Women pool players

TheThaiger

TheThaiger

Banned
How many women play pool in the US? I sometimes watch videos of people asking for help with their stroke etc, and often see women playing on adjacent tables. I've also read enough comments about women's teams etc to believe it's a popular excursion for the fairer sex in America.

My local hall had a couple of girls playing together tonight. This is a real rarity here in the UK, where females only tend to play on dates, and never seriously. I would say less than 1% of all serious players here are female.
 
It's probably far less than that here. You get some females in the leagues. You might see a woman come in, get a rack of balls and put in some practice time alone once in a decade. It might be different in a big pool city like Dallas. In the southeast it is rare to see a woman that can play. By "can play" I mean they could break and run or can run out on you if you don't watch what you are doing.
 
There is one gal that plays pretty sporty at my local hall. All she played on was the Diamond 9 footers. Unfortunately she has dropped out for a while to finish college. She could not only hold her own, she won many a ring game. I used to love watching her bruise all those male super egos and take home the cash. :smile:
 
onepocketron said:
There is one gal that plays pretty sporty at my local hall. All she played on was the Diamond 9 footers. Unfortunately she has dropped out for a while to finish college. She could not only hold her own, she won many a ring game. I used to love watching her bruise all those male super egos and take home the cash. :smile:
Click to expand...

I'm sure that's all true. But that's not the norm, it's an exception. It's a rarity to see a Filipina intentionally play a safety. What significant Pro Pinay player other than Rubilen Amit can you think of, without looking it up? How many significant Pro Pinoy's other than Efren Reyes can you think of, without looking it up?

There is obviously something going on here. My Pinoy friends "in the know" tell me it's a sponsorship issue. I don't buy it. The Taiwanese/Chinese/Korean Lady's seem to be doing ok.
 
as always can't speak for anywhere other than where i am, but there's more than a few women who play around here. three i can think of off the top of my head that will gamble. there are more women playing these days than you'd think.
nothing makes me laugh harder than watching my girlfriend whip a mans ass in a tournament and watching his male ego get all butt hurt.
i will say that even top tier pro women seem to have a hard time competeing against top tier men, but they can play for sure and they are out there.
 
At Amsterdam Billiards in NYC there is a beginner and advanced coed team league. The beginner league has around 150 members, approx 25% are women. I'm guessing the advance league has around 200 members, 10-15% women.
 
In New York City, we have a fairly large amount of women who are competent pool players. It's a very good and encouraging scene attributable to a large number of upscale rooms and a rich history in women's pool. I'm sure someone could do a study as to why so many women play pool here but at this point, I would say that the number has gone beyond critical mass and has become self-perpetuating. Women play here because women play here.
 
Good point

There definitely seems to be a higher percentage of women players in the US than in the UK. I used to play in an English 8 ball bar league in England and I think there were about half a dozen women players out of about 80 players in the league. There were no women snooker players in the league I played in.
As Jude pointed out there is certainly a high ratio in NYC and some pretty decent players as well.

I think the organized league system with a goal to play in Vegas or win some decent cash helps. Having handicapping in leagues also helps encourage people to join leagues, as almost from day one a player has a chance of winning.

Trevor
 
It will be very difficult for a woman to become a pool player because the majority of kitchens are too small to fit a pool table.

(This is a joke friends, I'm just trying to lighten the mood)
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
In New York City, we have a fairly large amount of women who are competent pool players. It's a very good and encouraging scene attributable to a large number of upscale rooms and a rich history in women's pool. I'm sure someone could do a study as to why so many women play pool here but at this point, I would say that the number has gone beyond critical mass and has become self-perpetuating. Women play here because women play here.
Click to expand...

I agree with Jude. It's more of a "previously established" thing than anything else. I think because the pool halls in NYC and outerlying areas tend to be on the trendy side -- looking to woo the NY trendy social scene -- that women are not afraid to come in and partake of the pool scene.

And, the marketing of the female pool playing scene in NYC is FORMIDABLE. Jude's right that NYC's scene is well past critical mass and self-perpetuating. I think any area looking to branch their pool scene out to the fairer sex need only to look at NYC for guidance on how to do it. Jude's room, btw, is a good example to follow.

-Sean
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top