How old were you when you saw your first pool table and where was it? Did it make an impression on you?
Maybe 10-11yo. Was at a summer camp. Four tables were in a dirty barn. As I looked at them I could smell blood.
I was 9 or 10. There was a little dive beer bar about a mile from our house in northern Wisconsin that had an old beat up bar box. My buddy and I would stop there for a bottle of pop occasionally while riding our bikes around the countryside. One day the owner was playing pool with another old guy, and we watched them while we drank our sodas. After they finished their games the owner showed us some basics and let us shoot a while on his quarters. I was hooked, and after that I always made sure to have a quarter or two to plug into the table when we went there.
Things were different back then (late 60s) and a couple unescorted kids were perfectly safe in a little country bar in the middle of the day, and welcome too, as long as we behaved ourselves.
<---- Glad I grew up when and where I did. :smile:
The first time I won money I was 13yrs old. A Poolroom opened in the neighborhood that catered to under 18 yr old kids. The law then stated you had to be 18 to play.
A guy from school was teaching me the game of 9 ball by relieving me of my lunch money everyday. We were playing .25 cents a game and I would lose a buck and have to quit so I had some money to pay my time.
Finally one day I win the first game and my teacher Jack looked like he saw a ghost instead of paying right up like we had been doing he insisted we play another game.I won that too, that's when he starts feeling his back pocket and saying his wallet was lost .
Bottom line Jack was so confident he would win he came in with air barrels. I ended up paying all the time and having to wait over a week to get my lousy .50 winning and his end of the time. Luckily for me that never happened again to this day. Looking back it is funny at age 13 I was fuming.