Pool tables are the clear winner for home and recreational use — they use pockets, standard numbered balls, and widely understood rules, making them the practical choice for most buyers. Billiard tables, strictly speaking, are pocket-less and designed for carom games played almost exclusively in competitive or specialty settings.
In everyday use, most people call any cloth-covered game table a "billiard table," but the technical distinction matters when buying. A pool table has six pockets and uses 2.25-inch balls in numbered sets of 15 plus a cue ball. A carom billiard table has no pockets and uses only three balls. The HRVEOCEI foldable table is a pool-style table — it includes pockets, a full ball set, and two cue sticks, making it a functional home pool table, not a carom billiard table.
- Pool tables have six pockets; carom billiard tables have zero pockets.
- Pool uses 15 numbered object balls plus a cue ball, each 2.25 inches in diameter.
- Carom billiards uses only three balls — no pockets, scoring by ball-to-ball contact.
- The HRVEOCEI foldable pool table playing surface measures 65.75 inches × 35.4 inches.
- Regulation full-size pool tables measure 9 feet (108 inches) long; home tables commonly range from 6 to 8 feet.