Great deals on Pool Tables?

[BMan100]

My roommate and I are renting out a house, he lives in the basement and I live up stairs so we have either the living room or the family room to put a pool table in just for fun when we have parties and such. Any great places you guys/gals can suggest?

Budget... Probably around $1000 (I know, cheap, but we're college students and I'd like to buy the table for myself, eventually I may move out and like to keep it. An ideal place would be if I could pay in installments. :D Thanks

[IDrinkMolson]

Keep an eye on craig's list. I've seen some on there for free because people don't have room for them.
Sure, there's going to be some wear, but it's the right price.

[Jediturtle]

After Christmas a couple years ago we bought one of those cheap crap Sportscraft tables that Wal-Mart was carrying. It turned out to be a lot better than we thought it would be and serves our purposes very well, and I believe it was only $250 or so. Now granted, I'm sure a professional or even bar league level player wouldn't be thrilled with it, but for us it's great to play around with. I would think it would be great for a few college guys to have fun with. I think Sears carries a few that would be a step up from what we have and actually uses some fake slate for around your budget...might be worth checking out.

[Sweet Baby James]

My advice would be to get a quality table, even if you have to spend a little more. Also, make sure that your room is big enough for an eight foot table(I would advise against anything smaller). With a budget of around $1000, youre going to have to go with a laminate table(real wood is not available in this price range). I would also recommend paying a little extra and get a good cloth(I prefer Simonis 860 cloth). I highly recommend the Olhausen tables(I have the Dona Marie). Check out this website for their tables-

www.olhausenbilliards.com

If you live on the East coast, Namco is running a sale on American Heritage tables right now. You can get the following 8 foot table for $960(Columbus)-

www.namcopoolstore.com/product/GameHamiltonColumbus.html

The following link will tell you what size room that you'll need for an 8 footer-

www.olhausenbilliards.com/roomchart.php

Here are a couple of other links that might interest you-

www.predatorcues.com
www.billiardsexpress.com
www.poolndarts.com
www.billiardsdigest.com

Good luck!

[Jane2001]

I would sugget getting a cheaper one, for several reasons, if you are going to have rowdy parties as I would imagine college parties the table may some abuse, the cost of moving it and getting it leveled again. I would wait till you are more settled down before getting a quality table.

If you do decide to get a quality table do some research. Some tables say they are slate and very well may be the case but they don't tell you the thickness. Look for 1" slate they also consider 7/8" as 1" as well. Upgrade cloth like sweet baby james said. Do research, if you are dumping $1000 make sure you know what you are getting.

[alanstar@erols.com]

I concur with a couple of the previous posters - check out Craigslist or Ebay (search by distance to your house). I was able to pick up a nice 8-1/2 foot solid wood Olhausen for $900 last year; would have been $4-5k brand new....

[Sweet Baby James]

I concur with a couple of the previous posters - check out Craigslist or Ebay (search by distance to your house). I was able to pick up a nice 8-1/2 foot solid wood Olhausen for $900 last year; would have been $4-5k brand new....
Sweet deal. Which model did you get?

[SPiRAL]

After Christmas a couple years ago we bought one of those cheap crap Sportscraft tables that Wal-Mart was carrying. It turned out to be a lot better than we thought it would be and serves our purposes very well, and I believe it was only $250 or so. Now granted, I'm sure a professional or even bar league level player wouldn't be thrilled with it, but for us it's great to play around with. I would think it would be great for a few college guys to have fun with. I think Sears carries a few that would be a step up from what we have and actually uses some fake slate for around your budget...might be worth checking out.


I with you on that one. I got a 6 1/2 footer at sears for $200. I put it in my shop, and clients loved it. It was totally cheap-o but it did the trick.

[BMan100]

Appreciate the replies everyone!

I'm thinking about getting an affordable (cheap) table - Of course I'd like to get a nice quality table, but being college students, I don't want to be the kind of person that worries about my "$1000+ table" every time I'm not there. I was looking around and though I'm not entirely sold, Walmart.com (oddly enough) sells tables below my budget. I'm still researching, but I have my eye on a Sportcraft Billiards Table... I even went to the site just to check out their rep,

The Monument -100'' from Sportcraft doesn't look bad and it's about $800 (from Walmart.com).

http://www.sportcraft.com/asp/model.asp?model=1-1-32-503DS&catid=3

Or the Woodcliff - 90"

http://www.sportcraft.com/asp/model.asp?model=1-1-32-531&catid=3 (the red will actually match our walls)

I also forgot about Craigslist - have to check that out too.

I'll keep you all updated ;)

Thanks again.

[AudioWizard]

Oh man, a pool table for college. You're not going to want to keep it after, you're probably going to be required by the government to burn it.

[Jane2001]

Look for an 8 foot table - the 100" might be an 8' table not for sure though and there is no specs on the link.

the one that matches your walls I would go against since it is 8'

the playing surface should be 92"X46" (the width is half the length)

[alanstar@erols.com]

Sweet deal. Which model did you get?

Montrachet.
http://www.olhausenbilliards.com/pooltables_detail.php?id=9&cat=SOLID%20WOOD

I freakin' love it!

[Jane2001]

that is a nice looking table. How in the world did you get it for $900?

Thought about getting an 8-1/2 foot table. Several salesmen advised against it, didn't ask why. Do you like yours or would you have gone with an eight or nine footer instead?

[alanstar@erols.com]

that is a nice looking table. How in the world did you get it for $900?

Craigslist. I found afterward that they guy and his live-in girlfriend were splitting up and selling their house, and it had to go. I didn't even haggle over the price!


Thought about getting an 8-1/2 foot table. Several salesmen advised against it, didn't ask why. Do you like yours or would you have gone with an eight or nine footer instead?

I'm not even an avid pool player, it's just a fun hobby when friends are over. I couldn't even tell you the difference betweem the sizes, other than the obvious dimensions. I do know that I measured the space I had and the 8-1/2 footer fits in nicely, and "feels" right for both the room and when playing.

And keep in mind, I didn't really have an option on sizes; and I realy don't know if I would have chosen a different size or not.

[Jane2001]

that is rad - I've played on 8' and 9' tables and you can tell the difference. A 9' is makes the table more opened and shots are longer. Some people are used to a certain size and they play like crap when they play on a different size table. For under a grand I wouldn't care what size.

I should start looking around for used tables unfortunatley the area I live in isn't that big so they may be hard to come by.

[Sweet Baby James]

I cannot stress enough to go with at least an 8 footer if you've got the room. I think that you'll quickly find that 7 footers are just too easy to be much of a challenge. Another very important upgrade is the balls themselves. I highly recommend that you get Brunswick Centennial or Aramith Super Pro balls(this makes a huge difference).

[pyro383]

Make sure you have room for positioning the stick, you don't want to be like Costanza Sr and Kramer.

[Jane2001]

I concur get at least an eight footer. The 7 and 6 are used in bars, this makes for quicker games which means more $$ for the bar.

Make sure you budget in accessories...they add up quick