What changes have happened to pool in the last decade?

preacherman

preacherman

CPPA Founder
Silver Member
I started playing pool in 2001, then in 2002 I started my pool organization www.christianpoolplayers.com (CPPA) which was going quite well, but then it almost fizzled out in 2010's. Also during that time while I still loved pool I pretty much stopped playing. Then I played one season of league in 2018 (can't say I enjoyed it). But in 2020 I got an 9' old table for my new man cave. Played a little on it every month. But in past couple years CPPA has had a growth explosion :).
Now I've starting to showing up at pool halls and playing a little. Just this month I started playing in a league for first time since 2018 and enjoying it. Hopefully tournaments by 2026 (I'll be 66 years old - I guess I'm a senior). So that brings me to my question. "What changes have happened to pool in the last decade?".
A few things I have noticed:
1. Carbon Fiber cues are popular.
2. Extenders to make your cue longer.
3. Lots of pool playing on YouTube.
4. A lot of new generation players that are quite good.

What are some other things that have changed in pool. Hopefully we can keep it positive.

Thanks in advance for your input.
Jim
 
Last edited:
There are a lot less pool rooms operating nationwide, especially in smaller towns and rural areas, because of COVID.
It is not a positive development, or post, but it is reality and to deny it is not only naive but is a distortion of the facts.
 
Template rack.

Allows the guys that normally break dry to make something. It decreases 9 balls on the table to 7 or less. I can consistently make a ball but I find myself making two and sometimes four balls on the break. Its pretty common now. This allows more runouts. Combine the template with carbon break shafts and that is game changer.

Measle ball. aka Training ball.

You now show your opponent and every beginner, mid level and other players your secrets. Secrets that took years to learn. I prefer the blank balls since it looks lot prettier and you can't anticipate how you play the ball. I went back to playing with blank balls and I surprise myself of just how good my stroke and control is.

Of course, this is my experience from a local level.
 
Bavafongoul said:
There are a lot less pool rooms operating nationwide, especially in smaller towns and rural areas, because of COVID.
It is not a positive development, or post, but it is reality and to deny it is not only naive but is a distortion of the facts.
Click to expand...
Yes but pool is at its most popular right now.

Notice how nobody ever says "pool is dead" like they did 10 years ago?
 
I beg to differ and I wish it wasn’t true but unfortunately it is.

Pool is not at its most popular and any statistics you might
be inclined to cite need to be weighed against our population
and related demographics, as well as our M1and M2 money
supplies. There are lots to consider but I go by experience.

I’ve played pool coast to coast and in between having living in
different states but I was born and raised in NYC. I played pool
in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. And rooms were still bustling.

I didn’t stop playing in the 2000’s and continue to play even now.
In fact, I played today and likely will tomorrow assuming my eyes
open. Otherwise, someone let my kids know come get my stuff.

Pool right now is not in its glory days by a far stretch. What you
have is streaming. And coverage never before possible and that
by itself hardly means pool is growing, at least not here in the USA.

It is popular in other countries and some regions of the USA but not
on a national level. I don’t think so and I lived during pool’s most
exciting times post World War II. Pool rooms were neighborhood
hangouts there were so many scattered throughout NYC.

I’ve subsequently lived in Boston, Dallas, Kansas City, San Francisco
and Fresno in my lifetime and always played pool everywhere I lived.
And that encompasses over six decades of actively playing pool.

I’ll defer to what others think but in my opinion, pool has seen its best
years in my rear view mirror and not the remaining road yet to be travelled.
I’d like to be wrong but we’ll never see pool as popular as it is overseas.
 
Bavafongoul said:
I beg to differ and I wish it wasn’t true but unfortunately it is.

Pool is not at its most popular and any statistics you might
be inclined to cite need to be weighed against our population
and related demographics, as well as our M1and M2 money
supplies. There are lots to consider but I go by experience.

I’ve played pool coast to coast and in between having living in
different states but I was born and raised in NYC. I played pool
in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. And rooms were still bustling.

I didn’t stop playing in the 2000’s and continue to play even now.
In fact, I played today and likely will tomorrow assuming my eyes
open. Otherwise, someone let my kids know come get my stuff.

Pool right now is not in its glory days by a far stretch. What you
have is streaming. And coverage never before possible and that
by itself hardly means pool is growing, at least not here in the USA.

It is popular in other countries and some regions of the USA but not
on a national level. I don’t think so and I lived during pool’s most
exciting times post World War II. Pool rooms were neighborhood
hangouts there were so many scattered throughout NYC.

