How Do You Get....

poolbiz420

poolbiz420

Inked Up!
Silver Member
My question here is how do you get "pool players" out of one pool room and into yours? There is a pool room here in town that all the players go to but are all complaining about it, some of the other's who hang out in there are real shady, the place is dirty, smells, they don't take care of the tables, most will walk down to the gas station to use the restroom. I could go on all day about the complaints they have. But they have Diamond tables and when action comes into town that's where it goes. We will call this poolroom A.

A guy around town who loves pool opens his own room real nice place has a full service bar, good food , brand new tables. This is the place i work at. we will call it poolroom B. The only problem when he open it he bought Brunswicks, nice tables play good IMO. He's doing real good but most his business is college kids at night who drink and play pool. Well a few of these "Pool Players" and i have become friends so they stop in Saturday afternoons to see me while i work and they say " Those guys are really unhappy down at "PR A" if you get a Diamond with tight pockets so we can play one pocket they would all come down here. So we buy a used Diamond make a little area away from everything tighten up the pockets and let everyone know it's ready to go. This saturday comes I get like seven in there hanging out checking the table out. They are having a good time they all like the placeit doesn't stink, they can use our restrooms. It's going good then all of a sudden one guy says " These Rails are Dead! You Can't Play One Pocket On This" within two hours they were all gone and not a one came back Sunday. So we said fine we will ask them what kind of rails they want who they want to put them on and then they can't complain right? Or are we just wasting our time and they are never gonna leave the dump? If anyone can give me insight of this jumbled mess i just wrote let me know. If nothing can be done and they won't come down i'll just enjoy the Diamond myself!
 
poolbiz420 said:
My question here is how do you get "pool players" out of one pool room and into yours? There is a pool room here in town that all the players go to but are all complaining about it, some of the other's who hang out in there are real shady, the place is dirty, smells, they don't take care of the tables, most will walk down to the gas station to use the restroom. I could go on all day about the complaints they have. But they have Diamond tables and when action comes into town that's where it goes. We will call this poolroom A.

A guy around town who loves pool opens his own room real nice place has a full service bar, good food , brand new tables. This is the place i work at. we will call it poolroom B. The only problem when he open it he bought Brunswicks, nice tables play good IMO. He's doing real good but most his business is college kids at night who drink and play pool. Well a few of these "Pool Players" and i have become friends so they stop in Saturday afternoons to see me while i work and they say " Those guys are really unhappy down at "PR A" if you get a Diamond with tight pockets so we can play one pocket they would all come down here. So we buy a used Diamond make a little area away from everything tighten up the pockets and let everyone know it's ready to go. This saturday comes I get like seven in there hanging out checking the table out. They are having a good time they all like the placeit doesn't stink, they can use our restrooms. It's going good then all of a sudden one guy says " These Rails are Dead! You Can't Play One Pocket On This" within two hours they were all gone and not a one came back Sunday. So we said fine we will ask them what kind of rails they want who they want to put them on and then they can't complain right? Or are we just wasting our time and they are never gonna leave the dump? If anyone can give me insight of this jumbled mess i just wrote let me know. If nothing can be done and they won't come down i'll just enjoy the Diamond myself!
Click to expand...


If you want the 'pool players' to come to your room, give them stuff for free. A lot of the good players I see, only are in it for themselves. I have said this before, I am am sorry to say it again, but alot of players would rather bum a quarter from you rather than break a dollar to spend his own.

You could try tournaments.
 
I know what you're saying but do you really want these guys in there?
You'll probably make more money off the college kids and keep a nicer place. We have similar places around here and I've found that people generally stick to their comfort zone.
I would be playing at your place from the description but others would play at bar A because they are more comfortable in that environment.

That being said, I don't know how big your place is but you could try to accomodate everyone. The place I play out of has about 12 GC1V's in the back along with a Snooker table and 3 cushion table.
In front there are 4 Diamond tables and a barbox.

Whatever happens, best of luck!

Regards,
Dave
 
Even though the owner want's them there he doesn't want to give the place away. We have a special we run everyday for everybody, it's $5 all you can play from 1 pm till 7 pm!! Plus we've discount there rates after that. We've tried tournaments. Maybe you're right they are comfortable sitting in a dirt hole and don't want to leave. We have some desent players in there now including myself but having those guys in would help with our games. Heck we don't mine losing some cash as long as we get a good lesson out of it.
Bottom line we've bent over backwards for these guys and if they don't want to come in it's there own loss.
 
Players go ...

Players go where the money is .... period. Unless they don't like the
'feel' of the pool room (like one geared for teenagers). Good equipment
is a close 2nd. If you are playing for money, you want to play on good
equipment unless you are giving away a heavy spot and the break, then
you want to play on tables that don't break good .... lol

Players do not like to be around college kids that are getting drunk and trying
to act cute all the time. They don't like to be around a crowd of people where you have to beg and beg just to get a $1 game too. They don't like playing next to someone who almost never plays, and has no pool room manners either.
And most college kids do not have much spending money anyway, but the mid
to late 20's working crowd will have some.

