Diamond table popularity

C

cesarmorales

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Would you go out of the way to play on Diamond tables?

A group of investors are asking me to join in on a new pool room that will have all new Diamond tables.

The local area does not have any major pool hall with Diamond tables, just a couple of bars or ball banger nightclub sort of places have Diamond tables in the area.

The local market is $3 to $5 dollars gets you on a table for the whole night at the most popular pool halls in town with Gandy or Gold Crowns.

The other investors all think that having Diamond tables in a real pool room will be the answer to getting customers and action players.

What do you think, would you go out of the way, maybe drive an extra twenty minutes and pay an hourly rate of $5 or so just to play on Diamond tables?
 
I would. Hands down.

But my daily commuter is a hybrid so the extra gas doesn't bother me at all lol
 
I will go much farther out of my way, as long as the tables are kept up and the place is pleasant to play at. I worked at a place with diamonds in 1990. Its about 25 minute drive now. And when I returned, I tried several times to shoot there but the owner was very contrary to everyone and drove people away. It was sad. If not for his nascar brother, he would been out much earlier.

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I do all the time(from my living room to my den,lol) But to answer seriously I do alot when out and about.I would rather play on a diamond than any other table hands down and not just because I own one.I would do it before I owned one.
 
I think that "action" is built and sustained more on the owners/management attitudes and behavior than the tables but having good management and equipment is a double bonus. New Diamond tables are great and I usually find myself on those whenever possible. Never played on the new GC5 tables but I would rather play on the Pro-Am any day over the GC4 tables at the poolroom I frequent.
 
Disclaimer: I've never owned or ran a pool room.

$5/hour sounds low to me for any table, much less a Diamond.

I would definitely go out of my way to practice, play a league, or enter tournaments on Diamonds. No doubt. Nearest Diamond room to me is 75 miles, but if there was one closer, I'd definitely make it my home room.

Just make sure a big part of your business plan is focused on establishing a solid base of returning customers, a strong league, and quality tournaments. I've seen too many of the nicest pool rooms shut down because they didn't have anyone coming to play on their (awesome) tables. If you can get that "this is the place to be" culture going, you will do great.

Best of luck,

-Blake
 
Tables will only go so far.

Along with the tables you need good food, and a full bar. Hard, almost impossible to make it on tables alone.
 
Poolhalljunkie said:
Along with the tables you need good food, and a full bar. Hard, almost impossible to make it on tables alone.
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You are right. At my pool hall beer and wine sales were 43% of the gross. No way to make it without that. And table time was a lot more than $3-$5 per hour, that is really low.
 
I like both the GC and Diamond tables as long both are kept in good condition.
If the poolhalls were next to each other I would go to the one that has the best management and some kind of decent food, not the frozen stuff microwaved. That crap isn't food as far as I'm concerned.
I don't , an again just my thoughts, but you will never make it at $5.00 for all day. That wouldn't pay the light bill. The other thing is you are going to find if their are no action players around now, Diamond table are not going to produce a room full of action players.--Smitty
 
sammylane12 said:
You are right. At my pool hall beer and wine sales were 43% of the gross. No way to make it without that. And table time was a lot more than $3-$5 per hour, that is really low.
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Right on point. Good food and drink are, unfortunately, a requirement, as far as I can tell. I made the assumption that those would be in place for the throngs of players (gamblers AND rookie league players) that you want to bring in.

I wish pool rooms could thrive just on the sport, but it seems that the world just doesn't work that way.

One of the "busiest" rooms in central Austin (Slick Willie's on S Lamar) shut down last year (maybe 2011?). Not sure exactly why. They must have had a hundred or two customers on each league night, three or more nights a week, not even counting non-league players. Then again, I'm no expert, but sometimes it seemed like league might have been all they had, and many of the players just played their matches, then went on home, with no bar tab. Their "weekly tournaments" were pretty weak, though. Just an observation.

Don't be discouraged. Continue doing your market research. Don't give up. Find a solution. Maybe it's something we haven't considered...

Best wishes. I hope you find a way.

-Blake
 
When I am in Cary NC on business I am minutes away from Hot Shots which has 10 or so old drop pocket Gold Crowns in good shape at a reasonable rate (don't know what it is off the top of my head) but I drive 15 miles or so to Farquay Varina (?) to a joint that has all Diamond Pro/Am's 9' and costs a bit more to play.

Short answer is yes. I'd drive the extra distance.


:cool:
 
Catering to all folks

The clubs I know that have gone down the diamond table route have made the astute assumption that to run a successful place you need more than just serious/action players. What they have done is allocated a certain area of their room to have bar box diamonds. This way you attract the apa crowd who tend to drink more and also keep them away from the 9 footers, so they would not interfere with the other tables. You do of course get a number of serious players use the 7 foot diamond around the BCA tournaments and you would also set your self up to be a hub for the regional events for bar leagues.
You may scoff at the idea, but the truth is that these leagues bring in profitable customers.
If you can, I would contact some of the rooms that have gone down this route to get their take on things. The clubs I can think of are Diamond Billiards(Cape Coral, FL), Hammerhead Billiards (Holiday, FL) and Society Billiards (New York, NY).
Good luck!
 
SloMoHolic said:
...

One of the "busiest" rooms in central Austin (Slick Willie's on S Lamar) shut down last year (maybe 2011?). Not sure exactly why. They must have had a hundred or two customers on each league night, three or more nights a week, not even counting non-league players. Then again, I'm no expert, but sometimes it seemed like league might have been all they had, and many of the players just played their matches, then went on home, with no bar tab. Their "weekly tournaments" were pretty weak, though. Just an observation.

..

-Blake
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Lease came up. Rent went from 12k a month to like 18k owners wanted them out.
 
i dont know what san antonio is like, but 20min drive is nothing around dc.

can barely get to the other side of town in that amount of time.
 
I think real pool players would go out of their way to play on Diamonds. I also think that real pool players will not be the ones who keep you in business.
 
easy-e said:
I think real pool players would go out of their way to play on Diamonds. I also think that real pool players will not be the ones who keep you in business.
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I think that having Diamonds is the icing on the cake.

If you have a nice room, fair rates, good food & drinks choices/prices, and provide a good atmosphere, you should attract players regardless of the equipment. So long as it is maintained properly.

If you have all of those things going for you AND have Diamonds, then you should get the casual crowd as well as the serious players.

Of course, there are many other factors, as well, this is just a generalization. Location, attitude of the staff, economic factors in the surrounding area, promotions, and any of a thousand other factors will also have to be considered.

Best of luck to you with it.
 
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