Do pool tables hold their value?

The honest answer: it depends almost entirely on the bed. A slate table from a recognized maker holds a meaningful share of its price and has real buyers years later. An engineered-wood table from a general sporting-goods brand holds very little and is often difficult to sell at any price. The dividing line is slate versus MDF, not expensive versus cheap — and the reason is not snobbery, it is moving cost.

Buying a used slate table is not one cost, it is two. There is the table, and there is getting it out of a stranger's basement, into a van, into your room, and leveled again. That second cost does not shrink when the table is cheap. It is roughly the same whether the table was expensive or not.

So a used buyer is really asking: is this table worth the moving bill on top of the asking price? For a good slate table, obviously yes. For an engineered-bed table that can be bought new in a flat pack, obviously not — and that single calculation is why one category resells and the other does not.

Quick picks

Tap any row to jump to the full write-up.

#	Product	Best for	Price
1	Holds value best Brunswick Danbury 8 ft Pool Table A recognized name on a slate bed — the combination the used market actually searches for.	A permanent table bought once	Check price on Amazon
2	The other name buyers know Olhausen Breckenridge Pool Table American-built slate with the same second-hand recognition from the other direction.	Buyers choosing between the two established names	Check price on Amazon
3	Holds value for a different reason Diamond Pro-Am Pool Table A tournament-pattern table bought by players, who are the buyers who pay.	Serious players and home rooms set up for real practice	Check price on Amazon

#ad · Buy links are affiliate links and we earn a commission on qualifying purchases. Photographs are licensed images of the category, not of the individual unit — see each retailer listing for the product’s own photography.

1. Holds value best

Brunswick Danbury 8 ft Pool Table

Brunswick Billiards

Second-hand pool table listings are searched by brand far more than by specification, because a buyer looking at photographs cannot assess a frame and can assess a name. A long-established American maker on a slate bed is the clearest signal available to that buyer, and it is why these tables command attention in a market where most listings get none.

The practical effect is that the table sells at all, rather than sitting unsold until it is given away. That is the real difference in this category: the gap is not between a table worth 60 percent and one worth 40 percent, it is between a table that has a buyer and one that does not.

What we like

• Brand recognition the used market responds to
• Slate bed — the thing a serious used buyer will not compromise on
• Parts and cloth are straightforward to source years later
• Furniture-grade cabinets date slowly

Worth knowing

• Costs considerably more new
• Needs professional installation, which the buyer also has to pay for
• Heavy — see how heavy is a pool table

Who it’s wrong for

Anyone buying a first table to find out whether the household plays. Buy cheaper and learn first.

Check price on Amazon

#ad · We earn a commission on qualifying purchases. How this is funded

2. The other name buyers know

Olhausen Breckenridge Pool Table

Olhausen Billiards

If one maker dominates used listings in a region, this is usually the other one. For resale purposes the two are close enough that the choice should be made on the table in front of you — cabinet style, cloth, condition — rather than on which badge will resell better.

What matters more than the badge is that the table is slate, that it has not been stored damp, and that it has its original frame and legs. A complete, dry, slate table from a known maker is a straightforward sale. The same table with a replaced leg and a damp-stained bed is not.

What we like

• Established name with real used-market recognition
• Solid-wood cabinets rather than veneered particleboard
• Slate bed in every relevant model
• Widely serviced, so a buyer can find an installer

Worth knowing

• Premium price new
• Larger models are a serious moving job
• Style is traditional, which not every room wants

Who it’s wrong for

A small or temporary room. A table that cannot be installed properly will not resell well either.

Check price on Amazon

#ad · We earn a commission on qualifying purchases. How this is funded

3. Holds value for a different reason

Diamond Pro-Am Pool Table

Diamond Billiard Products

This is a different resale mechanism from brand recognition. A tournament-specification table is bought by people who play seriously, and that is a small, knowledgeable, motivated pool of buyers who know exactly what the table is and what it is worth. Niche demand is still demand, and it is far more reliable than general interest.

The caveat is that the pool of buyers is small and geographically scattered, so the sale can take time and the buyer may be some distance away. Value held is not the same as value realized quickly.

What we like

• Tournament specification, which knowledgeable buyers seek out specifically
• Built for constant play, so condition holds up
• Recognized without needing explanation to the right buyer
• The specification does not go out of date

Worth knowing

• Small buyer pool — a slower sale
• Expensive new, and firmly a player's table
• Plain styling for a living room

Who it’s wrong for

A family room where the table is mostly social. You would be paying for a specification nobody in the house uses.

Check price on Amazon

#ad · We earn a commission on qualifying purchases. How this is funded

• Damp storage. The single worst thing for any table. It swells an engineered bed permanently and rots the frame under a slate one. A table stored in an unheated garage for a winter is a different table.
• Sun-bleached cloth. Cosmetic and fixable, but it reads as neglect in a photograph and buyers price it accordingly.
• A cracked or chipped slate section. Effectively terminal for value. Slate is shimmed and bonded; a cracked piece means a new bed.
• Missing or replaced legs. A mismatched leg suggests the table has been moved badly, which is exactly what a used buyer is afraid of.
• No original pockets or rails. Replaceable, but each replacement is another reason to discount.
• Being dragged rather than dismantled. It twists the frame, and a frame out of true cannot be leveled afterwards.

No — and nothing in this category should be bought as one. Even the tables that hold value best are holding value, not gaining it. Treat a pool table the way you would treat good furniture: a well-made one costs you a modest amount over many years of use, and a badly made one costs you the whole purchase price the moment you want rid of it.

What that framing does change is the buying decision. If you expect to keep a table for a decade, the extra cost of a slate bed is partly recovered at the end, which narrows the real gap between the bands described in our cost guide. If you are buying to find out whether your household plays at all, the opposite is true: buy the cheap table, accept that it is worth nothing afterwards, and treat the money as the cost of finding out.

1. Buy slate. Everything else on this list is secondary to it.
2. Buy a name people have heard of. It is the only quality signal a used buyer can read from a photograph — see best pool table brands and the Brunswick vs Olhausen comparison.
3. Buy the common size. 7ft and 8ft tables have buyers. 9ft tables are a smaller market because fewer rooms take them.
4. Keep it dry and covered. The two cheapest things you can do, and the two that matter most.
5. Keep the paperwork and the original accessories. It signals a table that has been looked after.