Here is the most basic problem with pool today

[book collector]

Scary how many people didn't make it to the bottom of my post to see I was kidding.

If you pay attention , almost every post has someone that didn't bother to read past the thing that set off their bipolar button and they go on a rant.
Then 4 or 5 more lemmings follow them into the water and someone hijacks the thread to fill their agenda and it becomes just more insanity.

 

[Jimbojim]

I offered free pool on Sunday's from open to close. This was on RKC worked Diamond bar boxes that are kept meticulously clean, Aramith Tournament balls, Delta Elite racks. All I got were water drinkers playing their I Phones for music, never tipping their Waitress and it's the only day I'd see them.
To make a spot of money on Sunday's, we changed it to free pool all day w/a minimum $5 purchase. I was dubbed The AntiChrist and those people disappeared. No good deed goes unpunished. Brian.

Goddamn that's harsh! Sorry to hear that.

 

[greyghost]

In the car business we have a rule called the 16%.

16% of the people you work with will never be happy

16% will want everything for nothing, give you rotten
customer satisfaction reports, and waste much of your time.

So the bottom line to stay profitable is to tell them to
fuk off and don't do business with them.

So they influence others ? They only influence other NITS
and that makes keeping the nits out even easier.

You are f'n right brother.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[336Robin]

Demographic

Golf courses have green fees just to get on the course.

Strip clubs have door fees just to see the skanks

Pool could have no nit fees at the door
just to get in, then of course table time fees if you
want to play. Guaranteed it will chase the nits outside
and make the action better inside as only people with
some money will be in the room.

Of course the room would have to be of enough caliber
that people would want to be in it...there is where much
of the problem exists as well.

Well lets see spend a million putting in a nice place and then see how many show up and think about doing business with you. The nit crowd will be there but that's about it. The crowd is the problem. They don't expect free....they need Free.

 

[philly]

Well lets see spend a million putting in a nice place and then see how many show up and think about doing business with you. The nit crowd will be there but that's about it. The crowd is the problem. They don't expect free....they need Free.

I play in a great poolroom. The owner is great. 16 GC's and 4 Big Gandys. All 9 footers. He is slowly replacing the Gandys with GC's. He recovers his tables with Simonis regularly. He offers what I call a "frequent flyer card" at no charge. After paying your time you give him your card and you accrue $.50 credit each time you play that can be used for anything in the poolroom including time, merchandise, tournament entry fees, anything. Players like free and it has brought in business. He's a very savvy owner who runs a tight room. Guys are starting to come from other states to play in our tournaments because of the equipment and atmosphere even though there are tournaments much closer to them. The caliber of players is getting better and better. He serves no food or booze. How is this possible?

 

[watchez]

Scary how many people didn't make it to the bottom of my post to see I was kidding.

I've always said there should be some kind of test before we let people vote in our country.

 

[Jimbojim]

I play in a great poolroom. The owner is great. 16 GC's and 4 Big Gandys. All 9 footers. He is slowly replacing the Gandys with GC's. He recovers his tables with Simonis regularly. He offers what I call a "frequent flyer card" at no charge. After paying your time you give him your card and you accrue $.50 credit each time you play that can be used for anything in the poolroom including time, merchandise, tournament entry fees, anything. Players like free and it has brought in business. He's a very savvy owner who runs a tight room. Guys are starting to come from other states to play in our tournaments because of the equipment and atmosphere even though there are tournaments much closer to them. The caliber of players is getting better and better. He serves no food or booze. How is this possible?

Because he decided to be a pool hall and stuck to his formula instead of trying to be multiple things at once.

 

[philly]

Because he decided to be a pool hall and stuck to his formula instead of trying to be multiple things at once.

Agreed. It's that simple. Take care of the customer and the customer will take care of you. Rocket science.

 

[Jimbojim]

Agreed. It's that simple. Take care of the customer and the customer will take care of you. Rocket science.

I understand the first reflex of trying to diversify your sources of income if your main pool revenue is not enough but unfortunately most of them just end up losing their identity or alienating their core costumers. I'm fully aware that the big majority of pool players are not big spenders and just want to buy a bottle of water every 3 hours during their dedicated practice (to which a waitress should never dare to disturb, right?? (sarcasm) ), so there needs to be a way to have the players spend a bit more.

 

[philly]

I understand the first reflex of trying to diversify your sources of income if your main pool revenue is not enough but unfortunately most of them just end up losing their identity or alienating their core costumers. I'm fully aware that the big majority of pool players are not big spenders and just want to buy a bottle of water every 3 hours during their dedicated practice (to which a waitress should never dare to disturb, right?? (sarcasm) ), so there needs to be a way to have the players spend a bit more.

Give them a room with good equipment where ownership keeps the riff raff out. Build a better mousetrap and the public will beat a path to your door. Easy for me to say though. I live in the populous northeast where there are probably more serious pool players per square mile than anywhere in the country except maybe the west coast.

 

[Str8PoolPlayer]

I thought it was because of people like dom poopa

:rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1:

 

[gxman]

The internet killed pool. Theres too many internet activities that people would spend
nearly all day on for almost free. FB, Netflex, online-gaming, etc.

Teenagers now would spend 10+ hrs playing online games if they didn't have school. Thus hard for them to have any interest or care for hobbies like pool.

