Is Oregon a dead spot for pool?

N

Nitro Psycho

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was at a local pool hall last night talking with an old friend and he brought up that he thought that Oregon was a dead spot for pool. What are your thoughts? This came up in the context of comparing the action in and around Portland in particular in comaprison with the likes of Seattle or down south in California. I understand that Portland being the smaller town your prone to having less gamblers and possibly less players based on a per capata comparison but what do those of you that have been in Oregon before or play here now think about it. Is it dead? Are there things we can do to boost the participation in tournaments and maybe churn up an interest in the younger generations? (Read as my generation).

As always thanks for your time and responses,

Simon
 
With all the opportunities for hunting, hiking, fishing, and general outdoors-type stuff in that state, it's no wonder.

Nike is the state's biggest business, so maybe folks there like to put on their shoes and get outdoors.
 
Not a bad point, with all the other opprotunities for activities it probably puts pool to the so called "back burner" for a lot of people, I know I will be playing less when the weather changes and drag racing season comes back around, yet I still would like to understand if pool is running into similar issues in other states and towns, what have you guy's seen in your towns in the last 5-10 even 20 years as far as popularity has gone?


Thanks!
Simon
 
Nitro Psycho said:
Not a bad point, with all the other opprotunities for activities it probably puts pool to the so called "back burner" for a lot of people, I know I will be playing less when the weather changes and drag racing season comes back around, yet I still would like to understand if pool is running into similar issues in other states and towns, what have you guy's seen in your towns in the last 5-10 even 20 years as far as popularity has gone?


Thanks!
Simon
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In the 1980's there were 3-4 pool rooms in the sleepy little town I grew up in. The population is around 1500-2000. Now there's one left and while they have pool tables they play poker.
 
dr9ball said:
In the 1980's there were 3-4 pool rooms in the sleepy little town I grew up in. The population is around 1500-2000. Now there's one left and while they have pool tables they play poker.
Click to expand...

3-4 per 2000.....Them were the days!

I have had troubles finding places to play along the coast of Oregon, but most of those towns are small.
 
There is allot of interest in pool in Oregon. No real halls in the areas I visit. Mostly the Eugene and Florence area. Quite a few bars with two tables or more.
 
Oregon pool

Depending on what you like to play, Oregon is definately not a dead spot for pool. Here in southern Oregon we have BCA, APA, and TAP leagues all running in the bars, and we just started the 6th season of 'Nate's Great Straight Pool League', a round robin 14.1 league limited to 25 players and full again. There's still quite a few tournaments, although the number has declined in the last year or two. Paul at Classic Billiards in Portland just added 3 Diamond 7 footers to his room to help promote more league play. I don't think there's much pool on the coast, and I'm amazed that there is no pool room in Eugene, a city home to 500,000 people and the University of Oregon! I wouldn't say there's tons of action-doesn't every player everywhere complain about that?-but $10 or $20 one pocket is easy enough to find. As for your last question, 'how can pool be promoted to the younger generation?', we would all love an answer to that one.

Dave Smith
 
Not dead at all

Pool is far from dead around here. I live in the eugene/springfield area and every bar you walk in has 2 plus tables and bca and city league teams playing religiously out of them.
There is action to be had without a doubt. Salem is quite a hot spot for many money tourneys.
 
I live in Astoria and it pretty hard to find a good game, I havent been looking realy hard but you can just tell.
If anyone is up here let me know .

Thanks Rvan.
 
Rvan, if you make it out East (read as anywhere in the metropolitan area of portland) give me a shout, I'll meet up w/ you and play some, but I am 20 still so no bars, lol.



Simon
 
In Portland there is classics, Rialtos, uptown billiards, touches and sams that have 6 or more tables in the city limit. There is other stuff in the burbs.
 
I went to a sh*t bar 5 minutes south of Portland and they had 6 diamonds. More diamonds another 10 minutes south.
 
relative to where?

Pool has died down everywhere in recent years. If you're asking if pool is dead in Oregon compared to the east coast or some other hot spots I would say not relative to the population. I've lived in the portland area for several years and now we live in southern Oregon. There are numerous weekly tournament, quite a few regional tournaments and I never had problems finding $50 a game one pocket or hundred dollar sets in the portland area. There aren't as many pros in the area as some cities on the east coast, but relative to the amount of players here pool is still very much alive. It is surprising that several large towns in Oregon don't have pool halls.

I do miss living in Vegas where there seemed to be a line of players willing to gamble for days. Has pool died down in Vegas too?
 
I would love to make a trip down to Medford and play at Rack 'Em again, I havent been down south to play in probably three years. I will be looking into playing at Rialto and Classics once I turn 21 as I think that might help weed out some of the so called bangers, but I don't know, I will just have to wait and see.
 
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