Amsterdam Blues

Bustah360

Bustah360

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just wanna gripe about the new Amsterdam Billiards here in nyc. Unfortunately they lost out on the upper west side location and bought out the "corner billiards" location. Problem with this is that they have league night on just about every night of the week which sucks for us non-league players. I just want to practice man, but tonight was ridiculous. For obvious reasons they moved the thursday team 9 ball matches to tonight and that's understandable.

What did bother me was there were so many people that the place was muggy throughout. They didn't try to accommadate the air. I had to throw on some cue silk on my shaft as a result. After 2hrs of waiting for a table, they give me one only to state that they'll need it back in less than an hour for more league matches. I've never been given a table and asked for it back in no less than 2 or more hours or they just wouldn't give it to me. I bring it back in less than 1hr with nothing accomplished but a few practice racks after drills. I go back on the list for another table and have absolutely no fun at all with the 100 people around me. I've seen full 128 player bracket tounaments with more breathing room, it was horrible. With 2 sessions back to back it was amazing I finished a rack of 9 ball without stopping 3 or 4 times for others shooting on the tables around me.

Unless you're at this pool hall during the day (where most of us working people can't be there), this place is a circus. Then to give ya another kick in @ss they charge $9.75 p/hr for one person, and $2 p/coffee that any deli could offer double the amount for a buck. Sigh...I apologize to all the shooters that love this place but it just ain't the same anymore. One of the managers even stated he had no idea when the owners were planning on opening another location. He stated that Brooklyn might be an option. I know that the local pool rooms would kill'em though. Originally there were 2 locations, "east side" and "west side". Now both are gone and the local competition was bought out. That leaves 3 pool halls worth of leagues in one spot which leaves nothing for anyone else.

Do I really have to resort to taking a path train to jersey for practice time?! All the other rooms suck. HELP!
 
Sounds bad. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that.

I guess Jersey is good for something after all. :D
 
Bustah360 said:
I just wanna gripe about the new Amsterdam Billiards here in nyc. Unfortunately they lost out on the upper west side location and bought out the "corner billiards" location. Problem with this is that they have league night on just about every night of the week which sucks for us non-league players.
Click to expand...

This is the same reason I stopped going there. Half the time I go there I sat around because of the leagues taking up so many tables. I admire the business model, I just don't fit into it.

Poolmouse
 
This sounds like an opportunity to get together with the others that feel as you do and find a place to put 6 or 8 tables. Have some inexpensive coffee and food and limited league play. Now you have a shooters room.

Just sayin'

Dwight
 
Whoa $9.75 an hour to play pool!! Too much for me I'd probably find something else to do at that rate....
 
League rooms and player rooms are 2 different worlds, so are banger/player rooms. Player rooms just cant make it there just isnt enough $$ for them. The solution is in the floor plan, it must be thought out in a way that one dosent over lap with the other. The other problem is 99.99% of pool room owners need the highest and best use of their business to earn a living, so the players suffer accordingly. When Fatboy does his thing(which will happen) I woent need to make $$$, i will have a true players room someday and it will make $$$ not at the exoence of the players.


"Not all room owners plan to fail, some just fail to plan" that wont be me, I'm a player and will make sure my players like their room love or hate me, I want to please them. Chuck Marculous(sorry for spelling) was one on my mentoirs as was Terry Stonier RIP too.:frown: But what I learned from them will be enjoyed some where someday by players, hardcore-lifestyle players like Hennesy, klatterbuck, McReesh, etc the hardcore guys.
 
All Welcome to my PLAYERS' ROOM

:) ALL I have to say is...

$4/hr before 6pm every day and $6/hr after 6pm.

Day pass special = 11am - 6pm just $10!

Take the train to Metuchen Station (less than 2miles from my room) and take a cab right from the same parking lot as the station!

Sandcastle Billiards
101 Townsley St. & Rt.1 South
Edison, NJ 08837

ONE OF THE FEW PLAYERS' ROOMS LEFT!!!

visit www.sandcastlebilliards.com OR www.myspace.com/sandcastlebilliards
 
League people also want to practice between matches too, so when leagues are in session it can be hard to get a table. I had a similar experience shopping at Best Buy day after Christmas. The place was packed with bargin hunters, and the line to the cash register was snaked through half the store. Yesterday, I gave up trying to redeem my best buy gift card. I'll go back when I know its less busy.

