First thing: You have to be OK playing with pool cues that are slightly warped. And with spending your inaugural visit stalking the tables by your lonesome while the regular patrons freeze you out, unfamiliar face that you are. Located in ever-gentrifying Columbia City, Rainier Billiards isn't the prettiest pool room in town. Or the most welcoming. With its too-bright lighting and spare seating, the decor looks like the ghost of whatever it was before someone figured they could make more money running it as a pool hall. But if the serious stickmen who on certain evenings crowd the main room while exchanging wads of bills after games of straight pool can overlook those failings, so can you. ?Vernal Coleman 5041 Rainier Ave., 722-6508