Worst pool room in the country- SNOOKERS Tallahassee,FL

[firehawk062]

I really hate that I have to do this, but people should know the kind of treatment to expect at Snookers. Locals are already well aware of the BS that happens here. The way they have treated players has sent most of them running to other pool rooms. Some of them have even been barred for simply questioning why the pool room does the things they do. For example, they used to have a Tuesday night tournament, but people quit showing up after the pool room demanded 30% of the money. The real capper was yesterday's US OPEN Qualifier. There were 21 players, most of whom came from other cities and states. The pool room not only charged table time for practice, BUT FOR THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT TOO! It had to come out of the purse money (about $375 I was told). They charged one guy $2 for a cup of water.... he withdrew and left. There were some people who came 600 miles from Tennessee to sell cues and provide cue repair. They were told prior to the event that they had permission, but the house wanted 10%, to which they agreed. Then at about 4pm, the owner of the pool room, Larry Knox, called up there and told them that he wanted 20%..... they packed up and left. When the owner showed up, he got into a verbal altercation with someone. It was loud and it happened just ten feet or so from matches in progress. It was shameful. The other guy was barred, even though he never raised his voice.
With all of this being said, I just want to make it clear that Dwight, the tournament director, had nothing to do with all of this. He was under the impression that he had the support of the pool room. He couldn't have been more wrong. They did everything to make it as hard as they could. All Dwight wanted was to try to promote some good pool in Tallahassee. I'm pretty sure he was embarrassed by all of this-- I know I would have been.
I personally know most of the people that were there, and I have left all but 2 names out of this. One, I have already made clear, is not to blame. As for the other,well....

 

[randyg]

Probably not the "worst" pool room, maybe the most misguided owners.....SPF=randyg

 

[Voodoo Daddy]

There were some people who came 600 miles from Tennessee to sell cues and provide cue repair. They were told prior to the event that they had permission, but the house wanted 10%, to which they agreed. Then at about 4pm, the owner of the pool room, Larry Knox, called up there and told them that he wanted 20%..... they packed up and left.

I know when I peddled cues, I ALWAYS offered jelly to the room owner...at least 10% up to 20% depending how well
I did. Room owners have become somewhat sensitive to someone selling cues in their house when they sell them too. I dont defend Larry, who I know but I will say 20% isnt way outta line either. The cue repair didnt have to get pissed and leave, he could have settled out of court for 15% and still made a killing.

 

[firehawk062]

Probably not the "worst" pool room, maybe the most misguided owners.....SPF=randyg

You are right-- they have good tables and ok food. But you will pay for it too. After 7, even if you are playing alone it is $9 an hour, and if your hungry for a "Larry Burger", that'll set you back another $10.25.

 

[firehawk062]

I know when I peddled cues, I ALWAYS offered jelly to the room owner...at least 10% up to 20% depending how well
I did. Room owners have become somewhat sensitive to someone selling cues in their house when they sell them too. I dont defend Larry, who I know but I will say 20% isnt way outta line either. The cue repair didnt have to get pissed and leave, he could have settled out of court for 15% and still made a killing.

I hear you, but they had already agreed on 10%. As for Snookers selling cues, they have about 7 in a case ( I think they are Sigel-Varner's ) and there isn't one person who works there that would be capable of answering any questions about them.

 

[gregoryg]

Pretty sad...

Glad I don't live there or frequent that room. It's hard enough to find a good tournament to play in, and this place gouges the players when they come to compete. No wonder tournaments are getting harder and harder to participate in. Just not worth the aggravation!!!!

 

[Voodoo Daddy]

I hear you, but they had already agreed on 10%. As for Snookers selling cues, they have about 7 in a case ( I think they are Sigel-Varner's ) and there isn't one person who works there that would be capable of answering any questions about them.

Then your 100% on target. Agreed price it is...end of story !!! Weak counter help and production cues is poor business too.

 

[Pii]

I could be wrong but I think by FL law you have to give back all the money generated by the entry fees. He would need to charge green fees which would also drive off the player also

9 bucks and hr. WOW that must be hard on the college crowd.

 

[poolplayer2093]

I know when I peddled cues, I ALWAYS offered jelly to the room owner...at least 10% up to 20% depending how well
I did. Room owners have become somewhat sensitive to someone selling cues in their house when they sell them too. I dont defend Larry, who I know but I will say 20% isnt way outta line either. The cue repair didnt have to get pissed and leave, he could have settled out of court for 15% and still made a killing.

20% isn't way out of line. but if you agree on 10% what's wrong with keeping that agreement?

 

[OneArmBandit]

I would be the guy looking for a drink of water...

Dwight did very well for his first effort and I hope he gets a chance in a more supportive enviroment. I no longer live in Tallahassee and understand that a couple of the large rooms that had opened about 10 years ago have closed or gone to seed. Are there any places that could host an event like this left in town? Is warehouse billiards still around?

I hope Dwight will go over to Starcade Billiards in Ft Walton Beach next weekend and see what potential there is for events like this. Link to their Annual Fall Classic

 

[cuesblues]

$9.00 an hour would be cost prohibitive for most pool players.
That could add up in a hurry.
He must be targeting a different clientle, which I doubt will be too successful for him.
Without real pool players going in there, the place becomes are bar with pool tables, and eventually it will hurt him.
Unless of course there are plenty or guys that play pool and drink regardless of the cost in Tallahassee, but it sounds way too expensive for the average player trying to practice.
By the time you buy a burger and a beer, play an hour of pool, tip everybody, you are 30-bucks into it.
Once in a while is OK, but I wouldn't go in there unless it is a price per table.
It sounds like he is trying to compete with Dave & Busters, not other pool halls.

