U.S. Open Billiards Event Set to Begin
U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships / Chesapeake, VA
by Skip Maloney, InsidePOOL Staff
The gathering has begun in Chesapeake, VA. With top-ranked players coming from the four corners of the globe, tournament officials are expecting between 240-275 entrants in the 33rd U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships at the Chesapeake Conference Center this weekend. [...]
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Download December Inside pool Magazine for Free
The December issue of Inside pool Magazine has been made available for free download at InsidePOOLmag.com. The download features new technology in online magazine viewing such as flipping pages, zooming, emailing, sharing, and printing.
Mika Immonen shows his power by winning the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship.  Kelly Fisher sangs another [...]
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Billiards evolved from lawn game similar to croquet played sometime during the 15th century in Northern Europe and probably in France. It was played indoors to a wooden table with green cloth to simulate grass, and a simple border was placed around the edges. The balls were shoved, rather than struck, with wooden sticks called “maces.” The term “billiard” came from French, either from the word “billiard,” one of the wooden sticks, or “bille,” a ball.

This game was first played with two balls on a table with six pockets with a hoop similar to a croquet wicket and an upright stick was used as a target. During the eighteenth century, the hoop and target gradually disappeared, leaving only the balls and pockets. Most of the information came from accounts of playing by royalty and other nobles. It was known as the “Noble Game of Billiards” since the early 1800′s, but still there is evidence that people from all walks of life have played the game since its inception. In 1600, the game was familiar enough to the public that Shakespeare mentioned it in Anthony and Cleopatra.

After Seventy-five years, the first book of billiard rules remarked England as “few towns of note therein which hath not a public Billiard-Table.”

In the late 1600′s, the cue stick was developed. When the ball lay near a rail, the mace was inconvenient to use because of its large head. In that situation, the players would turn the mace around and use its handle to strike the ball. The handle was called a “queue” – meaning “tail” – from which we get the word “cue”. For a long time only men were allowed to use the cue while women were forced to use the mace because it was felt that they were more likely to rip the cloth with the sharper cue.

Before tables were originally flat vertical walls for rails and their only function was to keep the balls from falling off. Then players discovered that balls could bounce off the rails and began deliberately aiming at them. Thus a “bank shot” is one in which a ball is made to rebound from a cushion as part of the shot.

After the 1800s, billiard equipment improved rapidly all over England, because of the Industrial Revolution. The leather cue tip was well developed by 1823. Chalk was used to increase friction between the ball and the cue stick even before cues had tips. Visitors from England showed Americans how to use spin which explains why it is called “English” in the United States but nowhere else, while the British themselves refer to it as “side”. The two-piece cue arrived in 1829. Slate became popular as a material for table beds around 1835. By 1845 the vulcanization was used to make billiard cushions. By 1850 the billiard table had essentially evolved into its current form.

From about 1770s until the 1920′s, the dominant billiard game in Britain was English Billiards, played with three balls and six pockets on a large rectangular table. Before that time, there were no fixed table dimensions. The British billiard tradition game is carried on today primarily through the game of Snooker, a complex and colorful game combining offensive and defensive aspects and played on the same equipment as English Billiards but with 22 balls instead of three.

I got an old pool table from somebody for $200, but do not have enough room in my house to put it inside. I want to put it outside on my deck and was planning on using a cover and a tarp to protect it from the rain. I believe that table is solid wood with a slate top. Any more ideas to help increase the life of the table.

The frame and components of an outdoor table are generally metal. I regular indoor table would not last long outdoors arounf here (New England) due to the fact that they are constructed from materials that are sensistive the moisture and humidity.

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I'm watching 'The Hustler' with Paul Newman on AMC movie channel right now. Newman is a Pool hustler. He walks into a room, uncovers the table and says "Hey, I thought we were gonna play Pool – not Billiards". So what's the difference between the two?

Billiards is played on a table that has no pockets, and with three balls. Pool is played on a table that has six pockets, and is played with nine or fifteen balls, plus a cue ball. Snooker is played on a table that has six pockets which are smaller than pool pockets, even though the table is larger, and has fifteen pink numberless balls, and numbered balls from two through seven, plus a cue ball.

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Buying a pool table can be a very stressful experience, especially if you have no idea what to look for. There is information and guides all over the internet for buying a pool table.

Each pool table company usually has a guide and it obviously states what their pool table has to offer is what is right. There are many things to consider when buying a pool table and this Pool Table Buying Guide will try to cover them all.

Hopefully this guide will make you an informed buyer and help you choose the correct pool table for yourself and your family.

Yes, you can find them! Cheap pool tables are out there. It kinda sounds like a contradiction because generally when you think of pool tables you don’t think of cheap.

And there is good reason for this. Popular brands like Brunswick carry lines of pool tables that have an average cost of $4,000-$6,000, NOT cheap pool tables! Other high end brands include Connelly and Olhausen. A few of these higher end companies have pool tables costing over $20,000!

Now don’t worry pool tables in that range are for the professionals and billiard enthusiasts. For the average household player that is looking to purchase a pool table for recreational purposes and home decor you can find good quality, cheap pool tables.

Brands like Mizerak, Harvard, Billiardex and American Heritage produce a majority of their new pool tables for under the $2,000 range. If you buy any of them used you could find prices below $1,000! The great thing about used pool tables is typically, if they were used in an average household setting, the only wear and tear on them is the felt. You can buy good felt for under $100.

Now if you are a lot like most people you lean towards name brands because of the trust they build into their name, usually with delivering a solid product. If this is the case, there is some great news for you. Many of the name brands mentioned above carry several lines of their tables. From the more expensive, hand crafted intricate table to the less expensive ‘plain jane’ versions.

For example, you can find a new Brunswick traditional yet durable pool table starting at $1,499! Although the price is much lower than the majority of the tables they produce you still get a quality table and their lifetime warranty.

To find new name brands for less try visiting their websites. For a used name brand table the best places are auctions such as this site. You can also find new and used lesser known brands here as well.