Buying a pool table

by philg

We’re in the middle of the South Florida season that is analogous to the Northeast’s winter, i.e., a period when it is often more pleasant to be inside rather than out. Thus, it seemed like a good time to try to duplicate, at tremendous expense, the convenient availability of the pool table that we received rolled into our old apartment lease via the landlord’s “clubhouse”. This post is to record what I learned.

First, it seems that there is no standard size for a pool table. There are tournaments in various parts of the country in which people play on 7-foot tables, but you can also find regions where 8-foot tables or 9-foot tables are conventional. Make sure that you have 58 inches from the table (rail edge, not playfield edge) to the walls on all sides so that the butt of the cue doesn’t hit. The cue should clear low furniture, e.g., another game table or a sofa, but you’ll want 50″ all around (from the outer dimension, i.e., the rail edge) to accommodate your posterior when crouched.

There are only a handful of billiards stores in South Florida, perhaps because so many sales of new tables have moved online. The waiting time for a new high-quality American-made table, which could be customized in various ways, was approximately 3 months. Prices would be $6,000-$15,000 depending on the elaborateness of the decoration. Delivery would be another $500. The favored in-production brands seem to be A.E. Schmidt, Connelly, and Olhausen. The most serious players like Diamond (a one-piece slate; super ugly; made in the U.S.) and Brunswick Gold Crown (also ugly; made in Brazil (the rest of the Brunswick line may be made in Indonesia)). Local dealers also sell used tables and it seems that pool tables are so cumbersome to move that the geographical price variations are enormous. A used pool table in South Florida is worth twice as much as one in the Midwest, just as a house in South Florida is worth twice as much. One dealer here quoted $3,500 for a pristine used “American Heritage” Camden table. Plus $500 for delivery and a month of waiting because all of the delivery crews were busy. Of course, “American Heritage” means “made in Malaysia” and the importer says that the list price on the table, brand new, was… $3,500 (the company shut down in mid-2020).

I described the shopping excursion to our next-door neighbor, a mechanical engineer who designs electric vehicle powertrains. “You can always get a pool table for free on Craigslist,” he said, “from someone who needs the space. I got mine from a lady who wanted to use the space for a dining table and she cut the price to $0 on condition that I get it out of there.”

Inspired by the smart neighbor, I found an Olhausen that was perhaps 20 years old in our neighborhood. The guy had sold his house and was moving to Europe so that his teenage son could get elite soccer training (he’s a little too old to play against the U.S. Women’s team). It was only about 10 days before the house needed to be cleared out and he was still asking $900 for the table below:

The Olhausen cushions are supposed to last forever and a good table is supposed to support 4 bounces off the cushions if you throw a ball with your arm on the short dimension, but there were only 3 bounces for this table. The owner had the contact info for Fred Bost, the guy who installed it 10 years previously (the table might have been 10 years old at that point). We called him up and he said that the rails (wood on the sides of the table) were likely loose after years of play and that slowed things down. If the felt and balls weren’t pristine that also slowed things down. The balls were old and yellow and the wisdom of the Web is that billiard balls need to be replaced every few years (example).

What about the damaged finish on the rails? Fred said that he could refinish the rails for about $1,000. The felt was a mess, but could be replaced for $350 at the time of a move and that good-condition felt could be put back on the slates. The cues were also shot on this Olhausen table, e.g., missing tips. Replacing the cues and balls would have cost $400. The owner offered to reduce the price to $600, but I wasn’t sure that the table was a great deal even at $0 given that it looked like it was sitting on Home Depot 8×8 posts.

(What if the slate is cracked? It is possible to get new slate for as little as $400. This makes me wonder why a new table can cost $8,000+ if all of the components are cheap-ish. Maybe the answer is that the exterior cabinet is where all of the cost is.)

