bars vs pool hall billiards

The problems that I find with bars is that the tables are open to anyone to challenge. So you can't get a set going. The rules constantly change with every player. Another is at $1 per game it doesn't lend well to 9 ball either.

PH also keep their tables in better condition.

The most important difference is you can play for thousands in a PH with no problem. Play for a drink in the bar and a fight will happen.
 
Can't stand playing on beat equipment and barboxes. Guess I'm an equipment snob, sometimes I can't even fade the equipment in a real pool hall, I'll travel an extra 20 minutes to a different pool hall if the tables play better.

I've had guys approach me at pool halls and if I don't wanna play I just say I'm broke. Half the time it's true anyway. They aren't going to keep bothering someone who they can't win any money from.
 
original palmer said:
Problem is, wenever I go to a bar, regardless wich one. There are hustlers there trying to tell me how good I am and blah blah blah. Its annoying! Like nats or flys that keep swarming around my face.
When I'm at an actual pool hall, everyone tends to keep to themselves. I've never hd a hustler come bother me in a pool hall.

Difference is, the bar only costs 50 cent a game, while the pool hall is 5 dollars an hour per person.

I can simply ignore them, but it is quit annoying.
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they might actually just be bar players that think you play really well.

all in all i've made more money playing bar pool than i've made on the big tables
 
As some have already noted, the average 7ft bar table is seldom well maintained. That being said, my local APA 8-ball league plays on such tables, but these are much better maintained, cleaned etc. than normal. Reasonable house equipment is also provided.

All bar tables I've seen around here are $1 a rack.

There are several dedicated billiard halls around here (well, some are mainly a billiards venue, but have bars as well). The best one I have been to charges I think $3.60 an hour per player. Half price during morning/afternoon, plus other discount incentives. I'm lucky enough to at the moment be able to play during afternoons. However even at this place, some tables are quite dirty and the balls are often dirty, dull and chipped.

Another billiards hall about 15 miles from here claims to offer FREE billiards Mon-Fri 11 AM-7 PM (!!). Some days of the week the pool is also free until closing time. But I have not been there yet - the hot pink pool tables kinda put me off...

In my experience thus far, dedicated billiard halls are much more preferable than bars. They are usually quieter, often serve no alcohol, have a variety of table sizes (including tournament size) and their tables and equipment are usually rather better maintained. An hour of pool will cost you much less than the same on a coin-op bar table. And the experience of pool I think is better on the larger tables.

But I'm lucky enough to be able to drive 45 mins to my father's place and play on a brand new, competition standard 9ft table for free! :)
 
dr9ball said:
$5 an hour is cheap, last week I paid $13 an hour to practice by myself.

It was a Friday night but still. $5 is a deal. 10 games in an hour shouldn't be too difficult if it's 8 or 9 ball.
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$5 an hour is cheap!? Around here it's only $3 per person per hour and $2.50 per hour per person if you're playing a ring game with at least 2 other people.
 
Pool table time is usually based on the room owners expenses. If you are in downtown Boston on a Friday night it might be $18/hour for one person. WHY?

If you cannot figure it out...because they don't WANT one person playing. They want 5 people playing. Five people playing who buy drinks and appetizers and play video games etc. Pool halls in general never make money on the actual pool. Its about selling cues or alcohol or food or whatever else is in there.

If you're only spending money on $0.50 pool games and bringing in your own soda from the gas station. The room owner is losing money on you. The overhead on a pool hall is high and the profit margin is pretty low. 90% of the time you are getting what you pay for.
 
johnqbs, you are right, the days gone by were the nuts. All the bars had 25 cent tables and you and your friends could play for a buck a game or a beer and play all night, and have fun and win a little cash and no one really lost a lot. Now you can't really gamble on the tables because, the table will get all the cash. I swear they would make more off the tables if they would lower the cost per game. I too enjoy 9 ball on a bar table, it is easy and fun, but with several good players, you may not shoot for a few games and sometimes when you finally get a shot, you are hooked, and at $1 a game just for the table, it can get expensive. When I was a teenager there were a lot of pool rooms all over, and if you wanted action it was there, and if it wasn't, it was only a phone call away. 8 ball was 15 cents a game snooker was 20 cents a game, and 9 ball in a ring game was 25 cents per player every 5 games, plus the house man always racked the balls. This was all on nice kept tables. I wish we could take some of our younger posters back in time and show them how much fun it was. I agree that drugs really caused a decline in the pool rooms, what a waste.
 
