Favorite pool room
- Thread starter Mind4Pool
- Start date
I know you need to make money and cater to Joe public, but, the rooms I've seen succeed take care of serious players. Maybe 1 table, and a new set of balls that can be kept for gambling or serious player practice. Theres nothing I hate more than to go into a room, ask for a table, and be put next to the only other people in the place, then handed a set of balls from the stoneage with chalk that has a hole drilled all the way to the bottom! I'm more than happy to pay expensive table time to play on GREAT EQUIPMENT...
Good luck with the new venture......where is it BTW?.......Gerry
Good luck with the new venture......where is it BTW?.......Gerry
The room where I play has two different areas. One side has 6 9' Gandys with good size pockets. It's where most of the league matches are played, and the local handicap tournaments are held. Several TV screens, juke box, bar, food etc. On the other side, 10 9' Diamond Pros with tight pockets where the serious players tend to go. A little quieter, great for a little action or some of the regional tour stops.
The reasons I like it. The equipment is well maintained, and the owner knows everyone in there by name. He makes it a point to introduce himself to new people coming in, and spends a couple of minutes talking with them. Once you have been there, you always feel welcome. He doesn't allow any bs from anyone, has never had a fight in the room because people know you will be banned. It's one of very few rooms in town where, if my wife wanted to go there by herself, I wouldn't even worry.
If you can build an atmosphere like that, you should be quite successful.
Steve
The reasons I like it. The equipment is well maintained, and the owner knows everyone in there by name. He makes it a point to introduce himself to new people coming in, and spends a couple of minutes talking with them. Once you have been there, you always feel welcome. He doesn't allow any bs from anyone, has never had a fight in the room because people know you will be banned. It's one of very few rooms in town where, if my wife wanted to go there by herself, I wouldn't even worry.
If you can build an atmosphere like that, you should be quite successful.
Steve
Tulsa Billiard Palace
Music, not loud! I hate a pool room with music so loud you can't hear yourself think.
Food, Good... not great but good.
Crowd... The players. Every serious hitter in Oklahoma can be found at one time or another in the Palace. If you want to play good pool or watch great pool, that's the place to be.
Ownership... Jim McDermott is one of the nicest gentlemen you'll ever want to meet (unless you're playing him a set of 9-Ball, then he'll skin you alive). He caters to his customers
Equipment. Great equipment. A plethora of 9' Gold Crowns and 17 Diamond Smart tables.
Tournaments. They put on local tournaments, mostly rated, every Thursday. The third Sat of every month is open tourneys of all kinds. Cheap entry, decent payouts. Several times a year there are bigger tournaments there, usually the Midwest 9-Ball Tour. Great chance to play great players even up for a modest entry fee (usually between $35 and $50).
Only thing I don't like is the location... Location is great if you live in Tulsa... easy to get to, plenty of parking, etc, but I don't live in Tulsa and have to drive 2 hours to get there to play... so, really, I guess it's MY location that I don't like! LOL
Later,
Bob
Music, not loud! I hate a pool room with music so loud you can't hear yourself think.
Food, Good... not great but good.
Crowd... The players. Every serious hitter in Oklahoma can be found at one time or another in the Palace. If you want to play good pool or watch great pool, that's the place to be.
Ownership... Jim McDermott is one of the nicest gentlemen you'll ever want to meet (unless you're playing him a set of 9-Ball, then he'll skin you alive). He caters to his customers
Equipment. Great equipment. A plethora of 9' Gold Crowns and 17 Diamond Smart tables.
Tournaments. They put on local tournaments, mostly rated, every Thursday. The third Sat of every month is open tourneys of all kinds. Cheap entry, decent payouts. Several times a year there are bigger tournaments there, usually the Midwest 9-Ball Tour. Great chance to play great players even up for a modest entry fee (usually between $35 and $50).
