text: Well if you have too many pockets it would become boringly easy to play.\n\nAs it is, there is one at each corner plus two more in the middle of the long sides.\n\nAs having more pockets would look obvious, many pool tables designed for pubs actually have oversized pockets - clever for two reasons.\n\n1. The games end faster as less precision is need to get the ball into the pocket. fast games = more games per hour = more money for the pub.\n\n2. The players think that they get their best performance at the "grunt n' holler" bar as opposed to anywhere else - so they tend to gravitate to the easier tables.