What do you pay? What do you think?

frankncali · May 4, 2013

So last night my GF had a home party (she has a side biz) and I drove her there. It was near a pool room I used to go to on occasion and thought I would bang them around and hang out a few hours.

I heard it changed and I was surprised how much.

I got there just before 7 and was told that for 1 player it was $10 an hour but that if I had others meeting me it was still only $10 an hour. The counter guy said that its because its a Friday night. SO I look and see 6 people in the whole big pool room.

I say I will have burger and diet soda. okay that will be $10.50. I was a bit surprised but they used to be good. Not any more.

So I sit and 2 guys come in and plant themselves on a couple couches which I found odd to be in a pool room.
The music was a little loud but then the girl working went over and turned it up to about 12. It was all explicit lyric music at that. She asked me if everything was alright and I said I would take a to go box. She brought it and I asked who put on the music and why it was turned up. She said the juke box chooses the music trying to get people to play it and she and another person liked it loud..Said it set the mood.

I went to a book store and and the mall then came back about 9pm to check it out and see if anyone I knew was playing.
At 9:10 on a sturday night the place used to be busy. Well they had 4 people on the 9 footers and zero on the 7 footers. There were 7 people sitting at the bar.
I literally heard the music before I went into the room from where I parked.

the pool room is Shooters in Riverside Ca. I used to really like the room and it was a good cross between a shooters room and a bangers spot. Good fair prices with a full bar and good food.

I heard they were going to remodel and I thought okay lets see what they do. It was already a good layout but they had no bar boxes. The remodel looked very expensive especially since they moved the nice bar and the kitchen.

Color me not a fan of the remodel and I wonder if any players play out of there any more. I asked a guy working and he said that some guys (about15 or more) come in on Saturdays for a tournament and that they still get some but not many for a weekly tournament.

I have been out of pool for almost 3 years so its been a while since I have been there. I also may be out of the loop on table time and I might not be the best customer right now after being laid off but I cant afford 20-30 bucks for pool and another 10 on something to eat/drink. All just to kill some time for 2-3 hours. I was looking at about $40

Whats the rates where you live? Maybe I am just too tight right now but it seemed like a lot.
Seems like a simple change to get some bar tables in there for league would have been the best solution. Maybe they are still rocking and I caught them on an off night.

easy-e · May 4, 2013

Sounds pretty crappy. I'd pay that much for a well-maintained Diamond or Gold Crown with clean balls. The lack of people would be a major turn-ON for me. I also hate when the music is too loud, but I do enjoy my gangster rap.

frankncali · May 4, 2013

easy-e said:
Sounds pretty crappy. I'd pay that much for a well-maintained Diamond or Gold Crown with clean balls. The lack of people would be a major turn-ON for me. I also hate when the music is too loud, but I do enjoy my gangster rap.

I figure I was being a little too tight but I don't know. You would have been in Gangster Rap heaven. I was surprised by the lyrics.

Dirtbmw20 · May 4, 2013

Table time in my town runs anywhere from $6.50-$8.00 per hour depending on which pool hall you go to. At $10.00 per hour I would have probably walked out.

At the pool hall I USUALLY shoot at, it is $6.50 per hour but they charge me half price since I shoot league for their team. Their burgers are $3.50 and some of the best in town. It's one of the older pool halls in town. I'm 44 and I use to run the streets looking for money games at this place when I was 17-18 years old so it's been here forever and isn't as nice as some of the newer pool halls but it feels like home to me since I hung out there as a teenager.

gxman · May 4, 2013

Usually the fri/sat rates are higher. I have one that charges 10/hr any day of the week. I quit going to that one.

Another that charges 2.50/hr sun-thurs. A little more on fri/sat. I spend a lot of time at this one and it gets pretty packed.

Anything close to 10/hr is absurd IMO.

SC02GTP · May 4, 2013

The pool room I frequent is Bank Shot Billiards in Louisville, Ky.

Last night, I met a friend around 4 PM and we played until after 11:45 PM. I had a sandwich, 4-5 cokes, 2 beers for a friend and my tab was 45.00 total.

The tables are the old Diamond Pros, 10 in total

ShanksMcShankly · May 4, 2013

I live in the Costa Mesa CA area and pretty much every pool hall around here charges $10 an hour for the 9 footers. There are a few that will have $5 an hour table time during the daytime till about 4pm. They will vary after that from $8-$18 and on top of that some places will have a drink and food minimum or you get a higher rate.

There are a couple "ethinic" pool halls in little Korea town that still have great pricing on table time,$5-$8. A few of them also keep very good care of their equipment and have awesome food. But they are very "ethinic" and there always seems to be shady asian ganster characters being very shady in and around the establishment. If you can deal with the environment then it's a great spot to play.

