Pool - Competitive Players

[samsara]

To the OP:

Quality players are all around the town. Friday nights you can see them in the pool league.

Tables are not top quality mostly, because they're all free. And because of that the quality of players is very high indeed. We can get to play loads of games without breaking our bank balance.

As people have mentioned, go down to blue sky bar at the weekends, for big money and top quality players. Go there and come back reporting that you've won the comp, then we'll listen!

And if there's a lack of american pool tables, there's a lack of demand. It ain't the proper game is it??!!

Really, chiang mai is an excellent place for pool and snooker players.

blue sky was the 1st place i tried about 3 weeks ago. just 2 small/converted snooker tables used for "pool". plenty of contours, old felt, pockets are slow, bad sticks...but ive noticed that blue sky does win the pool league rather routinely so there must be some quality players, if only the venue didnt leave much to be desired.

ill take american pool over pool'ker curling (closest ball to the pocket wins).

I think you might seriously get a whooping at Pool if you played at Blue Sky there are some excellent pool players there both thai and farang and the fact that they play on a half size snooker table with SMALL pockets it requires a lot of accuracy which is contrary to playing on one those BIG American size tables which you you can miss by 2 inches and it still goes in.

Blue Sky is the bar with the best players in chiang mai especially on the Saturday night competitions, you will just have to brush up on your game and learn to play on a real table that requires some skill

I have won the Sat comp at Blue Sky many a time, although I don't play there anymore but still play every friday night in the Pool league.

DK

playing with those miniature balls/pockets with an uneven table on super slow felt...sure, it takes skill, but its more about knowing the grooves on the table and some luck than actual ball control and english.

you cant play with snooker pockets on a small table...the game devolves into essentially curling. block 2-3 pockets, then go on a run to finish the game.

are these all brits who are so uppity about snooker?

[ProdigalSon]

Who was it who beat Earl 'The Pearl' Strickland (American 9-ball hall of famer) in the Mosconi Cup 9-ball tournament on his first appearance in the tournament without even knowing the rules and playing with a snooker cue? What's his name again? Oh yes... Ronnie O'Sullivan.

[DiamondKing]

Who was it who beat Earl 'The Pearl' Strickland (American 9-ball hall of famer) in the Mosconi Cup 9-ball tournament on his first appearance in the tournament without even knowing the rules and playing with a snooker cue? What's his name again? Oh yes... Ronnie O'Sullivan.

I rest my Case haha

[samsara]

Who was it who beat Earl 'The Pearl' Strickland (American 9-ball hall of famer) in the Mosconi Cup 9-ball tournament on his first appearance in the tournament without even knowing the rules and playing with a snooker cue? What's his name again? Oh yes... Ronnie O'Sullivan.

first off, hes widely accepted as the greatest billiards player in history. so not sure how him beating anyone in pool proves anything. its tantamount to taking the best MLB hitter and telling them to play cricket for a season -- theyre hardly going to struggle.

second, o'sullivan is truly something to behold on a pool table over the long haul. guy managed to win an astounding 50% of his matches on the IPT to finish ranked #110.

Edited May 24, 2012 by samsara

[samsara]

after cruising around town for a month ive found that thais play pool and farangs play snooker . have found at least 15 thai joints that have a decent pool table (mostly 20 thb/gm). not a single thai joint has had a small snooker table passing off as a pool table. (by thai joint i mean in a location you wont see many farangs).

in contrast, the only solid pool tables in places where farangs frequent would be number 1 and the adventure bar (think thats the name) just past the midpt of loy kroh.

Edited June 18, 2012 by samsara

[kjhbigv]

after cruising around town for a month ive found that thais play pool and farangs play snooker . have found at least 15 thai joints that have a decent pool table (mostly 20 thb/gm). not a single thai joint has had a small snooker table passing off as a pool table. (by thai joint i mean in a location you wont see many farangs).

in contrast, the only solid pool tables in places where farangs frequent would be number 1 and the adventure bar (think thats the name) just past the midpt of loy kroh.

"thais play pool and farangs play snooker" really? Check out any snooker hall in CM, will be full of Thai's playing snooker! As for falang not playing pool, check out the CM Pool League on Friday night's!

Great league, around 25 teams consisting of minimum of 6 people a team (both Thai and Falang)......some great players.....but you'll have to forgo the American Pool thing, just not a big thing in CM.

[samsara]

after cruising around town for a month ive found that thais play pool and farangs play snooker . have found at least 15 thai joints that have a decent pool table (mostly 20 thb/gm). not a single thai joint has had a small snooker table passing off as a pool table. (by thai joint i mean in a location you wont see many farangs).

in contrast, the only solid pool tables in places where farangs frequent would be number 1 and the adventure bar (think thats the name) just past the midpt of loy kroh.

"thais play pool and farangs play snooker" really? Check out any snooker hall in CM, will be full of Thai's playing snooker! As for falang not playing pool, check out the CM Pool League on Friday night's!