Only thing I don't like is the location... Location is great if you live in Tulsa... easy to get to, plenty of parking, etc, but I don't live in Tulsa and have to drive 2 hours to get there to play... so, really, I guess it's MY location that I don't like! LOL
Later,
Bob
real pool rooms
I think you will find that serious pool players like real pool rooms. Although I am too old to be catered to now, from my mid-teens I always liked to shoot in pool halls or places that were serious about pool. The focus was on supplying a good place to play pool. Not food or drink although it might be offered, not games for the kiddies, not music, or a place to pick up a playmate for the night. However, unless you have a strong base of devoted pool players in your area you will starve to death catering primarily to the serious players.
Hu
I think you will find that serious pool players like real pool rooms. Although I am too old to be catered to now, from my mid-teens I always liked to shoot in pool halls or places that were serious about pool. The focus was on supplying a good place to play pool. Not food or drink although it might be offered, not games for the kiddies, not music, or a place to pick up a playmate for the night. However, unless you have a strong base of devoted pool players in your area you will starve to death catering primarily to the serious players.
Hu
Mind4Pool said:
It use to be the old Hollywood billiards in 89, where i started playing.
It really was a hole in the wall but that didn't matter at the time,
just very close to home. Then in 90, Hardtimes Bellflower was it. Better
tables, there would always be something going on (not anymore),
lots of cool folks and ofcourse, you never knew who would walk in through
those doors. I wasted a good part of my 20's there.
Now it's Plush Pockets. A small hall/bar with a few strong players,
Kinda of a rest stop before heading home. So, for me it's the proximity
to where i live or work, just like most folks here. But then it's the hall
and the people that creates the atmosphere thats hard to define
(or i'm just lazy to do so). Still, where ever i go it's always
"The Home Of Champions."
It really was a hole in the wall but that didn't matter at the time,
just very close to home. Then in 90, Hardtimes Bellflower was it. Better
tables, there would always be something going on (not anymore),
lots of cool folks and ofcourse, you never knew who would walk in through
those doors. I wasted a good part of my 20's there.
Now it's Plush Pockets. A small hall/bar with a few strong players,
Kinda of a rest stop before heading home. So, for me it's the proximity
to where i live or work, just like most folks here. But then it's the hall
and the people that creates the atmosphere thats hard to define
(or i'm just lazy to do so). Still, where ever i go it's always
"The Home Of Champions."
All I know is I have to drive 50 miles to play on a decent billiard or snooker table and that really sucks. From an owners point of view, though, these tables have downtime and don't make as much money.
There's not one decent table where I play now and all the regular players are starting to drift off to other halls. One quality table with tight pockets and decent cloth is mandatory for serious players. I know business is tough for pool hall owners but why would anyone pay 5-7 bucks an hour to play on some worn out Gandy with bucket pockets and crap cloth?
Decent rates also help. A pool hall in Napa,CA called Bilcos is so cheap they charge everyone 5/hr to play even if their on the same table. Some kids came in to play and I had to expain to them that the two kids waiting to play were being charged 5 an hour each for just watching the two other kids play. They got another table like I suggested but still, charging 4 kids 20 bucks an hour to play on tables that don't even have real cloth like simonis or granito is f***ing ridiculous.
There's not one decent table where I play now and all the regular players are starting to drift off to other halls. One quality table with tight pockets and decent cloth is mandatory for serious players. I know business is tough for pool hall owners but why would anyone pay 5-7 bucks an hour to play on some worn out Gandy with bucket pockets and crap cloth?
Decent rates also help. A pool hall in Napa,CA called Bilcos is so cheap they charge everyone 5/hr to play even if their on the same table. Some kids came in to play and I had to expain to them that the two kids waiting to play were being charged 5 an hour each for just watching the two other kids play. They got another table like I suggested but still, charging 4 kids 20 bucks an hour to play on tables that don't even have real cloth like simonis or granito is f***ing ridiculous.
Well, every room owner has a choice.
