Question about Chicago, Illinois

Positively Ralf

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm not from there nor have I ever visited, but from all accounts Chicago has a very good history when it comes to pool. I recently saw a video on the hall that the color of money was shot in and it's one of those old timeless places that seems like it will never go away.

Anyway, my question is, why are there no major pro pool tournaments being held in Chicago? Since I've been on this site I've never seen or heard of anyone doing anything in that city. Is it not possible?
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
The 1994 and 1997 WPA World 9-Ball Championships were held in a nearby suburb of Chicago.

Some pro events have been held in fairly nearby St. Charles, IL.

Several US Open Straight Pool Championships were held in Chicago.
And at least one pro 3 cushion event, at Chris’s Billiards where TCOM was (partly) shot. I saw Semih Sayginer set the US high run record of 20 there.

Usually we keep a lower profile and pick off the low hanging fruit passing through from one more famous venue to another.

pj
chgo
 
Last edited:

Willowbrook Wolfy

Your wushu is weak!
Gold Member
Close enough in 2021
 

Attachments

  • 79298AD9-C9A3-4EAA-8028-CC1552D371E9.png
    79298AD9-C9A3-4EAA-8028-CC1552D371E9.png
    338.6 KB · Views: 109

KRJ

Support UKRAINE
Silver Member
I'm not from there nor have I ever visited, but from all accounts Chicago has a very good history when it comes to pool. I recently saw a video on the hall that the color of money was shot in and it's one of those old timeless places that seems like it will never go away.

Anyway, my question is, why are there no major pro pool tournaments being held in Chicago? Since I've been on this site I've never seen or heard of anyone doing anything in that city. Is it not possible?
The real reason. Pool is dead. I mean, pool died in Chicago a long time ago. A city this size should have dozens and dozens of pool rooms in the Chicago metro area. There is around 6M folks in the area.

I sponsored a few pro Exhibitions in Chicago 8-9 years ago. I talked to the promoter, Mark Cantrell, who was gonna be in Peoria to come to Chicago with Buddy Hall and Nick Varner. He first said no because they don't sell well in Chicago, thus not worth their time, costs (hotel, food, gas) to drive another 2 hours to Chicago from Peoria, IL. Imagine that? They didn't want to drive from some small town in IL to one of the largest cities in the country because there was no money in it for them?

So, I told them I would pay their "appearance fee" myself and then I would sell the tickets to recoup my money. If I don't recoup, that's on me. Plus, I put all three up at my house so there would be no hotel expense and the wife cooked dinner on the BBQ for them;)

I broke even on the venture, but it was tough selling the few remaining tickets to get to the break even point. I mean, there were folks shooting pool during the exhibition and they had no interest to stop by... tickets were $20 for a few hours of entertainment, ask questions, get autographs, and play some games with Buddy and Nick. A bargain if you ask me.

Heck, I lived there and I couldn't believe they would not come to Chicago but Mark was right, it was a tough sell, but I marketed the heck out of it, called everyone I knew in pool, league operators, players, friends, family, etc. and to just to break even. Which was fine by me, heck, I was willing to lose a few hundo on the deal just to get it done, but jeez, with those two names attached it should have been a "no brainer".
 
Last edited:

Quesports

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I believe they have seven 5 x 10 three cushion tables all heated. Chicago has quite a history of cue makers as well. Joe Gold, (Cognescenti Cues), Joel Hercek ( Hercek Cues ), John Davis rip made blanks forever. Tim Prince (Prince Cues) is another cue maker there.. Lets definitely not forget John Wright of Palatine. He may have been the catalyst for making collecting cues popular starting his cue selling business back in the 70's I believe.. Chicago and the suburbs have been very instrumental in pool for many many years...Atlas billiard supplies is there the list and history are quite amazing really. I am sure I have left lots out so my apologies to those and their input.. I should have mentioned these folks as well. George Fels and Freddy Bentivegna and before I forget, Brad Simpson who authored and worked to bring us all three editions of The Blue Book of Pool Cues! All three authors that made quite an impact on the pool scene in their time, RIP to both gentlemen! Yes, Chicago and the surrounding suburbs was and still is a great place for pool..
 