The stream of those game competitions would have 1+ million viewers. Shane plays Efren, we might be lucky to get 2000 viewers.

 

[asiasdad]

Well lets see spend a million putting in a nice place and then see how many show up and think about doing business with you. The nit crowd will be there but that's about it. The crowd is the problem. They don't expect free....they need Free.

You must play in some crappy rooms...I feel bad for you.

 

[Str8PoolPlayer]

I understand the first reflex of trying to diversify your sources of income if your main pool revenue is not enough but unfortunately most of them just end up losing their identity or alienating their core costumers. I'm fully aware that the big majority of pool players are not big spenders and just want to buy a bottle of water every 3 hours during their dedicated practice (to which a waitress should never dare to disturb, right?? (sarcasm) ), so there needs to be a way to have the players spend a bit more.

Come to The Jointed Cue in Sacramento. No problems with tight-asses there.
Most everyone buys a Beer or Soft Drink to go with the luscious Hamburgers.
Same goes for Hard Times. Folks love the Food and Cold Beer.

 

[boogeyman]

The internet killed pool. Theres too many internet activities that people would spend
nearly all day on for almost free. FB, Netflex, online-gaming, etc.

Teenagers now would spend 10+ hrs playing online games if they didn't have school. Thus hard for them to have any interest or care for hobbies like pool.

The stream of those game competitions would have 1+ million viewers. Shane plays Efren, we might be lucky to get 2000 viewers.

So how do we explain the fact that teenagers and other demographic groups are playing pool by
the millions all over the world?
The last I heard, they have internet activities in China, PI, Doha, Europe etc. (sorry for the sarcasm)

The interest in pool has simply spread to other parts of the world.
Pool is NOT dead for crying out loud!
America doesn't hold a patent on pool playing. :smile:

In fact, we should all be grateful that pool has expanded as it has.
It is this type of widespread participation that will beget (and is absolutely crucial for) Olympic participation.
[I'm guessing 2024 will be the year--it's all political, folks. Just be patient].

Consider yourselves fortunate as pool players and pool fans.

 

[Billiardbills]

So I live in Florida and here in SWFL there are 6 pool halls I can drive to within 20 minutes. I go to the farthest one as its FAR nicer and they have Diamond tables and better players.

ALL of them give away free pool until 7pm as long as you're buying something everyday and I said to the one I go to, why is it free, because everyone else is? Yup was the answer. I said well you're not everyone else, this place is FAR nicer and you should charge table time. They started charging $5 an hour per table (not player) and now there are less people BUT less people spending ZERO or close to ZERO dollars. I guess the mentality of something is better than nothing has been in place.

Frustrating for me as its 82 freaking degrees in the place and the felt is getting in rough condition to say the least.


Thank you,

Bill Lister
Cell/text- 239.823.0408
PayPal- Billiardbills@gmail.com
www.billiardbills.com
www.facebook.com/billiardbills

 

[Slasher]

Actually some these rooms are so bad they should PAY ME to go in.

 

[j2pac]

You must play in some crappy rooms...I feel bad for you.

Most of the guys who I know, that are somewhat serious players, seem to be decent folk, who expect nothing for free, but always appreciate a good bang for their buck. I think you'll have "tire-kickers" everywhere, but I've also been fairly particular about my circle of friends. None of the fellas that I associate with "need" free, but that's not to say that I don't associate with people who are less fortunate than I am, and I am by NO means anything special.
JP

 

[asiasdad]

Most of the guys who I know, that are somewhat serious players, seem to be decent folk, who expect nothing for free, but always appreciate a good bang for their buck. I think you'll have "tire-kickers" everywhere, but I've also been fairly particular about my circle of friends. None of the fellas that I associate with "need" free, but that's not to say that I don't associate with people who are less fortunate than I am, and I am by NO means anything special.
JP

That is how it is with the places I play and those I choose to
associate.

 

[Gorramjayne]

Give them a room with good equipment where ownership keeps the riff raff out. Build a better mousetrap and the public will beat a path to your door. Easy for me to say though. I live in the populous northeast where there are probably more serious pool players per square mile than anywhere in the country except maybe the west coast.

Right. There are only two pool halls in all of NYC I actually want to go to, and it's because the equipment is top-notch and the environment is decent. One has all Diamond Pro-Ams on the cheap, and the other is older but well kept GCs but with somewhat high table rates. But good serious players at both, so I'll spend whatever I have to to have a good practice environment. But certain nights you can't go play pool anywhere. It's sad really, the one with the Pro-Ams gets overrun with groups of screaming teenagers because it has reasonable prices and is in the ghetto, and the other gets overrun by heavy-drinking late-twenty-something Manhattaites and in both cases the pool halls actually cater to this by cranking the music up.

There's another pool hall I go to from time to time to practice on their snooker table but even during the middle of the day when I am literally the only one there trying to work on my snooker fundamentals, they have R&B cranked so loud I can't even hear myself think, then invariably by even 2 in the afternoon screaming packs of idiots come in and will gather 5 around a table next to me, who are screaming their proto-thoughts at each other constantly, before, during, and after every shot, being as loud as humanly possible. That's why I stick with the other two pool halls, because during the day, there aren't just random packs of idiots everywhere and when the DO wander in while the serious players are there during the day, everyone tells the to STFU and stop damaging the equipment, those people are quickly shown that they're not welcome, just wish management would do some of the booting as well.