The Cue Club and Best Billiards -- A Brief Tale of Two Las Vegas Pool Rooms

Being customer friendly is imo the essence of running a successful poolroom. I learned a long time (and four poolrooms) ago that unless people walk through your doors you have no business. So you better take good care of the people who decide to patronize your establishment. That is if you want to have a successful operation.

I have patronized all the Vegas rooms for years and I have a good relationship with the owners of all of them. They are each good (and bad) in their own way, with things I like (and dislike) about each of them. Like JHendy, I've seen it all when it comes to poolrooms, so none of these places (or their locations) faze me in the least. The Cue Club is easy to get to with gobs of parking. They have some very tight Gold Crowns that I love (and sometimes hate) playing on. Pool Sharks Is in a good area with a myriad of restaurants to choose from. The Diamond in the pit is great for holding a big match. Mickey Q's is clean and has five beautiful Diamonds in its own separate area. Also in a good neighborhood, but the farthest from the main drag. Best Billiards is the new kid on the block, but what a job he has done to create a great environment for pool. Great equipment, good food (when the chef is there :frown:), lots of parking, CLEAN RESTROOMS and a very nice area of Vegas.

This time around almost all the action was at Best. There were a lot of big money games there and all the right people hanging out. I found myself betting with both hands every night I was there. Fortunately this trip worked out well for me, probably because I was betting on Dennis every night :smile:.

It's nice that we have choices of places to play in Vegas and I will continue to support all four of these rooms.
 
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This thread makes me laugh you have two people that live in Vegas
and play at the CC that are flat out telling everyone what the deal is.
They don't have "A DAY RATE" when the big tournaments are in town.
But why LET THE FACTS, get in the way of a good story!

Hey they recover the tables just before the tournaments I'd say that's
a good thing. (I don't fault them for trying to get some of that money back)

Should they have taken the sign down about the day rates, granted that would
have made a lot more sense. (Likely a partial reason why she didn't answer you)
But I have to say if you were addressing me and started off your question about,
day rates with, "It would have been nice if someone had told me" I most likely
wouldn't have answered you either!

When I go into a place that's new to me I usually walk around a little and check
the place out, see if they have food, where the restrooms are, if I get thirsty
where can I get something, see what equipment if any they have for sale, and
read the signs, maybe even ask a few questions, nun of which start with the
tone of "It would have been nice... "

WHATS THAT SAYING BY P.T. BARNUM "THERE'S A ...
Well apparently that has nothing to do with you in this situation you weren't a sucker
or for that matter, taken advantage of in any way. If you had read the signs and asked
or had asked in a less pompous manner you would most likely have received an answer.
But with their the lack of foresight in leaving the sign up, and the manner in which you
asked after you had already been there and played for three days, quite frankly her lack
of response doesn't surprise me.

What I wish I could say, does surprises me, is that you would come on here bashing
CC without even knowing the facts. Then when presented the facts in black and white by
two people that are regulars there, instead of being a man and simple saying you're wrong,
you take the low road and simply ignore the facts. Your attitude may pertain to the
lack of response received and your perceived injustice by lady behind the counter. Just saying

What's next, are people who got LEGITIMATELY beat for a few dollars playing pool going to start
coming on here and whining about it, well at least that might be interesting!
 
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... removed because of correction to the post I commented about ...
 
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Cue Club visit

I've been coming to the Cue Club on many occasions that brought me to town. I was there today, in fact. As a players room, I've always liked it.

Best Billiards is also one of my favorite stops but on this recent visit, I was a little bummed. I was having dinner with a couple of friends, looking forward to their awesome Italian food. Problem was, their service was just horrible. The gal who took our order was new and didn't know the menu well. Then, it took nearly an hour to get our food, even though there wasn't very many folks in the restaurant side of the room. When our food finally arrived, it wasn't as good as I remembered it - a bit on the salty side. I'm going to thnk twice before I go back for the food. The pool area is still the nutz though.

Btw, I ran into vagabond while I was at the Cue Club. Nice guy.
 
edit: Because of mistake that I made. Sorry for that.

Thank You @ Atlarge
 
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Specials

At our local pool room, Fargo Billiards, I am always asked how long I plan on being there. If for some reason the table time is less than the special rate, because I need to leave earlier than expected, the always adjust it to my benefit. I am sure that becomes a little hassle for them with the computer system they use, but it is the customer service that matters. Yes, I am a regular, and I would assume they treat everyone else the same.

I wouldn't go back to the first billiard place you mentioned with that treatment, especially since you have a choice in Vegas. Amazing how many customers (AZbiilliards players) they just lost because of one post by a trusted poster. Word of mouth can make or break your business.
 
robsnotes4u said:
At our local pool room, Fargo Billiards, I am always asked how long I plan on being there. If for some reason the table time is less than the special rate, because I need to leave earlier than expected, the always adjust it to my benefit. I am sure that becomes a little hassle for them with the computer system they use, but it is the customer service that matters. Yes, I am a regular, and I would assume they treat everyone else the same.

