Pool capital of US - NYC or LA?

#Cruncher

#Cruncher

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Being a midwest man, I've never been to our country's two largest cities. One of these days I want to make a visit to see the sights.

But it got me to thinking with a lot of tournaments in CA last week and the big Straight pool tournament on the East coast coming up, which CITY has the better players? Maybe this could start some friendly rivalry/challenge matches between New York and Los Angeles

I'd like to pose that question in two different ways:

1) In a Mosconi Cup format with a 5 man team (9 ball or 10 ball) which city would be the favorite?

2) Does NYC or LA have a deeper pool of decent players? "Decent" is a vague term. I'm referring to players that would fall into the wide range of a 7 in the APA system (vague as well).

I'll clarify that the players should live in the Metropolitan Area.

Whichever city gets more votes will be my next destination vacation.
 
Last edited:
I dont know about this... Both places have a large pool fan base but if I were to chose one I would go with NYC :wink:
 
You left out Texas and the mid-west. I know nothing of LA, but this past weekend we had an 96 player ABCD 9-ball tournament, and the organizers were able to get a full field of 48 A/B players. The next day they had a tournament for open/pro players and was able to fill that up with 32 people.
 
ctyhntr said:
You left out Texas and the mid-west. I know nothing of LA, but this past weekend we had an 96 player ABCD 9-ball tournament, and the organizers were able to get a full field of 48 A/B players. The next day they had a tournament for open/pro players and was able to fill that up with 32 people.
Click to expand...

Let me clarify a little. I was thinking of higher caliber players, not B, C or D players. I was also just thinking of a city to visit, so I'm ruling out a state or region.

I would be a little surprised if there was a city with more players at the APA 7 level than New York or Los Angeles.
 
#Cruncher said:
Let me clarify a little. I was thinking of higher caliber players, not B, C or D players. I was also just thinking of a city to visit, so I'm ruling out a state or region.

I would be a little surprised if there was a city with more players at the APA 7 level than New York or Los Angeles.
Click to expand...

Ronnie Allen is in Vegas and getting action for money games. So are other players. Or were you looking for "good" players who are too good to wager on their game?
 
I don't have an answer for the question but here is one stat to consider:

The population of NYC is over 8mm. That is just within the 5 boroughs of the city, itself. From there, if you expand to the metro area, you can have another 4-6mm people. Out of 12-14mm people within 45 minutes of each other, there has to be a couple of poolplayers that play good?


Eric >plays ok
 
Love the idea!

I'm from LA, and I'd love to compete in an LA vs NYC event. Name the price.

I do not think these are US's powerhouses though. I have never been there, but as I understand it, Chicago is more of a pool town than both NYC and LA.

And if you looking for the highest saturation of good players in the US, then you must head down south. Florida is probably the most stand out state, but all the other states down there have more pool in two nights a week than LA does in a month!
 
Last edited:
CrownCityCorey said:
I do not think these are US's powerhouses though.

And if you looking for the highest saturation of good players in the US, then you must head down south.
Click to expand...

This sums it up nicely.

*add- the 5 best players that actually live in NYC might be: Mika, Tony Robles, Darren Appleton?, and 4-5 guys that can fill out he last two spots.


Eric
 
Last edited:
CrownCityCorey said:
I'm from LA, and I'd love to compete in an LA vs NYC event. Name the price.

I do not think these are US's powerhouses though. I have never been there, but as I understand it, Chicago is more of a pool town than both NYC and LA.

And if you looking for the highest saturation of good players in the US, then you must head down south. Florida is probably the most stand out state, but all the other states down there have more pool in two nights a week than LA does in a month!
Click to expand...

I agree and I'm from New York. Neither LA nor NYC are necessarily the "pool capitals of US". We have a good scene here. We have a handful of solid rooms and an above-average number of good female players. If there is one thing NYC has over most places though, it's a densely populated area. Society Billiards, Amsterdam Billiards and Soho Billiards are all walking distance from eachother. You'll be hardpressed to find another city that can make such a claim.

