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Press Release: 7-22-2006 R & J Billiards establishes an Internet Presence.
Tournament info now on the News Page!
Hi Pool Players and Welcome to R & J Billiards!!
Are you shopping for a
Pool Table or new Cue or some other pool related merchandise, like
a fancy Pool Table Light to brighten up your game room?
Links to find these items, and just about anything else you happen to be looking for
in the pool category can be found in
the Pool and Darts section.
This is hosted as a public service for Kray Mims, a wheelchair pool player.
And a true Champion.
Whatever the reason we're glad you found us :-)
As long as you're here, have a look at the products (Pool and Darts), and
Services Sections, we're
always on the lookout for stores with the best prices on quality pool tables,
and all the goodies that go along with them :) Along with any other great (buys)
or deals we find. We'll be posting changes to the
site in the News section as they are made, along with any New and Exciting Products
as we find them. Watch for special Sale Items there too! Every
once in a while we find a really great sale on custom built pool tables,
pool table lights, pool table covers, even pool table felt, and sometimes with free shipping to the lower 48 states.
Some of the more well known pool cue brand names our partners handle are
McDermott, Viking and Meucci. Plus scores of others from the very
Inexpensive to the Very Expensive...
By this time next week we will have replaced Turbo Darts with National Darts,
they have a HUGE inventory of all the latest Dart Related products. DONE...:)
If you have any Questions, Comments, or??? Be sure to visit the Feedback page.
I started my (as it turns out) lifetime
affair with pool at the age of 13... 50 years ago at this writing. And bought my first
used pool table when I was 25 years old. And it served it's purpose very well,
all the boys learned to play the game and it didn't matter if they ripped the
felt...although they never did! I did buy a newer used bar table...gee I
guess it's been almost ten years ago...time really flies when you get past
50...and a used pool table light, a classic with the budweiser team of horses
pulling a beer wagon on the top (under glass cast in gold statues).
I've noticed
over the years that pool means many different things to different people.
Some play for fun...some to boost their ego... some really do make a
living playing pool...8-ball...9-ball...3-ball..straight pool...Scotch Doubles,
are some of the most popular modern day games. We play them all on our own table, but my favorite games are 8-ball
(bar rules-call pocket and all caroms) and 9-ball with more than two people (everyone can play at once
and you don't have to call the pocket) which is great for new or rusty players. A far cry from the Billiards
game first introduced by the Spanish Conquistadors to the "New World"
shortly after it was discovered. The early colonists played some billiards, but
since tables and equipment had to be imported from Europe not many people were
playing until the mid 1800's. That's when the first "New World" billiards
industry started to take shape, and the first pool tables began to be
manufactured in the United States. I'm pretty sure Brunswick was one of, if not
the first to manufacture pool tables in the United States, starting around 1845.
Along with the start of the billiards industry came tournaments
with prizes, and side bets too...people loved to gamble, and still do :)
It was in the spring of
1859
that billiards gained national attention when Michael Phelan (a New York billiard
parlor owner) and Jim Seereiter..a local billiard hero played a match game of 4-ball
(the most popular game of the era) for a prize of $15,000...a LOT
of money in 1859, and still a sizable chunk of change today. And since
electricity generation was non-existent until 1881-1887, they had no pool table
light, maybe a lantern or some wall mounted gas lights, but it's hard to
imagine playing without the light hanging over the table, spoiled I guess :)
It was estimated the amount bet on the side was 100 times the $15,000 prize.
Michael Phelan won the match by a narrow 2000 to 1904 score, (maybe
playing on his own table helped). This match really
kicked off the growth of billiards in America. Which is called "Pool" or "Pocket Billiards"
today.
Two new games were brought to the table in the 1870s called Straight Rail and American 15 Ball,
both of which became very popular. Starting in 1878 and until 1956 billiard
tournaments were held nearly every year, using these two games. Of course by
this time some of the larger cities had electricity, and probably pool table
hanging lights :) The rollout of electric power to rural areas was much slower
with some remote areas still without power in the 1950's. Guess they didn't have
pool table lights, maybe a lantern hanging over the table at best.
8-ball and 9-ball were invented in the early 1900's and are still very popular
today with many local 8 and 9-ball leagues for men and women including mixed doubles.
Not too long ago the game of 7-ball was developed, mainly for TV tournaments.
The purpose was to make the game shorter to hold the audiences attention longer, but as
far as i know it really hasn't caught on.
The amount of families with pool tables in the home is growing every day...
there must be something to this game called pool :)
A little bit of trivia
The first coin operated pool table,
patented around the turn century (1900's) only cost one cent per game.
Which is now one hundred cents most places.
If you have any tidbits of trivia you'd like to share about pool,
or your experiences playing the game, send an e-mail to my General Information e-mail
address. I'd be happy to include it in this section, with a credit to you of
course.
Why Play Pool??
“The average person living to age 70 has 613,000 hours of life. This is too
long a period NOT to have fun.”
Pool IS a game for all ages, and
doesn't require any special athletic training or ability. In Fact I've seen
a lady come into the bar...er...I mean pool hall... in a wheelchair...take off
one shoe (she was an amputee with only one complete leg) and then use her toes
for a bridge... she won a few games before she scratched on the 8-ball...
Maybe from her view sitting in the wheelchair the pool table light got in her
eye. It did take her some time to get around the table for her next shot...but no
one really seemed to mind in the least :) Now days they have wheelchair
league play:) With no special tables...just Special People playing the game they love.
One time, a few years ago, my oldest son and I started playing 8-ball in the
late afternoon, keeping track of who won on a grease-pen board. Well...many bud
light's
plus a few drinks later...it was starting to get light outside, so we slept for a few hours...
when we woke up we looked at the tally board. We had played 150 games on the pool
table ...mostly 8-ball, but we switched to 9-ball sometime after midnight...
he won 76... I won 74 :) And his stack of quarters he keeps on top of the table
light was only 2 quarters taller than when we started.
Now a person like Steve Mizerak would have a
whole different set of stories to tell about pool. Along with great players like
Minnesota Fats and Willie Mosconi...just to name a couple of pool
experts.
Note: See the Breaking news about Steve Mizerak :(
Please visit our sponsors.
You'll find their advertising throughout the website.
Our Mission
We have created relationships with some of the
web's most Reputable and Reasonably Priced vendors of
all kinds of pool tables, pool table lights, pool table covers, pool table felt
for when you need to re-cover your table, and related merchandise, making this site
your quick start to finding the Quality accessories you
deserve. Something we wish had been available
many years ago :-(
Another part of our mission is to
have some fun with this site too :) A blog will be included
as soon as the rest of the web is all up and running smoothly.
When the blog is live we'll let everyone know on the "News" page. Hopefully it
won't be too much longer before we can start the blog, we are starting to see a
glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
Company Profile
We are Richard and JoAnn (The Company-Oliver Enterprises) lifelong Pool
Players. We have the desire to help as many people as possible find the best
merchandise and price available. Including tables, pool cues, game room lights
and furniture, even darts. We...like you have...or will , value the bond
that is formed with our children playing together...whether it's on a pool
table, or some other game.
Although pool... from my experience...lasts for a lifetime...:-)
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