have pool players just given up and become poker stars. every time i go to the pool room it is the same three people there and two have know money. my pool room used to be filled with players and rail birds. what the hell is happening to this sport. is it the economy, easier to make money playing cards. the kids dont even come in after school,or even during like some of us did back in the day.no wonder all the pool rooms are suffering. help, send a kid to pool school.
where have all the pool players gone
- Thread starter bmoretallpaul
- Start date
TWO have no money, man your room is doing relatively well then. and every pool hall in the world has these "same three people" you refer to.... they just come in day in and day out.... seemingly forever. you could go to hard times in CA, go back in 15 years and it will be like time stood still.... those "same three people" just sitting there, hitting balls, at the same speed they ever did.
This is an era full of other stimuli for young people, a less physical sport era and more of an electronic one.
At the same time, if you read the other relative threads you will see why most players do not really have a goal in Pool like they used to, eventually they give up after a few years.
At the same time, if you read the other relative threads you will see why most players do not really have a goal in Pool like they used to, eventually they give up after a few years.
Our sport takes talent that must be nurchered,it's an art form..most people today have O.C.D. and can't pay attention for more than 2 seconds. Ever try to teach someone to make a shot 
..it seems most people want the easy way out,the quick fix,makes me feel like I'm a dinosaur,last of our kind.
..it seems most people want the easy way out,the quick fix,makes me feel like I'm a dinosaur,last of our kind.I quit going to the local pool room because of all the bad language and constant sharking, even by people who aren't playing. If the people that don't have any money want people that do, to play in their pool room, they need to clean up their act, but I just don't see that happening because they just don't get it.
Pool is still popular as a casual social game when people are drinking but there are nowhere near as many players who want to play seriously.
Pool isn't cool anymore. Kids are playing other sports or glued to their computer
Most of the kids who do play pool do so because their dad plays and is teaching them the game.
Pool isn't cool anymore. Kids are playing other sports or glued to their computer
Most of the kids who do play pool do so because their dad plays and is teaching them the game.
BS its still cool and kids love it even when they ain't no good...its manual manipulation to produce action not fake crap by hitting a button and getting a controller to "rumble" lmfao
kids aren't playing sports nearly as much today IMOP yes their glued to the PC or whatever is on the TV but its the parents that just dumped the poor little bastards on those electronic baby sitters which induce brain drain via sponge bob and reality tv garbage......
kids now are weird outcast and have rampant social disorders......they are ALL on some kind of drug it seems prescribed for ADD, ADHD, ADDFYTOJSKJNDGLJT hell just invent a dam acronym........
they are like that because the older crowd don't give two drops in a bucket about having to BUILD and nuture a young human being to become a GOOD humane being that does their best and all that good $hit we used to hear every day in this country......
you know when every kid was polite around adults and YES MAM NO MAN YES SIR NO SIR or you got whopped up side the head.....
now if a kid don't want to learn and just act the fool and "play" and be unconsious they say hell give him this orange pill once in the mourning and a half in the afternoon.......
now the kid don't act the ass.....he's quiet and he wants to take off but CAN'T F*KING MOVE!!!!!!
keep planting pansies and your never gonna get roses people
if you had it and was around you for oh i don't know 18yrs then YOU MADE IT AND BULIT IT YOURSELF.........so you got to ask your self in a very serious way.
SELF WTF AM I TRYING TO BUILD AND WHY?
You don't go off half cocked with no preshot routine raising kids.......build a foundation and watch them start adding the bricks one by one themselves....
teach them don't ignore them because they are a PIA....this comes with the territory so be grown.
we make the next generations into what they are,
-Grey GHost-
I quit pool because there was no money to be made unless you were at least a top 3 or 5 American player or so. I never reached that level and may or may not have been able too. This was close to 13 years ago. Sadly it appears that not much has changed.
If I play at all now it's because I love the game, not for the money. Before I barely liked it. I'd play for free but if you're competing you need something to make it mean something.
Mike Rinella
If I play at all now it's because I love the game, not for the money. Before I barely liked it. I'd play for free but if you're competing you need something to make it mean something.
Mike Rinella
Paul,
Want to find todays pool players? Go to your local corner bar most any evening. You'll find them playing in an APA, BCAPL, VNEA or other league.
