What will it take to Jump start Pool in America

Black-Balled said:
Sorry if it has already been addressed...:rolleyes:

Why does pool need saving?
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So our boys can make an honest living is how I see it long term.

Because if/when play increases (Matchroom?) pool rooms will be flooded, many rooms have closed down, prices will RISE dramatically you'll be on a wait.....then the complainers will surface :).

I was in FL, and played a guy 14.1 for 5 hours and table time was $70. And they didn't even supply KY.
 
for one or two players?

Island Drive said:
So our boys can make an honest living is how I see it long term.

Because if/when play increases (Matchroom?) pool rooms will be flooded, many rooms have closed down, prices will RISE dramatically you'll be on a wait.....then the complainers will surface :).

I was in FL, and played a guy 14.1 for 5 hours and table time was $70. And they didn't even supply KY.
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If it was $70 total for two players to play for five hours I hope and assume you are posting with tongue firmly in cheek! Despite the fees for everything else, players do think seven dollars an hour to play on nice equipment is unreasonable. I have to admit I usually play on the daily specials so I feel free to visit with friends and such when there are plenty of empty tables if other people want to play.

Just the way things work, often I would get off cheaper paying by the hour than the special so the counter person rings it up thataway. I always make them stick to our original deal and add a nice tip on top!

A sad story: The last time I walked in Greenway in Baton Rouge the place was dead empty at ten or eleven AM except for a few people at the counter drinking coffee. I was toting my cue case and walked up to the counter. "How much to bang the balls around awhile?"

"Fourteen dollars an hour."

I gave another look at the tables that didn't look like they had received any care in the last ten years or so. I didn't want to know what some of those stains were and the ripped and torn cloth on every table was sad. I turned and walked out. RIP Greenway. I remember when it was one of the hubs that the US pool world turned on and back then that meant the world when talking pool.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
If it was $70 total for two players to play for five hours I hope and assume you are posting with tongue firmly in cheek! Despite the fees for everything else, players do think seven dollars an hour to play on nice equipment is unreasonable. I have to admit I usually play on the daily specials so I feel free to visit with friends and such when there are plenty of empty tables if other people want to play.

Just the way things work, often I would get off cheaper paying by the hour than the special so the counter person rings it up thataway. I always make them stick to our original deal and add a nice tip on top!

A sad story: The last time I walked in Greenway in Baton Rouge the place was dead empty at ten or eleven AM except for a few people at the counter drinking coffee. I was toting my cue case and walked up to the counter. "How much to bang the balls around awhile?"

"Fourteen dollars an hour."

I gave another look at the tables that didn't look like they had received any care in the last ten years or so. I didn't want to know what some of those stains were and the ripped and torn cloth on every table was sad. I turned and walked out. RIP Greenway. I remember when it was one of the hubs that the US pool world turned on and back then that meant the world when talking pool.

Hu
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Hu you may enjoy this old thread.

https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=3022
 
Enjoyed But Made Me Sad Too

Cuebuddy said:
Hu you may enjoy this old thread.

https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=3022
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A great old thread! I have to admit it made me sad thinking about the people like Hemi Cudas and some mentioned in the thread no longer with us. Lambert had also owned a pool hall on plank road. Old flat roofed building and the roof leaked in a new place every time it rained and got another table!

I was pretty severely underaged when I first started going to the hall on plank road, Shoppers Pool Hall named to go with the little strip mall the hall was part of and the Shoppers Fair big box store in the back. I quickly cultivated a taste for pool and beer and I had been an honored customer for years when Jessie came along and bought the tables and stuff and leased the building from Lambert. Jessie and Lambert played for the rent every month, one month at Greenway, one month at Shoppers. Jessie said he didn't pay rent very often!

Shoppers was my home away from home and while Jessie wasn't big on giving to others what he had learned the hard way or even selling it cheap he started mentoring me a little. I hadn't seen him helping anyone else except to protect his equipment so I was a little miffed thinking I was a wee bit better than that! Jessie noticed and never gave me another piece of advice. Instead he would come give the person I was playing a little advice, often stuff far too advanced to do them any good. I would use the advice later that session or in a day or two. Without fail I would look over to the counter and see Jessie grinning. I left town a couple years and when I came back Shoppers and Jessie were gone.

Good times at Shoppers and Greenway back when the world was young. There was a hall around LSU too, I don't remember the name. Down some stairs into a genuine hall and you called for the rack "boy", an old black gentleman. Fifteen cents a rack and us high rollers would give a quarter and tell him to keep the change. When I ran low on funds a time or two I thought about how many games those dimes would have bought but by then me tipping the dime was customary.

