[Black-dot]

Last night at Chris's Billiards in Chicago some interesting stuff happened. It was about 10:30 and all the interesting action had long left. The money table, No. 9, was empty. There were probably no more than 20 or 25 people left in the joint. And the young hotshot kid from Vegas was looking for action, at least some action, but the fish weren't there. This kid has been in the Windy City for about a week now, and knows a few of the local hustlers, who also aren't biting. Yours truly saw him play one of the top dudes a few days ago, two sets of races to 7. The kid won the first set, and lost the second. Nothing much was riding on the matches, but the middle aged hustler doesn't like loosing the cheese. After that the kid didn't want to play the hustler any more. Turns out the hustler wasn't paying much attention on the first set and soon found the kid on the hill, who won that set. Second set, the hustler tortured the kid, safetying him into oblivion. So I was the next batch of cheese for the kid. We played on table No. 10, the one with the tightest pockets of the 47. Race to 5 for 10. I could tell the kid wasn't playing hard. Heck he can run the balls, and never got past a 4 ball run... Guess he wanted to make me think I really could beat him. And I wasn't playing hard either, not that it really would have mattered much. But we had fun. And he won.

So last night, the kid is hankering for more action. But I wasn't biting. Not at $10 a set. I just didn't want to lose the money. I knew he was going to win. So he dropped it down to $5 a set, race to 5. I bit. I had previously told him that the money wasn't important to me, it wouldn't change how I play. I play tough, I play for fun, for the thrill of it. The money doesn't influence how I play. And it really doesn't. But if there were real money on the line that would be something different. But I told him I don't play for real money. And so there never was any undue pressure on me. So we started. First set he shut me out, 5-0. Second set he beat me 5-1. But I had done a few things in those 11 games that set the stage for the 3rd set. First thing was I showed him safeties didn't phase me. Told him I loved getting out of them, needed the practice. Second thing was at every chance in the early to middle stages of the rack I fired on the 9 ball. Even when there wasn't a whole lot of hope it would go in. But that 9 ball did roll a lot... :-o Third thing I established was that I could jump whitey at will, so practically none of his safeties netted him ball in hand. One shot whitey was airborne for about 4 feet, smacked into the object ball after going over two interfering balls first, and stayed on the table. Fourth thing was I got him on three fouls twice in those first two sets... Fifth thing: he safetied me and left whitey tight against the nine ball, and I just knew there was no way I was going to get outa this one. So I gently shot the nine ball over near the rail, nudging against the 8. Mucking up the rack, making a runout much tougher. "Hey, whatja do that for??" This stuff has gotta mess with his head...

So here's the third set. Some of the fellows watching the match asked how much we were playing for, as this thing at a certain point became tough. He obviously didn't like it that we were going for da cheese at $5 a set, and kinda derided me for playing "for practice." Especially since although he won the first two sets they weren't exactly easy wins for him. So before the third set I said you gotta gimme a spot, you're way better than me. He bites. What do you want? I go to 3, you to 7. No way, says he. You go to 4, I go to 6. No way, says I. We settled on me to 3, him to 5. All this dickering for a measley five bucks... :-P However, this set I played him tight. Safeties, don't pot the 1 or the 2 unless I get a shot at an easy combo on the 9 sort of thing. He wins the first, but apparently didn't move his penny. I win the second. He goes, "Didn't I win the first game?" I honestly didn't remember. We went back and forth. And I gave in, and moved his penny over. Being da nice guy... :-D Third game, I get ball in hand and fire on the 9. Not a high percentage shot, but I know how to move that 9 ball fast and furious, and it did. Almost went in... My next turn, I shot a regular shot, and the 9 ball moved again. He said, you always go for that 9, don't you? "Hey, it's my style. Somebody told me that always moving the 9 ball is a good thing." :-D Son of a gun thought I did it on purpose. Messin' with his head. Turns out I won that game, so I'm on da hill. Now dat rilly messes wit his haid... Specially since about 15 people are watching the match by now. My break. Until that moment I had been doing my standard break, the cue ball a few inches left of the center, hit the one ball full, try to bring the cue ball straight back up table. Almost never scratch with that anymore, and usually pot a ball or two. This time, I said out loud, let's see if I can pot that 9 on the snap. I set up for Fast Larry's spin break, hadn't used it before this with him. The cue ball back a little off the short rail, slightly left of center, my cue on the rail, 1 tip right english. Wham... pot 2 on the break, cue ball comes back uptable, with a perfect spread for a runout. I get these long stares from two or three of the guys watching the game... But he wins that game. We're now 2-2. He needs 3, me 1. We go through the next rack and get to the 9. Nobody has a good shot on it for 4 or 5 shots. Until he dropped the cue ball in the side pocket... :-)

Loved it, the thrill of beating this guy was worth all the torture... I did it for da cheeeeeze... LOLOL Still savoring that one... :-P



[ Edited by Black-dot on 2004/7/25 9:36 ]

[Black-dot]

Fast Larry sure is right about the mental side of pool, and the psychological side too.

This afternoon I matched up with a better player, race to 5 for $5. He won the first two sets, rather handily. Then we only had about an hour left, and on the third he tried to up the ante to $10. But we kept it at $5. I changed my style of play on that third set. Safeties galore. And made 3 pretty good shots. Seems they freaked him out a bit. I won the first game. He won the second. I won the third. This wasn't fitting into his pattern for an easy third set. He seemed to lose his game, at least for a while. One time when I had ball in hand and a rather difficult combo on the 9 ball, I lined the cut up, took aim, and fired away. He was already rattled. But when the 9 ball shot past the side pocket and banked twice and went down in the corner, he exclaimed, "You ******* ****** !!" Seems I got under his skin. Similar thing happened when I was lining up a shot on the one ball, trying to get into a rather difficult position that would give me an easy combo on the 9. I shot, made the 1, but didn't get the right shape for the combo. I told him I was trying to get behind that 2 ball... he said, "You ****** ****** shark !! I saw what you were doing." Son of a gun was nervous !! In any case, we both ended up on the hill, and he won. However, I'll never forget how antsy he was... :-D

[biglouieone]

' date='Jul 28 2004, 08:14 AM said:

Fast Larry sure is right about the mental side of pool, and the psychological side too.

This afternoon I matched up with a better player, race to 5 for $5. He won the first two sets, rather handily. Then we only had about an hour left, and on the third he tried to up the ante to $10. But we kept it at $5. I changed my style of play on that third set. Safeties galore. And made 3 pretty good shots. Seems they freaked him out a bit. I won the first game. He won the second. I won the third. This wasn't fitting into his pattern for an easy third set. He seemed to lose his game, at least for a while. One time when I had ball in hand and a rather difficult combo on the 9 ball, I lined the cut up, took aim, and fired away. He was already rattled. But when the 9 ball shot past the side pocket and banked twice and went down in the corner, he exclaimed, "You ******* ****** !!" Seems I got under his skin. Similar thing happened when I was lining up a shot on the one ball, trying to get into a rather difficult position that would give me an easy combo on the 9. I shot, made the 1, but didn't get the right shape for the combo. I told him I was trying to get behind that 2 ball... he said, "You ****** ****** shark !! I saw what you were doing." Son of a gun was nervous !! In any case, we both ended up on the hill, and he won. However, I'll never forget how antsy he was... :-D

I wonder why messing with a pool players heads or sharking him is so ingrained into the game and it's totally frowned on in Golf?

[The_Woim]

Pool is a more intimate game. A golfer doing his swing usually has the tee area to himself. He's definitely by himself on the greens. With pool, the two men directly competing at howering near the same pool table. Competing golfers are usually on two entirely different holes.

The Woim