Tried to help

[Bambu]

I'd say its because the owners don't play, at least I used to think that. But I've seen successful rooms done right, and by cab drivers who knew little about pool. I guess this is what happens when stupid people go into business.

We had one local room bought out by a gay guy who didn't care about pool. It was harsh, turned it into more of a teen dance hall hangout.

Our main room too, someone turned it into a dance club with a ghetto flavor. Black cloth, bad lighting, and crooked cues they pile in garbage cans. Its as if they are plainly saying they don't want any players in there.


Oh, the pain!

 

[hang-the-9]

Great post CreeDo!! I really don't understand how pool halls will survive today. Looking at the cost per table and what you can charge per hour it just does not look profitable to me. The closest pool hall to me is about an hour away, pretty nice place. They have probably 40 some 9' and Pro8' GCIIIs, 1 snooker, 2 carom tables and a handful of coin op bar boxes. I love the idea and feeling of all those tables but I cant say atmosphere because of some of the patrons. They also have a bar and grill with pretty good food. They are pretty big into card tournaments, some pool tourn aments, and leagues too. If they were closer I would visit more often. We have never had to wait for table time, it seems to me they are making money on everything else and table time is a bonus.

WI seems to be a pretty nice place for the pool scene, Romines is a great pool hall, I was there with my son during the Jr. Nationals, I wish I had a chance to hang out there a bit more on my own. And it seems half the cue makers on the planet have or had a shop in WI. From my reading because of the closeness of quality wood in the area.

 

[fastone371]

WI seems to be a pretty nice place for the pool scene, Romines is a great pool hall, I was there with my son during the Jr. Nationals, I wish I had a chance to hang out there a bit more on my own. And it seems half the cue makers on the planet have or had a shop in WI. From my reading because of the closeness of quality wood in the area.

Maybe the problem is I haven't even been playing 2 years yet so I am not sure where to look but there don't seem to be many BCA leagues around, the only 9 ball league I may know I think would be at Romines if they have one, I know they do Friday 9 ball tournaments. It seems like the best city for leagues is probably Fond Du Lac , they have a lot, many BCA, but it is a smaller city and they do not have a pool hall. There was a pretty big 8 ball tournament in Milwaukee about a month ago, singles, doubles and team, they had 84 I think show up for singles, I am not sure if that is a good turnout or not.

 

[JoeyA]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink!

 

[JoeyA]

But I give up.

My local pool hall has went through three owners since it first opened up. The guy that originally opened it knew how to run a pool hall. He was a great owner, unfortunately he also had a bad coke habit and eventually sold after about 10 years.

The next guy did ok. He benefited for the 1st guy getting everyone in line. Us regulars knew what was expected. No sitting on the rails, no drinks or smokes around the table. Respect the equipment and so on. He also had it for about 10 years. Things went okay, but started to turn into more of a bar than pool hall. Figures.

Now we have the new owners, nice people. But they have NO clue about how to run a pool hall or a bar for that matter. They brought in a new crowd that doesn't respect anything. They are afraid to throw out the trouble makers because they think they might loose business but they fail to realize that the good customers just go somewhere else so they don't have to deal with that crap. And they wont correct someone who is getting out of line and tearing up their equipment.

The owner asked me if I would repair some house cues for them. I said sure. I had a box of 50 cheap tip that cost me around $65.00. I only charged him a buck a cue because I knew things were tight for them. I was taking a loss but didn't mind, I looked at it like I was giving back something to a place I spent a lot of time at.

So I finish about 30 cues and bring them in one Saturday. I was walking around the room putting the cues in the racks when I saw a guy walk over and get one and start playing. After a couple of minutes he pulls out a pocket knife and cuts off the rounded part just as the owner walks by. The owner curiously asks what he was doing. The guy says "I don't like my tips curved like that, I want em a little flatter"! I was seeing red. The owner just looked at him, shrugged and said okay. That was it. I couldn't believe it!

Of course the tips didn't last too long with the morons abusing them and after about 2 months he asked how much another batch would cost him. I figured if I doubled the price maybe he would stop his customers from destroying them, wrong. When I told him 2 bucks a cue, (still way cheap) he said he didn't want to spend that much. I said that's fine I understand, times are tuff. So this guy goes out and buys slip on tips from Walmart. He says they are easier to replace. lol

I give up. He is on his own now.

