What do you pay? What do you think?

Hey Frank. Table time is free at "MY" pool hall and NO gangsta rap. Next time you are near Pasadena hit me up. Hope your good bud!

Russ....
 
2 different locations...

Nashville, TN.
Melrose Billiards
9-8fts.. 1 9ft....1 snooker table
Recently flooded, again... A total rehab will hopefully happen, but at this place, who knows? :p... as the place probably has the original carpeting from its origins many moons ago. Tables are all outta whack, but playable. Cloth replaced about every 6 months.
There's a large condo building being built from scratch, and a new strip mall on top, as the billiard room is in the basement...So if they decide to do a total rehab, now's the time. Landlord locked into a "grandfathered lease" from some 30-40 yrs. ago. He also owns numerous successful restaurants and bars in Nashville, and claims this is his goldmine :D I sure hope it happens...I would assume the rates would rise as well...
Day... 2.50c/hr....flat.
Night...7 or 8$/hr....flat.

Traverse City, MI.
Lucky Jacks
8-8fts... Super Slow cloth, decent bumpers, Only place to play up here... I'd die for a 9footer!!
4-6pm 6$/hr....flat...BUT, if you get there before 6 and clock in, your time remains at 6/hr, which makes it sweet...
6pm on 9$/hr. And no free refills on soda or coffee :frown: Not sure if they charge for water :D
Clint <---having to make do...
 
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You seem to have a lot of issues with the place...

About the music: Talk to the manager. Not the waitress. The waitress doesn't care.
In my experience, a lot of them are young girls who are still kind of in the party phase of their lives
and don't really understand why someone might not wanna go to a dance club at volume 99.
In some cases they're the ones cranking it up.
Tell the manager he's scaring off your business by making the music pointlessly, uncomfortably loud.

About the prices: You said "after being laid off... I can't afford 20-30 bucks for pool".
Well, that sucks, but why should a pool hall worry about being affordable to unemployed people?
Not to be a jerk but... find a job? Then $20 of table time won't be such a big deal.

If you're asking whether these prices are fairly normal, the answer is definitely "yes".
There are 5 places I go to frequently and most of them are $8-$10. A few of them offer
flat-rate specials like $8 from open to 7pm, or $10 of food and the time's free.
I notice the ones that don't have those specials... tend to have the best equipment.

I dunno why they aren't successful and don't have quarter tables,
but definitely bring your suggestions to the manager. You can wait for him to figure it out
on his own but that may never happen.
 
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in atlanta a lot of places offer free time if you purchase lunch from around 11 am to 3 pm. after that most places are around 6-7 an hour for single players during the week a little more on the weekends. since i've been back here in south florida i have found a few places with simmilar rates and decent equipment.
i am not paying 10 bucks an hour for a single player in most places i go. i would however pay that in an area such as new york city where a lot of things can be on the higher side (i am not opposed to a room that has to pay high rent charging what they nned to). but if that were the case it would have to be decent equipment. i won't pay a premium to play on shit tables.
 
I teach at a lot of different pool halls. Usually, I get a flat rate ($8/hour) during any Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

I brought in a couple (GF & BF) and they got winged $25 for two hours, plus my fee. I won't be seeing them on any followup lessons - and will find another place for dual student lessons.
 
allanpsand said:
I teach at a lot of different pool halls. Usually, I get a flat rate ($8/hour) during any Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

I brought in a couple (GF & BF) and they got winged $25 for two hours, plus my fee. I won't be seeing them on any followup lessons - and will find another place for dual student lessons.
Click to expand...

Oh really?

And did you have an explicit agreement with the owner (not some employee)
that in exchange for using his place to give lessons, he'd charge you just $8/hr.?

Or did you automatically assume you're entitled to free table time for your students,
just because some other pool hall once gave you that deal?

I don't understand the mindset of people who say "I expected to pay less than the advertised rates,
and I was shocked and offended when I had to pay the same as everyone else.
What bullshit. I'm taking my business elsewhere."

You act like you're doing them a favor and that's why you deserve a break.
I guess because you might be bringing them potential business in the future.

Well, maybe you are, but they're doing you a favor too. You're using their equipment
and 'office space' to earn money for yourself. Without the pool hall, you'd have to provide
your own $10,000 piece of equipment and find some place to put it.

IMO they don't owe you anything, and the only reason you should be mad is if you made an agreement
and the agreement was broken. Before just packing up in a huff and deciding to do elsewhere,
did you even TRY talking to the owner?
 
Apparently?

