Pool situation in San Diego?

J

jdr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So after yesterday's post about College Billiards being for sale, I drove down there to check it out. That place seems to have changed sooo much. The area looks a little less ghetto than I remember it, but the clientele seems so different. Gone are all the players I remember from 10-15 years ago. It seemed like anytime I'd walk into that place, there'd be ~10 or 12 ppl sitting in the booths near the front watching some kind of action at those front tables... But there was none of that last night. (there were some Mexican's playing 3 cushion, 1 of which I remember from back in the day who could play some 9 ball). I spoke to the lady behind the counter and asked about tournaments and she said she couldn't field enough people...

So I drove down to On-Cue to see what the situation was there. The place was packed, but it seemed like mostly recreational players. There were some ppl who looked like they might be good, but not as many as used to hang out at College...

So where did all the players go? Did the passing of Jay Swanson signal a turning point for pool in San Diego? Is there another pool hall where everyone's playing? Granted SD was probably never a player's mecca like FL, but from what I saw last night, it was pretty sad... It didn't seem like it would be worth it to try and turn College Billiards around if no one is really playing any more...
 
Yes, the gambling and matching up is pretty much gone from the San Diego scene. There however is a very strong Barbox APA following in the area. San Diego county has 400 plus teams in their very well run active APA franchise.
 
i play at oncue a lot. a lot of the players you might have seen at college billiards are at oncue now. a lot of college and highschool kids go there too. Victor who i think was the house pro at college is at oncue every couple of days
 
IMHO, the scenario you are describing is being played out in cities all over the country. I think the main culprit is poker. There are many poolrooms in Colorado that have to run poker tournaments just to get people in the door. Some might disagree with me, but poker is just plain easier to play. Also, the "fast money" mentality that seems to be the common denominator among pool hustlers/gamblers, is amplified 10x in poker.
 
I also play at OnCue and sometimes Stix in poway. I've seen people from College Billards and Stix play at OnCue a lot. I don't know about Gaslamp Billiards.. Any action over there??
 
OnCue

There is some ok actions floating around OnCue from what I have seen.
Go to there Monday night turney, and the roster is pretty strong.

What you saying is happening in most places, Hardtimes is not what is used to be either.




jdr said:
So after yesterday's post about College Billiards being for sale, I drove down there to check it out. That place seems to have changed sooo much. The area looks a little less ghetto than I remember it, but the clientele seems so different. Gone are all the players I remember from 10-15 years ago. It seemed like anytime I'd walk into that place, there'd be ~10 or 12 ppl sitting in the booths near the front watching some kind of action at those front tables... But there was none of that last night. (there were some Mexican's playing 3 cushion, 1 of which I remember from back in the day who could play some 9 ball). I spoke to the lady behind the counter and asked about tournaments and she said she couldn't field enough people...

So I drove down to On-Cue to see what the situation was there. The place was packed, but it seemed like mostly recreational players. There were some ppl who looked like they might be good, but not as many as used to hang out at College...

So where did all the players go? Did the passing of Jay Swanson signal a turning point for pool in San Diego? Is there another pool hall where everyone's playing? Granted SD was probably never a player's mecca like FL, but from what I saw last night, it was pretty sad... It didn't seem like it would be worth it to try and turn College Billiards around if no one is really playing any more...
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The latest owners of College Billiards have disappointed the local players. As a result, many have migrated to On Cue. Since On Cue is not centrally located in San Diego, several players have scattered to the other rooms in town - Hungry Stick, Society and Jolt'n Joe's. Still, On Cue has most of the serious players. You'd be right that it's nothing like College Billiards in the old days. Back then, the owners (John Pinto, then later, Mark Griffin) catered to the players. Times have changed.
 
I remember Victor from College. He'd be out everywhere when I couldn't put together 2 balls. It's good to hear he's still playing.

8ball, sorry to hear that College started letting down the players. Do you have some specific examples of things they did vs what John and Mark did right? I guess if we end up trying to buy it (or any pool hall in the future) it would be good info to know...

Also, I remember reading in another post (which I can't seem to find) that On Cue doesn't really treat the regulars right, but no specifics were mentioned. Does anybody have any comment on that? It would seem kind of hard to be as busy as they are if that were true...
 
jdr said:
I remember Victor from College. He'd be out everywhere when I couldn't put together 2 balls. It's good to hear he's still playing.