You can try to make money off recreational players: in that case you'd worry about things like decor, cute waitresses, food & drink, really loud music, etc. In other words, you'd make it a lounge with pooltables.
If you're thinking of catering to perpetual players, the waitresses are going to have to be educated to not walk in a player's line of sight when he's down on the shot, the volume of the music will have to come way down, you'll focus on equipment rather than decor and fancy cocktail drinks. AND most importantly, you'd have to create an action and tournament friendly atmosphere. If you can throw a snooker, tight pockets, and 3C table in with the others, all the more respect you'll get.
I understand the best way to make money is to appeal to both audiences. BUT, being successful at that requires a lot of tact and smarts. Usually if you throw both crowds in together, serious players will leave the place alone and the place will be relegated to banger-spenders...
Like others have said, whatever you do, SEGREGATE the room into two parts. One for serious players with serious equipment, action; and the other for the party crowd. There is nothing more grating on the nerves for me than being thrown in together with people that don't take the game seriously. I think that will give you the most money and respect.
You can try to make money off recreational players: in that case you'd worry about things like decor, cute waitresses, food & drink, really loud music, etc. In other words, you'd make it a lounge with pooltables.
If you're thinking of catering to perpetual players, the waitresses are going to have to be educated to not walk in a player's line of sight when he's down on the shot, the volume of the music will have to come way down, you'll focus on equipment rather than decor and fancy cocktail drinks. AND most importantly, you'd have to create an action and tournament friendly atmosphere. If you can throw a snooker, tight pockets, and 3C table in with the others, all the more respect you'll get.
I understand the best way to make money is to appeal to both audiences. BUT, being successful at that requires a lot of tact and smarts. Usually if you throw both crowds in together, serious players will leave the place alone and the place will be relegated to banger-spenders...
Like others have said, whatever you do, SEGREGATE the room into two parts. One for serious players with serious equipment, action; and the other for the party crowd. There is nothing more grating on the nerves for me than being thrown in together with people that don't take the game seriously. I think that will give you the most money and respect.
Tap Tap Tap ...
One thing that has been overlooked is that bangers, young people out for a night, serious players, gamblers, all like an 'Action' place, but for different
reasons. As long as the owner recognizes that and is 'moderate' with the
action items other than Pool, everything works out okay. Like music played,
and how loud. Like keeping private type parties segregated from others.
Like recognizing that serious players are lifers and repeat customers all the time, and being considerate when they are in a game, pool etiquette is observed. Many people are attracted to the gambling going on among the best around. How many people do you think want to watch some young guy
get beat by his girlfriend for the night .... lol Egos need to be kept in check,
and that everyone observes having some kind of manners. And drunks and druggies go out the door fast ... And, for Gods sakes, don't have karoake unless it is decent, and away from the Pool tables.
lewdo26 said:
One thing that has been overlooked is that bangers, young people out for a night, serious players, gamblers, all like an 'Action' place, but for different
reasons. As long as the owner recognizes that and is 'moderate' with the
action items other than Pool, everything works out okay. Like music played,
and how loud. Like keeping private type parties segregated from others.
Like recognizing that serious players are lifers and repeat customers all the time, and being considerate when they are in a game, pool etiquette is observed. Many people are attracted to the gambling going on among the best around. How many people do you think want to watch some young guy
get beat by his girlfriend for the night .... lol Egos need to be kept in check,
and that everyone observes having some kind of manners. And drunks and druggies go out the door fast ... And, for Gods sakes, don't have karoake unless it is decent, and away from the Pool tables.
Just one more thing. Most poolplayers don't tolerate very high rates because this is an expensive sport as it is, that requires a lot of time and investment. The way around that, I think, is to have what at Amsterdam Billiards (New York City) they call "power play". It's basically a discount for players who'll use the table past a certain amount of hours.
I'm here wishing that you build a great room! Pool needs more of those! Thanks.
I'm here wishing that you build a great room! Pool needs more of those! Thanks.