With that said, there are plenty of other states that are known for a strong pool population. Texas, Ohio, Illinois are all known for having a strong presence in any national event (at least the ones I've played in).

I really haven't traveled enough to say which place has the best scene. I know we have a nice scene but I wouldn't say it's the best. At least, I hope it's not.
 
Eric. said:
This sums it up nicely.

*add- the 5 best players that actually live in NYC might be: Mika, Tony Robles, Darren Appleton?, and 4-5 guys that can fill out he last two spots.


Eric
Click to expand...

If Darren Appleton moved to NYC, that's news to me. On the otherhand, saying who the top five here are can be a bit difficult. Thorsten Hohmann and Zion Zvi both are here several months out of the year and since it's not my turn to watch them, I couldn't tell you where they're currently living.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
If Darren Appleton moved to NYC, that's news to me. On the otherhand, saying who the top five here are can be a bit difficult. Thorsten Hohmann and Zion Zvi both are here several months out of the year and since it's not my turn to watch them, I couldn't tell you where they're currently living.
Click to expand...

Darren was talking about moving to NYC, I'm not sure where that is at.

Thorston and Zion are definitely one of the 4-5 I'm thinking of. If Shin moves back, we can add him to the list too.


Eric
 
My guess would be somewhere East of the Rocky Moutains and maybe East
of the Mississippr River for the largest Pool Community.

We Love our Pool on the West Coast but, as with most everything else, the East
Coast was alive and well a hundred years before the West was explored.
 
Eric. said:
Darren was talking about moving to NYC, I'm not sure where that is at.

Thorston and Zion are definitely one of the 4-5 I'm thinking of. If Shin moves back, we can add him to the list too.


Eric
Click to expand...

I think part of what makes NYC a "good scene" is the constant rotation of visiting players. Everybody seems to make it out here from time to time. Hunter Lombardo appeared to be living here for a stretch though I haven't seen him in the past month or two (not my turn to watch him). Shin had quite a bit of success in local tournaments when he was here.
 
Ohio, Florida and Texas have to be the strongest states.

As far as NYC vs. LA, if you took the top 10 in LA and top 10 in nyc (not including any obvious transplants like Mika on either side) and they played, LA wins in every game but straight pool. Especially on a tight table.
 
Eric. said:
Darren was talking about moving to NYC, I'm not sure where that is at.

Thorston and Zion are definitely one of the 4-5 I'm thinking of. If Shin moves back, we can add him to the list too.


Eric
Click to expand...

Hey E,

I think it was PA but close enough :D

Koop
 
cleary said:
Ohio, Florida and Texas have to be the strongest states.

As far as NYC vs. LA, if you took the top 10 in LA and top 10 in nyc (not including any obvious transplants like Mika on either side) and they played, LA wins in every game but straight pool. Especially on a tight table.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I think NYC has a lot of A and especially B level players. However, I wouldn't say this is due to NYC being a hotspot for pool. It's just a big city.
 
cleary said:
As far as NYC vs. LA, if you took the top 10 in LA and top 10 in nyc (not including any obvious transplants like Mika on either side) and they played, LA wins in every game but straight pool. Especially on a tight table.
Click to expand...

NJ/NYC used to have a ton of top players around 20 years ago- Ray Martin, Miz, Hopkins, Colavita, Ervolino, Cis Murphy, and on... Unfortunately, that aint hte case anymore.

nowadays, NYC metro seems to be home to mid/higher level amateurs. There are a ton of "decent amateur" players. I know, "decent" is subjective. IF you took players below what we call "Open", this area might have one of the largest, highly competitive group of A,B,C,D players.

We just don't have many top players.


Eric
 
Eric. said:
NJ/NYC used to have a ton of top players around 20 years ago- Ray Martin, Miz, Hopkins, Colavita, Ervolino, Cis Murphy, and on... Unfortunately, that aint hte case anymore.



Eric
Click to expand...

I remember an old pro telling me that in the late 60's or early 70's there was a World Championship 14.1, by invitation, 19 players were invited for a round robin format. 11 of the 19 were regulars at the Golden Cue in Queens!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top