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

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
While I was in Vegas for the One Pocket Open I practiced for three days at the Cue Club on East Sahara. Each time the same short dark haired woman (who I took to be the manager), gave me a table and took my money when I was done. It’s a big room and on the last day I was there I played on a table near a sign that said something to the effect: Day time special, play from X to X hours for $8.

Each day that I had played at the Cue Club had fallen into those hours. So I go up to pay and the bill is like $18, pretty much what my bill had been the previous two days and I say to the woman, “It would have been nice if someone had told me about the daily special.” And she doesn’t say a word while she’s counting out my change. And I ask her, very nicely, “Why didn’t you tell me about it?” And, again, she says nothing. As I leave I say, “I guess I’ll just have to find another pool hall to practice at and she finally says something: “Suit yourself” and I replied, “I will.”

As many of you know, I travel around a fair bit and have played pool at rooms all across the country. And in my experience, sometimes rooms offer daytime specials, typically offering a flat rate of $8-10 to play from opening to sometime in the afternoon. Others stipulate that if you buy lunch you get to play free until 3 or 4pm. *Not once* at any other room I’ve played at anywhere in the country has the houseman ever failed to tell me about a daily special, either before or after I’ve played.

And so the fourth day I go Best Billiards on East Flamingo and, as I mentioned in my trip report, the room is wonderful. And I see a sign on the wall that offers an $8 “Daily Special” and I decide that I won’t say anything and that I’ll just go up and pay my time when I’m done and see what happens. I’d had a cappuccino and when I go up to the counter the woman says, without prompting, “It’d be cheaper for you if you just paid the daily special rate, so your bill with the cappuccino is..." whatever it was.

Anywhos, if you’re looking for a pool room to play at in Las Vegas, I’d recommend Best Billiards -- great equipment and they serve a mean cappuccino. They have a Daily Special too :-)

Lou Figueroa
 
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I lived out in Vegas for 2 years and I learned that a lot of people out there hate it there!! They are backstabbing, lying, cheating and fake ass people out there in that dry desert. People that only give a crap about themselves and people that use other people. Not a nice place to live tbh. I haven't had the pleasure of playing at Best Billiards but next time im in town you can count on it.

Watch out Eberle!! I'll be gunning for ya :cool:
 
While I was in Vegas for the One Pocket Open I practiced for three days at the Cue Club on East Sahara. Each time the same short dark haired woman (who I took to be the manager), gave me a table and took my money when I was done. It’s a big room and on the last day I was there I played on a table near a sign that said something to the effect: Day time special, play from X to X hours for $8.

Each day that I had played at the Cue Club had fallen into those hours. So I go up to pay and the bill is like $18, pretty much what my bill had been the previous two days and I say to the woman, “It would have been nice if someone had told me about the daily special.” And she doesn’t say a word while she’s counting out my change. And I ask her, very nicely, “Why didn’t you tell me about it?” And, again, she says nothing. As I leave I say, “I guess I’ll just have to find another pool hall to practice at and she finally says something: “Suit yourself” and I replied, “I will.”

As many of you know, I travel around a fair bit and have played pool at rooms all across the country. And in my experience, sometimes rooms offer daytime specials, typically offering a flat rate of $8-10 to play from opening to sometime in the afternoon. Others stipulate that if you buy lunch you get to play free until 3 or 4pm. *Not once* at any other room I’ve played at anywhere in the country has the houseman ever failed to tell me about a daily special, either before or after I’ve played.

And so the fourth day I go Best Billiards on East Flamingo and, as I mentioned in my trip report, the room is wonderful. And I see a sign on the wall that offers an $8 “Daily Special” and I decide that I won’t say anything and that I’ll just go up and pay my time when I’m done and see what happens. I’d had a cappuccino and when I go up to the counter the woman says, without prompting, “It’d be cheaper for you if you just paid the daily special rate, so your bill with the cappuccino is..." whatever it was.

Anywhos, if you’re looking for a pool room to play at in Las Vegas, I’d recommend Best Billiards -- great equipment and they serve a mean cappuccino. They have a Daily Special too :-)

Lou Figueroa

Lou

I don't get it. If you were there between the hours of the special rate how is it you didn't qualify for the special rates? You have to ask? You have to let them know? Huh ? Its their rates if that's what they charge between those hours how can they charge you more?

Thanks

Kevin
 
I lived out in Vegas for 2 years and I learned that a lot of people out there hate it there!! They are backstabbing, lying, cheating and fake ass people out there in that dry desert. People that only give a crap about themselves and people that use other people. Not a nice place to live tbh. I haven't had the pleasure of playing at Best Billiards but next time im in town you can count on it.

Watch out Eberle!! I'll be gunning for ya :cool:

No way to compare Cue Club and Best Billiards, Best wins hands down, friendly staff, great food, great equipment they always let you know the best way to pay.
 
I lived out in Vegas for 2 years and I learned that a lot of people out there hate it there!! They are backstabbing, lying, cheating and fake ass people out there in that dry desert. People that only give a crap about themselves and people that use other people. Not a nice place to live tbh. I haven't had the pleasure of playing at Best Billiards but next time im in town you can count on it.

Watch out Eberle!! I'll be gunning for ya :cool:

Please, LA gives Vegas the 8 and the snap for self-involved folks. Well, maybe just the 8.

Kevin
 
Please, LA gives Vegas the 8 and the snap for self-involved folks. Well, maybe just the 8.

Kevin

Yeah I may have to agree on certain points that were made with the comparison between LV and LA.

