Pool Sharks in Vegas is Closing
- Thread starter DavidMNienow
- Start date
Patrick, he is the owner. Toby has been gone for years! Think Henry still splits time with Yankee Doodles in San Diego. I'll see him next Tuesday evening at the Cue Club.
Lyn
Teach,
My first reaction is sadness. Every pool room that becomes unwanted is a loss. When it closes down, it diminishes the entire game. Sorry to hear it.
My second reaction was thinking about your reply to the OP on a thread about him being "sharked" by his opponent. Not sure if it is appropriate here. No compassion was shown to him by you. Guess it does fit. Whaaa.
Lyn
There's a Yankee Doodles in San Diego? I heard the one in Santa Monica has closed - I used to practice with Henry's daughter Julie when I lived there. Neither of them probably remember me... it was 20+ years ago.
pj
chgo
PJ,
You're probably correct about the location of YD's. Don't know a lot about Southern California. Like New York, I always get the "do you know so and so from the Bronx". I'm seven hours Northwest of NYC. Thankfully!
On a sad note, Julie passed away several years ago. She was a great practice partner when I was in Vegas. Truly a tragedy.
Lyn
Mark - you know I love you but of course you are going to say that pool leagues in bars are a great thing. You wouldn't want to omit a large portion of your league or potential customer but the fact is, if there are no more pool rooms, there will be no more pool at a higher level than an APA 7. No junior player will ever get interested in pool at a young age cause he can't obviously walk into a bar. Once all of that happens, pool will die off more than it already has.
Someone needs to fix the pool room in America. The excitement of combining a bar/restaurant and a pool room is gone. That brought a lot of people out at one time to see what was fresh and new.
And I posted this here before and Greg @ Diamond took offense to it but I still believe it. The Diamond table needs to simply loosen up. They are too hard for a new or average player to play on. They come to the pool room and feel defeated, and then they don't come back. It would be nice to play Whistling Straits once but the average golfer isn't gonna go there every week cause after they shoot 120 instead of 85, they will go elsewhere. They aren't gonna come back for their Sunday out for golf. Same with pool. You do an activity more when you are successful at it.
Also you walk into a pool room now with decent hand eye coordination, and you also so far behind the true pool player as he has his no deflection $300 shaft, $40 tip, $25 piece of chalk, $400 break cue, $250 jump cue. Hell pool has priced itself out with a start up cost equal to golf. I remember my first cue was a two point Meucci and I felt I had just as good of equipment as anyone else in the room. Then add onto the fact that you shoot a ball into a hole and it doesn't go. See ya, I'm going home to play X box or go bowling (I can't remember the last bowling alley in St Louis to close).
Someone needs to fix the pool room in America. The excitement of combining a bar/restaurant and a pool room is gone. That brought a lot of people out at one time to see what was fresh and new.
And I posted this here before and Greg @ Diamond took offense to it but I still believe it. The Diamond table needs to simply loosen up. They are too hard for a new or average player to play on. They come to the pool room and feel defeated, and then they don't come back. It would be nice to play Whistling Straits once but the average golfer isn't gonna go there every week cause after they shoot 120 instead of 85, they will go elsewhere. They aren't gonna come back for their Sunday out for golf. Same with pool. You do an activity more when you are successful at it.
Also you walk into a pool room now with decent hand eye coordination, and you also so far behind the true pool player as he has his no deflection $300 shaft, $40 tip, $25 piece of chalk, $400 break cue, $250 jump cue. Hell pool has priced itself out with a start up cost equal to golf. I remember my first cue was a two point Meucci and I felt I had just as good of equipment as anyone else in the room. Then add onto the fact that you shoot a ball into a hole and it doesn't go. See ya, I'm going home to play X box or go bowling (I can't remember the last bowling alley in St Louis to close).
Las Vegas Cue Club on East Sahara in the Commercial Plaza
Pool Sharks on South Decatur near the corner of Spring Mountain
Mickey's Cue and Brew on South Eastern at Warm Springs Road
Good Timez on West Charleston near Jones
Only Good Timez is smoke free.
Nearest non local room is far more than two hours away.
Lyn
Pool halls and pool tables
Teacher an has some good points, and I know he's familiar with American Rotation (American Billiard Club).
It really could be the salvation of 9' play. But why aren't the players supporting the game and the package that Joe Ticker put together? We are actually paying out more than we have coming in. Obviously this can only happen for the short term.
So, if the players won't support the game, how does everyone think pool will get a push from the better players. American Rotation must be played on 9' tables. It is scratch. It is the fairest game ever invented as far as dealing with the luck factor.
So - if the players won't help themselves, what can we do? So everyone that says someone needs to save the pool hall, we have given a tool, yet they won't utilize it. Frustrating!!!
Mark g
Teacher an has some good points, and I know he's familiar with American Rotation (American Billiard Club).
It really could be the salvation of 9' play. But why aren't the players supporting the game and the package that Joe Ticker put together? We are actually paying out more than we have coming in. Obviously this can only happen for the short term.