Did you talk to the manager on duty about your bad experience last night? I find them to be friendly, and attentive. If they knew about the AC problem, I'm sure they would've fixed it.

Soho and Broadway Billiards are within 10-15 minute walking distance, great places to practice.
 
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Bustah360 said:
I just wanna gripe about the new Amsterdam Billiards here in nyc. Unfortunately they lost out on the upper west side location and bought out the "corner billiards" location. Problem with this is that they have league night on just about every night of the week which sucks for us non-league players. I just want to practice man, but tonight was ridiculous. For obvious reasons they moved the thursday team 9 ball matches to tonight and that's understandable.

What did bother me was there were so many people that the place was muggy throughout. They didn't try to accommadate the air. I had to throw on some cue silk on my shaft as a result. After 2hrs of waiting for a table, they give me one only to state that they'll need it back in less than an hour for more league matches. I've never been given a table and asked for it back in no less than 2 or more hours or they just wouldn't give it to me. I bring it back in less than 1hr with nothing accomplished but a few practice racks after drills. I go back on the list for another table and have absolutely no fun at all with the 100 people around me. I've seen full 128 player bracket tounaments with more breathing room, it was horrible. With 2 sessions back to back it was amazing I finished a rack of 9 ball without stopping 3 or 4 times for others shooting on the tables around me.

Unless you're at this pool hall during the day (where most of us working people can't be there), this place is a circus. Then to give ya another kick in @ss they charge $9.75 p/hr for one person, and $2 p/coffee that any deli could offer double the amount for a buck. Sigh...I apologize to all the shooters that love this place but it just ain't the same anymore. One of the managers even stated he had no idea when the owners were planning on opening another location. He stated that Brooklyn might be an option. I know that the local pool rooms would kill'em though. Originally there were 2 locations, "east side" and "west side". Now both are gone and the local competition was bought out. That leaves 3 pool halls worth of leagues in one spot which leaves nothing for anyone else.

Do I really have to resort to taking a path train to jersey for practice time?! All the other rooms suck. HELP!
Click to expand...


If I was looking for a place to drink a cup of coffee and practice by myself on a Friday night, Amsterdam Billiards is the last place I would go.

BTW, why wait two hours to play alone? Did you try calling around first?
 
Sandman said:
:) ALL I have to say is...

$4/hr before 6pm every day and $6/hr after 6pm.

Day pass special = 11am - 6pm just $10!

Take the train to Metuchen Station (less than 2miles from my room) and take a cab right from the same parking lot as the station!

Sandcastle Billiards
101 Townsley St. & Rt.1 South
Edison, NJ 08837

ONE OF THE FEW PLAYERS' ROOMS LEFT!!!

visit www.sandcastlebilliards.com OR www.myspace.com/sandcastlebilliards
Click to expand...
I have heard your room is real nice and I am sure it is.
Your mention of Metuchen Station brought back memories of Miseraks room. I think it was called Four Seasons. You didn't need the cab ride. You could just walk over from the station.:wink:
 
I played at Corner regularly when I lived in NYC and also played in leagues at both the ABC east and west locations. I can only imagine the chaos of cramming 3 pretty big leagues into one location. I do not envy you... and would suggest Soho or Broadway billiards as better options for practicing and also cheaper.

You only make me glad I moved south when I did... Keeping in mind, Manhattan is an island and space is always a premium commodity, I can not see it getting any better. If you can play during the day, that might be your best option. ABC use to have a great daytime powerplay deal that I use to split with a friend. We could even go out and get lunch and come back! (Their food, if you can call it that, is awful) Still I think I paid out more in time one month of playing pool in NYC then I have paid in the entire 6 years I have lived in Atlanta!
 
Bustah360 said:
I just wanna gripe about the new Amsterdam Billiards here in nyc. Unfortunately they lost out on the upper west side location and bought out the "corner billiards" location. Problem with this is that they have league night on just about every night of the week which sucks for us non-league players. I just want to practice man, but tonight was ridiculous. For obvious reasons they moved the thursday team 9 ball matches to tonight and that's understandable.

