Choosing a pool table for your home.

Step 1: fit the room

The table has to leave room for a full stroke from every side. The basic rule sources use: room length equals the playing surface's length plus two cue lengths, and the same for width. Published recommendations for the same table differ by more than a foot, mostly because of how much backswing room each adds. For a 9-foot table with standard 58-inch cues, Brunswick says 14 x 18 feet and Dr. Dave Alciatore says 14 feet 10 inches by 19 feet. If your room is tight, shorter 52- and 48-inch cues shrink the requirement. Use the room size calculator to check your space against several sources at once.

Olhausen says 8 feet is the most popular home size. Seven-foot "bar box" tables need the least room. Wikipedia names 9 x 4.5 feet and 8 x 4 feet as the WPA tournament sizes.

Step 2: slate or not

Regulation and tournament tables use slate exclusively, and the sources rank bed materials consistently. Pro Billiards orders them by cost from MDF, through Slatron and Accuslate, to fiber cement and then slate, and scores slate highest for durability and play.

• MDF is light and inexpensive, but vulnerable to moisture, can warp, and its roll becomes inconsistent over time.
• Slatron (laminate over particleboard) plays slower than slate with a duller bounce, and its core can swell if moisture gets in.
• Accuslate is a dense fiberboard that is flatter and more moisture-resistant than MDF but does not last like slate.
• Slate is heavy (sources put a table's slate at roughly 400 to 600-plus pounds). Re-leveling a warped non-slate bed does not fully fix it.

For slate, look at thickness and pieces. Sawyer Twain describes 3/4-inch slate as entry level and 1 inch as the commercial and tournament standard; the WPA requires at least 1 inch, in three pieces, for tournament tables. Three-piece slate levels more precisely and fits through doorways and up stairs more easily; one-piece slate is typical of bar tables that rarely move and is the hardest to move.

Step 3: build quality

Sawyer Twain's quality markers: a kiln-dried hardwood frame rather than particleboard, multiple crossbeams, natural gum rubber cushions and built-in levelers. Within Olhausen's range, as one example, cabinets step down from solid wood to veneer to laminate. Slate tables are often sold with lifetime warranties. Premium makers advertise things like solid hardwood and slate machined to tight tolerances; those are manufacturer claims.

Also decide on pockets: drop pockets hold balls under each pocket, while ball-return tables route them to one box. Ball returns are common on commercial tables, and one source notes a poorly integrated return can make a home table look commercial.

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Before you order

• Check the floor. Triangle Billiards warns that a slate table's weight can damage some floors over long periods.
• Plan for professional installation and leveling of a slate table. If you ever move it, even a short distance, it needs to be fully re-leveled afterward.
• Budget for accessories. A new table needs balls, cues, a rack, a brush and a cover; see accessories.