Pool alive, and well where you live, or Pool places closing

CocoboloCowboy

CocoboloCowboy

Cowboys are my hero's
Silver Member
The Valley of the Sun has apparently lost 4 Major Pool rooms in the last year since the Non Smoking Ban in AZ went into effect last May.

Plus many of the Pool orientated Bars are very slow, and several have had tournaments with not enough players showing up to play.:o

Think between the Smoking Law, or should I say NO SMOKING LAW, price of Gas, and the poor Economic News it could be a very rough year for pool.
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
The Valley of the Sun has apparently lost 4 Major Pool rooms in the last year since the Non Smoking Ban in AZ went into effect last May.

Plus many of the Pool orientated Bars are very slow, and several have had tournaments with not enough players showing up to play.:o

Think between the Smoking Law, or should I say NO SMOKING LAW, price of Gas, and the poor Economic News it could be a very rough year for pool.
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Pool is alive and well here in Washington, State!!;) Pool traditionally has made a resurgence during a poor economy. This is due to people having nothing else to do. Now some may say the Casino's will effect this, however, I doubt it because the bad times also mean less money. People while they are attracted to an easy buck, they also understand that a Casino keeps more than they pay out. By gambling playing pool things are kinda in your hands, and overall with a little common sense your odds are much better.

But either way, a fool and their money is going to part sooner or later.
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
The Valley of the Sun has apparently lost 4 Major Pool rooms in the last year since the Non Smoking Ban in AZ went into effect last May.

Plus many of the Pool orientated Bars are very slow, and several have had tournaments with not enough players showing up to play.:o

Think between the Smoking Law, or should I say NO SMOKING LAW, price of Gas, and the poor Economic News it could be a very rough year for pool.
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Here where I live, we've lost 2 in the last year. Neither were due to smoking bans.
 
In my area we have one pool hall with by far the most action in all of south florida, and another with no action at all -- but all brand new diamond proam tables (only place down here).

The action has slowed down a little bit since I first started playing (about 2.5 years ago), but I still get to sweat some good matches here and there.
Monster and Ronnie W. had a 2 or 3 day 1p session for some nice $$ a few days back, does that make anyone jealous?
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
The Valley of the Sun has apparently lost 4 Major Pool rooms in the last year since the Non Smoking Ban in AZ went into effect last May.

Plus many of the Pool orientated Bars are very slow, and several have had tournaments with not enough players showing up to play.:o

Think between the Smoking Law, or should I say NO SMOKING LAW, price of Gas, and the poor Economic News it could be a very rough year for pool.
Click to expand...

Just thought I would point out that pool halls were closing in this country long before the smoking ban was put in effect.

Anyhow, the two pool halls I frequent (in Tulsa) are doing quite well. And one is a smoke/alcohol free family room. It has 9' GC's and 7' coin op tables. There is a tournament every Friday night and it has been consistently drawing around 20-30 players weekly. Magoo's has tournaments too but I haven't played in theirs yet.
 
Everything is well in our area of Ohio. Leagues , Tourney s all holding their own. Rack Attack Billiards In Port Clinton,Ohio. The number of people taking lessons is still growing.
 
My area is really dead. I looked forward to retirement to play
and now I have to drive miles just to find anything. Depressing.
 
four major rooms?

I know Six Shooters closed recently, which most people I heard or read blamed on very poor management, but what other rooms in Phx closed in the last year?
 
it's ALIVE...

in FLORIDA! although the Planet 9 ball in Tampa recently closed...not sure why though. I play mostly in St.Petersburg/Clearwater area.
 
N. Cali

Here in northern cali we seem to be doing ok. I haven't heard of any rooms closing around here. Also all the pool halls have tournaments going with respectable turnouts. The one thing that has suffered is the action. It's rare if you can get a game for more than 100 or so. All in all I have to say we are lucky to have so many great pool halls to play at.
 
Sacramento has 3 good pool halls and about 4 others that are OK. Business is steady with all the pool halls.

Northern California pool halls are also what I would call 'steady' and they are all SMOKE Free and have been for almost 15 years.

There is a lot of competition for alternative entertainment dollars for Northern California, so pool gets its share. The weather is great almost all year long so the outdoor activities are always there to compete with the indoor pool halls.

When the Rain comes in the Sping and Winter, the pool halls are PACKED. But, then the HOT weather comes in the Summer.. the pool halls enjoy a boom during this 6 week period... come into the Air Conditioning... yeah.. it works.

Hard Times has 4 weekly tournaments that are all doing well year round.
Tuesday there is an 8 ball line tournament that has been averaging 25-30 players,
Wednesday there is a B players only that averages between 25-30, Starting

Thursday, May 1st, there we will be starting a 10 Ball tournament.

Sundays there is a weekly 9 ball tournament that also averages between 25-30

During the first weekend of each month there is a Saturday One Pocket event that draws 30+ players with $300 added

The first Sunday of the Month is a $500 added 9 ball event that had an average of 45+ entries and in the last 3 years, 3 times it has had a full field of 64.
 
I was in Strokers yesterday. Planet 9Ball in Tampa was purchased by the owner(s) of Strokers, in Palm Harbor. It is being remodeled as we speak.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Kanedog said:
in FLORIDA! although the Planet 9 ball in Tampa recently closed...not sure why though. I play mostly in St.Petersburg/Clearwater area.
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Pool is still strong in Calgary.Infact I still think SML Entertainment sends more people to BCA and VNEA in vegas in may.Usually 175 per.I do believe.
 
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agt said:
I know Six Shooters closed recently, which most people I heard or read blamed on very poor management, but what other rooms in Phx closed in the last year?
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All three Six Shooters, (Phoenix, Tempe, and the one on the west side) and a Place on Camelback that was there for years, or was it Indian School, forget but it was West of I-17
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
The Valley of the Sun has apparently lost 4 Major Pool rooms in the last year since the Non Smoking Ban in AZ went into effect last May.

Plus many of the Pool orientated Bars are very slow, and several have had tournaments with not enough players showing up to play.:o

Think between the Smoking Law, or should I say NO SMOKING LAW, price of Gas, and the poor Economic News it could be a very rough year for pool.
Click to expand...

Things are steady in my part of South Eastern Pa, but not great. The economy in general has slowed things down I believe.

We just have to deal with it. I remember in 1993-94 we were very slow and it came back then.


Highrun55
 
what are these mystery rooms?

CocoboloCowboy said:
All three Six Shooters, (Phoenix, Tempe, and the one on the west side) and a Place on Camelback that was there for years, or was it Indian School, forget but it was West of I-17
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Interesting. While Phx Six Shooters closed recently (consensus seems to be due to terrible management) and apparently Tempe Six Shooters (later Scoreboards) due to a sinkhole (!?), I have never played in nor heard of a 3rd Six Shooters or mystery major room on Camelback or Indian School. What I've thought as (jmo) the major rooms in Phx -- Main St and Kolby's on east side and Alexander's and Metro on the west side -- appear to be doing fine.

The original post, if true, suggests that the smoking ban has quickly and emphatically killed pool in AZ -- I mean, FOUR "major" rooms in a metro area like Phx closing down in the 10 months since the ban started would be pretty amazing evidence that pool in AZ simply cannot exist w/o indoor smoking. Fortunately, I don't see that whatsoever. Most players I know seem generally pleased about the ban and much happier about spending the majority of the day in the room during a tournament. And the rooms are still in business.

I'm not saying the ban hasn't had any effect at all on business for these rooms. Frankly, I don't know. But I haven't seen it from the outside or from the people I know playing all the time.

Al
 
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