I think that old hall, a couple in Port Allen also known as West Baton Rouge, all still had ten footers and deep cloth. Heavy leather pockets that gave that deep thud when the balls hit dead center. Clay balls one place, I can't remember for sure about the others. I spent many an hour in Nick's Steakhouse too. The steaks had been good but when the strip went downhill the tables and chairs were all in a huge pile in the back and the ten footers were put in. They weren't in regular use by the time I found them. A few hardcore drinkers at the bar and I was usually alone in the dark in the back. I would turn the light on over one table and head to the back with my mixed drink at the ripe old age of fifteen.

Lots of memories indeed!

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
A great old thread! I have to admit it made me sad thinking about the people like Hemi Cudas and some mentioned in the thread no longer with us. Lambert had also owned a pool hall on plank road. Old flat roofed building and the roof leaked in a new place every time it rained and got another table!

I was pretty severely underaged when I first started going to the hall on plank road, Shoppers Pool Hall named to go with the little strip mall the hall was part of and the Shoppers Fair big box store in the back. I quickly cultivated a taste for pool and beer and I had been an honored customer for years when Jessie came along and bought the tables and stuff and leased the building from Lambert. Jessie and Lambert played for the rent every month, one month at Greenway, one month at Shoppers. Jessie said he didn't pay rent very often!

Shoppers was my home away from home and while Jessie wasn't big on giving to others what he had learned the hard way or even selling it cheap he started mentoring me a little. I hadn't seen him helping anyone else except to protect his equipment so I was a little miffed thinking I was a wee bit better than that! Jessie noticed and never gave me another piece of advice. Instead he would come give the person I was playing a little advice, often stuff far too advanced to do them any good. I would use the advice later that session or in a day or two. Without fail I would look over to the counter and see Jessie grinning. I left town a couple years and when I came back Shoppers and Jessie were gone.

Good times at Shoppers and Greenway back when the world was young. There was a hall around LSU too, I don't remember the name. Down some stairs into a genuine hall and you called for the rack "boy", an old black gentleman. Fifteen cents a rack and us high rollers would give a quarter and tell him to keep the change. When I ran low on funds a time or two I thought about how many games those dimes would have bought but by then me tipping the dime was customary.

I think that old hall, a couple in Port Allen also known as West Baton Rouge, all still had ten footers and deep cloth. Heavy leather pockets that gave that deep thud when the balls hit dead center. Clay balls one place, I can't remember for sure about the others. I spent many an hour in Nick's Steakhouse too. The steaks had been good but when the strip went downhill the tables and chairs were all in a huge pile in the back and the ten footers were put in. They weren't in regular use by the time I found them. A few hardcore drinkers at the bar and I was usually alone in the dark in the back. I would turn the light on over one table and head to the back with my mixed drink at the ripe old age of fifteen.

Lots of memories indeed!

Hu
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Another great story Hu.

About ten years ago I met a player named JR from Aspen Colorado who is about 15 years my senior. JR still plays at a high level and makes it over to my place 4-5 times a year and we play pool for about 10 hours non-stop.

I asked JR about how he got interested in the game and he told me about the pool hall in his home town of Glens Falls NY. This place had three names

Empire Billiards
Charlies pool hall
Jakes

JR has the gift of gab and would talk about this room in a almost trance like state. While he is talking I am busy searching the web for info or pictures about Charlies. low and behold I find a story on the web By AZB's own Tom Hay.

I let JR read it and he got a little misty;)

Here is the short article by Tom Hay.

http://www.sneakypetemafia.com/story-of-old-tom-hay/
 
Jessie tried

Cuebuddy said:
Another great story Hu.

About ten years ago I met a player named JR from Aspen Colorado who is about 15 years my senior. JR still plays at a high level and makes it over to my place 4-5 times a year and we play pool for about 10 hours non-stop.

I asked JR about how he got interested in the game and he told me about the pool hall in his home town of Glens Falls NY. This place had three names

Empire Billiards
Charlies pool hall
Jakes

JR has the gift of gab and would talk about this room in a almost trance like state. While he is talking I am busy searching the web for info or pictures about Charlies. low and behold I find a story on the web By AZB's own Tom Hay.

I let JR read it and he got a little misty;)

Here is the short article by Tom Hay.

http://www.sneakypetemafia.com/story-of-old-tom-hay/
Click to expand...



Jessie opened a place without alcohol for youngsters somewhere around Port Vincent. I never found it so I don't know just where. He tried to be a good influence on youngsters. I don't know if he suspected my age when he took over or not but he did invite me to visit him at the Port Vincent place. By then I was a long sixteen, maybe seventeen.

I never found the place in Port Vincent. I brought most of the younger crowd into his place on Plank Road and we spent a lot of money there though. We had to be quietened down now and then but not too often. It was a pretty rough place anyway. I was in there maybe three or four times when guns went off. Not in anger fortunately, just falling out of pockets or people playing with them. The counterman was responsible for one shot. I saw him playing with the pistol when I grabbed a few beers so I wasn't surprised at all when the gun went off a few minutes later. One shot hit the breaker box, I believe that one. None of them ever cut meat so no big deal.