Many years ago, our room manager bought ten Valley bar tables. Boy, was I pissed. So were most of the other "players". Degrading the room. Not real pool. In retrospect, the room would have closed from the lack of business without the bar boxes.
Several months ago, I joined an APA league. My fellow "players" laughed. Some still do. Monday and Wednesday evenings are my favorite nights of pool. Two beers and an order of hot chicken wings please!
It's a sad story. Unfortunately it is being repeated around the country. Then again, perhaps it's not sad at all. Just the (D)evolution of our favorite game.
Lyn
Want to find todays pool players? Go to your local corner bar most any evening. You'll find them playing in an APA, BCAPL, VNEA or other league.
Many years ago, our room manager bought ten Valley bar tables. Boy, was I pissed. So were most of the other "players". Degrading the room. Not real pool. In retrospect, the room would have closed from the lack of business without the bar boxes.
Several months ago, I joined an APA league. My fellow "players" laughed. Some still do. Monday and Wednesday evenings are my favorite nights of pool. Two beers and an order of hot chicken wings please!
It's a sad story. Unfortunately it is being repeated around the country. Then again, perhaps it's not sad at all. Just the (D)evolution of our favorite game.
Lyn
You are spot on Lyn. Times are changing, as one of the above posters asked if they was a dieing breed I would say yes. That quick fix refered to in a previous post equals that league handicap. There is no need for most to improve as they are given their skill to join a league and if they improve it hurts their team. Very sad.
If you objectively view it, it is easy to understand. I have been playing pool since I was 8 years old more then 55 years. No one can love the game more then I do but I go to the pool room and if nothing is going on I can't wait to get out of there. I see guys just sitting there hanging out it is hard to understand. There is just too much to do now-a-days and sitting in a pool room killing hours because you have nothing better to do may be over. There is more to do today then ever before. In fact a potential new player would spend like 5 minutes in a pool room and wonder WTF this is a bore and get the heck out and they may be right. Even years ago when I would take a non pool playing friend to the pool room in no time they wanted to leave wondering what I saw in hanging around this place. If I was wrong, then pool rooms would be crowded with new players. The fact is, to the general public pool is a bore to both play and watch. It is a niche sport with a very very small loyal subcultural following, but that is about it.
Pool and poolrooms will make a comeback! It always does. It's a very resilient sport, it just won't go away. You heard it here first! :thumbup:
I have been thinking about this subject since I came back to playing pool about 2 yrs ago.Back in the day I had the perfect pool situation. A nice pool hall about 4 blocks from were I lived and I lived 6 houses from the corner of the biggest hustling pool hall in the country, "The Rack". Every night was the "Color of Money" and during the day all the business guy's came into the other pool room and played, mostly 3C or golf and some 1 pocket. The place was always filled and it was not unusual to have to wait for a table. The owner held weekly tournements and regional tournements and brought in pro's for exhibition matches with the best local players. As you watched the pro's and hustlers it gave you some idea of what a real pool pro could do. So when I went to the nice pool hall I practiced and got help from some of the better players. They were nice enough to play for the time and give you an honest opinion of what your good at and what you needed to do to get better. I don't see that anymore. All I see when I walk into a room now is young guns who can shoot straight but are not interested in getting any better,and music which can only be explained by my generation as crap. Some of them are on drugs or are drinkers. They last awhile and then you never see them again.
They feel the game is either to boring or they want to be Poker Starz because of the TV coverage. Pool should have had a jump on poker for market share but they didn't do anything to cultivate the sport. Hardly any TV coverage except women and the mens tour just doesn't have or get the direction or the value of marketing. You just can't blame the APA,BCAPL or other league play to help bring the sport into the 21st century.
Yes I know bar box is not real pool but once people have success their maybe they will go to a 9 footer. Anyway just my opinion. I love the game but I am afraid its dying a slow death!
They feel the game is either to boring or they want to be Poker Starz because of the TV coverage. Pool should have had a jump on poker for market share but they didn't do anything to cultivate the sport. Hardly any TV coverage except women and the mens tour just doesn't have or get the direction or the value of marketing. You just can't blame the APA,BCAPL or other league play to help bring the sport into the 21st century.
Yes I know bar box is not real pool but once people have success their maybe they will go to a 9 footer. Anyway just my opinion. I love the game but I am afraid its dying a slow death!