It seems like playing pool is getting more expensive everywhere. That's why I spend most of my time at my local dive where I can stay on the challenge table for an hour or more. Even when I get beat it's only $0.75 and 15 minute wait and sometimes I get to open the table up for a few of my friends and I to play ring games or one pocket. Most of time I play and hang out all night (5-6 hrs) and spend less than ten bucks, some nights I actually leave with more money than I came with :yeah:

PoolJunkie216 · May 4, 2013

This is why I love the fact that where I play as an all night rate of $15 although I personally get to pay $12 & can play from opening to close 7 days a week if I wanted for that one price per day.

onepocketron · May 5, 2013

Depends on where you go around my neck of the woods, but it can range from $5 per hour to probably around 10 an hour. Tons of pool halls around Houston, and prices vary a lot. I play at the $5 hall as it just so happens they are closest to me.

Fatboy · May 5, 2013

in LA pool is brutal, realeastae boom raised rents, pool isnt a viable biz, try santa monica and see how bad that is. i think I'm gonna check out k-town there are a few joints there

ShootingArts · May 5, 2013

Greenway

frankncali said:
So last night my GF had a home party (she has a side biz) and I drove her there. It was near a pool room I used to go to on occasion and thought I would bang them around and hang out a few hours.

I heard it changed and I was surprised how much.

I got there just before 7 and was told that for 1 player it was $10 an hour but that if I had others meeting me it was still only $10 an hour. The counter guy said that its because its a Friday night. SO I look and see 6 people in the whole big pool room.

I say I will have burger and diet soda. okay that will be $10.50. I was a bit surprised but they used to be good. Not any more.

So I sit and 2 guys come in and plant themselves on a couple couches which I found odd to be in a pool room.
The music was a little loud but then the girl working went over and turned it up to about 12. It was all explicit lyric music at that. She asked me if everything was alright and I said I would take a to go box. She brought it and I asked who put on the music and why it was turned up. She said the juke box chooses the music trying to get people to play it and she and another person liked it loud..Said it set the mood.

I went to a book store and and the mall then came back about 9pm to check it out and see if anyone I knew was playing.
At 9:10 on a sturday night the place used to be busy. Well they had 4 people on the 9 footers and zero on the 7 footers. There were 7 people sitting at the bar.
I literally heard the music before I went into the room from where I parked.

the pool room is Shooters in Riverside Ca. I used to really like the room and it was a good cross between a shooters room and a bangers spot. Good fair prices with a full bar and good food.

I heard they were going to remodel and I thought okay lets see what they do. It was already a good layout but they had no bar boxes. The remodel looked very expensive especially since they moved the nice bar and the kitchen.

Color me not a fan of the remodel and I wonder if any players play out of there any more. I asked a guy working and he said that some guys (about15 or more) come in on Saturdays for a tournament and that they still get some but not many for a weekly tournament.

I have been out of pool for almost 3 years so its been a while since I have been there. I also may be out of the loop on table time and I might not be the best customer right now after being laid off but I cant afford 20-30 bucks for pool and another 10 on something to eat/drink. All just to kill some time for 2-3 hours. I was looking at about $40

Whats the rates where you live? Maybe I am just too tight right now but it seemed like a lot.
Seems like a simple change to get some bar tables in there for league would have been the best solution. Maybe they are still rocking and I caught them on an off night.

Trying to remember, late nineties, maybe early 2000's, I went in Greenway in the daytime. The place was a morgue. One counterman, a couple hangers on sitting around with him shooting the breeze, mostly just sitting, think they were drinking coffee. Not another soul in sight. The tables looked like they hadn't been recovered, hell might not have been cleaned, since the last time I was in there about fifteen years before. The place held a lot of memories and I decided I would hit balls an hour or two. Asked about table time, nine an hour to play on that junk. I turned around and walked out.

There was a time when anybody that could play pool passed through Greenway. The area had went down but not that much, don't know what happened to Greenway. No idea when they officially shut the doors, I think I passed by in another four or five years and they were locked up.

Things change, rarely for the better.

Hu

Allen Brown · May 5, 2013

I pay $5.00 per DAY. Open to close 3pm to 2am any day of the week. My tab is usaully $30-$45 at the end of the night for 8-10 hours of play and drinks and food. This is on Diamond 7 and 9 footers that are well maintained. I've gotten spoiled since I've been in Alabama.

I used to go to a room in Tennessee and paid $1.80 an hour about 5 years ago. Snooker was .50 cents a game there as well and they racked for you.

stutz · May 5, 2013

I'm going to take a guess about the clients in this "pool hall" you visited. They were perhaps late teens to early 20's? They all knew it other? Looked like they didn't have $20 bucks between them?

If so, it sounds like a "pool hall" in the Cincy area. Two actually, owned by the same guy.

A few years back, they changed their format to appeal to a "younger crowd". Kept the real players out, brought the early 20 year olds in.. You know the ones I'm talking about. Wear the ball caps with the straight brim, 3 beers and they're already dizzy and gain a sense of liquid courage.

