Heart???

I agree with several descriptions above and it certainly does mean different things to different folks. For me, it means getting up when you know it's either gonna be real tough or you may even be the underdog. Basically , not needing the nuts to get up and heart is the direct opposite of NIT. Also, sucker does not equal heart but whoever said there's a fine line is correct.

cardiac kid said:

Can say with all honesty, what ever your definition of "heart" is, I no longer have it. Like Larry Hubbart once told me when I asked him what a "shortstop" was, he said "look in the mirror". I've done that once or twice and don't like the player I see there anymore. Do think he is a better person.

Lyn

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Huh?
From all accounts, you are a well respected pool player.

You feel in sorry for yourself today?

You know something about you that you haven't shared yet?!

jalapus logan said:

I'm wondering what the pool room definition of heart actually is. I've learned it is not a reference to kindness, lol. I think it is related to persistent lack of resources because the people who say it most seem to never have cash and are always trying to bum a ride or ask me to buy them a soda at the pool room. What's this term mean? I think we need a formal definition. Thanks.

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A player who never gives up, regardless of the situation they may be facing.

Perhaps this old musical number brought it into popular language...from "Damn Yankees":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry8CpIg2fvU

Good one lol

deanoc said:

The primary usage refers to someone who holds up under pressure,but the term is also used to mean someone who continues with a game well after it is obvious to everyone in the pool room that he has no chance

In this sense it can be applied to a fella that awaken to his bad game quits after losing only very few games

"Aw he has no heart"

It can be applied to the stakehorse who continues to play game after game in a losing sense

"now there is a good stakehorse,he has a lot of heart"

Often the person described puffs up with pride thinking ,that's right I gotta lot of heart"


Whereas the people paying the perceived compliment meant it more like this,"that poor fool
doesn't know when to quit,ie he is an idiot,if we ever get him down he'll never quit"

Heart is also more used in the lack of heart sense,let a man lose a game
regardless of the real reason,the idiots on the rail say"he got no heart"

usually this is just another way of saying ,Dean lost today.But the rift raft morons in the pool room

use the term like a dagger to pierce into the fellas reputation,the effect being the man who lost has no encouragement to ever play again.

Fear of being the laughing stock of the pool room exceeds his natural desire to win,so he becomes a railbird,a detective,a knocker

someone who does nothing but make pronouncements like"he got no hearyt"

soon the entire pool room is full of know it all critics,the action killers
the reason there is never much action

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yep the nit is the guy who gives a ride home to the broke car less player with all the heart. i like having the car.

To me, ‘heart’ is what Hemingway said about courage....
..”Courage is grace under pressure.”

Sometimes that means to charge, sometimes it means to hold your ground.

I have found that many gamblers over value the REP for having heart.

Playing on a team in an in-house league. We are playing in the finals, a lot of $$$ on the line. Playing last. Many points behind, too many. No chance to win. I'm playing a great player. He shoots a great stick. I have to pull out all the stops, play my best & then some. I play so good that he announces to his teammates that he can't beat me. Last game, at the beginning he only needs 1 more ball to win. I run the table with impossible shots & TIE THE MATCH. It goes to 'Sudden Death' & we win.

My friends I had 'HEART'.

Heart is a rare thing.

Guy goes into a strange pool hall, bets his own, plays everybody who wants action. Sometimes he leaves with all the cheese and sometimes he goes bust. He gets in the box and plays his game. Not sitting on the porch waiting on a lock game.

Not something you see everyday, but when you do you know what it is.

I've seen tons of folks with "heart" that don't know how to manage their bankroll. Heart does nothing for you, if you are sitting on the bar stool with no money in your pocket.

I am one of those odd folks who loves to play pool. Winning all of somebody's money wasn't always my first objective right off the bat. My objective was to win and stretch it out into long matches. As long as I had a good profit at the end of the night, I was content. If I knew somebody only had a couple hundred dollars, I would keep the bet lower so that they couldn't get lucky and win all of my money while I was chasing their two hundred. It is stupid to risk losing more money than the other player has or can come up with.

In 90% of the matches I played like that, I always outgunned them and left with their money. It may have taken a bit longer, but the outcome normally was in my favor. Most of the time I played in places where I didn't know anyone and I was alone. Walking into those places and throwing bunches of money on the table right off the bat was asking to get robbed.

I got partially robbed down in Biloxi many years ago when I was playing the owner of a Gulfport pool hall in his brother's bar. I went into the place about 8 PM on a Friday night and challenged the money table and they asked me, "you know we are playing 9-ball for money don't you?" And I said, "okay" and then took my turn when my quarter came up. Next thing I know, the bar is closed and we are still playing ten hours later and I'm alone and have everybody in the bar's money...probably close to a thousand dollars. The pool hall owner then went into the back of the bar and came out with a paper bag full of jewelry and wanted to put the jewelry up against the cash I had.

I told them, "I'm not a jeweler and I am only playing for money or I'm out of here". The guy went somewhere and borrowed some cash and we played some more. A couple hours later, I had all of that, too. That is when the fight started. LOL. I can laugh now, but it wasn't funny at the time.

I leaned over the table and shot in a 9 and, the next thing I know, the guy and his redneck buddies still inside the bar decided to back jump me. After getting slugged a few times, I managed to get out the door, but I had left several hundred dollars still laying on the table that I was sitting at. I was glad I was using a house cue because I didn't have time to be grabbing anything while I was hauling ass out the door.

I always used my own money and went into joints that the average person may be afraid to go into and gamble alone. I never tried to "hustle" anyone (play below my speed). I played "balls to the wall" from the first game to the last...the best I could. I think that kept me from getting into more trouble than I sometimes wound up with. If they asked me how well I played, I would tell them that I thought I would win and leave it at that. If you didn't think you were going to win, why would you even be playing?

If I ever got behind, I would play for days if I thought I could win. That is where money management comes into play. I would always have enough cash that I could afford to play for a lot of games before you were going to get all of my money. I've came back from 15 or 20 games down and then busted them. Some people just want to gamble and get it over with...win or lose. My objective was to win and if I only had the majority of your cash, and not all of it, when you quit, that was fine with me. I'd pack up and go find another place and start all over.

It is not the critic who counts.....

But the gladiator in the arena...... (or something like that) .

Heart is out-running the nuts. Playing the best when you have the worst of it.

Sometimes its just making a fair game that can go either way. Doc

2 meanings

In a normal world there are two meanings.

1. Normal world - A person has a heart, they are kind, generous, forgiving, loving encouraging, put others first. Never give up, determined, tough to the core, fighter!

2. Pool world - Never give up, determined, tough to the core, fighter!


I live in a normal world. My 2 cents.

To play smart and unafraid, and
I think it's the ability to win gracefully, lose without excuses,
and to pay up promptly without b!tching

But I really think it would depend on who you ask.