I’ve subsequently lived in Boston, Dallas, Kansas City, San Francisco
and Fresno in my lifetime and always played pool everywhere I lived.
And that encompasses over six decades of actively playing pool.

I’ll defer to what others think but in my opinion, pool has seen its best
years in my rear view mirror and not the remaining road yet to be travelled.
I’d like to be wrong but we’ll never see pool as popular as it is overseas.
Click to expand...
I’m not saying you’re necessarily wrong, but I hope you’re wrong. By all accounts pool is booming overseas, Asia especially, and it’s booming with young players. I think pool has/is undergoing a rebranding as a more serious sport, and I think that is catching on overseas. I think a lot of young players in the states are taking the game seriously as well, streaming their up and coming careers, and I think social media will play a role if it grows in popularity with young people here. I personally see more young people in pool rooms in the US now than ever and I hope it keeps trending that way
 
From 2015 to 2025 IMO pool has at least doubled in popularity. It's still not like it was around 1999, but it's WAY better than in 2005-2010. I think its due simply to the economy being better.

Other changes from 2015-2025:
Brunswick tables are about extinct. Everything is Diamond now (boo, imo).
Wood shafts are extinct, all CF now.
FargoRate rules player's speeds now.
Matchroom Pool is ruling pro pool.
Ultimate Pool League (this year) cracked the pool nut with their shot clock system.
Custom cues are about extinct.
 
I just got back to the game after a break of almost 15 years. Here is what I found that changed:
1. Carbon fiber shafts and kielwood shafts.
2. usage of gloves and ban of powder in most pool halls
3. more good players than ever, I guess this because of free acceess to a lot of information on the web
4. more online content as mention above
5. pool looks like getting bigger world wide but smaller in the usa
6. some rules changes of the games
7. prices of cues and accessories have gone up
 
Bavafongoul said:
I beg to differ and I wish it wasn’t true but unfortunately it is.

Pool is not at its most popular and any statistics you might
be inclined to cite need to be weighed against our population
and related demographics, as well as our M1and M2 money
supplies. There are lots to consider but I go by experience.

I’ve played pool coast to coast and in between having living in
different states but I was born and raised in NYC. I played pool
in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. And rooms were still bustling.

I didn’t stop playing in the 2000’s and continue to play even now.
In fact, I played today and likely will tomorrow assuming my eyes
open. Otherwise, someone let my kids know come get my stuff.

Pool right now is not in its glory days by a far stretch. What you
have is streaming. And coverage never before possible and that
by itself hardly means pool is growing, at least not here in the USA.

It is popular in other countries and some regions of the USA but not
on a national level. I don’t think so and I lived during pool’s most
exciting times post World War II. Pool rooms were neighborhood
hangouts there were so many scattered throughout NYC.

I’ve subsequently lived in Boston, Dallas, Kansas City, San Francisco
and Fresno in my lifetime and always played pool everywhere I lived.
And that encompasses over six decades of actively playing pool.

I’ll defer to what others think but in my opinion, pool has seen its best
years in my rear view mirror and not the remaining road yet to be travelled.
I’d like to be wrong but we’ll never see pool as popular as it is overseas.
Click to expand...
Well in the spirit of the thread, 2015-2025, have seen the reemergence of pool. We are at the peak of popularity during this period. I like to thank Matchroom for this as well.

The barrier of entry has also lowered compared to when I first learned how to play in the late 90's. We're talking about better equipment at an affordable price. My first cue was a custom cue that had slight flaws in it and I bought it for $500. Fast forward today, I picked up a Mezz for that same price and its superior. to the equipment of the past. It puts players at an even playing field. Now, some higher end, new technology cues, are in the thousands but they are superior to their counterpart custom cues. I still play with custom wood even with that said.

You're basing your experiences from pool halls all around the country and we have less pool rooms than we did in the past but national participation is at an all time high if I'm not mistaken. This is according to APA.

Participation and exposure (tournament/streaming) is a better indicator than how many pool rooms you see in a city. It's expensive to open a pool room today. At 10k per table, you're not going to see pool rooms sprawled across the country.

Pickleball isn't a national sport but you will see its popularity through participation.
 
billiards_watch said:
Template rack.

Allows the guys that normally break dry to make something. It decreases 9 balls on the table to 7 or less. I can consistently make a ball but I find myself making two and sometimes four balls on the break. Its pretty common now. This allows more runouts. Combine the template with carbon break shafts and that is game changer.

Measle ball. aka Training ball.