Have that hip/hop crap "music" blarring so loud you can't hear yourself think.

But this particular establishment is full of these kiddies every weekend. What ever pays the bills I guess

Rabbit · May 5, 2013

SC02GTP said:
The pool room I frequent is Bank Shot Billiards in Louisville, Ky.

Last night, I met a friend around 4 PM and we played until after 11:45 PM. I had a sandwich, 4-5 cokes, 2 beers for a friend and my tab was 45.00 total.

The tables are the old Diamond Pros, 10 in total

Talk about a great pool room I love the old vault thats a proshop:thumbup:

Fatboy · May 5, 2013

ShootingArts said:
Trying to remember, late nineties, maybe early 2000's, I went in Greenway in the daytime. The place was a morgue. One counterman, a couple hangers on sitting around with him shooting the breeze, mostly just sitting, think they were drinking coffee. Not another soul in sight. The tables looked like they hadn't been recovered, hell might not have been cleaned, since the last time I was in there about fifteen years before. The place held a lot of memories and I decided I would hit balls an hour or two. Asked about table time, nine an hour to play on that junk. I turned around and walked out.

There was a time when anybody that could play pool passed through Greenway. The area had went down but not that much, don't know what happened to Greenway. No idea when they officially shut the doors, I think I passed by in another four or five years and they were locked up.

Things change, rarely for the better.

Hu

I was in Greenway one night back in 88, one hell of a night. wow

KoolKat9Lives · May 5, 2013

My home hall doesn't charge table time for regulars that buy drinks from their full bar. :thumbup:
They have 10 nicely maintained GC's and 9' Diamonds. They tell me they are turning a decent profit (no food sold there).

Another real nice hall in Greensboro charges @ $4/hr with options to buy table time by the month, or IIRC half price table time on certain days.

I'm sure glad I don't have to pay $10/hr, I would not play very much if that were the case.

frankncali · May 5, 2013

stutz said:
I'm going to take a guess about the clients in this "pool hall" you visited. They were perhaps late teens to early 20's? They all knew it other? Looked like they didn't have $20 bucks between them?

If so, it sounds like a "pool hall" in the Cincy area. Two actually, owned by the same guy.

A few years back, they changed their format to appeal to a "younger crowd". Kept the real players out, brought the early 20 year olds in.. You know the ones I'm talking about. Wear the ball caps with the straight brim, 3 beers and they're already dizzy and gain a sense of liquid courage.

Have that hip/hop crap "music" blarring so loud you can't hear yourself think.

But this particular establishment is full of these kiddies every weekend. What ever pays the bills I guess

Yeah they were all younger. When I went back in for the 2nd time there were 2 older guys playing some one pocket. I stopped and thought I would watch a few minutes. I got the cold stare and moved on.

My thought is that owners of any business need to do what makes money but to think about all of your customer base or eventually all the eggs will be in one basket.

This place used to be rocking on the weekeknds. I might have just caught them on an off night.

frankncali · May 5, 2013

Allen Brown said:
I pay $5.00 per DAY. Open to close 3pm to 2am any day of the week. My tab is usaully $30-$45 at the end of the night for 8-10 hours of play and drinks and food. This is on Diamond 7 and 9 footers that are well maintained. I've gotten spoiled since I've been in Alabama.

I used to go to a room in Tennessee and paid $1.80 an hour about 5 years ago. Snooker was .50 cents a game there as well and they racked for you.

You must be in Huntsville. I grew up in LA (lower alabama) but we went all over playing pool.

JoeyA · May 5, 2013

Buffalo Billiards • Metairie, LA

Buffalo Billiards in Metairie, LA charges $3.25 per hour for one person, $6.50 an hour for two or more on a table.

The New York guys who like to drink think they died and went to heaven because the prices on beer is so cheap.

If someone is practicing on the two front tables and a money match comes up (which happens very frequently), they are politely asked to move to another table.

We've got our share of bangers and players and I don't think I would want to play anywhere else, although pool halls like Fargo Billiards makes me wonder.

stutz · May 5, 2013

frankncali said:
Yeah they were all younger. When I went back in for the 2nd time there were 2 older guys playing some one pocket. I stopped and thought I would watch a few minutes. I got the cold stare and moved on.

My thought is that owners of any business need to do what makes money but to think about all of your customer base or eventually all the eggs will be in one basket.

This place used to be rocking on the weekeknds. I might have just caught them on an off night.

the place I'm referring too, used to have a 10 ft. snooker table that we'd play golf on. I didn't go in there for a few months (not the best hall in Cincy area) heard it had changed. Sure did, for the worst

They got rid of the snooker table, added a dance floor and a DJ booth....yeaaaah boooooiiiiii

What do you pay? What do you think?

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