There seems to be a common theme emerging here. Pool halls that "used" to be decent places to play at a reasonable rate are catering to the younger and less experienced crowds that don't really care about the equipment. They want dance floors, karaoke, loud music. I actually had a room manager tell me once that if he could do away with the leagues he would. He said that the league players and serious pool players want good equipment that's kept maintained and they rarely buy a lot of alcohol or food. On the flip side, he could fill the place with the under 25 crowd and as long as the alcohol keeps flowing....they are happy and he's making money
 
ne14tennis said:
There seems to be a common theme emerging here. Pool halls that "used" to be decent places to play at a reasonable rate are catering to the younger and less experienced crowds that don't really care about the equipment. They want dance floors, karaoke, loud music. I actually had a room manager tell me once that if he could do away with the leagues he would. He said that the league players and serious pool players want good equipment that's kept maintained and they rarely buy a lot of alcohol or food. On the flip side, he could fill the place with the under 25 crowd and as long as the alcohol keeps flowing....they are happy and he's making money
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Any room or business owner should do what is best for him and the biz. I can't imagine many owners thinking about league players like the one you mention.
I have played league in 4 different places around the country and all spent money. Wish he had some of those kind of players.

I was surprised that the placed changed so dramatically. They already had a good crowd and a good mix. Maybe the owner changed
 
frankncali said:
Any room or business owner should do what is best for him and the biz. I can't imagine many owners thinking about league players like the one you mention.
I have played league in 4 different places around the country and all spent money. Wish he had some of those kind of players.
Click to expand...

What he said. Sure, there have been a couple of teams that show up, play their stuff and run off to home or their bar without really spending anything, but a heavy majority eat, drink and be merry. APA leaguers, around here, spend more on average than BCA leaguers, imho. Either way, I know the bars and halls appreciate them because they actually buy stuff.

On topic:

The bar I hang out at has 3 25c Valleys and one 50c Valley. Also has a half-track shuffleboard, 2 dart boards, a couple of pinball machines, a 25c jukebox(with actual CDs in it) and some poker machines. $1.75 for a PBR tallboy and $3 for a shot of EW.
 
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frankncali said:
So last night my GF had a home party (she has a side biz) and I drove her there. It was near a pool room I used to go to on occasion and thought I would bang them around and hang out a few hours.

I heard it changed and I was surprised how much.

I got there just before 7 and was told that for 1 player it was $10 an hour but that if I had others meeting me it was still only $10 an hour. The counter guy said that its because its a Friday night. SO I look and see 6 people in the whole big pool room.

I say I will have burger and diet soda. okay that will be $10.50. I was a bit surprised but they used to be good. Not any more.

So I sit and 2 guys come in and plant themselves on a couple couches which I found odd to be in a pool room.
The music was a little loud but then the girl working went over and turned it up to about 12. It was all explicit lyric music at that. She asked me if everything was alright and I said I would take a to go box. She brought it and I asked who put on the music and why it was turned up. She said the juke box chooses the music trying to get people to play it and she and another person liked it loud..Said it set the mood.

I went to a book store and and the mall then came back about 9pm to check it out and see if anyone I knew was playing.
At 9:10 on a sturday night the place used to be busy. Well they had 4 people on the 9 footers and zero on the 7 footers. There were 7 people sitting at the bar.
I literally heard the music before I went into the room from where I parked.

the pool room is Shooters in Riverside Ca. I used to really like the room and it was a good cross between a shooters room and a bangers spot. Good fair prices with a full bar and good food.

I heard they were going to remodel and I thought okay lets see what they do. It was already a good layout but they had no bar boxes. The remodel looked very expensive especially since they moved the nice bar and the kitchen.

Color me not a fan of the remodel and I wonder if any players play out of there any more. I asked a guy working and he said that some guys (about15 or more) come in on Saturdays for a tournament and that they still get some but not many for a weekly tournament.

I have been out of pool for almost 3 years so its been a while since I have been there. I also may be out of the loop on table time and I might not be the best customer right now after being laid off but I cant afford 20-30 bucks for pool and another 10 on something to eat/drink. All just to kill some time for 2-3 hours. I was looking at about $40

Whats the rates where you live? Maybe I am just too tight right now but it seemed like a lot.
Seems like a simple change to get some bar tables in there for league would have been the best solution. Maybe they are still rocking and I caught them on an off night.
Click to expand...

I was actually caught off guard when you said it was Shooter's. I used to love playing on those tables and the atmosphere in general. I moved 2 years ago. Shocked a place could go downhill that fast. Maybe it did change hands.........
 
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