Would you quit playing?

Would you quit playing pool if your favorite poolroom closed?

  • Yes

    Votes: 6 4.6%

  • No

    Votes: 125 95.4%
  • Total voters
    131
CrownCityCorey

CrownCityCorey

Sock it to 'em!
Silver Member
If your favorite poolroom closed? Or, would you give your patronage to another poolroom?

This is a follow-up to a conversation I had with a pool room owner in San Francisco. They used to have 5+ solid (player oriented) poolrooms in the city, today there is one. You would think that he'd have 5 times the business (or at least an increase in business), but that is not the case. Like everyone else, business has slowed over the years.

So then, I have to assume, that the old regulars of the poolrooms that closed have just moved on to other things - or died.

Perhaps all the same customers went to all the poolrooms?

Edit: I went up there for a $2500 added tournament, where in the past they would have at least a full field of 64, but usually more. There were only 39 players and many of us were from out of town. Where were the local dedicated?
 
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My favorite poolroom is my basement and I think about quiting everyday....why, because I suck and with the little I play I am not getting better
 
I'd just start finding bars to play at. I think that if you like to play, you're not going to be tied down to 1 place. You need to be versatile, which means multiple locations to play.
 
tjlmbklr said:
My favorite poolroom is my basement and I think about quiting everyday....why, because I suck and with the little I play I am not getting better
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With all the foreclosures going on...Quite a few of those pool rooms are closing as well....or seriously close to closing...
 
Pool Room closing..........

In Tucson Arizona there are 3 pool halls. On the east side we have 2 to choose from. Most of the players used to go to Main St. to play. They had the leaugues gambling, you name it. Pockets was always the "other" place. Due to events this year which I will not go into on this forum, almost all the players are going to Pockets now.
I will say this.............It is not always the pool hall, sometimes it is who is in charge and how they are running the pool hall. Pool players will always find another place to play, it's in our blood.
 
CrownCityCorey said:
If your favorite poolroom closed? Or, would you give your patronage to another poolroom?

This is a follow-up to a conversation I had with a pool room owner in San Francisco. They used to have 5+ solid (player oriented) poolrooms in the city, today there is one. You would think that he'd have 5 times the business (or at least an increase in business), but that is not the case. Like everyone else, business has slowed over the years.

So then, I have to assume, that the old regulars of the poolrooms that closed have just moved on to other things - or died.

Perhaps all the same customers went to all the poolrooms?

Edit: I went up there for a $2500 added tournament, where in the past they would have at least a full field of 64, but usually more. There were only 39 players and many of us were from out of town. Where were the local dedicated?
Click to expand...

As you are well aware, some people spend their entire adult livess playing in one room and lot of them will only play on one table.

When one closes, they just quit. It has been their comfort zone for many years and they just won't venture outside that. Sometimes, tha's all it takes for people to lose intrest.
 
Honestly I don't have a choice in the matter. I can't quit playing or I'll die inside. My favorite pool room is Q-Masters, but within a couple years I'm going to own a house with a pool table in it so I may take some time off now and then but I will absolutely positively never quit no matter what the circumstances. I could lose an arm and I would have a prosthetic arm made with a bridge hand at the end.
 
I play because I like the game. The place I play is more from convienance(geography) and the PEOPLE that are there. If your favorite room closes won't those you normally hang with also have to move? seems like quiting the game because of the location closing would be an excuese to just quit... do you really need one? Besides think of all the new fish!
 
im pretty close to quitting pool for a while but it has nothing to do with the pool room as much as I am just not finding the same level of happiness with pool that I use to. The priorities in my life are being shuffled alot recently and pool has been moving farther and farther down from the top.

but no, if my favorite room closed I would be bummed but i would just find another room.
 
