Some history: ('piggy backing' on Intimer's comments above)
A.E. Schmidt was established by German immigrant Ernst Schmidt, who came to St. Louis in 1849. The company he founded is the oldest family-owned billiard manufacturer company in the US.
In addition to selling and installing new tables, Schmidt had a brisk business of moving tables in and out of breweries and bars, and furnishing necessary repairs and supplies, and another "niche" business - "trade checks".
The checks were brass tokens stamped with the bar name on one side and the words "Good for 5 cents (or 10 cents) in Trade" on the opposite side. To make the table games more interesting, the loser had to pay the bar 5 cents or 10 cents per game, and the winner received a 5 cent or 10 cent merchandise token from the house.
Although this added spice to the game, and for a while sparked table sales, it eventually made "pool players" and "pool rooms" notorious names. Some of the better players practically lived and worked in the bars - eating, drinking, and playing at the inexperienced players' expense. The area of the "pool hustler" was born.
Don........
Source:
http://www.aeschmidtbilliards.com/home.html