I grew up in the '70s to '90s era of pool when action was the norm, kind of post Johnston City. I also had a brief pool experience in the early 2000s on the tournament trail.
The neighborhood pool rooms sure ain't what they used to be. In fact, the "real" pool rooms are extinct for the most part in the United States. Though there may be a few sprinkled here and there, the downturn in the economy has taken its toll on pool halls a/k/a billiard parlors a/k/a pool rooms, more ways than one.
If you like loud music, dozens of flat-screen TVs with football games on them, and alcohol, then this kind of pool room may be popular for today's pool peeps, but those kind of pool rooms are not fun for this goat-roper at all.
Growing up, we used to hang out in the neighborhood pool rooms and marvel at the local greats. There were a few tournaments here and there, but the majority of the activity in our pool room was action, whether it was playing for time or for a dime.
Pool players seemed to have what I term as "pool etiquette" back then, too. If a guy beat you out of your dough, he always paid the time, no questions asked. Sometimes the loser would get a jelly roll or a walking stick if they incurred a heavy loss. It was kind of like they believed you should never leave a fellow pool player broke, hoping that the favor would be returned someday.
Road warriors would leave the cities and travel cross country. As strangers in town, they looked for places to get played. It didn't matter who it was most times. They were looking for fresh prey. There was none of this begging for spots or matching up with handicaps. These action men stepped up to the plate and gave it their all, oftentimes playing with a house stick. There was definitely the possibility of getting beat, too. Sometimes the house man might be a professional-caliber player that the road agent had never heard of before. Western Union was a road player's best friend.
With the advent of digital technology, going on the road was not quite as lucrative anymore. Today's pool world worships anybody with deep pockets. In fact, it doesn't matter if they can't play very well or even play a lick. As long as they're willing to throw money around, that's all they need to do to be accepted into the culture.
Tournament soldiers will continue to be globe trotters, but like the road warriors, they too are becoming a dying breed, at least in these United States. :sorry:
The leagues and weekend regional tours is what is keeping pool alive and well today. I've said it before and I'll say it again. When I was playing on the leagues is when I had the most fun with pool. Professional pool and all of its false promises and political favoritism has killed my enthusiasm. As well, I don't worship money the way some do, so I don't get excited seeing deep-pocketed people play for big bucks that can't run four balls in a row.
Everybody thinks the golden age is when they were enjoying it. Well, my golden age of pool was the '70s through '90s. Everything after that, I feel like Captain Kirk, et al., of the Starship Enterprise trying to hang out with the Kling-ons. It's just not the same.
The neighborhood pool rooms sure ain't what they used to be. In fact, the "real" pool rooms are extinct for the most part in the United States. Though there may be a few sprinkled here and there, the downturn in the economy has taken its toll on pool halls a/k/a billiard parlors a/k/a pool rooms, more ways than one.
If you like loud music, dozens of flat-screen TVs with football games on them, and alcohol, then this kind of pool room may be popular for today's pool peeps, but those kind of pool rooms are not fun for this goat-roper at all.
Growing up, we used to hang out in the neighborhood pool rooms and marvel at the local greats. There were a few tournaments here and there, but the majority of the activity in our pool room was action, whether it was playing for time or for a dime.
Pool players seemed to have what I term as "pool etiquette" back then, too. If a guy beat you out of your dough, he always paid the time, no questions asked. Sometimes the loser would get a jelly roll or a walking stick if they incurred a heavy loss. It was kind of like they believed you should never leave a fellow pool player broke, hoping that the favor would be returned someday.
Road warriors would leave the cities and travel cross country. As strangers in town, they looked for places to get played. It didn't matter who it was most times. They were looking for fresh prey. There was none of this begging for spots or matching up with handicaps. These action men stepped up to the plate and gave it their all, oftentimes playing with a house stick. There was definitely the possibility of getting beat, too. Sometimes the house man might be a professional-caliber player that the road agent had never heard of before. Western Union was a road player's best friend.
With the advent of digital technology, going on the road was not quite as lucrative anymore. Today's pool world worships anybody with deep pockets. In fact, it doesn't matter if they can't play very well or even play a lick. As long as they're willing to throw money around, that's all they need to do to be accepted into the culture.
