I promised several people a report after my week in Dallas. Hopefully this gives a little of the feel of each place I visited, some more than once. This was a great trip. I met the husband and wife team Larry and Marcy Rothberg that own the Billiards Den, Dean over at Diamond, RandyG at Cue Tech, and Thomas who posts on here as TD873 was a fantastic host and guide the night we got together.
Diamond Billiards is probably the best small pool hall this nonsmoker has ever been to. No smoke, high ceilings, great equipment, basically restricted to serious players. Can anyone ask for more? How about a raised viewing area, video cameras, and wide screen plasma to keep up with action! Webcasts are in the plans too. Rates are very reasonable, three dollars for thirty minutes unlimited play on coin operated nine foot Diamonds. Yes, you read that right, coin operated nine foot Diamonds with ball returns. Eight of those and a seven foot Diamond at the same rate. I had to try the seven footer, first seven foot table I have ever seen with pockets cut exactly the same as the nine foot tables. This isn't a bar table! Clean balls and excellent house cues. Very easy access just off of 635. Great place and action to be had.
The Billiards Den is much larger, 18,000 square feet with maybe 12-14 foot ceilings. It is very well laid out, and has about a dozen eight footers and a handful of bar tables and nine footers. They must have had some left over parts or something because they had a couple of odd tables also. A huge one with no pockets; they only give you three balls to play on this one but since you can't pocket them anyway that is plenty! Then they have another big table with little bitty pockets. They solve the problem there by giving you littler balls to play with. Somebody forgot to number a bunch of red ones but the table is still fun to play on. Add a full bar and food from sandwiches and appetizers to entrees and this is only the beginning. Dart area, table top games in the food area, a full custom cuemaking and repair shop, and a nine footer in a separate completely enclosed room with door. Big picture windows to look into the room but no entry by others to disturb a serious game.
The tables are custom made but very close to a Diamond. The absence of metal or plastic on the top of the table is welcome as are the moderately tight pockets. They seemed to play very slightly easier than the Diamonds I am accustomed to and were a little more forgiving about accepting balls hitting the back of the pocket with a lot of juice although a ball could still be popped out with deliberate effort. The house cues were well kept up. Not a slip on tip in sight and unbelievably, not a dent on the dozen or so shafts I ran a hand down checking house cues.
Quite a bit more about the place I liked including great prices and specials but to get to the only minor quibble, I would like to see the Diamond style lights over the tables. The lighting is fine but playing under Diamond lights in both of my "home" rooms has spoiled me. Other than that, this is what I would have built if I were building my dream business from scratch, no expenses spared. this is a very nice place. A lot of knowledge, thought, and planning went into this establishment. I predict the three month old business will be a huge success for many years to come and just wish it was a little closer to my home. A nine hour drive each way is a bit much but this would be one of my favorite hangouts if I lived within fifty miles of it. Easy access just north of Dallas.
I only made it to one Click's, on Skillman. Good people, a handful of nine footers, a room full of eight foot tables. Full bar and my one major knock on this place, lots of smoke. Brunswick tables and house cues in good condition. A nice neighborhood pool hall with easy access off of 635. I only made one trip by here so I don't know if the cigarette smoke is a usual issue and I am less tolerant of smoke than most having an allergic reaction to it.
Rounding out my pool tour of this little corner of Dallas, I went by Cue Tech and met Randy Goettlicher.(RandyG on AZB) I knew Randy was very knowledgeable and an all around good guy but I thought our philosophies and approaches to pool were enough different that he might not be the best instructor for me. Fortunately, he was in the middle of a one on one top level instruction session when I arrived. Almost the first words out of his mouth let me know that I had misread him a bit on the board and we were on the same page about pool. Even better, I was able to watch him teach for several hours. He used a workbook for structure and had the student diagram shots. Even more importantly, he explained things well and demonstrated technique when needed while asking questions and helping the student work through things for himself. As well as being a fine instructor, Randy is very enjoyable to just be around. Had my week not been more jammed than expected I would have tried to get together to buy him a meal and spend some time just talking with him about pool in general. Randy wasn't that far from the top anyway but he moved up several notches on my "good guy" list when I met him in person.
Cue Tech isn't huge with only four or five well spaced tables and a classroom instruction area but it is well laid out and set up where multiple instructors can conduct sessions at once. Some time there may well be in my future.
I'll close this by thanking Thomas again. A great host and a pleasure to meet. He is a BCA certified instructor also but we simply spent a pleasant evening together. Definitely someone I would be happy to spend more time with in Dallas or roll out the welcome mat for if he finds himself in my area. If I did OK with the borrowed camera, images to come in separate posts about Diamond and The Billiards Den in a few days. I'll close this long post with just a general comment about the people I met in Dallas. Great and friendly people one and all and not an unpleasant moment in my week's stay. I'm a small town kind of guy but I could get real fond of Dallas.
