by: Don “Cheese” Akerlow

Shooters Sports Bar located in Lewiston, Idaho, is celebrating their first year anniversary in April. It was almost a year ago that Max Martin moved his successful business into a new location. Max and his son Zane operate the poolhall and bar at its new location of 1618 Main Street in downtown Lewiston, just a few blocks from the old location. While Max is concentrating on the pool aspect, Zane manages the bar and darts.

The new Shooters is housed in a 7,000 square foot space with six bar boxes to play on, a full bar and a Billiard Pro Shop. The Pro Shop is one stop shopping for cues and accessories, table recovering and repair and is the new distributor for Quick-Clean in the area. When Max first decided to promote pool in Shooters he remodeled his room to accommodate the pool players. At that time there were never more than 8 teams in the local VNEA league. His first year in league they went to 14 teams, then 26 and now the league boasts over 32 teams. He sponsors BCA, VNEA and a local Valley (slop pool) league. At the beginning of the Fall Season every year the players decide on how they want to sanction the league. The options are BCA only, VNEA only or both. The bar sends at least 3 teams to Vegas each year (the most was 5 teams) and 8-12 players to the Idaho State Championships.

The design of the new poolroom was done with the pool player in mind. There is a minimum amount of player interruption from one table to the next. The room is configured so that the tables sit at a 30 degree angle, partly for esthetics and partly for convenience. With this arrangement there is enough room between the tables, no “sand traps” anywhere as Max put it. You do not end up playing up against barstools, other players, spectators or poles. There is seldom any waiting to shoot, and the players are courteous and considerate.

Every Friday night the Shooters holds a weekly tournament that alternates between 8 and 9-Ball. Max boasts of his computerized tournament software that will display the bracketing on his big screen TV. The program will randomize the players, call the matches, assign tables and even add in late arrivals.

On April 3-4, Shooters will host their first big tournament in the new location, for this Max will bring in a couple more tables. The event is the newest McDermott Tour Stop and has a $1500 added guarantee to the tournament. There are more special events in the works, possibly even a pool workshop/ exhibition, details are still being worked out. We at “The Break” would like to congratulate Max on his efforts to promote pool. He is one of the reasons that pool is thriving, so stop in, shoot some pool and tell him thanks!

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