Not ALL people in Vegas are like this but I found a lot of them were plastic as hell!!

9 out of 10 people I know that moved out said it was the best thing they ever did.
 
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.
 
say so before you start

I'm not sure what was the deal there, But I worked at Country club Billiards for 20 years and the way it worked there was it you wanted to take the special you had to say that when you started to play. When the computer was started at the begining to track your time if you took the special we would just start the timmer and stop it right away just so the system would show that that table was taken, If you did not take the special and just went on an hourly rate then the time was started and stopped when you returned the balls and you paid what ever the amount was at that time. We had to do it that way just because thats just how the system worked there but we always went out of our way to tell all our customers about the daily special
weather they played for 10 min or 10 hours, Thats just good business.
 
I'm not sure what was the deal there, But I worked at Country club Billiards for 20 years and the way it worked there was it you wanted to take the special you had to say that when you started to play. When the computer was started at the begining to track your time if you took the special we would just start the timmer and stop it right away just so the system would show that that table was taken, If you did not take the special and just went on an hourly rate then the time was started and stopped when you returned the balls and you paid what ever the amount was at that time. We had to do it that way just because thats just how the system worked there but we always went out of our way to tell all our customers about the daily special
weather they played for 10 min or 10 hours, Thats just good business.

I understand. Maybe a guy wants to be on the clock because he is going to play less than $8 worth at regular rates. Makes sense.

Thanks

Kevin
 
Lou

I don't get it. If you were there between the hours of the special rate how is it you didn't qualify for the special rates? You have to ask? You have to let them know? Huh ? Its their rates if that's what they charge between those hours how can they charge you more?

Thanks

Kevin

Not that it should matter,but that women probably never seen Lou before so she knows hes not a regular customer n figures he ll never be back again so she takes advantage of Lou(which is wrong n total bullshit)n probably pocketed some of the money that he was charged extra,but that comment she made i hope bites her in the ass,Lou is well knowed around the pool scene n on azbilliards,so Lous word of what they did to him,will cost them alot more money then what they made off of charging Lou more then he should of paid!
 
Not that it should matter,but that women probably never seen Lou before so she knows hes not a regular customer n figures he ll never be back again so she takes advantage of Lou(which is wrong n total bullshit)n probably pocketed some of the money that he was charged extra,but that comment she made i hope bites her in the ass,Lou is well knowed around the pool scene n on azbilliards,so Lous word of what they did to him,will cost them alot more money then what they made off of charging Lou more then he should of paid!

Nice conspiracy theory, but post #8 actually cleared it up (for me anyway).

Thanks

Kevin
 
Did you watch to see what she rang up for the time? In the bar and poolroom business som much of the business is cash and it's not unusual for the staff to go into business for themselves. I had a friend who sold 15 gallons of tea one day in one glass before he improved the inventory system.
 
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.
 
I think any place i have ever played in that had a special you had to ask for the special or pay up front. If you were a regular they would put you on the special automatically. First time in a room nobody told me either.

The special is a double edged sword for rooms, they might make some up on volume, but they certainly lose money over normal rates, especially since your regulars don't spend much money on anything beside pool and drink your free coffee
 
It is no contest, CUE CLUB is a dump in a shitty part of town. BEST BILLIARDS is in a good part of town, the service is amazing, and the food, well the food is some of the best Italian you will ever have. By the way you could eat of the rail of the table or the floor the place is so clean, and NO SMOKE.
 
Review

I'd also post up a review on Yelp.com as well as send a written letter to the owner. Maybe they don't know they have an employee who may be skimming from them.
 
Lou

I don't get it. If you were there between the hours of the special rate how is it you didn't qualify for the special rates? You have to ask? You have to let them know? Huh ? Its their rates if that's what they charge between those hours how can they charge you more?

Thanks

Kevin

Normally a special is paid in advance and if you dont, you go on hourly. The counter person should explain your options when you get the balls. Some player rooms just charge 'whichever is lowest' but that means they pay no attention to what the computer says should be in the drawer, which to me, is a bad idea.
 
Vegas Pool Rooms

I went to all three of the action rooms while in Vegas for ten days - Best Billiards, Cue Club and Pool Sharks. I did spend quite a bit more time at Best because that is where the action is. In recent years wherever the pool playing card players are hanging around is where most of the action will be.

Best is a unique pool room with great food and equipment. The Cue Club has seen better days but you can't blame the owner for the deteriorating neighborhood. If the action gravitated back there, so would the crowd, as it has done many times over the years.

Pool Sharks had the action and the people the last couple of years because that where most of the big money games were played. Remember Dippy Dave? This time it was pretty dead when I checked in.

I feel just as comfortable in the Cue Club or Pool Sharks. Like most old-timers, I spent my younger pool playing days in joints like these.
 
I went to all three of the action rooms while in Vegas for ten days - Best Billiards, Cue Club and Pool Sharks. I did spend quite a bit more time at Best because that is where the action is. In recent years wherever the pool playing card players are hanging around is where most of the action will be.

Best is a unique pool room with great food and equipment. The Cue Club has seen better days but you can't blame the owner for the deteriorating neighborhood. If the action gravitated back there, so would the crowd, as it has done many times over the years.

Pool Sharks had the action and the people the last couple of years because that where most of the big money games were played. Remember Dippy Dave? This time it was pretty dead when I checked in.

I feel just as comfortable in the Cue Club or Pool Sharks. Like most old-timers, I spent my younger pool playing days in joints like these.

Not so much the neighorhood as unfriendly staff, and the bathroom has been a joke for years. (Cue Club)
 
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