Its the way they grew up. It just doesn't seem hard to put on a pair of dockers and a polo shirt, along with some nice shoes, and I have some rockports and others that are much better playing pool for my back, than tennis shoe's. For 100, they can have a nice change, they blow that on bs every week. There are many problems with pool and this is one of them!
Tournament Dress Code U.S Vs the World
- Thread starter Johnnyt
- Start date
I completely agree. I love watching vintage pool videos where everyone is very well mannered and respectful and well dressed. I think it gives pool that aspect that I would love to see more of. I think it makes it more of a gentlemen's game and brings more viewership. I personally shoot pool in a suit about 90% of the time I go out and play. I like to bring some class with me everywhere I go.
They could pull up in Aston Martin's with the V12 roaring, opening the door for their supermodel date, while wearing a tuxedo made by Ralph Lauren, drinking a martini, shaken not stirred, and play lights out in the biggest tournament in America.
And guess what, folks that don't play pool won't give a crap. It's not a TV sport, and most likely never will be again. Hell, sometimes I'm watching and think how come I don't know what ball is what, and I even know the colors and have HD ???
Not sure why folks hate this. Hell, even bowling is rarely on TV anymore, I've yet to see much ping pong, badmitton, croquet, cricket, darts, beer pong, bags/cornhole, demolition derbies, mens' slowpitch softball, etc. etc. etc.
It's a fringe game, and most likely will be for a long time to come. But dressing well is NOT going to change anything, and if you are working on a billiards beer budget, don't expect pool players to have champagne taste in clothing.
And guess what, folks that don't play pool won't give a crap. It's not a TV sport, and most likely never will be again. Hell, sometimes I'm watching and think how come I don't know what ball is what, and I even know the colors and have HD ???
Not sure why folks hate this. Hell, even bowling is rarely on TV anymore, I've yet to see much ping pong, badmitton, croquet, cricket, darts, beer pong, bags/cornhole, demolition derbies, mens' slowpitch softball, etc. etc. etc.
It's a fringe game, and most likely will be for a long time to come. But dressing well is NOT going to change anything, and if you are working on a billiards beer budget, don't expect pool players to have champagne taste in clothing.
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Not just for tournaments but certain places overseas are on a completely different level as far as the dress code is concerned even for league play.
Back when I was stationed in Germany the pool hall that I played at every day had a team. I joined. We played league every Sunday at a different place rotating between all the pool halls. Each week you played 8ball, 9ball and straight pool. The dress code was dress shoes, slacks and a collared shirt which was usually the team's polo shirt that everyone on your team wore. Tucked in of course. Very different from what we are accustomed to here in the States. Personally I liked getting dressed up, looking sharp and battling it out on the table.
My first week playing with them I asked one of the old timers why we had to dress up. In broken English he said "son, when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you play good". I'll never forget that. Good times over there.
John
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Back when I was stationed in Germany the pool hall that I played at every day had a team. I joined. We played league every Sunday at a different place rotating between all the pool halls. Each week you played 8ball, 9ball and straight pool. The dress code was dress shoes, slacks and a collared shirt which was usually the team's polo shirt that everyone on your team wore. Tucked in of course. Very different from what we are accustomed to here in the States. Personally I liked getting dressed up, looking sharp and battling it out on the table.
My first week playing with them I asked one of the old timers why we had to dress up. In broken English he said "son, when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you play good". I'll never forget that. Good times over there.
John
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think he was being funny, meaning they make more money then pool players.
Someone is putting on the tournament though and making the rules. Like anything else, all they have to do is do it. The players come dresses based on requirements. Some like you have a habit of dressing well everyday. Me, I usually look like a bum by most standards with my long hair and beard, shorts, sandals and tee shirts. That is how I dress everyday, in fact where I live most people dress like that, I live in a boating community and you really can't judge a book by it's cover here.
I have played in a lot of tournaments and usually people dress decent whether required or not. Unless you are playing in a formal tournament in a nice hall or casino type setting though most tour tournaments are played in pool rooms. There is no real need to dress up for those, although I have always noticed the guys who are in at the end do show up looking pretty good.
Tournaments now a days are played pretty informal, even some of the bigger ones. The players rack for themselves there are no refs. Most don't even make announcements you have to guess who you are watching. In the case of most tournaments "The fish rots from the head down". A lot of these tour tournaments are run pretty poorly, it is not the players fault.
