The billiards pool table is a true design of engineering perfection. The smooth cloth is stretched over the perfectly level bed on sanded flat slate, which is directly perfectly level in relation to the legs of the pool table to the floor. To play accurate pool with precise consistency the pool table must be perfectly level.
You should be able to lay a flat piece of glass on a pool table and place a marble in the center, the marble should stay in place if set carefully, if the marble rolls then the pool table isn’t properly leveled. To be accurate controlling the cue ball an even pool table is essential. If you are new to buying a pool table I would not recommend setting it up, hire a professional, I don’t care how many “how to’s” you watch or read unless you have experience setting up a pool table is not easy. You invested in a great thing, pay a couple hundred to get it set up correctly.
The pool table cloth is commonly known as “felt”, if you own your own table keep your felt clean, brush it softly from the middle outward. Don’t attempt to jump a ball on your own table, keep that practice for the bar tables. Felt can be pretty expensive and if you can keep a good upkeep on it then it shouldn’t have to be replaced that often.
The pool table is named by sections, the area where the balls are going to be moving is known as the bed, or the cloth, aka “felt”. The head of the table is where the manufacturer’s symbol is at, and where the cue ball rolls out in bar tables, basically the head of a pool table is where you are going to be breaking from. The foot of the pool table is where the balls are racked at, where there should be the spot dot in the center of the foot section of the pool table. On the rails of the common pool table you will see 18 diamonds or circles, which are designed to help the shooter predict his shot accurately, especially when performing bank shots, master the guides and you can master the game.
Mostly all pool tables are twice as long as they are wide, this gos for bar tables to snooker tables, there are 3 basic standards of pool table sizes, 5×10 feet, which are commonly known as snooker tables, 4.5×9 foot, which is the tournament standard for 9 ball and 8ball, and 4×8, which are common bar pool table dimensions. The side pockets are slightly bigger than the corner pockets. Just thought I’d share a little bit information about pool tables.