Rumor has it that Jessie took over Greenway for a year or two. Perhaps. Somebody was steering the road players that passed through Greenway my way for awhile. It was a matter of some curiosity but since I never found out for sure who was steering I never learned if they were trying to do me a favor or harm. Danny Medina did tell me I was in "the book". I wanted to see the book but Danny wasn't showing it that day.

He wanted me to take a ride with him but I had too much going on the legit side locally to drop it all to hit the road. I had never heard of Danny Medina and he was sleeping in his car that night anyway. Might have taken him up on the road had he had a full sized car. I had a single seat pick-up at the time and he was driving about a '74 Malibu. I was tall enough to know sleeping in that mid-sized car would be danged uncomfortable! Danny was a young happy go lucky guy at the time and I have always regretted not taking him up on the road trip. Of course I might have regretted doing it more!

Hu
 
Jim...I too know JR, and we have played a few times as well...usually at Fred's house, and sometimes downtown at the pool hall. I used to come to Aspen from Gunnison fairly frequently, and there was always a pool hall downstairs in a downtown building...even in the 70's! JR is a great guy, and we got along famously! I haven't seen JR for several years, but I'm sure he's still going strong! :thumbup: Next time you see him (or Fred) please pass on my best wishes!

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

Cuebuddy said:
Another great story Hu.

About ten years ago I met a player named JR from Aspen Colorado who is about 15 years my senior. JR still plays at a high level and makes it over to my place 4-5 times a year and we play pool for about 10 hours non-stop.

I asked JR about how he got interested in the game and he told me about the pool hall in his home town of Glens Falls NY. This place had three names

Empire Billiards
Charlies pool hall
Jakes

JR has the gift of gab and would talk about this room in a almost trance like state. While he is talking I am busy searching the web for info or pictures about Charlies. low and behold I find a story on the web By AZB's own Tom Hay.

I let JR read it and he got a little misty;)

Here is the short article by Tom Hay.

http://www.sneakypetemafia.com/story-of-old-tom-hay/
Click to expand...
 
Hu...As you know, every true road player had a "little black book" from contacts made all over the country, that told them who to play (and how to play them), or who to stay away from. The code of the road player was to never 'queer' another player's action, therefore if you weren't 'in the club' you would likely never see a player's 'book'! Interestingly, even today, we still find road players (and sometimes tournament players) who are sleeping in their cars or 6 to a hotel room...not a lifestyle that I would enjoy. I've been traveling the road doing my pool thing successfully for more than 30 years. I've never HAD to sleep in my car, and I've always eaten whatever I wanted, whether it was McD's or steak & lobster at a fine restaurant. Not many road players can make that statement (and have it be true)! You know what I'm talking about (moreso than many) as you lived a lot of it yourself. :thumbup:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

ShootingArts said:
Rumor has it that Jessie took over Greenway for a year or two. Perhaps. Somebody was steering the road players that passed through Greenway my way for awhile. It was a matter of some curiosity but since I never found out for sure who was steering I never learned if they were trying to do me a favor or harm. Danny Medina did tell me I was in "the book". I wanted to see the book but Danny wasn't showing it that day.

He wanted me to take a ride with him but I had too much going on the legit side locally to drop it all to hit the road. I had never heard of Danny Medina and he was sleeping in his car that night anyway. Might have taken him up on the road had he had a full sized car. I had a single seat pick-up at the time and he was driving about a '74 Malibu. I was tall enough to know sleeping in that mid-sized car would be danged uncomfortable! Danny was a young happy go lucky guy at the time and I have always regretted not taking him up on the road trip. Of course I might have regretted doing it more!

Hu
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Scott Lee said:
Jim...I too know JR, and we have played a few times as well...usually at Fred's house, and sometimes downtown at the pool hall. I used to come to Aspen from Gunnison fairly frequently, and there was always a pool hall downstairs in a downtown building...even in the 70's! JR is a great guy, and we got along famously! I haven't seen JR for several years, but I'm sure he's still going strong! :thumbup: Next time you see him (or Fred) please pass on my best wishes!

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
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Scott I will be seeing JR in a week as my wife will be out of town;). I don't see Fred much anymore but I will convey your message. JR retired recently and is very active for such an old fart. He rides motorcycles and has a Porsche. We have been contemplating a road trip one of these days!
 
The internet really can bring in people to play pool if you use it right.

one stroke said:
Good god you ever heard of the kiss rule ,, 1 in a hundred might read thru that im not the 1 , First off there isn't a problem nor does it need a jump start pool is again on the rise it should be used as a indicator of the economy which is good that's bringing more Tournaments and big matches and also in the areas that lost pool venues your seeing new places open up 4 in my area alone , The MC and the US OPEN being in Vegas is sure to add more interest, its trickle up economics

1
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Simple is let's have another tournament, and that's what helped developed this thread.

I guess this just drives my point home though... 4 new hall's near you and google can't even find them.
 
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