I wouldn't go back to the first billiard place you mentioned with that treatment, especially since you have a choice in Vegas. Amazing how many customers (AZbiilliards players) they just lost because of one post by a trusted poster. Word of mouth can make or break your business.
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Similar deal at Buffalo's in New Orleans. They usually put me on the special without asking but they always check table time, if it is cheaper than the special they charge the lesser price. Up to eight hours on nice Diamond's for not over six dollars is a hard deal to beat!

Hu
 
robsnotes4u said:
At our local pool room, Fargo Billiards, I am always asked how long I plan on being there. If for some reason the table time is less than the special rate, because I need to leave earlier than expected, the always adjust it to my benefit. I am sure that becomes a little hassle for them with the computer system they use, but it is the customer service that matters. Yes, I am a regular, and I would assume they treat everyone else the same.

I wouldn't go back to the first billiard place you mentioned with that treatment, especially since you have a choice in Vegas. Amazing how many customers (AZbiilliards players) they just lost because of one post by a trusted poster. Word of mouth can make or break your business.
Click to expand...

Well, I guess you're not picking up on what I said earlier. A pool room is going to lose money and go out of business giving a day rate to a customer who only plays twelve hours a year. If a customer gets a day rate and because of that comes back daily or weekly they can make money and stay in business because the customer is there throughout the year buying drinks, etc.
 
don't forget we are hearing only one side of the story.There are some scenarios i can see that may have happened by the type of personality i see Lou has from his postings :grin: in his other post he wanted to screw around with the waiter only because the kid was nervous and did not look him in the eyes when he ask how was his omlette, but decided not to because of his age lol
 
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ShootingArts said:
Lou,

With the added information it seems that the CC does take advantage of the yearly feeding frenzy just like the hotels often do for big events other places. Taking down the signs and being polite about it seems like it would be the smart thing to do. I suspect that regulars still quietly get the special and they only charge the furrinners in town for the tournament full rates.

Hu
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I don`t know the truth but I see it differently. If the regular guys come early, pay 8 $ and occupy tables till 7PM the visiting BCA players will not stand a chance to get the table. Then they will leave the place with some negative feelings. If it is an hourly rate the regular guys are not going to hold the table for many hours.:cool:
 
robsnotes4u said:
At our local pool room, Fargo Billiards, I am always asked how long I plan on being there. If for some reason the table time is less than the special rate, because I need to leave earlier than expected, the always adjust it to my benefit. I am sure that becomes a little hassle for them with the computer system they use, but it is the customer service that matters. Yes, I am a regular, and I would assume they treat everyone else the same.

I wouldn't go back to the first billiard place you mentioned with that treatment, especially since you have a choice in Vegas. Amazing how many customers (AZbiilliards players) they just lost because of one post by a trusted poster. Word of mouth can make or break your business.
Click to expand...

Did you happen to read the two posts by regulars at the Cue Club that both said they have no day rate when the big tournaments are in Vegas
for the week.
I agree word of mouth can make or break a business, so maybe what a trusted poster would do is find out the facts before making such a post about a business.
The facts were stated by the two regulars at The Cue Club if people choose to ignore them that has nothing to do with being a trusted poster.

Being ignorant of the facts is one thing. Every person alive is ignorant of in some regards of somethings, that doesn't make anyone stupid. Stupid is when somebody doesn't know something and doesn't want to learn.

But when you have the facts right in front of you (in this thread) and choose to ignore them, that's ego, and not trusted anything.
Personally I hope that no AZers pay any attention to the OP, because as was stated by the regulars at the CC in this thread. There was no day rate in effect and never is when the big tournaments are in town. So his perceived mistreatment was only his misconception of the situation, which more than likely could have been remedied had he chosen different wording (attitude) when asking about the day rate or lack there of.
There was only one rate at the time the OP was there playing and that is what he got charged, the going rate. So how did he get taken advantage of.
 
