Best place to live --- based on pool

frankncali

frankncali

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Where in the US would you think the best place to live and play pool?

I would factor in
weather
weekly events
monthly events
larger event
travel times
# of pool rooms in a close range
table time
cost of living

any others to factor??

Just curious where people feel is the best place.
 
frankncali said:
Where in the US would you think the best place to live and play pool?

I would factor in
weather
weekly events
monthly events
larger event
travel times
# of pool rooms in a close range
table time
cost of living

any others to factor??

Just curious where people feel is the best place.
Click to expand...

The best pool town I've lived in was Wichita, KS, followed closely by Denver, CO. From what I've heard though, Tulsa, OK would be great.
 
frankncali said:
Where in the US would you think the best place to live and play pool?

I would factor in
weather
weekly events
monthly events
larger event
travel times
# of pool rooms in a close range
table time
cost of living

any others to factor??

Just curious where people feel is the best place.
Click to expand...


I live in Vancouver Canada and it's an excellent place to live, however, the pool scene here( I was going to say sucks) is limited.All anybody (the good players) plays here is nine ball.The slashers and a few good players join the bar box 8 ball leagues.They have only two or three bigger tourneys a year and the total prize money for those is a meager $2000 (or less) total.

On the other hand I have a friend from Chicago and over there they play straight pool, one pocket, banks ,9 ball etc etc.On top of that many ledgendary pool players can be seen in various pool rooms from time to time over there.As far as living there goes, I don't know.

Bring that pool atmosphere to Vancouver and ones almost died and went to heaven.
RJ
 
I was in the Navy for a while, and have lived in many places. I lost interest in pool for too many years until settling in the DC/Maryland area. In this area are many fine pool halls...Frederick, Hagerstown, Laurel, Germantown, Rockville, Sterling, DC, Alexandria, Baltimore and on and on...along with some really top notch players and a S...pot full of really good players. I can't imagine any place having any more diversity and overall quality of pool than this. Had I been in this area when I was younger, I would never have suffered thru the "no pool" years.

BTW, I read a post about cue makers in the area and the comment was "all their cues hit like typical Maryland made cues...." or something like that. People like Scruggs, Black Boar, Lambros, Ted Harris (until recently), Frey, Phillippi, Capone, Mike Cochran and who else am I forgetting?????? They are all within an hour or so apart..there has to be a reason.....
 
East Coast

I have moved from Mid South to East Coast year ago and I couldn't pick no better. I have chose Greenville, NC, because I found here only apt. that would fit my pool table. During that year I have discovered that better place is Raleigh. Most of the 2 majors NC tours ( Fury & Jacoby ) are there. + countless independent tourneys.
Also very good spot to be is DC/MD area, but watch your wallet - very expensive down there.
 
BAZARUS said:
I have moved from Mid South to East Coast year ago and I couldn't pick no better. I have chose Greenville, NC, because I found here only apt. that would fit my pool table. During that year I have discovered that better place is Raleigh. Most of the 2 majors NC tours ( Fury & Jacoby ) are there. + countless independent tourneys.
Also very good spot to be is DC/MD area, but watch your wallet - very expensive down there.
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I agree that this is an expensive area to live in, but salaries tend to be higher for similar jobs, also. Having lived in NC for 14 years, I have to agree that there are some great pool playing areas there, I just did not find as many concentrated into one area as this one. Also, the leagues are so strong here (Terry Justice runs the largest APA league (I think) in the APA out of Baltimore).
 
I hope to one day call California home. My wife's parents have a home in Manhattan Beach and we hope to inherit it some day and move out there. There I take up residence at Hard Times Bellflower. I dream of a large pool hall with no smoking...ahhh not to have my eyes burn. I plan on living there on weekends if she will let me HA HA.

Florida is okay, but too spread out. Spring Hill seems to be the place to be, with Rodney and Robb over that way. Melbourne is pretty dead. Best pool hall here is full of thugs and druggies.