Here its .50 cents a game and on league night players get $2.00 beers. now throw 5 players to a team so 10 players to a table and an average of 2 seats per table 4-4 1/2 ft between tables and its one crowded loud place.
 
irock said:
johnqbs, you are right, the days gone by were the nuts. All the bars had 25 cent tables and you and your friends could play for a buck a game or a beer and play all night, and have fun and win a little cash and no one really lost a lot. Now you can't really gamble on the tables because, the table will get all the cash. I swear they would make more off the tables if they would lower the cost per game. I too enjoy 9 ball on a bar table, it is easy and fun, but with several good players, you may not shoot for a few games and sometimes when you finally get a shot, you are hooked, and at $1 a game just for the table, it can get expensive. When I was a teenager there were a lot of pool rooms all over, and if you wanted action it was there, and if it wasn't, it was only a phone call away. 8 ball was 15 cents a game snooker was 20 cents a game, and 9 ball in a ring game was 25 cents per player every 5 games, plus the house man always racked the balls. This was all on nice kept tables. I wish we could take some of our younger posters back in time and show them how much fun it was. I agree that drugs really caused a decline in the pool rooms, what a waste.
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Other than they can I don't understand why bars charge so much for a game of pool. Bar tables are cheap and with dirty tables, mismatched balls etc in most places overhead can't be much. I would think they would keep the per game cost down to keep people drinking (that's the money).

I miss going to bars where people who couldn't play at all would play for a few bucks or drinks. One or two stops could finance the night.

Watching live streams where its a dollar or more a game has to be a big expense for people who don't place and the winner probably spends half of first place for table time.
 
You can nickle and dime the bars to death. You might win three hundy and never have to show any speed. If you hit a poolroom, you'd better have your resume' together and pictures and references to play a race to seven for $20. Then, you must outrun the nuts. More money is gonna be made on the barboxes. I'd bet on it. The scores might not be as much, but there is more action that isn't dissected by both sides.
 
mantis99 said:
I can't stand playing in bars because no one knows the actual rules. You try to take BIH in a game of 8-ball, and people look at you like you have 2 heads.
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Tell me about it! At the Bar I go to we play BIH behind the headstring, which isn't technically right, but I just go along with it. The other thing thats annoying is that if a ball falls on the break, you have to shoot that set (highs or lows.) The table should be open after the break regardless of what falls. Other then that they play mostly by the rules.



The Bar I play at pretty frequently has a 7ft Valley for $1.00 a game, and it's in pretty good shape. It could stand a new cloth, but it's not that bad. A lot of the players there will brush it, and clean it off periodically, and if anyone gets near it with a drink will literally jump out of their chair and grab the drink from their hands. :) We have a good group of regulars who are good players, and some that are ok, but for the most part nobody brags about how good they are, most of the people who aren't so good admit it, and laugh about it. :) There are of course the occasional drunks, or bangers that get in on games, which is annoying cause they take FOREVER to shoot, they think about the shot for 5 minutes and still miss. :) Quite a few of the regulars don't drink Alcohol (Me included). They play Doubles a lot so more people get a chance to play. I'de rather play singles, but it's ok. :)

As for the pool hall I play at once in a while it is very nice. They have 11 9Ft GC IVs, and 3 7Ft Diamonds, and a non smoking room with 3 more 9Ft tables. They keep them in very good condition. Pricing is not bad, it's $8.00 per Hour for unlimited players, and $5.00 per hour for single players during peak hours (after 8PM), and $4.00 per hour for unlimited players off peak (before 8PM).
 
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