Snooker star claims to pinpoint time when the pocket sizes 'mysteriously became easier'

Table conditions, venues, and environmental factors have all been issues close to people’s lips this season and that has continued into the first Triple Crown event of the 2025/26 campaign.

Everyone appears to be in agreement that these pockets in York are playing tough - some think too tough - and the stats back up that theory with only 24 century breaks having been made across the opening two rounds, and ten matches which yielded none.

However, in a season where there have been 11 different winners from the first 11 events, and a record 16 maximum 147 breaks made already, several top players are delighted to see the tables being so challenging.

Reigning UK Champion and world number one Judd Trump - who is without winning a title on the World Snooker Tour in over a year - was a fan of the table he played on after defeating Stephen Maguire in round one. In a post-match interview Trump said: “Table was good, pockets were very tight, actually, very tight.... it’s nice to come here and have a proper table to play on.”

These feelings from Trump came a few weeks on from comments he made at the Champion of Champions when discussing why he hadn’t won a title in a while, and one of the reasons he explained was due to the pockets.

The 30-time ranking event winner said: “I think the main thing is the pockets are so big at the moment.

“I think that's why you've seen so many different winners, because if someone's playing half decent, it's like 9-ball, you're not going to miss! It's quite frustrating”.

Neil Robertson has perhaps been the most vocal player in recent years about generous pockets, and vowed to himself to sort out the perceived issue at Chinese events when he joined the WPBSA Players’ Board. A situation that he says has been resolved, with the exception of the recent International Championship in Nanjing.

Also speaking after a victory at the UK Championship, Robertson was delighted to see the tables playing as they were: "I feel as if the last ten years, there's been much more events with much bigger pockets, and you have a group of players who can play great even on those pockets [Robertson referring to the table he just played on] and there's a group of players who can't play great on those pockets.

"What I've seen so far [during the tournament] is a lot of misses that I used to see when I was in my first ten years as a pro that have been going in, and I think it's a bit of a shock to the system to quite a lot of players that are coming through now.

"For too long people haven't been that accurate down the rails and they're still going in.

"There's a group of top players I've been speaking to this week who are like 'Thank God'.

"What I don't accept is playing the dump shot, leaving that red on the top cushion and players are just running it off two for the black, you never used to be able to play that in my first ten, 12 years as a pro but you can do now at some of the events."

Former professional Barry Pinches, who has 30 years experience on the sport’s top flight and won a minor-ranking event, shared Robertson’s interview on social media and agreed with the Australian.

Pinches said: “Neil's 100% right here regarding pocket sizes being too big, well done to him for speaking up and so he should it will be better for him as he is an exceptionally accurate potter and good strategist and will be rewarded for that on pockets that require such accuracy.

“Playing on big pockets is the biggest leveller in snooker and we have seen far too many century breaks going in match after match for too long now.”

Similar to Robertson’s analysis, Pinches put a date on when he felt the pocket conditions changed, near the start of Barry Hearn’s administration which took over the running of the professional game at the start of the last decade.

Former world number 18 Pinches added: “I pretty much know when the pocket sizes mysteriously became easier and it was in 2010/11 at the start of the second season of PTCs at the English Institute of Sport.

“In the first series of events in 2010 I would say the pockets were actually too tight then albeit due to not playing on brand new cloths all the time and this meant matches were finishing as late as 3am with barely any breaks being made.

“In the second season of PTCs the pockets were playing relatively huge and centuries were going in left right and centre. Snooker is snooker not 9 ball pool they need to keep the pockets tough so the most skilful players are rewarded not make a mockery of perhaps the highest precision sport that there is.”