Shorty
 
Opinion

I don't really feel qualified really to offer an opinion because
the other places I have played have mostly been so long ago,
that the state of pool now in those locations has probably
changed considerably.

I have played Ks., Ok., Co., parts of Missouri, Tn.
Played the west coast in the Navy, from Ca. to Wa.
Lived and played around Houston, Tx. (considered Houston good Pool)
Lived and played here in Wichita. (Used to be real good. Players from
all over used to come to town to play at Burke's Steak House when
Poppa Burke was alive. Open from 4 pm to 6 am every night. 1 bar box
table in back room. Small to large action all night long. I played Buddy
Hall there when he came through right before he turned pro.. Pretty good
rooms here, but fewer large tournaments now than in past. 1 room owner
quit altogether having any large tournaments, others still have tournaments,
but not as large. Harder now to get money action games, partly because
of harder economic times around here. Large league participation though.
Midwest 9 ball tour comes through here. Shooters still has there big
Thanksgiving tournament, Valentine's couple tournament, Amateur tournaments. Things will pick up some when Jr. Brown gets back in
December. He gets action going. Wichita has always been a AAA city
for Pool, which many people are not aware of. Rumors, owned by Terry
Young, 2 time National champion, and Shooters, owned by Paul Wiegand,
are only a 3/4 mile apart on same street. SidePockets, big and beautiful
room on west side of town, and Southrock billiards on east side of town
are the main Pool rooms here. We do need an 'after hours' place again, like
Burke's was. Oklahoma City has Mikey's, a 24/7 place. We need one.)

Lived and played in Indianapolis for a year. (Not very many rooms,
tournament action was okay, money action not very good, leagues,
some good teams from there in Nationals. I won some tournaments there.
Given the handle 'Snapshot' there, which developed into Scott 'The Shot'
here. Helped a team win the city championship there that year.)

I used to do a lot of bar action when younger, but just go to regular
Billiard rooms now. I would have to say Houston and Wichita are good
Pool cities. Tulsa is good, and Oklahoma City isn't bad.
 
frankncali said:
Where in the US would you think the best place to live and play pool?

I would factor in
weather
weekly events
monthly events
larger event
travel times
# of pool rooms in a close range
table time
cost of living

any others to factor??

Just curious where people feel is the best place.
Click to expand...



weather Florida Rocks...when were not gettin killed by one hurricane after another
weekly events NYC...Bellflower, Ca...South Florida
monthly events NorthEast or SouthEast...tough to beat
larger event Somewhere centrally located between Louisville, Va Beach and Valley Forge...I guess that would be Maryland or Virginia
travel times Awww Hell, planes and cars fix all that
# of pool rooms in a close range I have 2 pool rooms within 3 miles of me...
table time *Who pays pool time?
cost of living Not a factor...its expensive whereever you live


*I know that table time is about $10-12 for two an hour here. Is it cheaper anywhere else?
 
Voodoo Daddy said:
weather


*I know that table time is about $10-12 for two an hour here. Is it cheaper anywhere else?
Click to expand...




Before Katrina I was paying only 3$/hour at the beautiful JimBob`s in Gulfport,MS.Now JimBob is NOT open for buisiness.Here in LasVegas I am paying some thing like $4/hour.
 
I lived not far from Tulsa and there is plenty of action, no doubt, when I went to Arkansas I had the pleasure of a 36 hour Bus ride, (from Saint Simons Georgia) The place I would like to call home is tennasee, Plenty of action there as well.. I dont know, you see alot on a bus like that, and that was one place that I really liked....






2wld4u
 
vagabond said:
Before Katrina I was paying only 3$/hour at the beautiful JimBob`s in Gulfport,MS.Now JimBob is NOT open for buisiness.Here in LasVegas I am paying some thing like $4/hour.
Click to expand...

Any info on JimBo's opening soon? Maybe in mid December?
 
Best place I ever played was at Hard Times in Bellflower, CA. This is a pool players paradise. I had only one morning/afternoon to play there and could only dream that something like this existed in Colorado.

