diff --git a/lib/ok_hbase.rb b/lib/ok_hbase.rb
index e852089..cf73569 100644
--- a/lib/ok_hbase.rb
+++ b/lib/ok_hbase.rb
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ def self.thrift_type_to_dict(obj)
 require 'ok_hbase/version'
 require 'ok_hbase/client'
 require 'ok_hbase/connection'
+require 'ok_hbase/pool'
 require 'ok_hbase/concerns'
 require 'ok_hbase/table'
 require 'ok_hbase/row'
diff --git a/lib/ok_hbase/connection.rb b/lib/ok_hbase/connection.rb
index 9192617..243e862 100644
--- a/lib/ok_hbase/connection.rb
+++ b/lib/ok_hbase/connection.rb
@@ -62,6 +62,14 @@ def open?
       @transport && @transport.open?
     end
 
+    def ping?
+      begin
+        return open? && tables
+      rescue
+        return false
+      end
+    end
+
     def close
       return unless open?
       @transport.close
@@ -143,6 +151,12 @@ def table_name(name)
       table_prefix && !name.start_with?(table_prefix) ? [table_prefix, name].join(table_prefix_separator) : name
     end
 
+    def reset
+      OkHbase.logger.info("resetting connection")
+      _refresh_thrift_client
+      open
+    end
+
     private
 
     def _refresh_thrift_client
diff --git a/lib/ok_hbase/no_connections_available.rb b/lib/ok_hbase/no_connections_available.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5e209c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ok_hbase/no_connections_available.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+module OkHbase
+  class NoConnectionsAvailable < RuntimeError
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/ok_hbase/pool.rb b/lib/ok_hbase/pool.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c745b6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ok_hbase/pool.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+require 'thread'
+require 'timeout'
+
+require 'ok_hbase/connection'
+require 'ok_hbase/no_connections_available'
+
+
+module OkHbase
+  class Pool
+    @_lock
+    @_connection_queue
+    @_connection_ids
+
+    def initialize(size, opts={})
+      raise TypeError.new("'size' must be an integer") unless size.is_a? Integer
+      raise ArgumentError.new("'size' must be > 0") unless size > 0
+
+      OkHbase.logger.debug("Initializing connection pool with #{size} connections.")
+
+      @_lock = Mutex.new
+      @_connection_queue = Queue.new
+      @_connection_ids = []
+
+      connection_opts = opts.dup
+
+      connection_opts[:auto_connect] = false
+
+      size.times do
+        connection = OkHbase::Connection.new(connection_opts)
+        @_connection_queue << connection
+        @_connection_ids << connection.object_id
+      end
+
+      # The first connection is made immediately so that trivial
+      # mistakes like unresolvable host names are raised immediately.
+      # Subsequent connections are connected lazily.
+      self.with_connection {} if opts[:auto_connect]
+    end
+
+    def synchronize(&block)
+      @_lock.synchronize(&block)
+    end
+
+    def with_connection(timeout = nil)
+      connection = Thread.current[:ok_hbase_current_connection]
+
+      return_after_use = false
+
+      begin
+        unless connection
+          return_after_use = true
+          connection = get_connection(timeout)
+          Thread.current[:ok_hbase_current_connection] = connection
+        end
+        yield connection
+      rescue Apache::Hadoop::Hbase::Thrift::IOError, Thrift::TransportException, SocketError => e
+        raise e
+      ensure
+        if return_after_use
+          Thread.current[:ok_hbase_current_connection] = nil
+          return_connection(connection)
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
+    def get_connection(timeout = nil)
+      begin
+        connection = Timeout.timeout(timeout) do
+          @_connection_queue.deq
+        end
+      rescue TimeoutError
+        raise OkHbase::NoConnectionsAvailable.new("No connection available from pool within specified timeout: #{timeout}")
+      end
+      begin
+        connection.open()
+        connection.reset unless connection.ping?
+      rescue Apache::Hadoop::Hbase::Thrift::IOError, Thrift::TransportException, SocketError => e
+        connection.reset
+        raise e
+      end
+      connection
+    end
+
+    def return_connection(connection)
+      synchronize do
+        return unless @_connection_ids.include? connection.object_id
+      end
+
+      @_connection_queue << connection
+    end
+  end
+end