Whiskey Ward

There is a bar on Essex Street called the Whiskey Ward that has, in my opinion, the best table in the Lower East Side. It's just a super classy place to play. I live around the corner from there and it's always the first place I check when I go on one of my game-hunting routes. The table is very prominent in the back of the bar, has plenty of clearance (unless the bar is ridiculously crowded, in which case I wouldn't want to be there anyway) and the last time I was there they still had a cone of chalk on the wall. Like any civilized place there's a chalkboard to write your name, the cues are decent and there's a prominent list of rules (which includes my least favorite: must make contact on the 8 or it's a loss). Without fail, the level of action is consistently high. One night I played the lead singer of Interpol, whose name is, appropriately, Paul Banks. He beat me despite unknowingly playing half his game with a cue that had no tip. I am tempted to recruit some people and start up a Monday night league team there. This is a pretty mediocre picture taken with my 4x5 camera that doesn't really do the place justice.