west coast east coast

phil

phil

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
seems to me from a year or so of observation on this excellent forum that most of the action and history of pool is way east of seattle my home town. though i know a few players from around here that werent too shabby(dan louie,rich geiler) or still playin like stan tourangeau or glenn atwell. any explanations on why my part of this beautiful country is lacking in a higher level pool scene or am i mistaken?
 
I still am wondering why pool is not as vibrant as it is in North Carolina or Ohio or any state in the midwest or east than California. It could just be the "culture" of the state.

You know how out of state people think that all Californians are surfers and such.

I really wish that California would be a hotbed of pool.

Alex
 
Foolio said:
I still am wondering why pool is not as vibrant as it is in North Carolina or Ohio or any state in the midwest or east than California. It could just be the "culture" of the state.

You know how out of state people think that all Californians are surfers and such.

I really wish that California would be a hotbed of pool.

Alex
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hard times gets some heavy hitters but yea no BIG money tourneys. dont know if there are any pro stops on the left coast at all. wtf?
 
phil said:
hard times gets some heavy hitters but yea no BIG money tourneys. dont know if there are any pro stops on the left coast at all. wtf?
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i give up. y'all jus blow my mind. keep up the good work. btw I LOVE POOL LIKE NO ONE I KNOW:)
 
EAst coast has more of most everything...well, except rain!
us-population-map.gif
 
Black-Balled said:
EAst coast has more of most everything...well, except rain!
us-population-map.gif
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kudos to that! sitting in sunroom now and its comin down in sheets! how did u know? haha love it anyway. im practically a salmon. not quite a shark yet. haha
 
phil said:
seems to me from a year or so of observation on this excellent forum that most of the action and history of pool is way east of seattle my home town. though i know a few players from around here that werent too shabby(dan louie,rich geiler) or still playin like stan tourangeau or glenn atwell. any explanations on why my part of this beautiful country is lacking in a higher level pool scene or am i mistaken?
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I am originally from the Pittsburgh area and have been out north of Seattle for the last 20 years. Now I am only 40 but as long as I can remember the pool scene has always been around the eastern area and I think that has to do with the numerous tours that they have that range from Florida to New York. I really dont understand why there is not an actual tour in our area, we have basically four to five major tournaments a year, the Seattle open at Uncle Jacks, Thanksgiving weekend at Malarkys, Laborday/Memorial(cant remember exactly which one) Day Weekend at Shotze's and now you have CSI 10 ball and one pocket qualifiers at the Golden Fleece. All of the above mentioned tournaments except the Golden Fleece because this is the first year of the events usually fill up a 64 player board pretty quick and then they usually extend it to 96 with a waiting list so the players are in the area. Also I dont think the Fleece is going to have a problem filling a 64 player field for any of there events.

I think the general pool scene is actually pretty good in the Pacific Northwest, yes we dont have the high end "pro's" like the east coast but there is really no reason for someone of that caliber to live in this area. The cost of travel would just be too much. Also I feel that these tours on the east coast make a better player, sorta gets them started on the competitive path in the early days in pool and lets them grow into champions. The players in our area usually dont play in larger tournament until after they are able to go to bars.

One last thing, the top players from our area which I am including Tacoma usually represent pretty well when going to major tournaments.
 
phil said:
hard times gets some heavy hitters but yea no BIG money tourneys. dont know if there are any pro stops on the left coast at all. wtf?
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White Diamond Billiards in Lafayette, Louisiana holds a Bar Box 9 Ball Tournament 2-3 times a year. Tournament and Calcutta are usually over $30,000 . Every Tournament. 128 player field with a waiting list. This past weekend Tournament and Calcutta paid out $52,655 . 1st place was about $19,000. I don't know if this qualifies as a big money tournament or not. BUT WITH A $40 ENTRY FEE, YOU MAKE THE CALL.

WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BIGGEST TOURNAMENT IN THE COUNTRY AND WILL GET BIGGER.
 
As the map shows, the larger cities are much more spread out in the west. Seattle/Tacoma area, Spokane, (something in Idaho), Portland and then California? That's a hard road to cover. In the east, they can easily hop from one large city to another and with a larger pool base.

I thought about it before, too, until I took a look at a map. ;)
 
Casey said:
White Diamond Billiards in Lafayette, Louisiana holds a Bar Box 9 Ball Tournament 2-3 times a year. Tournament and Calcutta are usually over $30,000 . Every Tournament. 128 player field with a waiting list. This past weekend Tournament and Calcutta paid out $52,655 . 1st place was about $19,000. I don't know if this qualifies as a big money tournament or not. BUT WITH A $40 ENTRY FEE, YOU MAKE THE CALL.

WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BIGGEST TOURNAMENT IN THE COUNTRY AND WILL GET BIGGER.
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I will have to disagree with your statement. The tourny is not the largest in the nation and yes the entry is only $40 but how much did the calcutta cost? If you average it out its close to $400 a person. Dont get me wrong, I think it is a great event and Joey G and Chip have to love it since they have won it the last three out of four times. I may be wrong about that but I think Iam close. I think the original post was about the location of top pros being on the east coast.
 
I never got to see that poohall in Seattle but i heard a lot about it. Funny but i was teh house pro in 2006 at Belltown Billiards right down the street :cool:
 
RunoutJJ said:
I never got to see that poohall in Seattle but i heard a lot about it. Funny but i was teh house pro in 2006 at Belltown Billiards right down the street :cool:
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Funny thing is that I never even thought about going into Belltown Billiards so I have no clue who you are but if you were the house pro apparently you can play so Im pretty sure you know the top players in the area which I am not.

The reason why I never went there is because it looked like more of a nightclub that you could play pool at than a poolhall and it look like a 20 something hangout. Maybe I am mistaken, but that is just my impression. Sorta like "The Parlor", looks like a yuppie hangout.

The Golden Fleece is the place to go if you are a pool player, they sell soda, beer, snacks, and pool. No loud music, tables and balls are always clean, and its like $5 an hour during peak hours and like $3 an hour before 5 pm I think. Its amazing and its sorta like stepping back in time a little. I get down there about once every couple of months and see how bad I miss on a 9 foot table and it just drives me nuts, but it makes me want to play more so next time I dont bang balls into the rail so much.
 
I was there through out the day up until 9pm most nights but i never stayed for club nights unless i was there to party. Once a new owner took over and removed half the tables i knew it was time to break down the cue and leave.
 
During the late 80's to mid 90's, the west coast ruled. Hard Times Wednesday tourneys were FILLED with pro players. Even Efren Reyes made Los Angeles his second home. Sadly, the players moved on, even McCready went to the east coast.
 
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