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itsfroze said:
Did you happen to read the two posts by regulars at the Cue Club that both said they have no day rate when the big tournaments are in Vegas
for the week.
I agree word of mouth can make or break a business, so maybe what a trusted poster would do is find out the facts before making such a post about a business.
The facts were stated by the two regulars at The Cue Club if people choose to ignore them that has nothing to do with being a trusted poster.
Being ignorant of the facts is one thing. Every person alive is ignorant of in some regards of somethings, that doesn't make anyone stupid.
Stupid is when somebody doesn't know something and doesn't want to
learn.
But when you have the facts right in front of you and choose to ignore them, that's ego, and not trusted anything.
Personally I hope that no AZers pay any attention to the OP, because as was stated by the regulars at the CC in this thread. There was no day rate in effect and never is when the big tournaments are in town. So his perceived mistreatment was only his misconception of the situation, which more than likely could have been remedied had he chosen different wording (attitude) when asking about the day rate or lack there of.
There was only one rate at the time the OP was there playing and that is what he got charged, the going rate. So how did he get taken advantage of.
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With all due respect, no day rate in effect or not the room had a sign posting of a day rate with apparently no explanation about the restriction during tournament weeks, and the counter person gave no explanation whatsoever why he wasn't entitled to the rate posted in the establishment. The fact that two regulars came along and informed us about the restriction on an internet forum after the fact doesn't cut it.
 
vagabond said:
I don`t know the truth but I see it differently. If the regular guys come early, pay 8 $ and occupy tables till 7PM the visiting BCA players will not stand a chance to get the table. Then they will leave the place with some negative feelings. If it is an hourly rate the regular guys are not going to hold the table for many hours.:cool:
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from post #41
The day rate at Cue Club is off during the tournaments. That's been the case in the past. Not just the visitors go on hourly then. The regulars do too.

-------------------
there's a reg. talking about it.
 
Cue club

Blue Hog ridr said:
When I went to Vegas the first time, I looked up places to play before I got there. The pics of the Cue Club looked fine.

The first time I went to the washroom, there was a trail of puke on the carpet leading into the toilette. All the urinals but one were plugged and I think 2 or three toilettes were also plugged. It smelled like a fire hydrant in a dog pound.

You couldn't complain about the service because there was none. I just stacked the beer cans up on the table. I had quite a nice little pyramid going.

If and when I ever go back, with all thats been posted about Best Billiards, I will most likely go there. Besides, I love Italian food.

I tell ya, the internet pic and the actual place are not quite the same.
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It was exactly the same way in my trips to the BCA nationals over the years. Nasty ass bathrooms. Dangerous parking lot. Lot of fun with all the action, if you could stand the stench.
 
Red Shoes

Red Shoes said:
Dear Louis....Sorry you had a bad experience in Vegas. Even though the pool room business is pretty tough now (as always), the counter girl should of flagged you about the *Special*. When new (unaware) patrons come into my room, I will give them the *Special* rate even if they don't ask for it, if it will save them money. Some rooms insist to qualify for the *Special*, it must be pre-paid. Maybe that was part of the problem (maybe not). Most room managers will have a certain amount of leeway with hourly rates for PR purposes (even if rates are calculated on a computer). At Red Shoes we calculate the rates the old fashioned way (by hand). I could get a computer to do the rate calculation...but then I would miss all the stories and excuses by the customers along the line of "we only played 2 games". "YES you might of only played 2 games BUT....they were games of One Pocket and you guys pushed all the balls up table immediately after the break and had a 15 ball "wedge" going up table after a million shots a piece". As a side note I don't tell them about the part about them being COMPLETELY HELPLESS when it comes to One Pocket (or any other pool game). I keep that as my little secret though so I get some entertainment when I am behind the counter (it is also BAD PR and they might not come back for "tomorrows wedge" and the story that goes with it....as I said "business is tough"). By the way....how is the lovely Gail?? Please give her my regards. John L.
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Grew up in NW Indiana and knew Zaksas, Tommy Spencer, Tom Karabotsas in the middle/late 70's, Played a lot at the old King& I when I lived in Oak Park. Left in 1983, but have always came back to see family. Nephew took me to you're place January this year while I was home. Had a great time and have told everyone in Tucson that plays pool about Red Shoes. Plan on coming home sometime to play bank pool. You have a great poolroom.:smile:
 
from post #79

With all due respect, no day rate in effect or not the room had a sign posting of a day rate with apparently no explanation about the restriction during tournament weeks, and the counter person gave no explanation whatsoever why he wasn't entitled to the rate posted in the establishment. The fact that two regulars came along and informed us about the restriction on an internet forum after the fact doesn't cut it.
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I would agree with you, sign posted no explanation of restrictions why shouldn't he get that rate.

But what he's saying is if she had just given him an explanation when he asked it would have been fine. What I'm saying is he would have gotten one without the attitude and this thread wouldn't even exist. Have read some of the OP posts then the attitude with which he broached the subject of "day rates" was less than desirable most likely, in fact here are his on words " It would have been nice if someone had told me..." after he had been there and played for three days. If he approached me like that I wouldn't have answered him either knowing that the next thing out of his mouth would be well you should have taken the sign down then.
Like I said in a post on page 5 yes in hind-site they should have taken the sign down, but just like your post started with all due respect, I think if respect was given when asking the lady behind the counter about day rates he would have gotten a respectful answer. He would have found out there were no day rates for that whole week. I find attitude to be the thing that doesn't cut it!
 
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