Know anything about pool tables?

I sell pool tables where I work. You will be hard pressed to find a new quality table for $500. The cheapest we sell in a slate table is more than double that. My advice is if you are looking to have this table for a while, splurge, and spend more than you thought on a new one, or try to find a reasonable one used.

When looking at one make sure you take into account:
all wood construction verses particle wood
slate (at least one inch thick and no cracks)
4 x 8 playing surface is the standard size
make sure the room you place it in is big enough (I have a chart showing reccomended sizes for the room - pm me and I'll send it to)
look for ones with pockets instead of ball return
get on the floor and look at construction of the table from underneath (you would be surprised to see some of the shortcuts and defects table manufacturers have hidden underneath the slate

PM me if you need anything and good luck finding a table.