Tuesday, October 6, 2009

8-Ball Pool Tournament Update

October 6, 2009

I had mentioned mid last month that the tour director was holding a 8 Ball pool tournament for all levels.

I just realized that I did not post anything about the tournament.

After a few days after the post, the owner of the pool hall had to close down due to financial difficulties.

So that's that for that. The decision was made that I was not going to play in it.

It's really hard to own a pool hall when one does not have a bar / liquor license. It's a sad thing for pool players because it is one less place for pool players to play in.

What are your thoughts? If you had a chance to buy a pool hall, would you by one? What's important to you at a pool hall? Is it the decor, food, liquor, environment etc.?

Quilt & Bitch

4 comments:

p00lriah said...

would i buy a PH? sure, but then we'd have to approach this scenario as a business proposition. i'd buy one if i can make a profit on it. otherwise i'll have to close it down eventually and i can't provide pool for the players. this means decent food (not the usual deep-fried/microwaved fares) and alcohol. without good food and alcohol i don't think there's profit, unless your rent is $150 a month or you own the land of your PH.

as a player, i want space in a PH. lots of space. especially between tables. i hate people bumping into me when i play, or having to wait b/c a player takes too long to shoot. total momentum killer. most PHs squeeze as many table in as they can to maximize table time, but that sucks for players.

as you can see, players and owners have different, and many times conflicting, priorities. usually the owners win.

Quilt+Bitch said...

Hi p00lriah,

I agree with you that pool owners are usually in conflict with pool players.

But some pool hall owner's are pool players themselves. But business usually comes first, which makes sense.

I think the best scenario is to have a private pool hall, where the pool players are the owners. So there would not be hourly rates, but instead a monthly / yearly membership fee + initiation fee. There will be one person in charge of overseeing the place, but pool players will have a say in some things.

What do you think of that scenario?

p00lriah said...

But some pool hall owner's are pool players themselves. But business usually comes first, which makes sense.

precisely. owners that are players rarely translate into player-friendly features in a pool hall. a player-owner mostly means better table/cloth, but little else.

I think the best scenario is to have a private pool hall, where the pool players are the owners.

that would work, but then it won't be a pool hall anymore. it'd be a private billiard club, which does exist. but this means the general public can't come in & spend money. with just rent itself going from $10k-$30k a month, you'll need an aweful lot of members or exorbitantly high monthly club fees. tough proposition.

Quilt+Bitch said...

Yeah, that's true. I guess if the members of this club don't have money issue, it should be fine and easily sustainable.