8ball, sorry to hear that College started letting down the players. Do you have some specific examples of things they did vs what John and Mark did right? I guess if we end up trying to buy it (or any pool hall in the future) it would be good info to know...

Also, I remember reading in another post (which I can't seem to find) that On Cue doesn't really treat the regulars right, but no specifics were mentioned. Does anybody have any comment on that? It would seem kind of hard to be as busy as they are if that were true...
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Sorry jdr, I don't have any specific examples of why there was a fallout. It was only recently that I found out that everyone was now at On Cue. It was a surprise to me since College Billiards has been the place to go in San Diego, since 1962.

The management at On Cue initially didn't seem too keen on having all the players over there. Afterall, players can be pretty demanding and are generally a big pain in the tail. Many rooms have no need for serious players around. Attitudes may have changed though.
 
jdr said:
I remember Victor from College. He'd be out everywhere when I couldn't put together 2 balls. It's good to hear he's still playing.

8ball, sorry to hear that College started letting down the players. Do you have some specific examples of things they did vs what John and Mark did right? I guess if we end up trying to buy it (or any pool hall in the future) it would be good info to know...

Also, I remember reading in another post (which I can't seem to find) that On Cue doesn't really treat the regulars right, but no specifics were mentioned. Does anybody have any comment on that? It would seem kind of hard to be as busy as they are if that were true...
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Victor Castro is going to Hollywood billiards (LA) this Sat. and Sunday. I just talked to my friend Rey (lorenzo) who's going with him.
 
I am glad to hear Victor is coming to the 11th Annual Jay Swanson Memorial 9-ball event. Held at Hollywood Billiards. Starts 10 AM on Sat January 27th.

Limited to 192 players - already over 100 paid entries but can sign up at the door until full.

If you have any questions on College Billiards that I can answer, I will try - I owned the room until early 2004 and although it was challenge at times, San Diego had some great players and we had a lot of good tournaments.

Mark Griffin
mark@playbca.com

See ya at the Swanee!!
 
Mark Griffin said:
I am glad to hear Victor is coming to the 11th Annual Jay Swanson Memorial 9-ball event. Held at Hollywood Billiards. Starts 10 AM on Sat January 27th.

Limited to 192 players - already over 100 paid entries but can sign up at the door until full.

If you have any questions on College Billiards that I can answer, I will try - I owned the room until early 2004 and although it was challenge at times, San Diego had some great players and we had a lot of good tournaments.

Mark Griffin
mark@playbca.com

See ya at the Swanee!!
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Mark,
I heard that a few of the Arizona guys will be visiting you Sat. Do you remember a guy who went by the name "little Swanee"? He played in San Diego/So CA with Jay and Keith - last name of Swanson. He still plays a little.
 
The fact that they pulled the Swanson tournament out of San Diego could be a clear indication of the Pool scens in SD
 
Anyone know if Louie Ulrich, Jeff Beckley and Mike Defino are still around? I lost touch with everyone when I left back in 93 and I haven't been back since. CB was strong back in the day and I loved hanging out there and playing with the regulars. Hard times was just an hour and a half away and you could go there on any given weekend and see some top players in the world playing in a weekly tournament.
Back here in Austin the strength of players and action has dropped as well. The place to play is still Eric's, but it's become pretty trashy. I really enjoy having a table at home, but I long to play someone with some talent.
 
Mike Defino was part of the 3 man team that took the APA national 3 man from Frank the Barber and company a few years back. In the all Cal final.
 
ya

Ulrich was at OnCue 2 1/2 weeks ago for there monday tourney.

Mack



Big C said:
Anyone know if Louie Ulrich, Jeff Beckley and Mike Defino are still around? I lost touch with everyone when I left back in 93 and I haven't been back since. CB was strong back in the day and I loved hanging out there and playing with the regulars. Hard times was just an hour and a half away and you could go there on any given weekend and see some top players in the world playing in a weekly tournament.
Back here in Austin the strength of players and action has dropped as well. The place to play is still Eric's, but it's become pretty trashy. I really enjoy having a table at home, but I long to play someone with some talent.
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