Another One Bites The Dust [Shark Club Billiards Hall in Canton]

**BRAZZMAN** · April-20-12, 11:17 PM

I don't know when this happened but the Shark Club Billiards Hall in Canton, MI is closed and out of business. Went there on Wednesday April 18th expecting to shoot a few racks but only found "For Lease" signs in the windows. So what's left on the west side with decent tables? The Rack on Joy Rd, ELectric Stick on Wayne Rd, Snookers on Schoolcraft, Wayne Bowl on Michigan Ave. and Ball,Cue & Brew on Fort St. And all of them are struggling for business. I do not understand why this is happening around here in the Metro Detroit area. The internet and YouTube are crammed with hundreds and hundreds of pool tournaments news and videos from around the country and the world. I don't recall any recent big time tournaments held around here. I did hear of a couple up north in Mt. Pleasant and Alpena, of all places, last year. I understand that bowling and particularly golf tournaments are backed with huge portions of money from the sponsors and they get national coverage on TV. I can't think for the life of me why there is such vast interest in these two sports. They are the most boring and skill-less endeavors anybody ever took up. Why isn't pool as popular with the general public?
http://www.russmarshallphotographs.n...Billiards.html

**Ray1936** · April-21-12, 09:55 AM

It's the electronic age, Brazz. If it isn't on Facebook, Twitter, or an Ipod, the newest two or three generations couldn't give a care less.

A hundred years from now, mankind will have the sloppiest bodies ever, but the strongest thumbs for all time.

**Johnnny5** · April-21-12, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by BRAZZMAN

I do not understand why this is happening around here in the Metro Detroit area. The internet and YouTube are crammed with hundreds and hundreds of pool tournaments news and videos from around the country and the world.
http://www.russmarshallphotographs.n...Billiards.html

Smoking laws? I know that the smoking ban has hurt the local bowling alleys and assume the pool halls are suffering a similar fate. Most of these places were barely keeping the doors open before. Just the loss of income from the cigarette machine might have been enough and the inconvenience of having to walk away from a table or a lane for a cigarette is a bigger issue than most thought [[The casinos knew this and were politically connected enough to get an exemption)

Where's the rush of families and non-smokers that was supposed to fill these places after they aired out? I guess they were "Just blowing smoke" about that one.

**I say this as someone that has never smoked.

SteveJ · April-21-12, 11:56 AM

The Snookers on Woodward in Royal Oak is closing too. I don't know too many people that play billiards. I used to love playing 20 years ago when I was a kid but now I could care less. Same thing with bowling. I used to love to go bowling but I just have no interest in that. People have just moved on with other things I guess.

GUSHI · April-21-12, 05:28 PM

Ban not hurting the charity poker halls, the snookers on hall and 53, packed but no one playing pool, just cards

**BRAZZMAN** · April-21-12, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by GUSHI

Ban not hurting the charity poker halls, the snookers on hall and 53, packed but no one playing pool, just cards

Yeah - the same is happening at Electric Stick on Wayne Rd. One recent Friday night in March I went with a friend and 1/2 the place was already filled with poker players. There were maybe 6-7 pool tables but as the night wore on and more poker players arrived, the pool tables were converted over to poker tables with the addition of a table sized sheet of plywood and red table cloth. By the time we left only one pool table was available. This place used to be filled completely with pool tables just a couple years back.

**townonenorth** · April-21-12, 11:15 PM

Originally Posted by BRAZZMAN

Yeah - the same is happening at Electric Stick on Wayne Rd. One recent Friday night in March I went with a friend and 1/2 the place was already filled with poker players. There were maybe 6-7 pool tables but as the night wore on and more poker players arrived, the pool tables were converted over to poker tables with the addition of a table sized sheet of plywood and red table cloth. By the time we left only one pool table was available. This place used to be filled completely with pool tables just a couple years back.

So how are they allowed to play poker there? Any idea how that is set up?

**BRAZZMAN** · April-22-12, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by townonenorth

So how are they allowed to play poker there? Any idea how that is set up?

Don't know the rules/laws. I don't play. But I think it's something called "Texas Hold-Im". Is that poker????

**Johnnny5** · April-22-12, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by townonenorth

So how are they allowed to play poker there? Any idea how that is set up?

The poker rooms in Michigan [[Outside of the casinos) have to be donating a percentage of their take to a charitable organization [[The same law that allows Catholic churches to have blackjack tables at their summertime fairs). The individual charities are only allowed to have a limited number of games per year, so the halls rotate their causes to stay within the law. Each charity has to have someone on site to oversee the finances and make certain that the charity is receiving their fair share of the proceeds.