Simonis Pool Felt: 7 FAQs from a Dealer Who Handles Rush Orders

If you sell or install pool tables, you already know the name Simonis. The tricky part is deciding which cloth to stock, what to tell a customer who asks for “simonis pool felt,” and how to handle the dealer who suddenly needs a roll before a tournament. I’m a supply coordinator for a billiard supply distributor, and I’ve handled 200+ rush orders in seven years. This FAQ is the one I send to commercial buyers before they ask for a price.

If you searched for “pool table cloth simonis” on its own: yes, this is for you. The short version is 860 and 760 are the main cloths you care about, 860 Tournament Blue is the one to keep on the shelf, and X1 cleaner is what you use after a proper vacuuming. Below is the long version.

1. What is Simonis pool felt?

First, a terminology thing: Simonis pool felt isn’t “felt.” It’s woven worsted wool. Felt is pressed and matted; woven cloth has a tight, uniform structure. This gets into textile engineering territory, which isn’t my expertise. What I can tell you from a dealer perspective is that woven construction gives you a more consistent ball roll and a surface that loses less speed as it wears.

Simonis has two cloths you’ll order most often: 860 and 760. Both are 100% worsted wool. 860 is heavier and intended for daily-play commercial tables. 760 is lighter and faster, often installed on home tables or light-use rooms. If you only carry one, carry 860.

2. Which Simonis cloth should I stock?

Stock 860 Tournament Blue first. That’s the cloth most tournament orders specify, and it’s the color customers ask for by name. Tournament Blue isn’t just a marketing shade; it’s a specific blue that makes the balls and rails easier to read on camera. If a customer is asking for it by name, they already know the difference—they just need your price and installation date.

760 is your second option, not your substitute. It fits the customer who wants a better cloth than the stock blend but doesn’t need the heavier 860 price. Based on our internal data from 200+ rush jobs, 860 moves about 70% of the time. That number won’t be the same everywhere, but it should help you plan inventory.

One more note on claims: if you advertise a cloth as “tournament-grade,” make sure you have documentation. FTC advertising guidelines require that claims be truthful and substantiated (ftc.gov). I keep the Simonis spec sheets in my files so I can show a room owner what “860” actually means.

3. How fast can I get a simonis pool table cloth order?

This is the question I get most often. The optimistic answer: if the cloth is in stock and the order is cut before noon, we can sometimes ship same day. The realistic answer for a tournament: give me 72 hours. The difference comes down to cut list, table size, and whether you can accept a different roll of the same color.

In March 2024, a client called at 4 PM on a Tuesday. A league final was scheduled for Saturday morning, and table 5 had a torn seam. Normal turnaround was three days. The client ran a family entertainment center, and the weekend schedule was packed tighter than family kingdom amusement park tickets on a holiday Friday. We found a half roll of 860 in a branch warehouse, paid $75 for overnight freight on top of the $980 base order, and delivered before noon Wednesday. The alternative was losing a contract he had signed for four league nights a week.

Looking back, we should have ordered a backup roll when he first talked about the tournament schedule. At the time, the table looked fine. It wasn’t. Now our internal policy for any client with a public event is a 48-hour buffer on cloth inventory. That policy has saved us at least three times since.

4. How should I clean Simonis cloth between games?

Vacuum with a soft brush attachment first. That removes chalk dust and surface dirt. Then, if there’s a spot, use Simonis X1 cleaner. X1 is a water-based professional cleaner. Spray it on a clean, lint-free cloth, wipe the mark gently, then let the area dry before play.

Don’t use furniture polish, a wet mop, or “magic” eraser-type abrasive pads. I once saw a table ruined by a well-intentioned employee who tried to make the cloth shine. You don’t want shiny cloth. You want a matte, even surface that the ball slides across predictably.

If a mark won’t come out after vacuuming and X1, it’s probably ground into the fibers. The fix is not more cleaner. The fix is recovering the table.

5. When should I recommend a full recover?

Recommend a recover when the cloth has a seam separation, a visible worn patch in the play area, or a stain that won’t come out. Also watch for the surface becoming fuzzy or “slow” no matter how well it’s brushed. That usually means the worsted wool’s nap is worn down.

For commercial tables, budget cloth replacement every one to three years depending on hours of play. A bar table used six hours a day will not last as long as a tournament table that gets used once a week. No cloth lasts forever. If someone tells you otherwise, that’s the moment to stop listening.

6. Is this just another “new thing” in the industry?

The fundamentals haven’t changed in a hundred years: level slate, good cushions, clean cloth. What has changed is execution. What was standard in 2018 for a commercial table isn’t necessarily wrong in 2025, but it’s not the only option anymore.

Traditional wool-nylon blend cloth still has a place, especially for home tables that get light play. But commercial rooms are moving toward worsted woven cloth because it responds to regular maintenance better and doesn’t develop the heavy nap that slows the game. That doesn’t mean every old choice was bad. It means a dealer who can explain both options looks more professional than someone who says, “this is what we’ve always done.”

7. How much Simonis cloth do I need for a table? (The question nobody asks)

This is the quiet question. I’ve had dealers order by table size and forget that the cloth has to wrap the rails on each side. You need a piece that covers the playing field plus the rail faces and enough excess to tuck into the frame. A 7-foot table is not a 7-foot-by-3.5-foot rectangle of cloth.

Always confirm the exact cut list with your supplier before placing a rush order. In my experience, the two most common crises are: (a) the cloth was cut to the exact play field and didn’t cover the rails, and (b) the installer assumed a standard cut would fit a nonstandard rail. Measure twice. Order a little extra. It’s cheaper to store excess fiber than to pay overnight freight on a missing piece.

A note for people who didn’t intend to land here

Search engines are not always neat. This page sometimes gets visits from people searching for “family kingdom amusement park tickets,” “ouija board game,” or “how to clean iphone speaker.” I can’t help with park tickets. The ouija board question, I’d rather avoid. And for “how to clean iphone speaker”: turn the phone off, use a dry soft-bristle brush or dry cotton swab, and do not stick a metal object into the mesh. If you’re here for the pool table cloth content, the answers above are the ones I use on the job.