Diamonds are Popular Tables, What Table is Most Popular Right Now?

CJ Wiley

CJ Wiley

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I'm curious what the "table of choice" is for everyone, I will be opening a Pool Room soon in the DFW area and I'm starting to initiate some R&D to find out what kind of tables are most popular and why.

Please list your favorite table and describe why you like it, no "table bashing", let's keep it positive, we all know everyone has their own preference for many reasons, what is yours?
 
I like Diamonds.
Because...
!) they play great
2) they do more for the sport than any other table company.
 
Diamond professionals, drop pockets. I personally don't think the pro-ams are as attractive.

If I was opening a room, I think I would get about 80% of the tables with league cut pockets and 20% with Pro-cut. I think the easier pockets encourage newer players.

Ian
 
If I were to buy a new table and money wasn't an issue I would not think twice about getting a diamond pro-am.
The room I play it has both the pro-ams with pro cut pockets and Gandy big G. I practice exclusively on the diamonds. They play though, especially since we play with dirty balls and tables. On the occasions I play on the Gandys or a gold crown I see myself saying, Oh man, that would have never fallen on the diamonds. They play tough but they play right.
 
Diamonds are a pool players best friend.

Diamonds are well designed for competitive pool.Nothings sticking up to scratch or soil your cue.the rails are wide and slope down to make it possible to bridge any shot.You can even lay your shaft right across the pockets when addressing a cue ball from a tough position.They also have a great leveling system and the slates stay level once set up right.

If you plan on having league play,throw in some 7' Diamonds too.

IMO the only reason to use GCs is they are cheap,the used ones keep getting recycled from closed pool room to closed pool room.Not sure about the newer GCs. GC5 might be more well designed then the older models.
 
If you are going to have a big enough room and love to play, one of those diamonds or a gold crown are tops in play and durability. The upper level furniture tables by connely, olhausen, and Brunswick will play just as good if they are set up just as well. Set up is very important
 
Is it possible to get a table with the looks of a Black Diamond Pro-Am, but it banks like a Gold Crown? Lol.

I like Diamonds ok, but I basically have to re-invent my game, every time I play on one compared to any other table.
 
If I were to open a room I would get Diamond Smart Tables. Great tables and the Coin op is so much easier on a room operator. Diamonds play great and the Dymondwood is durable.

I would go with mainly 7 footers with a couple 9s.

This is what would make me money here. Unfortunately the majority of shooters prefer 7s and you can fit more in a room. The 9s let the few serious players have fun too.

Honestly I don't know of a single 9 foot table in my town. There is place with one 8.

My fantasy room would have all 9s except for two 10 footers...
 
A couple Diamond bar tables, a few Diamond nine footers, and any kind of decent tables to fill up the rest.

Even C players I know drive an hour to play on the bar table Diamonds before Vegas...they play different and are used in so many events, every room really needs at least one.

Most people I know still like GC's, but a new one really does cost a big chunk of coin. I can't imagine how much it would be to fill a room like your old one with new GC 5's. 200k?
 
44Runner said:
If I were to open a room I would get Diamond Smart Tables. Great tables and the Coin op is so much easier on a room operator. Diamonds play great and the Dymondwood is durable.

I would go with mainly 7 footers with a couple 9s.

This is what would make me money here. Unfortunately the majority of shooters prefer 7s and you can fit more in a room. The 9s let the few serious players have fun too.

Honestly I don't know of a single 9 foot table in my town. There is place with one 8.

My fantasy room would have all 9s except for two 10 footers...
Click to expand...


Sounds like my town, there was a hall with 2 9' Diamond Pro-Ams and 7 Diamond barboxes but then it closed. That left 1 room that had 1 9' GC and 1 10' snooker table but that place closed too. Now it's down to a handful of bars with a couple of Valleys a piece in conditions ranging from decent to awful. Glad to be moving soon! :D


PS - To answer CJ's question, out of the tables I've played on I like Diamond tables the best in both bar box and 9' size. I have no problems with GC tables though...
 
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Great to hear you're opening a room CJ!

You surely need to ask this question of your local demographic, evaluate your competition and weave that within your biz plan, which I'm sure you will. Are you looking at leagues for X% of your revenue? Perhaps a mix of 9' Diamonds and GC's, and sprinkle a couple Diamond 7'ers?

I'm used to GC's, that's what's most available to me and I cut my teeth on. But I'm in NC, not DFW.

Diamonds are like 35 - 40% less expenisve than GC's - new. Used GC's can be had cheap in this market and re-habbed nicely.

How many tables are you looking at? What's the budget and biz plan? Help us help you!
 