Tournament soldiers will continue to be globe trotters, but like the road warriors, they too are becoming a dying breed, at least in these United States. :sorry:
The leagues and weekend regional tours is what is keeping pool alive and well today. I've said it before and I'll say it again. When I was playing on the leagues is when I had the most fun with pool. Professional pool and all of its false promises and political favoritism has killed my enthusiasm. As well, I don't worship money the way some do, so I don't get excited seeing deep-pocketed people play for big bucks that can't run four balls in a row.
Everybody thinks the golden age is when they were enjoying it. Well, my golden age of pool was the '70s through '90s. Everything after that, I feel like Captain Kirk, et al., of the Starship Enterprise trying to hang out with the Kling-ons. It's just not the same.
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I've learned to NEVER argue with Jay, because he's usually spot on. However, after leaving our favorite hall with beautiful 9' Brunswick Centennials, we go to a local bar with Valley tables for eats.
The hall might have 5-6 tables being used....every night is league night or tournament at this bar, all the tables in use.
It's kind of sad.
Cool ???
What is cool? Is it sitting down in front of the big screen and shooting aliens? I guess that is cool but it is a short termed and shallow cool. I am raising four children and they all see pool as cool because dad plays it and I make sure they see just how cool it is.
My two oldest boys are 18 and 19 and they are frustrated with shooting on a Diamond pro.....untill they have a chance to play on another table and then they understand cool. They spank all their friends and are looked up to by their buddies because their friends think my boys are Earl and Johnny. I make them take the time to watch the Mosconi cup or other big match's because thats what feeds the desire to stick with a game that is many times harder then Halo or Call of Duty.
I recently took my oldest to a pool room last week and let him see the players in there, most were old 70 years old and up. It was mid day during the week so most folks were working except the retired guys. I asked my son do you think when your 70 there will be rooms loaded with old timers carrying their custom controllers in their custom leather controller cases looking to match up with each other or a computer.
If our kids don't think the game is cool then we need to work harder to show them it is. Just like we need to show them the importance of academics and the pitfalls of drugs and alcohol.
Pool is cool and it has been for at least 500 years.
What is cool? Is it sitting down in front of the big screen and shooting aliens? I guess that is cool but it is a short termed and shallow cool. I am raising four children and they all see pool as cool because dad plays it and I make sure they see just how cool it is.
My two oldest boys are 18 and 19 and they are frustrated with shooting on a Diamond pro.....untill they have a chance to play on another table and then they understand cool. They spank all their friends and are looked up to by their buddies because their friends think my boys are Earl and Johnny. I make them take the time to watch the Mosconi cup or other big match's because thats what feeds the desire to stick with a game that is many times harder then Halo or Call of Duty.
I recently took my oldest to a pool room last week and let him see the players in there, most were old 70 years old and up. It was mid day during the week so most folks were working except the retired guys. I asked my son do you think when your 70 there will be rooms loaded with old timers carrying their custom controllers in their custom leather controller cases looking to match up with each other or a computer.
If our kids don't think the game is cool then we need to work harder to show them it is. Just like we need to show them the importance of academics and the pitfalls of drugs and alcohol.
Pool is cool and it has been for at least 500 years.
And who will play in those pool rooms? Where is the continuity? As the gap widens there are fewer to pass the game on and even more distractions then ever before. In other words, pool often passes on from father to son or uncle and so on. It's becoming less and less likely for the game to be discovered by new young players who have different type of mental outlook. Spending hours trying to learn a game for not real reason then it is something to do is not the new mindset.
Take electronic games for example. Kids like to learn to play and perfect their play but move on to more challenging games and interests. There is always a next level they want to reach. That is the basis if the electronic game addiction, to keep advancing. Pool has a stagnant nature to it. It is hard for a new player to really get interested in what pool has to offer. Of course some will catch the bug but that is as it always has been. Pool just crawls along surviving without any real prospect of ever being relevant and in the modern fast paced environment, that will not be changing, may eventually have the relevance of a buggy whip.
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I definitely agree. Pool rooms of yesteryear are no more. I don't consider bars the same as real pool rooms.
The secret will have to be, not live in the past but find a way to make pool relevant in today's world. I think the net and live streaming is one of the ways. For the first time pool may have the ability to take it's fate in it's own hands. This board is an example, we have a brain trust here that could never have been assembled at any time before in history. Problems can be solved once you recognize there is a problem.