What did bother me was there were so many people that the place was muggy throughout. They didn't try to accommadate the air. I had to throw on some cue silk on my shaft as a result. After 2hrs of waiting for a table, they give me one only to state that they'll need it back in less than an hour for more league matches. I've never been given a table and asked for it back in no less than 2 or more hours or they just wouldn't give it to me. I bring it back in less than 1hr with nothing accomplished but a few practice racks after drills. I go back on the list for another table and have absolutely no fun at all with the 100 people around me. I've seen full 128 player bracket tounaments with more breathing room, it was horrible. With 2 sessions back to back it was amazing I finished a rack of 9 ball without stopping 3 or 4 times for others shooting on the tables around me.

Unless you're at this pool hall during the day (where most of us working people can't be there), this place is a circus. Then to give ya another kick in @ss they charge $9.75 p/hr for one person, and $2 p/coffee that any deli could offer double the amount for a buck. Sigh...I apologize to all the shooters that love this place but it just ain't the same anymore. One of the managers even stated he had no idea when the owners were planning on opening another location. He stated that Brooklyn might be an option. I know that the local pool rooms would kill'em though. Originally there were 2 locations, "east side" and "west side". Now both are gone and the local competition was bought out. That leaves 3 pool halls worth of leagues in one spot which leaves nothing for anyone else.

Do I really have to resort to taking a path train to jersey for practice time?! All the other rooms suck. HELP!
Click to expand...

You probably would have not written this if they would have said.
Sir as you can see it is a league night and very busy. The best I can do to accomadate you is as soon as a table opens up it is yours. We will need the table back in an hour or so. For any inconvenience I won't charge you the table time and "PLEASE" have a soda or a beer on us.
It might cost them 30 cents for the lights and 30 cents for a soda to keep a customer happy,coming back and spending money in their establishment. Instead here you are telling the world how bad a taste it left in your mouth and you are willing to travel and spend your money. Poor Business

My last experience in Amsterdam was this. Two years ago myself and three friends get there a little late on a league night. I went there to meet with someone about a possible business venture.( A well respected regular )
After all is done we are sitting near the dart board, they are drinking alcohol, I am having water. After two or three rounds and generous tips for the waitress two of my friends want to play. Both of these guys are gentlemen and very strong players, money burns a hole in their pocket faster than a fire.

They end up playing on one of the front tables that are roped off, there are 3 tables and the other two are not in use.The game was a race to 10, loser pays for a late night dinner for all of us. A few locals were on the stools watching and others were standing around watching. Both guys were playing very well. This is where it gets good.
After about 30 ? 40 minutes some guy walks over to them and says ( I have to ask you to get off the table, these tables are for players only ) I heard word for word I was sitting right there. I thought I was hearing things. My friend says I hope you are kidding me.
With that my friend who is now totally insulted pulls out a nice knot ,throws it on the table and says ( loudly and pissed ) I will play any #$%^&*( in here right now. Yes he lost control and I think most would have reacted in some unfavorable fashion.
The kicker is they charged them table time.
This was the same night they asked this kid Jason who was drunk to leave and another gentlemen had some type of a seizure,passed out,hit his head on the desk as you walk in.

One of my students (15 yrs old ) won the straight pool league. He refuses to play there again. Nothing to do with the league ( He likes Danny very much ) but he was also disrespected by the establishment. He is a very good player, a top junior, straight A student , money is not a problem with his family. They now lost potential income and possible future representation. He is also sponsored by a well known cue maker.

Diplomacy goes a long way in this world, especially in business.
It's possible that all parties involved on these occasions just had a bad night and could have handled things differently. It doesn't hurt to give the benefit of the doubt. It's not always best to hold a grudge.
Otherwise when in Rome do what the Romans do, Spend your money elsewhere, preferably where a "Real Houseman" is present.
 
Sandman said:
:) ALL I have to say is...

$4/hr before 6pm every day and $6/hr after 6pm.

Day pass special = 11am - 6pm just $10!

Take the train to Metuchen Station (less than 2miles from my room) and take a cab right from the same parking lot as the station!

Sandcastle Billiards
101 Townsley St. & Rt.1 South
Edison, NJ 08837

ONE OF THE FEW PLAYERS' ROOMS LEFT!!!

visit www.sandcastlebilliards.com OR www.myspace.com/sandcastlebilliards
Click to expand...