A $2,000 Connelly 30 minutes away seemed to have some potential. My main concern was that it had been living in a garage for 4 years. Fred told me not to worry about that and, in fact, that pool tables in semi-outdoor spaces were common in Florida and the heat and humidity did not damage the tables. The owner ran a pizza restaurant with his middle-school sweetheart-turned-wife. They were young and fit and doing well financially because they’d been showered with Federal funds for their restaurant that hadn’t been closed even for one day by the Florida version of coronapanic. The pool table, however, had to go because it wasn’t getting enough use and the wife wanted a gym in the garage. The owner explained to me that he kept the balls in their original Aramith box because leaving them in the pockets causes the leather to sag (a new set of pockets is under $300, but these ones stamped “Connelly” cannot be purchased separate from a new table). He had everyone play with special gloves so that they didn’t need to use “hand chalk” to make the cue slide on the bridge hand. He would put an extra piece of felt down before breaking because the acceleration of the cue ball during a break can leave a burn mark on the felt (Fred Bost later explained that this was true only for some high-end Simonis fabrics (made in Belgium) and not for the less expensive Teflon-coated Championship fabrics (from Mexico) that he prefers; he uses Invitational with Teflon for his customers).

The one-piece “house cues” were in good condition and the balls were only about a year old. It was easy to get 4 bounces out of a hand-launched ball and the table played noticeably well. The owner accepted $1800. Fred Bost had a cancelation the next morning and the table was in our house less than 24 hours after purchase (compare to 3-4 months if we’d bought at retail; this Connelly table seems to list for $9,000 and sells for $7,000 new). Moving cost $500 plus I tipped 100 Bidies for Fred and Freddie’s lunch.

Installation is an impressive operation. Heavy straight edges and levels are used and shims the thickness of a business card may be employed. Connelly is unusual for having four bolts to secure each rail rather than the industry-standard three. It may thus be possible to have longer intervals between tightening.

Here is Fred and his assistant (Freddie!) re-covering the 1.25″ slate with the old felt:

“I’ve installed exactly 1.5 brown felts in 30 years,” Fred said. What was the 0.5? “I was halfway through putting the brown felt on a guy’s table when the wife came out and shook her head.” Fred explained how to rough up the leather cue tips with sandpaper.

I’m glad that we didn’t wait 4 months to spend $8,000 for a pool table. All of the experienced players who have tried this table out say that it is great. I’m also glad that we didn’t get an imported table, much as I love the idea of everything being made in an economically efficient manner. Fred says that the imported tables can be set up to play well, but he doesn’t like any of them.

Our next step was to visit the Professional Billiard Instructors Association web site and find a teacher. Ed Kiess came over and tried to correct decades of bad habits. From him we learned that one of the world’s leading pool cue makers is in Wellington, Florida: Dennis Searing. The average cue sold by Searing is $5,000, but it is possible to go glitzy and spend $40,000. It is a 12-year wait for a Searing cue! Ed was horrified at the idea of using sandpaper to rough up the tips. A specialized tool with pins and a scuffer is the correct device. Every year or so, one should pay $20 to get new tips put on the cues (Triangle is the preferred brand for house cues; Searing’s own multi-layer tip is the best). Ed is a huge fan of Simonis 860 cloth (Belgian), which is supposedly super fast. Fred likes Championship Invitational Teflon (made in Mexico; less expensive).

Perhaps because of an introduction from Ed, we had the honor of getting our crummy house cues tuned up and re-tipped by Dennis Searing himself!

We learned that it takes at least 10 months for Searing to make a cue, mostly because the wood has to age. This is not so that the wood can dry out but so that the “stress” can come out of the wood. Searing is not disdainful of the ignorant and incompetent, as you might expect, but generous about sharing his knowledge and love of craftsmanship. Searing explained to us that if you happened to find a big piece of wood without flaws you could make an excellent one-piece cue. An expert pool player thus might be able to get a very good cue by trying out 25 house cues and picking the best one that just happened to be fabricated from a great piece of wood. The two-piece cues that Searing makes offer some additional options for balance and are easier to transport, but Searing didn’t tell us to throw out the Nick Varner house cues that had come with our table.

Related:

Instructional materials recommended by Ed:

Interesting-looking instructional materials that Ed did not mention:

August 16, 2022 update: Proving my neighbor correct, Facebook alerts me to a Peter Vitalie pool table that would cost $15,000 new (if the company were still in business). $500 to the person who can arrange same-day removal!

35 thoughts on “Buying a pool table”

  1. I really enjoyed this post, thank you — I know nothing about pool, but it’s always a pleasure to learn about random fields that other people take very seriously.