When are we going to read your article about biohacking?

 

[Cdryden]

When are we going to read your article about biohacking?

You're right. I need to get back to working on my blog soon. I kind of spread myself a little too thin lately. Outside of pool I am a member of a non for profit group that raises money for our community. Last year I was voted in as an officer of the club, which is good but it also comes with a lot of work. I'm sorry to anyone that has been waiting on me for something like this. I need to get back on track.

 

[Cdryden]

Update

Well, last night was our last league night (playoffs). I decided I was going to talk to the owner about what has been on my mind. I had a whole speech worked out but half way through he informed me that he has a buyer for the pool hall.

Some guy wants to buy it and open up the upstairs and put in a teen center. I guess we will wait and see but I doubt that this is going to end well.

 

[CreeDo]

Well, last night was our last league night (playoffs). I decided I was going to talk to the owner about what has been on my mind. I had a whole speech worked out but half way through he informed me that he has a buyer for the pool hall.

Some guy wants to buy it and open up the upstairs and put in a teen center. I guess we will wait and see but I doubt that this is going to end well.

lol ... "Hey Cdryden, let me stop you right there. Don't care."

Well, hopefully they didn't make it sound like that,
but your instincts are right. The place may be doomed.

Keep that speech in your mind. When you first meet the new owners, lay it on them.
Let them know if the equipment is right, you'll be their biggest regular.
Nothing like a first impression. Your input might have a real effect on their
decisions and maybe even help them succeed where others have clearly failed.

 

[Cdryden]

lol ... "Hey Cdryden, let me stop you right there. Don't care."

Well, hopefully they didn't make it sound like that,
but your instincts are right. The place may be doomed.

Keep that speech in your mind. When you first meet the new owners, lay it on them.
Let them know if the equipment is right, you'll be their biggest regular.
Nothing like a first impression. Your input might have a real effect on their
decisions and maybe even help them succeed where others have clearly failed.

Yeah I thought I should give it a try with the new owners if it goes through. Who knows, maybe it will all work out.

 

[Cdryden]

I'm involved with a group that can help the owners out for sure, that's our area of expertise. What town/city/state is the pool room in? Maybe we can offer our services and we won't charge anything unless we get positive results, and we may get them a LOT of TV/Internet exposure in the process. If you don't want this info to be public email me at thegameistheteacher@gmail.com ....thanks, CJ Wiley

Thanks for the offer CJ. Things are in limbo at the moment but I will keep this in mind. I appreciate your help.

 

[Neil]

It's a weird deal, I've been going there so long that I feel like a I have a vested interest in it. I know I don't, but you start to feel that way about a place that you have spent a lot of years in.

They are nice people, but they just don't have a clue and haven't listened to those that do. The manager that worked for the original owner stayed on to help them out but they wouldn't listen to him either, they've since parted ways. It's a shame really.

Screw it, I'll just open up my own place! Anybody wanna loan me a couple hundred grand to get started!

I know exactly how you feel. I tried to run a tourney at our local room. The manager of the place has no clue about pool. Don't know if he even has ever played one game of it. But, he's runs the restaurant and bar, and lets the pool side go. I recently had to stop running the tournament because I couldn't take it anymore. I'm trying to bring in business for him, and he wants to sabotage me every week with what tables and how few I can have for it. Just not worth it.

 

[CJ Wiley]

It's a standing offer if you're close to the Texas area.

Thanks for the offer CJ. Things are in limbo at the moment but I will keep this in mind. I appreciate your help.

It's a standing offer if you're close to the Texas area. We'll volunteer to raise any pool room's revenue by 20% and decrease their cost of goods by 15% at no charge unless these goals are met, then it will be a relative amount (based on the increase).

We are in the process of putting together a show like a "Hell's Kitchen" for pool rooms, so it will be filmed and presented to over 70k people a week through all of our internet resources.

This applies to Texas only at this time....we can be reached at thegameistheteacher@gmail.com