I got there when the doors opened. The place was large with tall ceilings and plenty of space around the tables. The tables were all nicely covered in Simonis with nice pocket size (not to small or large). As I practiced, I noticed that many of the tables were starting to fill up with players. Nobody was playing with anyone else! They were all there to seriously practice alone and most everyone shot well. It was quiet and there was NO smoking. You really felt that you could concentrate on just the game and had little to no distractions. All of this, coupled with the many excellent pool players in the So Cal area makes this my number one choice for pool in the USA.

On a side note, I believe that you can buy a players pass that will allow you to play all day up to a certain time. Dave Hemmah is the house pro there, and you could not ask for a nicer guy.

Regards,

Doug
 
frankncali said:
Where in the US would you think the best place to live and play pool?

I would factor in
weather
weekly events
monthly events
larger event
travel times
# of pool rooms in a close range
table time
cost of living

any others to factor??

Just curious where people feel is the best place.
Click to expand...

Based on table time, quality of equipment, ACTION, number of pool junkies and cost of living, I would vote for Tulsa, OK.
MidWest open this weekend at the Billiard Palace. One pocket on GCIV's with new Simonis 860. 9-Ball on Diamond smart tables. Up the road is Magoos with Diamond Pro's, GCIV's and III's.
 
I forgot to mention one place.....one of the nicest I have played at

Hawaiian Brian's in Honolulu

39 tables, open 8AM-5AM
 
The best places I've played at and location not in any particular order:

Jointed Cue - Sacramento GC1V's and great food.
Hardtimes - Sacramento GC1V's and great equipment and a great tournament room.
Diamond Billiards - Rancho Cordova CA they have 5 pro Diamond tables that are very nice.
California Billiards - Mountain View CA great equipment and an excellent layout.
Hawaiian Brian's - Ohau Hawaii just a great place all the way around.
 
And the winner is

The question is the best area of the country all around.Period.I would have to say South Florida.I have 4 rooms within 6 miles.Weather is great.Its expensive but so is most places where you have everything within a few miles.You also make better money when you have a large population. Central Florida is only a few hours away and ther is plenty of action with quite a few pros taking up residence there.Its only a 2 hour plane trip to NYC and about the same for Valley Forge and Maryland.The weather is great except for a few months in summer,where you stay inside and shoot pool.After that you jump into the pool.
Lets face it there is California ,New York and Florida after that there is not much to talk about.Those are the 3 main hubs of this country.
 
Rickw said:
The best places I've played at and location not in any particular order:

Jointed Cue - Sacramento GC1V's and great food.
Hardtimes - Sacramento GC1V's and great equipment and a great tournament room.
Diamond Billiards - Rancho Cordova CA they have 5 pro Diamond tables that are very nice.
California Billiards - Mountain View CA great equipment and an excellent layout.
Hawaiian Brian's - Ohau Hawaii just a great place all the way around.
Click to expand...

Wow that is two mentions of Hawaiian Brian's. I figured it was a dive- I saw that show 'Dog' about that Bounty Hunter. On one show He and his whole crew were afaid to go in there and look for some guy.

How about the Springhill/Tampa/Orlando area?

Weather is good- even a touch of the seasons. Local Tournaments all over plus the Florida Mens tour, the Amateur tour, the Ladies Spirit Tour.

Even Earl is based out of Springhill now. Rodney, Earl and Rob Saez all working at Capone's now Im told.
 
bobroberts said:
The question is the best area of the country all around.Period.I would have to say South Florida.I have 4 rooms within 6 miles.Weather is great.Its expensive but so is most places where you have everything within a few miles.You also make better money when you have a large population. Central Florida is only a few hours away and ther is plenty of action with quite a few pros taking up residence there.Its only a 2 hour plane trip to NYC and about the same for Valley Forge and Maryland.The weather is great except for a few months in summer,where you stay inside and shoot pool.After that you jump into the pool.
Lets face it there is California ,New York and Florida after that there is not much to talk about.Those are the 3 main hubs of this country.
Click to expand...

What rooms do you play in?
 
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