  2. Looks like you have the space in your new home. I would have gone for a ping pong table. In my experience and our family use, it is far more fun and you get a good workout. I used to play it almost every night.

    • We have a ping pong table! But since the weather is almost always nice, it lives in the back yard. (It is designed to be weatherproof.)

    • Yes! I had a lot of fun playing on the outdoor ping pong table at visit to the Orlando World Center Marriott a couple of years ago. It was during the middle of Covid lockdowns so the hotel was nearly empty.

  4. The next problem is powerful enough wifi to cover the pool table. The lion kingdom’s wifi wouldn’t reach the pool table from the corner of that room.

  5. One day my wife caught me red-handed with the tape measure in one of the kid’s playrooms. Confronted with the overwhelming evidence, I had to admit that I was measuring the room for the pool table and explained that playing pool is a useful skill for kids to have in life. Lucky or not, room turned out to be a tad too small for the 7” table without moving the walls.

    I wonder if I should try smaller table, or is it better not to bother. I love to play pool, but I suck at it big time.

    • I’m a bit of a snob, but for me a table has to be 9 feet. Smaller ones just don’t have the right angles ( I’m probably wrong, but they don’t feel right to me).

      And that is why I don’t have one, not enough room.

    • SK: Olhausen will make you a super high quality 6′ table. See https://www.olhausenbilliards.com/product/eclipse/ for example. This web page claims that Connelly will also make you a 6′ table: https://www.baltimorebilliards.com/products/connelly-billiards-cochise-pool-table

      Based on what I have learned from the teacher so far, everything that is important can be learned on a 6′ table (footwork, where to look, holding the cue so that your arm swings only at the elbow, etc.) and then trivially adapted for use on an 8′ or 9′ table.

      For the proper stance you may need to have your feet and butt at least 50″ from the table, so it would be better to have a 6′ table and reasonable clearance than a 7′ table in a tight room.

      JohnO: I think the idea is that the angles should all be the same, regardless of table size, because the ratio between the sides will be the same (2:1).

    • Phil, thanks for the write up! Looks like it’s the time to surprise my wife and kids!

    • Sam: I think you’re making a good argument for sticking to the best-known brands! An Olhausen, Connelly, or Peter Vitalie will always have enough value that it can be unloaded, even if you beat up the rails to the point that they need $1,000 in refinishing.

  7. That’s a wonderful story and I think it was a wise purchase: if the boys are going to be playing, especially, buying a very good used table is a smart shot. It’s a well-finished and well-preserved piece with tasteful woodworking, the felt color is a pleasant conversation-starting difference from the usual hues – and it’s hard to argue with the price. I know people who have spent much more for a lot less.

    If I walked into Dennis Searing’s shop when nobody was around, the first thing I’d think is: “High end craftsman. This man knows what he’s doing.” And other people must think so too, at $5,000 and up for a cue! (and that even rhymes!)

    Enjoy the games! I’d love to see more pictures featuring the balls, triangle, cues, etc.

  8. Before I read this I had no idea that pool tables came in different sizes. However, it seems that they are all in 2:1 ratio, just like the Canadian flag.

    While I can’t vouch for their quality or price, Blatt Billiards has a warehouse less than 2 miles from Teterboro Airport, so for your readers who are from NYC/North Jersey, it may be worth the trip.

    • Thanks, Rick. Ed recommended YouTube videos by Barry Stark and a bunch of different books, e.g., The Science of Pocket Billiards by Jack Koehler, Point the Way by The Monk ($105 used on Amazon!), Play Your Best Pool (Phil Capelle), etc. Maybe I will add some related links up in the original post. It doesn’t look as though any strong and independent women have written world-class pool tutorials, though I haven’t confirmed the gender IDs on the creators of all of the recommended materials.

    • I came to the comments to say this was an interesting post, and I was surprised to see no mention of LGBT… anywhere — an extreme rarity in your writing.

      Alas, you snuck it into the comments. You look at things with an LGBT lens more than anyone I know online or in person.

    • “You look at things with an LGBT lens more than anyone I know online or in person.”

      Thanks, Mike! It is Pride Month every month here in our house. The only thing that we can’t be proud of is our pool skill!