So, if the players won't support the game, how does everyone think pool will get a push from the better players. American Rotation must be played on 9' tables. It is scratch. It is the fairest game ever invented as far as dealing with the luck factor.
So - if the players won't help themselves, what can we do? So everyone that says someone needs to save the pool hall, we have given a tool, yet they won't utilize it. Frustrating!!!
Mark g
Great news.
I spoke with Mark Kulungian a few months ago about the event he was planning. Red Shoes Billiards in Chicago agreed to do a qualifier. At that time, I asked him about the sponsors and the purse for the big event that we would be qualifying and asked him what was going to draw the big players.
It sounds like CSI might be part of the answer. I look forward to another great straight pool event.
Straight pool
Hi Dennis;
This is the US OPEN STRAIGHT POOL CHAMPIONSHIP!
This is the real one - so I think the prestige will be a draw.
CSI is known to run professional no nonsense event. Everybody will get paid, and the promoter won't be making 'deals' with players concerning seeding. This is the return of an annual event. In the next year or two, hopefully we can attract additional sponsorship and get it WPA sanctioned.
Obviously, we will be looking for sponsorship assistance. All the pertinent data will be listed in a couple weeks. Anyone with sponsorship connections is encouraged to contact me.
Thanks for your interest.....
Mark Griffin
Hi Dennis;
This is the US OPEN STRAIGHT POOL CHAMPIONSHIP!
This is the real one - so I think the prestige will be a draw.
CSI is known to run professional no nonsense event. Everybody will get paid, and the promoter won't be making 'deals' with players concerning seeding. This is the return of an annual event. In the next year or two, hopefully we can attract additional sponsorship and get it WPA sanctioned.
Obviously, we will be looking for sponsorship assistance. All the pertinent data will be listed in a couple weeks. Anyone with sponsorship connections is encouraged to contact me.
Thanks for your interest.....
Mark Griffin
It seems to me
I can only imagine how you feel. Ive entered a time in my life where I get a lot of enjoyment out of the game itself and playing an organized league or tournament doesn't fit with my schedule. I have a few friends that I enjoy some long games with and that to me is the enjoyment of the game, but it makes me ill when I see players using up the resources of the pool room and not think of the room owner. I would be fine getting trophy for winning a tournament, it just seems to me the minute its all about me, me, me that pool just isn't nearly as beautiful a game, but that's no solution, its a problem in my opinion.
I can only imagine how you feel. Ive entered a time in my life where I get a lot of enjoyment out of the game itself and playing an organized league or tournament doesn't fit with my schedule. I have a few friends that I enjoy some long games with and that to me is the enjoyment of the game, but it makes me ill when I see players using up the resources of the pool room and not think of the room owner. I would be fine getting trophy for winning a tournament, it just seems to me the minute its all about me, me, me that pool just isn't nearly as beautiful a game, but that's no solution, its a problem in my opinion.
Very Cool. I think the last one I remember was 2000. I hope the name alone will draw a great European field. Things are looking up in the straight pool world!:thumbup:
Us open
We had one in 2007-held in conjunction with Qlympics held in Louisville. I was also at the 2000 event held in NYC.
It's time to bring back some stability and professionism.
Markg
We had one in 2007-held in conjunction with Qlympics held in Louisville. I was also at the 2000 event held in NYC.
It's time to bring back some stability and professionism.
Markg
I heard from the desk man that the owners increase the rent by over twice.
Unfortunately, that is what landlords do. The game is, once a business has been there for several years and is established, the landlord jacks the rent up when the lease is up for renewal. It's slimy, but thats retail commercial real estate for ya.
Eric
Stopped by Monday night to say "goodbye" to my friends working at Pool Sharks. Wish the closing was as simple as some have stated. There is more to this story than has been made public.
Yep, PS was dark, dingy and less than perfectly clean. The residual smoke was too thick for me to stay for a long time. Still it was a pool room and its closing makes me sad. Hoping Good Timez can pick up the slack.
Now for you Cue Club haters. Get real. The plaza is relatively clean. There are no "pros" frequenting the plaza. The bums are gone. The room is clean and as safe as any business in a commercial plaza. The GC tables are great. The bar boxes not so much. The bathrooms are commercial grade not like the one in your home. Stopped by Good Timez a few times during the Mosconi. There is still more action at the CC. At least during the day.
Lyn
Yep, PS was dark, dingy and less than perfectly clean. The residual smoke was too thick for me to stay for a long time. Still it was a pool room and its closing makes me sad. Hoping Good Timez can pick up the slack.
Now for you Cue Club haters. Get real. The plaza is relatively clean. There are no "pros" frequenting the plaza. The bums are gone. The room is clean and as safe as any business in a commercial plaza. The GC tables are great. The bar boxes not so much. The bathrooms are commercial grade not like the one in your home. Stopped by Good Timez a few times during the Mosconi. There is still more action at the CC. At least during the day.
Lyn