Kaiser Bob said:
Sounds like my town, there was a hall with 2 9' Diamond Pro-Ams and 7 Diamond barboxes but then it closed. That left 1 room that had 1 9' GC and 1 10' snooker table but that place closed too. Now it's down to a handful of bars with a couple of Valleys a piece in conditions ranging from decent to awful. Glad to be moving soon! :D


PS - To answer CJ's question, out of the tables I've played on I like Diamond tables the best in both bar box and 9' size. I have no problems with GC tables though...
Click to expand...

Yeah, a true pool hall doesn't exist here but the pool hall/bars stay packed with league players and make a ton of dough. That is the trick, get league in your joint and it guarantees a packed house every night.

Another nice thing about diamonds is the matching light which is a pain to install but is also probably the best pool table light available right now.
 
Hi CJ,

If I were to open a room, Id have an even mix of Brunswicks & Diamonds in every size, 7, 8 & 9 footers & then I'd throw in a 10 foot Pocket, along side a 10' Snooker & a 10' Carom table. Maybe I'd throw in a Diamond 7' coin table or two (2). My reasoning is versatility not preference. Everyone has their own favorite & you'd need to have theirs or they'd go elsewhere. I might try to start with leasing the tables & then when one size needs recovering more than another make the adjustments when buying.

Best of Luck with the New Room. What are you going to call it?
 
It depends if you want to make money or if you want to support the industry.

You can buy used Gold Crown tables in bulk for $600-1000 each. I haven't seen a bunch of used Diamond tables being sold, but I would expect to sell at a minimum of $2000 each.

To make money you can buy 20-25 Gold Crowns for $15K, and you can spend enough to get the one you need to recovered and set up total for $20K.

To go Diamonds it will be $50K easy for the same amount of tables.

If someone wanted to put a few Diamonds in addition that would be fine too.

While most guys want to moan and groan, buts its leagues that potentially pays the bills, so I would buy used bar tables for leagues, probably valley again because they are plentiful and cheap.

IMO, I find that most pool rooms fail for several reasons but the most common is they have too large of a "daily nut". Pool players want the best tables, best equipment, but fail to learn that it is leagues, bars, and cherry masters that has made pool rooms successful.

Keep your expenses to a minimum.

So, CJ to answer you question, What table is the most popular? Its the table in the pool room that stays open...;)

Best of rolls,

Ken
 
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ken- I think it depends on the competition from other rooms in the area. If I had a choice between a room of gold crowns and a room of diamonds I would choose the diamonds even if it cost more to play. It will not take long for players, league or otherwise, to gravitate to a better room. They only exception would be the daytime players with no money that require a daily special. Find a way to offer that too and it won't take long to become the areas top room. Profitability? Now that is an entirely different matter. Having CJ there wouldn't hurt things.
 
prewarhero said:
ken- I think it depends on the competition from other rooms in the area. If I had a choice between a room of gold crowns and a room of diamonds I would choose the diamonds even if it cost more to play. It will not take long for players, league or otherwise, to gravitate to a better room. They only exception would be the daytime players with no money that require a daily special. Find a way to offer that too and it won't take long to become the areas top room. Profitability? Now that is an entirely different matter. Having CJ there wouldn't hurt things.
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I hear ya. I have worked on MBA, and did a financial workout on pool rooms and seen ones that had great ideas, great tables, etc, etc.

Im not saying having pieces of crap. I lived in Paducah Kentucky for a number of years and the pool room owner there had his tables recovered 2 times a year in simonis and they were PERFECT. They were old Gold Crowns, and perfectly maintained, and most importantly they were paid for. All they did was bring in money.

If someone wanted to transition to Diamond tables as business allows it, then okay. But most businesses fail, and most fail within 2 years. I stand by my advice to keep your expenses to the minimum.

Some above mentioned Snooker tables, billiard tables, 10 foot, etc. IMO these are the exact wrong things to spend money on unless they are used almost continuously.

Here in Memphis we have HighPockets. ALL GOLD CROWNS, they are in good condition (not perfect ) but they are successful. Why? Stacey is the owner, he knows everyone in the place by first name, is seen often, has leagues almost every night. It has great food, serves beer, and generally is well run. But the biggest thing going for it is I expect everything is paid for, and they keep expenses to a minimum.

I wish you all the best of rolls,

Ken
 
Diamonds . Rails are dent and burn resistant. The leveling system is the best out there. Tables can be moved, releveled without removing the cloth or rails. Now the best part...You can buy TWO diamond proams for the cost of one goldcrown 5 ! :thumbup:


Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
 
Ken-4-fun has made 2 great posts in this thread CJ. :thumbup: Money and devoted passion can turn into two polar opposites. Get both together, and you're maybe in tall cotton. One without the other? Enjoy the imminent briar patch.

Ken, I'd give you green but I gave it all to the other K guy today - theKman. ;)
 
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