I have played in tournaments in Europe and they has some goofy dress codes. Black shoes, black pants, white shirt, everybody dressed the same. The players all looked like waiters. I played in one where when I showed up I didn't have any clothes to play. When they found out I was an American they waived the dress code for me for the day.
I was wearing a sweat shirt and jeans. I played pretty well though and did have to get some proper clothes for the next few days as I advanced. This was back in the early 80's and they were crazy for american players, they were not about to let me leave.
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Agree that pool isn't going to be popular on TV for a long time, if ever.
But if there was a list of things needed to make it happen, then having a dress code would most certainly be on that list.
Gotta start somewhere.
dom_poppa
Banned
I agree with the dress code. There should be one enforced. To be taken seriously you need a rule.
I dress very casually on weekly tournaments. With the memorial tournament or monthly tournament, it is good to dress nicely because there are going to be people watching. No matter how bad you play, as long as you look good, people will believe its just a bad day you are having.
I dress very casually on weekly tournaments. With the memorial tournament or monthly tournament, it is good to dress nicely because there are going to be people watching. No matter how bad you play, as long as you look good, people will believe its just a bad day you are having.
I read through all of these posts, and this might get buried...but you guys should know that dressing nicely isn't what made all of this money appear from nowhere for Snooker. You need to read up on Barry Hearn, as he's responsible for most, if not all, of the promoting and setting the standard for the game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Hearn
I agree that you should dress nicely for most things, but then again, what tournaments are you talking about where people are dressing casually? These $10-$50 bar/amateur tournaments? That's expected. You can't really expect someone to play in a $20-40 tournament with a $300 outfit, it doesn't really make sense. The only big, big tournament I know that allows for casual wear for the most part is the Derby. Can anyone name another?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Hearn
I agree that you should dress nicely for most things, but then again, what tournaments are you talking about where people are dressing casually? These $10-$50 bar/amateur tournaments? That's expected. You can't really expect someone to play in a $20-40 tournament with a $300 outfit, it doesn't really make sense. The only big, big tournament I know that allows for casual wear for the most part is the Derby. Can anyone name another?
Well, I dunno if it counts as BIG tournament but,
Rum Runners?
Also, while the SBE main event featured sharp-looking players, the pro-am was definitely casual friday for some guys.
Rum Runners?
Also, while the SBE main event featured sharp-looking players, the pro-am was definitely casual friday for some guys.
Do a google image search for Corey Deuel....almost every shot he has slacks, a belt, and a nice tucked in polo shirt. I would love to see this become the norm. It doesn't look too stuffy like a suit or vest, it has a vaguely athletic feel to it (probably because it looks like what golfers wear), looks very presentable, and provides for comfort and non-restricted movement. SVB often dresses similarly and I like the image it presents for pool.
That's true, but when have you ever seen Corey at a small bar or amateur tournament? Never. There won't ever be published photos of him online that don't represent that. The only pictures of me online are from the US Open and college tournaments where I'm obviously dressed to impress, but you won't see any of me wearing jeans and a v-neck last weekend when I traveled down to Tennessee.
I agree, those are definitely times when he was dressed to look his best and that is why they make a good example for how it should be done. I would just like to see those examples become the norm, sort of like in golf. Any day you show up at the golf course the majority of people will be dressed presentably. Sure, there are always the random guys that show up with cutoff jeans shorts or whatever (I play public courses) but for the most part, even on the cheapest of public courses, the average level of dress is pretty respectable.
I don't think people need to dress that way for just going down to practice at the pool hall or for league night necessarily either, but when it comes to tournaments, even smaller ones, I think it would be a move in the right direction for the sport if the players looked presentable and like they took it seriously.
Oh man, he's wearing solid gold cuff links!! He MUST be good! 
After I posted earlier, I thought about "Well, Corey plays golf, so he probably has a ton of these types of outfits anyways" and realized my post sounded slightly ignorant -- my bad. You're absolutely right about the golf analogy, no doubt. If you compare the jeans/cut-offs from golfing at public courses over to pool ...oh boy, we're doomed. I definitely agree that raising the bar, even if it's just a little bit, would be a great step in the right direction for the game.
You would think any decent player sponsor would supply at least 3 nice collared shirts with their name and/or logo on them. Then the player can buy a pair or two of slacks, shoes, and lose the hat. Go to a thrift store. I've donated 100's of nice cloths that didn't fit anymore. They all were much better than the outfits I see on some of the tours. Johnnyt