Hu
Diamond Billiards is probably the best small pool hall this nonsmoker has ever been to. No smoke, high ceilings, great equipment, basically restricted to serious players. Can anyone ask for more? How about a raised viewing area, video cameras, and wide screen plasma to keep up with action! Webcasts are in the plans too. Rates are very reasonable, three dollars for thirty minutes unlimited play on coin operated nine foot Diamonds. Yes, you read that right, coin operated nine foot Diamonds with ball returns. Eight of those and a seven foot Diamond at the same rate. I had to try the seven footer, first seven foot table I have ever seen with pockets cut exactly the same as the nine foot tables. This isn't a bar table! Clean balls and excellent house cues. Very easy access just off of 635. Great place and action to be had.
The Billiards Den is much larger, 18,000 square feet with maybe 12-14 foot ceilings. It is very well laid out, and has about a dozen eight footers and a handful of bar tables and nine footers. They must have had some left over parts or something because they had a couple of odd tables also. A huge one with no pockets; they only give you three balls to play on this one but since you can't pocket them anyway that is plenty! Then they have another big table with little bitty pockets. They solve the problem there by giving you littler balls to play with. Somebody forgot to number a bunch of red ones but the table is still fun to play on. Add a full bar and food from sandwiches and appetizers to entrees and this is only the beginning. Dart area, table top games in the food area, a full custom cuemaking and repair shop, and a nine footer in a separate completely enclosed room with door. Big picture windows to look into the room but no entry by others to disturb a serious game.
The tables are custom made but very close to a Diamond. The absence of metal or plastic on the top of the table is welcome as are the moderately tight pockets. They seemed to play very slightly easier than the Diamonds I am accustomed to and were a little more forgiving about accepting balls hitting the back of the pocket with a lot of juice although a ball could still be popped out with deliberate effort. The house cues were well kept up. Not a slip on tip in sight and unbelievably, not a dent on the dozen or so shafts I ran a hand down checking house cues.
Quite a bit more about the place I liked including great prices and specials but to get to the only minor quibble, I would like to see the Diamond style lights over the tables. The lighting is fine but playing under Diamond lights in both of my "home" rooms has spoiled me. Other than that, this is what I would have built if I were building my dream business from scratch, no expenses spared. this is a very nice place. A lot of knowledge, thought, and planning went into this establishment. I predict the three month old business will be a huge success for many years to come and just wish it was a little closer to my home. A nine hour drive each way is a bit much but this would be one of my favorite hangouts if I lived within fifty miles of it. Easy access just north of Dallas.
I only made it to one Click's, on Skillman. Good people, a handful of nine footers, a room full of eight foot tables. Full bar and my one major knock on this place, lots of smoke. Brunswick tables and house cues in good condition. A nice neighborhood pool hall with easy access off of 635. I only made one trip by here so I don't know if the cigarette smoke is a usual issue and I am less tolerant of smoke than most having an allergic reaction to it.
Rounding out my pool tour of this little corner of Dallas, I went by Cue Tech and met Randy Goettlicher.(RandyG on AZB) I knew Randy was very knowledgeable and an all around good guy but I thought our philosophies and approaches to pool were enough different that he might not be the best instructor for me. Fortunately, he was in the middle of a one on one top level instruction session when I arrived. Almost the first words out of his mouth let me know that I had misread him a bit on the board and we were on the same page about pool. Even better, I was able to watch him teach for several hours. He used a workbook for structure and had the student diagram shots. Even more importantly, he explained things well and demonstrated technique when needed while asking questions and helping the student work through things for himself. As well as being a fine instructor, Randy is very enjoyable to just be around. Had my week not been more jammed than expected I would have tried to get together to buy him a meal and spend some time just talking with him about pool in general. Randy wasn't that far from the top anyway but he moved up several notches on my "good guy" list when I met him in person.
Cue Tech isn't huge with only four or five well spaced tables and a classroom instruction area but it is well laid out and set up where multiple instructors can conduct sessions at once. Some time there may well be in my future.
I'll close this by thanking Thomas again. A great host and a pleasure to meet. He is a BCA certified instructor also but we simply spent a pleasant evening together. Definitely someone I would be happy to spend more time with in Dallas or roll out the welcome mat for if he finds himself in my area. If I did OK with the borrowed camera, images to come in separate posts about Diamond and The Billiards Den in a few days. I'll close this long post with just a general comment about the people I met in Dallas. Great and friendly people one and all and not an unpleasant moment in my week's stay. I'm a small town kind of guy but I could get real fond of Dallas.
Hu
What a great report....SPF=randyg