As far a selling cues in someone else's room, they're paying the light bill so you have to go with the flow on that one.

 

[Scott Lee]

Lots of nice rooms, around the country, have deals at lunchtime, where if you eat, you play free pool for at least a couple of hours. Even more have 'daytime' deals, where you can pay a flat fee (usually $7-$10) to play from opening until the start of the evening business. I'm going to guess that this room owner in Tallahassee does neither of these things, and is already in financial trouble...that would be one reason why Dwight's tournament was treated so poorly.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

 

[OneArmBandit]

No, It's been around for a long time perhaps 20years now(?) I'm not sure if they overlapped the closing of Pastime Tavern, which must have been around 1990?

It looked like a college based crowd, Friday and Saturday. I think it was $9 for up to 2 players (maybe more) when we practiced Friday night. I don't think Larry is interested in promoting pool, he is sucsessful and it works for him. He's mostly protecting his interest which is not tournament pool but college crowd. He basiclly rented the tables for the event and took no interest in it.

 

[BrandyWine]

Wow, that is really sad. :shakehead: All I can say is:
Education, Education, Educate

There are always two sides of the story. The room owner, if he is a good guy needs to check out AZB forum and learn how it works. "A promise is a promise and a deal is a deal".

Billiards is a professional sport and should be treated as such, even if these were qualifier tourneys or league playing and not just bangers, he should have handled that better. Would he have treated Olympic candidates the same way if they were qualifying? It's all a mind set, you just don't treat your customers that way.

Speaking of mindset....You should have seen my family's faces when I told them that Mike's FT job is all about pool. They just could not "get it". They thought smokers, drunks, drugs, bars, staying out all night, loose women, brawls & thugs". They seriously thought I had lost my mind. :thud: :shocked2: :withstupid: :shocked: :scratchhead: (my family)

The whole aspect of "pool halls" is really lagging. (not all.... just a lot) It's hard to make money. Most is on booze sales, slots and cover fees. Pool halls will have to come up with a new way of making $$ for it to be profitable enough to stay open. I personally would diversify by selling mugs, shirts, pool supplies, card games, board games, whatever it took. I would not stoop to raping someone out of their winnings, but that's just me.

 

[BigDaddyInc.]

I would not set foot in this type of pool room. No respect for the customer.

 

[TheWizard]

I would not set foot in this type of pool room. No respect for the customer.

I wouldn't either, in fact I would imagine that there are quite alot of pool players that wouldn't go into a pool room with a lack of consideration or respect to customers.

Willie

 

[M HOUSE]

I could be wrong but I think by FL law you have to give back all the money generated by the entry fees. He would need to charge green fees which would also drive off the player also

9 bucks and hr. WOW that must be hard on the college crowd.

Your right about the Fl. law but it's more to it than simply giving back all the entry fees. The law actually requires that you give back all the entry fees plus 60 %. That's not a typo. It's sixty percent. Most rooms get around this by declaring a large portion of the money collected as green fees and then "adding" that back to the prize money.

I believe it was Corine Hoffman who ran the original FLORIDA TOUR that was instrumental in getting regional and national tours exempt from this law but local tournaments still fall under its jurisdication.

For some reason the state assigned the enforcement of this law to the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco.

From my travels throughout the state I can tell you that the law is enforced far more strickly in some areas of the state than others. A room owner in Sebring who was unaware of the law was raided by agents from the Div. of Alcohol and Tobacco, local law enforcement, and the State Attorney's Office. He was charged with running a gambling establishment. The money from his safe was seized as proceeds from gambling and his pool tables were seized as they were considered gambling devices. And all he had been doing was giving back 100% of the money he collected for entry fees. He was totally unaware of the law that had been passed that required him to add money on top of that.

Oh, in case your wondering what happened to that owner, he hired an attorney who worked out a plea agreement. The owner had to plea to a misdemeanor gambling charge and in order to get his tables back, he had to turn over the money seized from his safe to the State Attorney's Office (about $8,000.00). All in all, a very high price to pay for someone who thought he was doing the right thing in the first place.

 

[RiverRat]

I was at this tournament, and my friends were charged $2 for a small cup of ice water...not even bottled.

I have been a patron at Snookers since they have opened and entered about 90% of the tournaments held there and have also supported them since opening.

I questioned the owner about the charging of water, playing time fees while tourney was late getting started, and he would not let players warm up before game after sitting for an hour or more. When I approached him (I WAS THE QUIET ONE) he got very loud and then his brother came over and proceeding in telling me he was going to BEAT MY AZZ.

I am 61 yrs old and was threatened by both of them and I am the one that got barred! Never in my life have I been barred from anywhere. This is a disgrace to Tallahassee. What a shame that a grown man has to behave in this manner, while hurting others in the process.

Mark Swisher

 

[smoooothstroke]

missguided

IMO pool rooms have to make $$ on a daily basis but events like big tournaments should be written off as promotional expenses,without the owner/manager trying to make a killing.Not saying the owner was trying to make $,he may have been trying to brake even.It seams to me that these events are a way to give back to the pool players that support your business and maybe even promote your pool room a bit.

 

[OneArmBandit]

I was at this tournament, and my friends were charged $2 for a small cup of ice water...not even bottled.

I have been a patron at Snookers since they have opened and entered about 90% of the tournaments held there and have also supported them since opening...

Mark Swisher

Mark has been a supporter of pool and players in Tallahassee for many years and a heck of a nice guy. Even in the 'old days' when I was around in Tallahassee. I'm sorry I missed him when I was in town, seems I had to go out for a cup of water...

-Whit