This is my first post on this terrific forum. I'm 58, and live in a rural area about 70 miles NW of Austin, TX. My wife and I just moved into a new house on 25 acres, with a large "pool room" about 16 X 28 feet. 4 weeks ago, I had a dream come true: my first "real" pool table. It's an Olhausen Americana, upgraded to Accufast cushions, Deluxe 6" rails, and Simonis 860 in Marine Blue. I had it professionaly installed and leveled. This table's performance is awesome! The balls roll absolutely true and steady, like they were on tracks or rails, even if they're barely moving. Wonderful. Man, I'm in heaven... (-;
Balls are Aramith Premiums. Cues are plain vanilla Players, but soon I'll be upgrading to something better. My playing style is slow, gentle, deliberate, self-paced, laid back. Dark room, smooth jazz in the background.
I played constantly back in my 20's. Now I'm returning to it as a serious student. I don't have anybody to play with, really, as I'm an hour or more from the nearest significant city, and even then I don't care for the big "commercial pool hall" scene - crowds, noise, dirty tables, etc. But I love playing just for the relaxation and satisfaction of hearing the balls click. I guess you could call me a "serious home player." Anyway, glad to be here.
My question concerns dealing with other people using the table. As you might gather, this is a "serious" table, not a wood-topped Walmart cheapie for high school ballbangers. I'm extremely protective of it, and don't want it bumped or leaned on, or the cloth or rails damaged. How do you "protect" your table against well-meaning people who might damage it? You know, company comes over, and first thing you hear is, "Hey, wow, nice table!! Come'on, let's get some beer and shoot some pool!!!"
Case in point. Last weekend a couple in the family dropped in. Young, polite, educated professionals in their mid 20's. They saw the table and of course wanted to play. They looked "safe." Big mistake.
The husband stalked around the table in big steps, as if he were circling some vicious beast, and hit EVERY SINGLE shot as hard as he physically could, even 6 inch tap-ins. It was as if somebody had offered him a million dollars if he could break the cue ball. You get the picture.
The wife was a nightmare. Turned out she'd literally never held a cue before, and had no idea how to bridge or aim or shoot ("er... knock the colored ball in with the white ball, see...") She'd have the tip 2 feet away from the cue ball and thrust WILDLY towards it, usually missing it completely.
Sometimes the tip would rake across the cloth, or go under the cue ball, throwing it a foot up into the air. Finally she turned to me and complained, "I can't hit it hard enough to make it go across the table!!" A couple of times she grabbed a ball out of a pocket in anger, and SLAMMED it back down on the table.
After about 20 minutes, she lost interest and quit playing. "I don't wanna play pool, it's boring," she whined. I moaned in agreement. Her husband thought it was great, however, and wants to come back and "play a few games." Sigh....
Apparently there was no damage done, although she managed to put a gouge in one of the cues about 6 inches from the tip by unconciously digging her wedding ring into it. I just use it for a break cue.
Obviously, most of the forum readers are experienced players and have a lot of labor and love invested in your tables and equipment, and treat them with meticulous care. So I'm just wondering, how do you deal with guests? Read them a list of rules? Lock the door to the pool room? How do you respond when several people are over and one of them says, "hey, me and Bill wanna shoot some pool!!!"?
I mean, these are nice people, not jerks, and I don't want to come off like a snob or something, but at the same time, this is a "serious" table and I don't want it abused or damaged.
I apologize for the long post. I promise to keep them short from now on... (-;
Thanks,
Ruark
Balls are Aramith Premiums. Cues are plain vanilla Players, but soon I'll be upgrading to something better. My playing style is slow, gentle, deliberate, self-paced, laid back. Dark room, smooth jazz in the background.
I played constantly back in my 20's. Now I'm returning to it as a serious student. I don't have anybody to play with, really, as I'm an hour or more from the nearest significant city, and even then I don't care for the big "commercial pool hall" scene - crowds, noise, dirty tables, etc. But I love playing just for the relaxation and satisfaction of hearing the balls click. I guess you could call me a "serious home player." Anyway, glad to be here.
My question concerns dealing with other people using the table. As you might gather, this is a "serious" table, not a wood-topped Walmart cheapie for high school ballbangers. I'm extremely protective of it, and don't want it bumped or leaned on, or the cloth or rails damaged. How do you "protect" your table against well-meaning people who might damage it? You know, company comes over, and first thing you hear is, "Hey, wow, nice table!! Come'on, let's get some beer and shoot some pool!!!"
Case in point. Last weekend a couple in the family dropped in. Young, polite, educated professionals in their mid 20's. They saw the table and of course wanted to play. They looked "safe." Big mistake.
The husband stalked around the table in big steps, as if he were circling some vicious beast, and hit EVERY SINGLE shot as hard as he physically could, even 6 inch tap-ins. It was as if somebody had offered him a million dollars if he could break the cue ball. You get the picture.
The wife was a nightmare. Turned out she'd literally never held a cue before, and had no idea how to bridge or aim or shoot ("er... knock the colored ball in with the white ball, see...") She'd have the tip 2 feet away from the cue ball and thrust WILDLY towards it, usually missing it completely.
Sometimes the tip would rake across the cloth, or go under the cue ball, throwing it a foot up into the air. Finally she turned to me and complained, "I can't hit it hard enough to make it go across the table!!" A couple of times she grabbed a ball out of a pocket in anger, and SLAMMED it back down on the table.
After about 20 minutes, she lost interest and quit playing. "I don't wanna play pool, it's boring," she whined. I moaned in agreement. Her husband thought it was great, however, and wants to come back and "play a few games." Sigh....
Apparently there was no damage done, although she managed to put a gouge in one of the cues about 6 inches from the tip by unconciously digging her wedding ring into it. I just use it for a break cue.
Obviously, most of the forum readers are experienced players and have a lot of labor and love invested in your tables and equipment, and treat them with meticulous care. So I'm just wondering, how do you deal with guests? Read them a list of rules? Lock the door to the pool room? How do you respond when several people are over and one of them says, "hey, me and Bill wanna shoot some pool!!!"?
I mean, these are nice people, not jerks, and I don't want to come off like a snob or something, but at the same time, this is a "serious" table and I don't want it abused or damaged.
I apologize for the long post. I promise to keep them short from now on... (-;
Thanks,
Ruark