I've been to Amsterdam a few times and will say my time there was enjoyable.
Sandcastle is a fantastic place to play pool if you are ever in New Jersey though.
 
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Amsterdam is teeming with customers because it it such a great place to play and because it has such an upmarket feel to it. It is a premium product offered at a premium price, and, in my opinion, worth every dollar of it. The only business model that will support the existence of such an upmarket room in ritzy, trendy, Greenwich Village is one with a huge nucleus of regular league players, and that's the way it is at Amsterdam and always has been.

Getting a table on a weeknight is definitely tough, and the top players and non-league players who shoot there tend to play during the day, both on weekdays and weekends. It's certainly not a big action room, and to me that's part of what I like about it. Still, you can find a super-tough money game there if you are looking for one.

Perhaps demand sometimes exceeds supply in the case of Amsterdam Billiards, but for all the right reasons. It's what people want in a pool product, and New Yorkers prove it over and over by filling the place to the brim.

Reminds me a little of Disney World. More waiting time than you'd like, but the product is so good that it's worth the wait.

Of course, why not just join the league at Amsterdam? If you are a strong player, the Thursday nine ball league probably has 50 players of B speed or better.
 
It so happens that I am in the straight pool league at Amsterdam Billiards. I play there both on my league day and non-league days. For the most part, the staff does an excellent job organizing table availiabilty for both league players and 'walk ins'. On league nights, Jude Rosenstock refers to Amsterdam as being like: 'Grand Central Station'. He is amusingly correct! It is not an easy task making sure all league matches are table ready for play as well as accomadating the non-league players who walk in.

In regards to tables being abruptly taken away to fullfill a league match, I haven't experienced that at all. I played on the friday following Thanksgiving and the 9 ball teams were slated to play that day in lieu of the thursday holiday. Daniel, the front manager, had informed us an hour in advance that our table will be needed for the match. He was even nice enough to make certain that another table was available for us before the leagues had started. Ben and Steve, the other front managers, would have done the same.

I just think the unpleasant experiences posted here are not common place at Amsterdam. It is, in my 2 cents worth of an opinion, the best venue for pool in New York City. I am just sorry to hear about the unfortunate experiences at Amsterdam by some of the AZers.
 
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I don't know a single person who prefers the current location and business model to the old one.

The leagues themselves are saturated, let alone all of that other stuff. Most people I play with on Thursdays, only play there on Thursday and that's it.

Maybe Fridays and Saturdays if you can come early. But leagues I think is the bread and butter of the place, and New York real estate is hyperinflationary- as everyone knows.

I'd like to practice there more often because it's a friendly place, I know a lot of great people there, and I won't have anyone hassling me for action when I want some alone table time.

Incidentally, that is what I was able to do on the West Side to come up as a player. These days I usually practice in rooms most people never even heard of in Queens- where not a single serious player ever walks into.

Then when I go into ABC to play on Thursdays, I have to keep reminding myself of the rails. NO poolhall in New York has faster rails. :D

Yesterday, I played a race to 7 and missed 2 out of 4 shots during the match specifically because of people walking down the line of my shot when I was pulling the trigger. It was a circus, like the OP said.

So I have not only to adapt to the rails, but the external stimulus every time I play there.
 
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Like the old adage says.
"It's so crowded nobody goes there anymore" :smile:
Owners got to love it.
 
rackem said:
Like the old adage says.
"It's so crowded nobody goes there anymore" :smile:
Owners got to love it.
Click to expand...
Good one! :)

It's kind of difficult to conceive why they would make more money with leagues given the fact that the average match is 1 and a half hours long and they pay $16 green fee?

Has anyone done the math? If you pay $9 and change an hour per player...

Well, I guess I'm wrong. Also, leauges guarantee that EVERY table is taken. :eek:
 
as it is

as it is with any pool place that does good business (lots of customers) the serious players sometimes are not priority focus for the owner(s)....
I guess there are players' rooms and bangers' rooms, but usually they cater to both kinds of customers.....
Most places I've seen have a section of the room for their regulars and serious players and put all the bangers out in the perimeter and periphery........Seems this place is pretty famous and lots of people go there and if they have league play every night of the week, they must be doing a good business .... if you know how it is and you don't like it, you do need to find another place to practice, because I don't think it would change anytime soon...
 
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