  10. I wonder what it’s like to re-felt pool tables for a living. Does the guy have other gigs, like reupholstering furniture? Or possibly does he fix the tops (but not the bottoms) of fancy shoes? Who knows. He’s part of our lives and then he is gone.

    I like the (not brown) but taupe felt. Green makes me think of bar tables. Red is good, but only if you are good at the game. The pool cue salesman is a crook. You can get a professional concert oboe for that much, I assume.

    • onetwothree: Game table installers are very busy nationwide. Every time a pool table is sold online, someone like Fred has to go out and be the “white glove” delivery person. Re-felting is a pretty small part of his business, I think, compared to installing online purchases and moving tables.

      In tournaments now I think that a medium blue color is standard. See https://www.seyberts.com/simonis-860-cloth/simonis-860-tournament-blue/
      Kind of ugly for home decor in my opinion. We don’t have anything else blue in the house except maybe the cheese in the fridge.

    • > The pool cue salesman is a crook.

      How so? Pretty much the definition of econ 101.

      The top tier of any artistic craft has non-linear pricing.

  11. Funny, you complain about ugly tables then you go and buy an absolute eyesore straight out of fake 18th century wannabe palace.

    • ihr: All of Florida, with the exception of the Keys and maybe the far north, is covered in fake 18th century wannabe “Spanish Colonial Revival” palaces! See https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2022/03/29/bubble-in-the-sun-book-even-those-with-the-best-information-cant-predict-a-crash/ for an explanation of how this trend started in the 1920s in Palm Beach. The table is a perfect fit for our fake Spanish house, behind which is a 100-year tradition of fake Spanish houses.

      (Also, look at pool table manufacturers’ sites. Nearly all of them feature ornate traditional woodwork. For whatever reason, this is the standard aesthetic for the American home pool table. In modern South Florida houses, however, there are some modern-style tables in black or white finish.)

  12. A wise musician once said,

    Now friends, let me tell you what I mean
    You got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table
    Pockets that mark the difference between a gentleman and a bum
    With a capital “B” and that rhymes with “P” and that stands for pool

    And further…

    Now I know all you folks are the right kind of parents
    I’m gonna be perfectly frank
    Would you like to know what kinda conversation goes on
    While they’re loafing around that hall?
    They be tryin’ out Bevo, tryin’ out cubebs
    Tryin’ out Tailor Mades like cigarette fiends
    And braggin’ all about how they’re gonna cover up
    A tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen
    One fine night, they leave the pool hall
    Heading for the dance at the Arm’ry
    Libertine men and scarlet women, and ragtime, shameless music
    That’ll grab your son, your daught with the arms of a jungle, animal instinct
    Mass-staria
    Friends, the idle brain is the devil’s playground

    Considering your unending hysteria about cannabis, it seems the purchase of a pool table is akin to a direct invitation to Mephistopheles into your home.

    • Just out of curiosity, how is constant mocking of putting recreational drug on “essential business” pedestal, while shutting down really essential stuff, “unending hysteria about cannabis”.

  13. In college, our dorm had a couple of pool tables in the basement. The house cues were awful so most of us had bought cheap cues of our own (only slightly better than the house cues). But the tips were all cheap screw in tips that could break easily. One night we had all broken our tips and called a friend in the dorm to see if he had any cue tips. He said sure, be right down. He brought a handful of Q-tip cotton swabs.

    • Lol. If you cut the ends off those, they’ll work, but only with Lilliputian Billiards Tables. 😉

  14. There are a lot of really amazing online videos of trick shots on a pool table. Some of them are so remarkable that I wonder if they have been faked somehow.

  15. “You can always get a pool table for free on Craigslist”

    Ten years ago, I bought a house after the 85 y/o widowed owner had to relocate out of state to a nursing home near her daughter. The seller’s son-in-law was tasked with packing up 50 years of belongings crammed into the 4 bedroom house, including an 8-foot low-end pool table. He ended up leaving the pool table behind. I unsuccessfully tried to sell it on Craigs List for $100, and ended up disassembling it and put it out at the curb.

    “the wife wanted a gym in the garage”

    And park the two $50,000 cars in the driveway.

    • DP, if they were going to make that Seinfeld episode today, it would be domed by the woke. But of course, it is perfectly OK for today’s shows to include clips someone enjoying “essential” marijuana.

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