9-Ball
Topic: Tables in your club

What are the playing surfaces like in your club? Mine are terrible- stains from spilt drinks etc, some roll offs, and some slates not level on the join so you get a ridge where the join is. My biggest hate is the dirty or stained cloth. are your tables dirty or stained in your club. I guess most Riley club tables are kept clean but what about non riley clubs?

Ours is a non-Riley club and our tables are ok but we only have two. They are brushed every day. We are getting a World Championship Brunswick Metro though in a month or so!

I keep hearing about clubs getting Brunswick Metros. Sponsoring the WPC is obviously good for business... I wish my local club would get one or two!

We only have 2 tables in Barnsley because it's essentially a snooker club. Me and a few mates are the only serious american pool players so when we're not playing on them it's just kids mucking around. Despite this they play quite well. They are brushed regularly (mainly by me). The balls are rubbish and the racks are plastic but thankfully I have my own.

On the whole I like it there because it's local, the staff are really nice and helpful to us and we have a good rate.

Riggers as a fellow Yorkshire man, I spotted that you saved your most important comment about tables to the end. 'we have a good rate'

9-ball is quite expensive, so its always good to get a little extra value for your money. I'm not tight you understand - well not as tight as a Scots-man. (that's not aimed at Bruno or Destroyer - I mean all scots)

My local rileys keeps the tables in excellent condition - they almost look new. But they should do at the prices they are charging!!

i think we have had this thread about six months ago. i play in a rileys i dont think we have a level table in the place. we defo dont have a clean one unless i clean it. i am told we are gettin a full refurb but i was told that 6 months ago aswell.

I gotta say that if alot of the club owners were players themselves, you would find that generally the tables and all the rest of the equipment would be alot better for you, but because alot of room owners, like most Riley's clubs, they are not managed by players and they are certainly not run for players, they are only run as a buisness, nothing more, if the club owners took more consideration as to exactly what all players are looking for, in terms of the players that do compete regularly on a profssional level, then there wouldn't be this problem of some tables looking like a map of Britain from beer stains or from slates that resemble a flight of stairs

I do also think that alot of players and general public are getting burped on the prices of table time, but on the other hand, no matter what the the devils playground it is you buy in the UK, you're paying VAT on it, which is a joke in itself

I'm lucky and happy to have Club 9 to play in, because it is a room owned by players and it is a room for players, e.g. 4x Brunswick G.C.4s and BCE Atlantics (GC4 Copies) of which have simmonis 860 on them, Cleaned on a routine basis and being recovered every 8-10 months, as well as having the BCA Vegas League every Monday night and regular tournaments every 2 weeks and now with the addition of the EPT Qualifier events now added on top of that as well as leather couches and chairs to sit in for when your opponent is giving you the chair

I would recommend anyone to come over to play in an event in Club 9 sometime, you guys would like it here

Anyways, take care everyone and I'll catch ya laters

Willie

On 2006-05-22 14:29 , expertfluke Wrote:

Expertfluke, I heard you were so tight that when you pass wind, only dogs can hear it.....

I could name the number of pool hall managers I know that care about their tables on the fingers of 1 hand and only 2 of them (that don't own independant pool halls) are given the support of the business behind them to maintain high standards. The major problem is that most of the managers have come from running pubs/bars and only have an understanding of attracting punters through drinks promos. A case in point is that my local club has just had 3 tables recovered with cloth of such a poor standard that I wouldn't even use it as a dustsheet at work! The problem is the manager is given what he's given and if he doesn't like it - tough! Until American Pool is marketed in the clubs as a serious game and not a game to play whilst getting hammered standards will never improve. Most of the snooker players I know hold American Pool in contempt because they only ever see kids and lager louts bashing around on disgracefully poorly maintained tables. There's money to be made by running a club for players AND drinkers if only they could open their eyes and see it. I'd love to show a senior manager from a major club chain somewhere like Die Drei in Germany on a Saturday night where the tables are imacculate and they sell more beer in 1 night than most English clubs could in a week.

you wouldn't get pro footballers training on turf layed by the local gippos now would you... (unless your chelsea hahaha)

but yeah.. i guess it's the money issue and the fact that american pool isn't marketed in the right way over here yet.

I've noticed a lot more independant pool halls opening these days. We just need to stick it out in hope that the sport gets more advertising and business interest.

it's all happening, just very slowly.

we've got 24 brunswick tables here... 22 Gold Crown III (brown) i think and 2 Gold Crown IV (black)
And 6 Thurston snooker tables...
the tables are cleaned every week...
Balls twice a week....
Cloth replaced at least once a year (some tables 3 times a year...)

I'm quite happy with the table... No spots or anything weird yet... Last time that the cloth was replaced was October....
We've got some tiny holes in the cloth... That's it....

Hi Shir , would that be House Of Billiards that you're at, in Weert?

I have been hoping to make a journey to Holland for a good while now, but unfortunately, I've got some bills that I need to clear first (Who doesn't nowadays?) before I visit The Netherlands again , but I hope that one day soon, I'll be there to visit again

n reply to the previous posts about the marketing of American Pool, it is up to the amount of promotion and publicity that the tours and clubs put the the general public, e.g. Matchroom are doing a pheonominal job with having televised events on Sky, but if you notice, there is very little promotion of these events coming up on the TV unless it is read on here or another well informed site, if companies like Matchroom, Sky, Rileys, and tours like the BPPPA and other tours, it will most likely generate more interests and more coverage , but it is also up to the players to ask for it and to ask for better standards of equi8pemnt, etc from the clubs, regardless of them being a club chain or independantly owned , but yes I agree that there's too much liquor promotion and not enough pool promotion

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this because as a player, I expect to be able to play in a room with good and well kept equipment, regardless of how old the cloth is how many tables, but also as a customer, I want to be able to play in a club where you as a customer and a player, that your thoughts and views are totaly respected and taken into consideration of how the club is kept in a general way.

I have found that there are some clubs, that do a pretty good job at this, but there are still countless clubs that have yet you catch on as a few of you have mentioned before and I totaly agree with that point

Take care everyone

Willie

I think Shirley is referring to a club in Rotterdam. I don't think House of Billiards has 6 snooker tables.

ahh ok , I wasn't sure because there's a few big well kept room in The Netherlands

Thanks Riggers for correcting me on that

Take care everyone

Willie

Yeah it's Thurston in Rotterdam....
My home....

Cool, It's great that you have a great club near you, nice one

Take care everyone

Willie

Sounds like the europeans have the classier facilities.

Is that because they don't have the drinking culture that we have?

I know my club could benefit from having some of its tables cleaned and levelled, how about yours?

not all clubs here are great... i wish it would be... it would have made my work much easier...
it's just that the owner knows how the poolworld works... And that i'm very good in convincing him....

Cool , it's good to have strong persuasion powers (Not that I got any that I know of )

it's brilliant that the owner of Thurston's is a knowledgable owner

Take care everyone

Willie

wish i really had them... it only works on him i think... :S