My favorite place is Chattanooga Billiards Club,not the one downtown. I love it for one reason,the Havana room.
I like a hall that caters to serious pool players. Where i go, im in the front while the ball bangers are away from the counter. I also go when the hall is basically dead and no one is there (noonish a bit after the hall opens). My friends go to the same hall and i would hate to be there when they're there because they go in HUGE groups that would take up like 3 tables, be annoying as hell, and screw up the tables and house cues. Luckly they never play on the table i play on and really only go at night. I also like a darker environment, basically no other lighting except for the lights over the table. It just feels so much better because its kind of like theres nothing else around you and its just the table and yurself. Food is okay, as long as people who eat dont get grease and stuff all over everything. I personally almost never eat in a pool hall, only drink. But yea, my ideal pool hall probably wouldnt do too well business wise, but i do go during dead times so even if it were a hall that was loaded with ball bangers, i never see them.
Real Player vs Rooms the make money!
All I am hearing about is how a real player wants this and a real player wants that. He says he is a new pool hall owner. So here is my favorite place to play that will help you in making it.
When modeling your place take a look at SidePockets in Lenexa TX. That place does a fantastic business and is a really fun place to play and just hang out. When I travel through the Midwest, I try and stop in Lenexa KS just to go there for a day. It is packed every single night of the week. This place makes moneya nd has tons of free promotions going on all the time. If you wnat to succeed, take a look at this place.
All I am hearing about is how a real player wants this and a real player wants that. He says he is a new pool hall owner. So here is my favorite place to play that will help you in making it.
When modeling your place take a look at SidePockets in Lenexa TX. That place does a fantastic business and is a really fun place to play and just hang out. When I travel through the Midwest, I try and stop in Lenexa KS just to go there for a day. It is packed every single night of the week. This place makes moneya nd has tons of free promotions going on all the time. If you wnat to succeed, take a look at this place.
Mind4Pool
Registered
Thanks for the great and informative posts.
If anyone can post a website so I can check these places out, I would greatly appreciate it.
the Charlotte Room
www.charlotteroom.com
If anyone can post a website so I can check these places out, I would greatly appreciate it.
the Charlotte Room
www.charlotteroom.com
Mind4Pool said:
Paradise Billiards in Corpus Chrisit Texas is one of the nicest pool rooms ever buit. Harrison Todd built it and he had the player and spectator in mind when doing it.
On the south side of the room are 13 Lemacher tables (very nice ones too) with 8 ft between tables, a 6ft x 12 ft snooker table, and a 10ft billiard table.
There is also a raise dining and viewing area overlooking all tables. PlusTV"S mounted all over the place.
He has a big screen on the north wall and can record matches being played at the same time.
This part of the room is separated by partition and on the other side is the full bar, a dining area, and 18 4x8's for the party goers and bangers.
It is beautifully maintained and a well managed place.
If you get down that way, stop and see it and ask for Harrison. Nice guy>
Limited Choices
There are only two pool rooms in Abilene Texas, one is Slix and the other is billiards plus on S.7th. I prefer Billiards Plus because it has one new 9ft. and 8ft. Gold Crown's with Centenial Cloth and Balls. These are the players tables. Theres ALWAYS action, from the time it opens, to the time it closes. I wish there was 9ft. Diamond in the back, exclusive to real PLAYERS. Oh, also all pool rooms should be open 24hrs. and hold weekly tourneys, which none of this applies here in Abilene
There are only two pool rooms in Abilene Texas, one is Slix and the other is billiards plus on S.7th. I prefer Billiards Plus because it has one new 9ft. and 8ft. Gold Crown's with Centenial Cloth and Balls. These are the players tables. Theres ALWAYS action, from the time it opens, to the time it closes. I wish there was 9ft. Diamond in the back, exclusive to real PLAYERS. Oh, also all pool rooms should be open 24hrs. and hold weekly tourneys, which none of this applies here in Abilene