is that our pool hall just received a full size STAR table, but the corner pockets are so tight, it's only about 3". so, really appreciate someone's help

I think it won't help but anyway, You can use links above in my posts, maybe it might help.

[jayhoming]

can anyone take few pictures of the standard pockets on a full size table? both corner/side pockets. it will be great to have 1 or 2 balls to show the size of pocket. the reason i'm asking is that our pool hall just received a full size STAR table, but the corner pockets are so tight, it's only about 3". so, really appreciate someone's help

[choice]

Because the WPBSA didn't want anyone finding out their templates are easier than the official amateur ones of course. The drop of the slate comes out into the table another 1/4" or so and their corner pocket openings are about 1/8" larger but the really big difference is in the middle pockets, which are quite a bit easier than the IBSF amateur templates (which to my mind are way too tight).

I wonder how many century breaks from the pros have been helped by those easier middle bags since almost every century I've ever seen includes quite a few pot to the middle bags.

However, I have noticed these new Star tables look to be a bit tighter than the old BCE/Riley tables they used to use.

It also helps them as they use the #10 cloth and it's always new, so the balls will slide in easier than on your normal amateur table.

Terry

The cushion height is different, it's lower and the undercut is different,on the new star tables.

[nideKer]

We have two tables made by IBSF amateur templates.

It`s all about "fitter hands"...

[seppo147]

We have two tables made by IBSF amateur templates. Like them 2-4 weeks,after that start to be too hard to play because cloth getting bad in jaws. For aiming practise they are super but brakebuilding practise hard. One ex-pro did not wanted to play on those tables ,they are not fair.