Last edited:

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
I believe they have seven 5 x 10 three cushion tables all heated. Chicago has quite a history of cue makers as well. Joe Gold, (Cognescenti Cues), Joel Hercek ( Hercek Cues ), John Davis rip made blanks forever. Tim Prince (Prince Cues) is another cue maker there.. Lets definitely not forget John Wright of Palatine. He may have been the catalyst for making collecting cues popular starting his cue selling business back in the 70's I believe.. Chicago and the suburbs have been very instrumental in pool for many many years...Atlas billiard supplies is there the list and history are quite amazing really. I am sure I have left lots out so my apologies to those and their input..
Tweeten Fiber Co., makers of Master chalk.

pj
chgo
 

KRJ

Support UKRAINE
Silver Member
I believe they have seven 5 x 10 three cushion tables all heated. Chicago has quite a history of cue makers as well. Joe Gold, (Cognescenti Cues), Joel Hercek ( Hercek Cues ), John Davis rip made blanks forever. Tim Prince (Prince Cues) is another cue maker there.. Lets definitely not forget John Wright of Palatine. He may have been the catalyst for making collecting cues popular starting his cue selling business back in the 70's I believe.. Chicago and the suburbs have been very instrumental in pool for many many years...Atlas billiard supplies is there the list and history are quite amazing really. I am sure I have left lots out so my apologies to those and their input..
I agree, cue makers and products are more abundant than the pool scene. So many good ones. Heck, I even heard of his Magic Chalk that use to be the USA headquarters till they (me) moved to Kentucky ;)
 

chefjeff

If not now...
Silver Member
I used to go to Schaumburg every January for a convention.

January. der. Surprisingly, it was popular for years. One guy drove his cycle from PA to Chicago one year.




Jeff Livingston
 

Joe_Jaguar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm not from there nor have I ever visited, but from all accounts Chicago has a very good history when it comes to pool. I recently saw a video on the hall that the color of money was shot in and it's one of those old timeless places that seems like it will never go away.

Anyway, my question is, why are there no major pro pool tournaments being held in Chicago? Since I've been on this site I've never seen or heard of anyone doing anything in that city. Is it not possible?
There are a lot places that don’t have any major events any more especially the last seven or eight years. I lived in Chicago for college and work for about 18 years then moved back to FL ten years ago now. The events were far and few between even then but did get to see some great ones.

The WPA World Championships at the Hilton in Arlington Park were great. You had the Camel event in South Milwaukee (when you live in Chicago sad how you grow to accept some of these places to be in the “area” LOL). Drove over to a couple of US Open One pockets in Kalamazoo. I lived a couple of miles down the road from the WPBA events at Palace Billiards (horribly run place) in Villa Park and then they moved them to E Peoria and then over to the casino in East Gary, also known as Michigan City.

Always surprised that Chris’s never held many events. Only ones I recall were the Carom Tour event mentioned above. That was great. Saw Sang run an 18, and there was a load of talent there. There was also an exhibition between Grady and Fisher. Went to two of those events at Pheasant Run. They weren’t memorable, mainly amateurs.

But those years are long gone. Who is going to host a Major anything there? It is too bad Diamond never tried another second event (I’d now vote for NOLA over Chicago), no stop from that new Predator series there, Matchroom picking fricking Atlantic City, WPBA basically folding, CSI sticking with Vegas (why not try their US Open banks or 1P in Chicago), etc.
 
Last edited:

KRJ

Support UKRAINE
Silver Member
I used to go to Schaumburg every January for a convention.

January. der. Surprisingly, it was popular for years. One guy drove his cycle from PA to Chicago one year.




Jeff Livingston
Dude, I worked in Schaumburg for years. You should have let me know, beers would have been on me :)
 

KRJ

Support UKRAINE
Silver Member
We have had some great events in Chicago

View attachment 617493
"had" being the key word here. Loved the tourneys in St. Charles, I lived exactly 2 minutes away from Pheasant Run for 20 years. It was awesome. Played in the state tourneys there as well. Whenever I got hungry during the team events, just texted the wife to drop off a sandwich and bam, it was there in 5 minutes :)
 

bbb

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
I believe they have seven 5 x 10 three cushion tables all heated. Chicago has quite a history of cue makers as well. Joe Gold, (Cognescenti Cues), Joel Hercek ( Hercek Cues ), John Davis rip made blanks forever. Tim Prince (Prince Cues) is another cue maker there.. Lets definitely not forget John Wright of Palatine. He may have been the catalyst for making collecting cues popular starting his cue selling business back in the 70's I believe.. Chicago and the suburbs have been very instrumental in pool for many many years...Atlas billiard supplies is there the list and history are quite amazing really. I am sure I have left lots out so my apologies to those and their input.. I should have mentioned these folks as well. George Fels and Freddy Bentivegna and before I forget, Brad Simpson who authored and worked to bring us all three editions of The Blue Book of Pool Cues! All three authors that made quite an impact on the pool scene in their time, RIP to both gentlemen! Yes, Chicago and the surrounding suburbs was and still is a great place for pool..
bobby hunter cuemaker and fine pool player is from/in chicago
 
Top