10 things you need to know when buying a pool table

OK so you've seen the hustler and the colour of money and you want to be a great pool player. To get the practice needed you will have to get a pool table for your home, so which one do you go for. Firstly decide what flavour of pool are you going to play, English or American and what size room do you have to put your pool table in. You'd better get these right before you part with your hard earned cash. But once you have the table in your new games room you can practice all those difficult shots without looking a complete idiot in front of your mates.

1/ There is American pool and English pool. The difference is in the size of the equipment. American pool is usually played on larger tables, up to 9 ft. Riley's the snooker and pool clubs have American tables. The balls used on these tables are 2 ¼ inches in diameter. American tables start in size from 7 ft up to 9 ft. English tables on the other hand are smaller at 6 or 7 feet and they use 2-inch diameter balls. They were developed for the pubs in the UK so they did not take up so much space. A lot of the pool tables in bars and pubs are 6 foot with a few 7 foot tables also.

English pool is now very popular with its own association the EPA (English Pool Association) and they hold tournaments all over the UK. The tournament size of pool tables for EPA tournaments is 7 ft.

2/ Determine the room size you need for your pool table by adding 10 feet to each table dimension; a 6 foot table needs 16 feet by 13 feet allowing for cues as well as the table. A table that is 7 feet long, needs 17 feet x 13 and a half feet. The pool cues being 57 inches long.

Be aware the size of the tip on the pool cues are different for American and English pool. For American pool, the tip size for the pool cue is 12 or 13 mm and for English pool, the tip size is 8 to 9.5 mm the same as in snooker.

4/ The cheap pool tables like the folding pool tables and the fixed leg wooden tables are made from MDF which is basically fine wood dust compressed with a resin to produce very strong flat sheets, ideal for a pool table surface. The down side is being made of wood they are prone to warping after a while. They are available in sizes up to 7 ft and some of them are very good indeed and are certainly not cheap, like the black cat from BCE which has an 18 mm MDF table bed which is less prone to warping and the Phoenix from SCI that have steel rods inserted into the MDF to extend the life of the table and resist warping the best.

5/ If you can afford it, the best table to get is the slate bed version, either 6 or 7 ft English tables or the magnificent 8 and 9-foot American pool tables. These are more expensive with a starting price of around £600-£700 for the English tables and up to £4000 for the top of the range American tables. These definitely give the best game and will last longer than you.

6/ The pool balls come in different colours, 8 ball pool, which confusingly is played with 15 pool balls, can have 7 reds and 7 yellows and a black no 8 ball or the spots and stripes version has 7 striped balls and 7 solid coloured balls and a black no 8 ball. Just get the set, you like the look of.

7/ Also bear in mind the rack or triangle for 8-ball pool comes in different sizes depending on the size of pool ball being used. A rack for 2 ¼ balls is different than a rack for 2 inch balls. Another type of game more commonly played on American pool tables is 9-ball pool, which this time is actually played with 9 balls numbered 1 - 9. You need a special diamond shaped rack for the nine balls. To rack 9-ball pool, the one ball goes on the spot and the 9-ball in the middle. The rest are put in randomly.

8/ The cloth on pool tables does not have a nap or direction to it, and comes in lots of colours. There are even some cloths with logos on and naked ladies etc, but bear in mind you could probably do without the distraction, go for a solid colour and green is still the best to play on.

9/ Why not consider an outdoor pool table for your decking if you are short of room in your house. These come in wood and fibreglass. The outdoor wood pool table is made out of the same preserved wood as your decking and has a slate playing surface and teflon coated cloth. The outdoor fibreglass pool tables have slate playing surface and waterproof cloth as well. These models are designed for outdoor use, and the wooden model comes with a full cover for the winter.

!0/ It is important to check the price of delivery of the pool table. The slate bed variety of pool table is very heavy and is usually delivered by specialist companies, which means they are expensive. Expect a price of £120 + for delivery and maybe an extra £50 or more (much more for the multi slate American tables) to do an installation in your home.

I hope you can now make a more considered decision when buying your new pool table. Good luck and enjoy!