Great league, around 25 teams consisting of minimum of 6 people a team (both Thai and Falang)......some great players.....but you'll have to forgo the American Pool thing, just not a big thing in CM.

thais play snooker, of course. but it seems that thai pubs are the only places with actual pool tables, which is why most farangs dont know of any places with the real deal. farang places all have small snooker tables passing off as pool tables.

ill have to check out the lg.

[MB1]

You will probably not find any real good pool/billiard/snooker table in a commercial establishment in Thailand.

(well, maybe in some very expensive hotel,.... maybe)

As they don't make those quality tables in Asia as we know them in Europe and the US.

I've been asked to source an Asia based manufacturer once a while ago and the answer after 3 months of research was NO.

Except China makes some but not nearly half as good as the European ones

The good ones need to be imported and then installed by a professional (most likely he need to travel here on a B visa with temporary WP)

I've learned that installing a table can take up to 3 days till it's all right. (just hearsay)

Which makes them extremely expensive and not profitable for a 60 Baht an hour snooker hall in the end,....

I'm not surprised to hear that Fred's pool in Nr.1 is of good quality,... he's Belgian after all.

Any good self-respecting cafe of bar in Belgium has a descent Billiard or Snooker table in the back room.

If your ever in Pattaya try Megabreak and I think you may get a suprise at both the quality of tables and the quality of players but don't be thinking you'll be getting an hour of pool for 60 baht, quadruple it and your about there with the price per hour.

Try googling Megabreak Pattaya, quite a set up IMO.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect App

Edited June 18, 2012 by MB1

[samsara]

You will probably not find any real good pool/billiard/snooker table in a commercial establishment in Thailand.

(well, maybe in some very expensive hotel,.... maybe)

As they don't make those quality tables in Asia as we know them in Europe and the US.

I've been asked to source an Asia based manufacturer once a while ago and the answer after 3 months of research was NO.

Except China makes some but not nearly half as good as the European ones

The good ones need to be imported and then installed by a professional (most likely he need to travel here on a B visa with temporary WP)

I've learned that installing a table can take up to 3 days till it's all right. (just hearsay)

Which makes them extremely expensive and not profitable for a 60 Baht an hour snooker hall in the end,....

I'm not surprised to hear that Fred's pool in Nr.1 is of good quality,... he's Belgian after all.

Any good self-respecting cafe of bar in Belgium has a descent Billiard or Snooker table in the back room.

If your ever in Pattaya try Megabreak and I think you may get a suprise at both the quality of tables and the quality of players but don't be thinking you'll be getting an hour of pool for 60 baht, quadruple it and your about there with the price per hour.

Try googling Megabreak Pattaya, quite a set up IMO.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect App

very true. been there a few times. great tables.

[Semper]

after cruising around town for a month ive found that thais play pool and farangs play snooker . have found at least 15 thai joints that have a decent pool table (mostly 20 thb/gm). not a single thai joint has had a small snooker table passing off as a pool table. (by thai joint i mean in a location you wont see many farangs).

in contrast, the only solid pool tables in places where farangs frequent would be number 1 and the adventure bar (think thats the name) just past the midpt of loy kroh.

Regarding "Thais play pool", I think that it's not pool they're playing. They use the pool balls, but there is a deck of cards involved. Not sure about the name, but it's a popular game among Thais. Boring to watch though.

[samsara]

after cruising around town for a month ive found that thais play pool and farangs play snooker . have found at least 15 thai joints that have a decent pool table (mostly 20 thb/gm). not a single thai joint has had a small snooker table passing off as a pool table. (by thai joint i mean in a location you wont see many farangs).

in contrast, the only solid pool tables in places where farangs frequent would be number 1 and the adventure bar (think thats the name) just past the midpt of loy kroh.

Regarding "Thais play pool", I think that it's not pool they're playing. They use the pool balls, but there is a deck of cards involved. Not sure about the name, but it's a popular game among Thais. Boring to watch though.

Pai Malay is one of the game's monikers. hardly boring, though, as $$ is involved almost always.

the thais most definitely know how to play pool, although they don't use the quite bizarre chiang mai rules used in the pool lg. youll rarely see the card game unless youre far off the beaten track.

[Semper]

youll rarely see the card game unless youre far off the beaten track.

Indeed. And I'm far off the "beaten track" and see it daily.

Yes, the $$ is involved. Have you ever seen a Thai play without it?

Edited July 2, 2012 by Semper

[DiamondKing]

Game is called Fai Fa cards are used to identify the numbered pool balls and you just pot until you miss if you pot my number I am out and a bounty paid the goal is to pot your own number at that point the game is over and you win the pot.

DK

[keo]

If your ever in Pattaya try Megabreak and I think you may get a suprise at both the quality of tables and the quality of players but don't be thinking you'll be getting an hour of pool for 60 baht, quadruple it and your about there with the price per hour.

Try googling Megabreak Pattaya, quite a set up IMO.

You'd be lucky to get a bottle of water in Megabreak for 60B! 300B/hr I think it is, the same tables they had in Cue Bar, only twice the price to play. That's Pattaya for you I guess. Some great pool players there for sure though, watched Steven Lee play when I was there. Good set up, although the decoration makes it look like some sort if circus tent!