History Main / BadGuysPlayPool

* Gotham's Willow Street Card Room, a Mafia operated hangout seen in the pages of the ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'', contains several pool tables.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' featured an episode where eldest son Eddie Winslow and his friend Rodney get victimized by a pool shark. The enlist [[HollywoodNerd Steve Urkel]] to get their money back, and he's [[SarcasmMode surprisingly]] good at the game, given his expertise in mathematics, forcing the bad guys to cheat to win. Fortunately for the boys, [[PapaWolf Carl Winslow]] persuaded the owner of the pool hall this was not in her best interest and [[MamaBear Mother]] [[CoolOldLady Winslow]] proved every bit as good at pool as the shark.

Part of the origin of this trope is in pool halls having been TheNewRockAndRoll once upon a time, like bowling and {{pinball}} before them and [[UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame video arcades]] afterwards. Its continuing popularity now is likely due to a pool table's ability to fit nicely inside a BadGuyBar or a family-friendly DenOfIniquity. If a FightScene ensues, [[BarBrawl as it inevitably will]], expect [[ImprovisedWeapon the cues]] to be used as clubs, swords, or broken in half and used to stab people, not to mention the balls themselves are really effective to throw at (and kill!) people.

* In ''Series/TheNakedGun''-type adverts for Red Rock Cider, this leads to the inevitable VisualGag of the pool tables being actual pools.

* [[PsychoSupporter Venom]] from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' takes this UpToEleven, being the head of a guild of assassins who uses a fighting style based on pool, having a cue and balls as his signature weapons. That said, he's a pretty decent guy, and most of his villainy comes from his UndyingLoyalty to his late master Zato-ONE, which puts him at odds with the rebel Millia Rage. They bury the hatchet by the end of ''Accent Core +'', and by the time of ''Xrd'', he and the now resurrected Zato have [[HeelFaceTurn fully turned face]], making this now a SubvertedTrope.

** The billiard table at The Bronze is usually an indicator that someone's up to no good. Xander is angrily playing a game by himself when Faith approaches him with a plan to dust Angel in ("[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E7Revelations Revelations]]".

Unless, of course, you're in the movies, where if you see someone playing pool, there's a 90% chance they're planning some dastardly deed at the same time. Whether it's due to negative connotations regarding the term "pool shark" (not to be confused with a SharkPool), or possibly due to the fact that pool is associated with illegal betting rings (which also serves as a convenient motive for a cash-starved antagonist to do any feats of nastiness the story requires), the image of a group of {{Big Bad}}s and thuggish {{Mooks}} shooting eight-ball seems to be engraved in the minds of filmmakers, though in these scenes, theses villains tend to be ManOfWealthAndTaste varieties, due to the game's association with TheMafia or any other criminal organizations. The heroes, especially an AntiHero, may also play pool, to emphasize how cool, dangerous, and outside the norm they are, or just taking a challenge on it.

Unless, of course, you're in the movies, where if you see someone playing pool, there's a 90% chance they're planning some dastardly deed at the same time. Whether it's due to negative connotations regarding the term "pool shark" (not to be confused with a SharkPool), or possibly due to the fact that pool is associated with illegal betting rings (which also serves as a convenient motive for a cash-starved antagonist to do any feats of nastiness the story requires), the image of a group of {{Big Bad}}s and thuggish {{Mooks}} shooting eight-ball seems to be engraved in the minds of filmmakers. The AntiHero and others may also play pool, to emphasize how cool, dangerous, and outside the norm they are.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlfredJKwak'': Teenaged [[BigBad Dolf]] is seen playing pool with his henchmen [[ThoseTwoGuys Hannes and Wannes]]. He's also shown playing pool once as an adult (with only Hannes) while plotting a fascist coup. Dolf seems to then uodate to gambling.

* 'WesternAnimation/AlfredJKwak'': Teenaged [[BigBad Dolf]] is seen playing pool with his henchmen Hannes and Wannes. He's also shown playing pool once as an adult (with only Hannes) while plotting a fascist coup. Dolf seems to then uodate to gambling.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' featured an episode where eldest son Eddie Winslow and his friend Waldo get victimized by a pool shark. The enlist [[HollywoodNerd Steve Urkel]] to get their money back, and he's [[SarcasmMode surprisingly]] good at the game, given his expertise in mathematics, forcing the bad guys to cheat to win. Fortunately for the boys, [[PapaWolf Carl Winslow]] persuaded the owner of the pool hall this was not in her best interest and [[MamaBear Mother]] [[CoolOldLady Winslow]] proved every bit as good at pool as the shark.

* [[PsychoSupporter Venom]] from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' takes this UpToEleven with a fighting style based on pool.

* In '' Film/BrightonBeachMemoirs'', Eugene's brother Stanley loses all his money in a rough pool hall, made somewhat less intimidating by the fact that the hustler is Jason Alexander.

* In '' Brighton Beach Memoirs'', Eugene's brother Stanley loses all his money in a rough pool hall, made somewhat less intimidating by the fact that the hustler is Jason Alexander.

* In the Korean teen action/drama film ''Gangster High'', the final confrontation takes place at the pool hall the villain frequent. Pool cues are of course used as weapons.

-->'''Jiminy Cricket:''' [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Drinking! Smoking! Playing pool!]]".

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'''s Midnight Crew intermission features The Felt, a [[GangOfHats pool-themed gang]] of villainous {{Time Master}}s who have made a game based on their hats called [[CallARabbitASmeerp "Table Stickball"]]. For what it's worth, [[DiabolicalMastermind Diamonds Droog]], the Midnight Crew's second-in-command, uses a pool cue as his WeaponOfChoice.

[[folder:Film — Live Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* When the titular ''Film/FemmeFatale2002'' decides that she needs some disreputable muscle to help in her scheme [[spoiler: which was orchestrated in the alternate reality]] she goes with her accomplice Nicolas Bardo to a [[BadGuyBar lowly dive]] where the patrons spend time playing pool among other standard activities. And it doesn't even lead to an extended BarBrawl but rather to an altercation between Bardo and a hoodlum who takes too many liberties with what she wishes to offer him. Pool plays a central role there, with the cue as a weapon and the pool table as the pedestal both for a striptease gone wrong and where the reward-sex takes place.

* When the titular ''Film/FemmeFatale 2002'' decides that she needs some disreputable muscle to help in her scheme [[spoiler: which was orchestrated in the alternate reality]] she goes with her accomplice Nicolas Bardo to a [[BadGuyBar lowly dive]] where the patrons spend time playing pool among other standard activities. And it doesn't even lead to an extended BarBrawl but rather to an altercation between Bardo and a hoodlum who takes too many liberties with what she wishes to offer him. Pool plays a central role there, with the cue as a weapon and the pool table as the pedestal both for a striptease gone wrong and where the reward-sex takes place.