Here in Wichita, there are 4 main rooms. Rumors and Shooters are about a
mile from each other on the same street. They are the known 'money' rooms.
Southrock is about 7 miles East of them, and has the best weekly tournaments with the best payback (best profit to be made). Players will not go out to Southrock because they have to drive 7 miles east from Rumors or Shooters, and Southrock has a good pool environment... go figure ... for some reason, a lot of players will just not participate in tournaments out there because of the location.

SidePockets is the big room here now, on the west side of town. It has 24
Valley 7's, and 9 9 footers. Nice place, lots of oak in it. It draws a lot of
young working crowd, some college students, and some players mingle in now and then, some guys that play will hang there, but not the best players in town because finding money games there is not too easy. They keep their equipment pretty good, and have a good weekly tournament there on Saturday night, but use a supposedly national handicap system that is totally
skewed towards the middle of the pack player. It has gotten better about
money games there than when it first opened, but that was a learning curve for the 2 owners and as they learned how to play some.

No one really cares about watching drunk young people shoot and make an ass of themselves. People care about being able to make money there,
good equipment, good feel to it, and good looking women there ... and a
good selection and price on food and drinks. And people that hang out in Pool rooms, some people, is because they like certain players, like to sidebet on them, and like to watch good Pool and the best players playing against each other .... not someone trying to perform a jump shot that can not even make a straight in.

You have to reach a happy compromise .... Remember college kids come and go, players, if they like a room, will be there for life, and their presence there
will draw other people in.
 
SnapShot, I think i might have worded my first post wrong, Most the people that come into our place are 21 - 40 whether they work or go to school it just depends. They are not like these crazy frat party people that get all stupid. Yes we do have your typical "watch this shot i saw Mike Massey do on TV today!". But alot of customers like to sit at the bar and watch good
pool being played. Where the Diamond is now and where the others would go is seperate from every thing else so the are not bothered by non pool players.
 
MFB said:
If you want the 'pool players' to come to your room, give them stuff for free. A lot of the good players I see, only are in it for themselves. I have said this before, I am am sorry to say it again, but alot of players would rather bum a quarter from you rather than break a dollar to spend his own.

You could try tournaments.
Click to expand...

FREE POOL for Ladies all the time. Good looking Ladies attract a CROWD..... :p
 
poolbiz420 said:
My question here is how do you get "pool players" out of one pool room and into yours? There is a pool room here in town that all the players go to but are all complaining about it, some of the other's who hang out in there are real shady, the place is dirty, smells, they don't take care of the tables, most will walk down to the gas station to use the restroom. I could go on all day about the complaints they have. But they have Diamond tables and when action comes into town that's where it goes. We will call this poolroom A.

A guy around town who loves pool opens his own room real nice place has a full service bar, good food , brand new tables. This is the place i work at. we will call it poolroom B. The only problem when he open it he bought Brunswicks, nice tables play good IMO. He's doing real good but most his business is college kids at night who drink and play pool. Well a few of these "Pool Players" and i have become friends so they stop in Saturday afternoons to see me while i work and they say " Those guys are really unhappy down at "PR A" if you get a Diamond with tight pockets so we can play one pocket they would all come down here. So we buy a used Diamond make a little area away from everything tighten up the pockets and let everyone know it's ready to go. This saturday comes I get like seven in there hanging out checking the table out. They are having a good time they all like the placeit doesn't stink, they can use our restrooms. It's going good then all of a sudden one guy says " These Rails are Dead! You Can't Play One Pocket On This" within two hours they were all gone and not a one came back Sunday. So we said fine we will ask them what kind of rails they want who they want to put them on and then they can't complain right? Or are we just wasting our time and they are never gonna leave the dump? If anyone can give me insight of this jumbled mess i just wrote let me know. If nothing can be done and they won't come down i'll just enjoy the Diamond myself!
Click to expand...

Cash tournaments and also hold a couple king of the hill tourns so the best in the area will show.When the players with great reps show cater to them a little so they will come back.Usually when people see the big named (local)shooters playing at your place they will follow in suit.You guys have food when you hold these king of the hill tournamants give the guys with a good rep a plate of food and a coke.Once the guys see thats where the good guys are playing they will want to be there also.I would think the other place has a couple top shooters that the rail sitters want to see.House pros are great for income.They are also worth the investment of a plate of food and a drink.Goes a long way.I have seen places with nothing but bar tables and subs and cokes way outdo a fully furnished glitter pool room.Thats because the owner had the smarts to keep a few names around.That pool room closed after they tried to give everything away and not a sole would take it.The owner was the most important person in that room.The subshop that tuned poolroom also closed because they needed a bigger place.The customer was the most important.They moved 20 miles further down the road.Everyone still shows includeing the 5 big names that pop in and out for their free food and a coke ad to jabber a little.As I saw in a reply yes the quarter thing is true to a point and mostly these shooters never even play except for tourns.But they are there and people talk about it when they drop names.Name droppers are great for business and pool has a ton of them.Good luck
 
If the Diamond table truly needs new rails, then get them.

Without knowing many details about ‘poolroom A’ I’d say that it is probably owned by a well known or fairly accomplished player, right? If so, that might be why you’re having difficulty getting the better players to hang out at your place. Loyalty and complacency might be hard to overcome.

You said that you’ve tried tourneys but weren’t successful, was any money added? Usually added money tourneys get attention, it may take a few weeks but word gets around.

Rick
 
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