It is a little dis-heartening that in a metro (Phoenix) area of 3 1/2 million people, there is only ONE good action pool room.
When my old hangout closed (about 6 yrs. ago) I travelled the 30some miles to Kolby's for a while, but it was just too much, so I hung it up for a while. I now have a table in my house and invite my old gang over and we have a great time. Pool has become a league event much like bowling, just a night out of the house. The serious player's just don't have a place to meet up and try to match up a game. It has to get better, or I'm afraid Pool rooms will go the way of video rental stores.
The only ray of light for the west side of Phx. is Mike O'Hara's new venture.
Sure wish you the best Mike, I'll be a regular if it's anything like your old place. (Casino Billiards)

Dick
 
I've quit a few times, mostly from frustration about my game not going where I thought it should. I've pretty much decided not to quit entirely. However, with only one local room and being 30 miles from Greenville, SC, I'm limited to playing at home. I doubt that will last much longer, we have to move and I may not be able to have the table wherever we end up. I've preferred not to play in bars anymore than I absolutely have to. My personal room will close only if I cannot have my table where we move to. Then, I may frequent the local, but I won't like it.
 
Thankfully I have a table in my house. The only way I would quit is if I could not physically play any longer. I love the game more than any other sport.
 
I've switched halls several times for different reasons. Two that come to mind were painful to leave because they are truly beautiful halls. One of them is in a historic building with 20 foot antique plaster designed ceilings and chandeliers. The other just has a great layout with great tables.

I loved playing at both and still do, but not after dark and not on the weekends because the neighborhood has turned into a hellhole. Coincidentally both had membership requirements and were great to play at until they decided to drop the membership requirements to get more people in there. After they did that the fights, stabbings and shootings soon followed. This is when I decided to get the hell out of Dodge. Walked into the historic pool hall and saw a window busted up and brass railings ripped out of the floor. Found out there was more or less a riot the night before where people were actually throwing pool balls at each other.
 
gunzby said:
I've switched halls several times for different reasons. Two that come to mind were painful to leave because they are truly beautiful halls. One of them is in a historic building with 20 foot antique plaster designed ceilings and chandeliers. The other just has a great layout with great tables.

I loved playing at both and still do, but not after dark and not on the weekends because the neighborhood has turned into a hellhole. Coincidentally both had membership requirements and were great to play at until they decided to drop the membership requirements to get more people in there. After they did that the fights, stabbings and shootings soon followed. This is when I decided to get the hell out of Dodge. Walked into the historic pool hall and saw a window busted up and brass railings ripped out of the floor. Found out there was more or less a riot the night before where people were actually throwing pool balls at each other.
Click to expand...

Note to self: Do NOT go to North Carolina!
:grin: :grin:
 
the420trooper said:
Note to self: Do NOT go to North Carolina!
:grin: :grin:
Click to expand...

Those two neighborhoods have a knack for bringing some serious bad elements to it.

The one I go to now has a much better atmosphere and I haven't seen any problems.
 
What I think has happend with many poolhalls closing is a combination of the

state of the economy today, and that many of the older pool players have

stopped playing the game, and there is not as much interest with younger

generations with kids being interested in other forms of entertainment like

video games and many other sports. I'm in my early thirties and the

poolhall I started playing at when I was thirteen has now closed because

of lack of interest. I myself have a 9ft table at my home and I have a

few people come over and play, but for the most part I have to travel to

other towns where they hold pool tournaments at hotels, casinos and

some small bar tournaments. I think most people who love the game

would not give it up because their favorite hall closed, they would just

adapt.
 
While I think very few would actually quit the game when their favorite pool room closes, I think many people just aren't motivated to come out and play as much if they can't come to the place they'd prefer. If the pool hall I play in most closed, I'd go to another one. But other things might take priority more often than they do now if I didn't have a pool hall to go to where everybody knows my name and I feel at home.

-Andrew
 
Better question might be: If your favorite room closed, would you play a good deal less?

Think there's always an adjustment period when you've got to find a new home room, for whatever reason.

In my case, because of this $%&*! housing bubble (not to mention the addition of 3 children), I've had to move 3 times in the past 5 years. In that time, I've had to give up on being a regular at Amsterdam, then at Hall of Fame in Brooklyn, then at Park Slope Billiards and Skyline ... now Master's is on the way home, at least till my lease runs out in June 2010.
 
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