You now show your opponent and every beginner, mid level and other players your secrets. Secrets that took years to learn. I prefer the blank balls since it looks lot prettier and you can't anticipate how you play the ball. I went back to playing with blank balls and I surprise myself of just how good my stroke and control is.

Of course, this is my experience from a local level.
Click to expand...

template racks didn't come about 10 years ago and neither did the measle ball
 
iusedtoberich said:
From 2015 to 2025 IMO pool has at least doubled in popularity. It's still not like it was around 1999, but it's WAY better than in 2005-2010. I think its due simply to the economy being better.

Other changes from 2015-2025:
Brunswick tables are about extinct. Everything is Diamond now (boo, imo).
Wood shafts are extinct, all CF now.
FargoRate rules player's speeds now.
Matchroom Pool is ruling pro pool.
Ultimate Pool League (this year) cracked the pool nut with their shot clock system.
Custom cues are about extinct.
Click to expand...
Boy, I think you are really misspeaking and obviously, it is your opinion as oppposedto being evidentially verifiable.
Diamond, Rasmussen, Predator are much more popular than Brunswick that probably trails Olhausen pool tables.
Wood shafts are still popular from what I can see but admittedly CF is the dominant trend but Kielwood is abounding.
Custom Cues continue to remain popular because you can get exactly what you want and be proud of it forever more.
Pool Leagues have become the driving force behind the popularity of pool and is the life blood for poolroom operators.

When I read someone critiquing custom cues, I think it’s because they don’t believe personalizing a pool cue either
by specifications, i.e., pool cue anatomy, or design (appearance) serves any purpose which is their opinion. Thank God
they aren’t right and attending a cue exposition is a great reminder that custom cue making is still very viable today.
But you do not need a custom cue to develop and deliver a world class pool stroke. That’s on you, not your pool cue.
 
The biggest change around here has been leagues I think. Everyone around here played acs and bca. Now 90% of league players are playing apa. That’s really obvious if you goto nationals. Acs is tiny doesn’t even fill one of the big rooms in Vegas. Apa takes up all the space the casino has and they now broke it into two different national events 6 months apart because they just couldn’t fit it all in that space any longer.


robertod said:
Am I crazy, but my perception is that there is more money being made by the pro players.
Click to expand...
You’re not.. there is and it’s not close. 10 years ago the best players were showing up for local tournaments to make a couple 100 bucks on the weekend or state 9 ball tournaments trying to make ends meet . I haven’t seen that since before covid now. Things are trending up and I’m glad to see it. People forget it wasn’t long ago that if you won the us open you weren’t even sure you were going to get paid. it would take months before they got the actual checks. Happily that time is gone. Thank god for matchroom.
Bavafongoul said:
There are a lot less pool rooms operating nationwide, especially in smaller towns and rural areas, because of COVID.
It is not a positive development, or post, but it is reality and to deny it is not only naive but is a distortion of the facts.
Click to expand...
If you think that’s because of covid you were living in a good pool area. That happened 25 plus years ago in pa. All the pool halls that were here in pa and md before covid are still here after 🤷🏻‍♂️ but the world is a big place. so thing are different depending where you live I’m sure.
Bavafongoul said:
Boy, I think you are really misspeaking and obviously, it is your opinion as oppposedto being evidentially verifiable.
Diamond, Rasmussen, Predator are much more popular than Brunswick that probably trails Olhausen pool tables.
Wood shafts are still popular from what I can see but admittedly CF is the dominant trend but Kielwood is abounding.
Custom Cues continue to remain popular because you can get exactly what you want and be proud of it forever more.
Pool Leagues have become the driving force behind the popularity of pool and is the life blood for poolroom operators.

When I read someone critiquing custom cues, I think it’s because they don’t believe personalizing a pool cue either
by specifications, i.e., pool cue anatomy, or design (appearance) serves any purpose which is their opinion. Thank God
they aren’t right and attending a cue exposition is a great reminder that custom cue making is still very viable today.
But you do not need a custom cue to develop and deliver a world class pool stroke. That’s on you, not your pool cue.
Click to expand...
I can’t argue with him about custom cues. When I goto local leagues or nationals you just don’t see them like you used to. 9 out of 10 cues are something off the shelf like predator , cuetec, Viking etc. joss cues used to be big around here because we live so close to where they are made but now unless it’s someone playing over 60 that’s had the same cue forever you don’t see them. Even a lot of the old heads that played with them at least have put cf shafts on them. I’m not saying it’s a good or bad thing it just is. I stopped playing with customs simply because I play in a lot of bars and I was tired of worrying about what them being damaged. My predators I can snap in half and have another that plays just like it at my door tomorrow .
 
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