Is there a 'code of conduct' for 'barking'?

3RAILKICK

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Is there an informal 'off limits' where the banter/taunting/baiting/insults just won't go? Anything or anybody not fair game for making a game or creating a mental advantage once underway?

How about the end game-when the player or backer may be ready to pull up. Maybe the head games now escalate to get that last barrel to be bet. Do things get uglier then? Is the wife/girlfriend/mother/granny/female backer now the target? -if not so, earlier.

Is this done? Are there ongoing 'grudge matches'? Or do most big games get played without the drama once the game is made?/where likely most of the drama has played out in the pre-game barking/negotiating session.

Don't know-are there rules?

Who's more likely to rile things up-the player or his people/backer?

Does it just depend on.........?


3railkick

non-gambler/race to 7 for $20
 
I dont know all the answers your looking for but when I'm playing a friend I lip lash him with everything I've got....:grin: But I think his granny is probably off limits..:grin:
 
The minute I think someone is an a$$hole is the minute I refuse to play them for anything. Someone tries to push too hard to make a game and they lose their chances for a long time.
 
off limits?

I dont know all the answers your looking for but when I'm playing a friend I lip lash him with everything I've got....:grin: But I think his granny is probably off limits..:grin:

You mean that you never used," Your granny could run that table." ?
 
Some gamblers have to resort to the lowest of low moves to try to get a game.

Some gamblers have to resort to being the most aggressive low life they can be to try to get a game.

Some gamblers have to resort to using the cheapest of cheap shots and insults they can just so they can get a game.

That's the way some gamblers are, others know how to get the game they want by sweet talking ya into it.

Either way, if they get the game... it usually isn't gambling, it's stealing. The game they want is the one they are pretty sure the are going to win because you've already lost by agreeing to play.
 
Given the personality of younger competitors today, it does not surprise me. Take a look any professional sport today and tell me what you see. You see a bunch a bunch of young morons spouting off over every little underachievement they accomplish. It's funny you mentioned this today. My friends and I were just making fun of NFL players that feel they have to do a kabuki dance every time they gain a half yard. It almost makes you not want to play.

What motivates me is shutting them up through skill. It's almost better than taking their money. :)
 
The answer is arbitrary, up in the in the midwest you could woof alot more....the players in every place have their own language. You can't bark at a hole in the wall bar down south like you could in the Billiards Palace.

In a non-players place your liable to get a fist in your mouth, as opposed to barking at someone and walking out with the cash.

Pool players woof and then fight it out on the table with their cues, you woof at a fighter and you better be prepared to fight it out with your hands.

some lines are fine,
Grey Ghost
 
GG..
i can attest to that... i just found out what its like to woof at a fighter...
lesson learned... it pays more to just ask for action, rather than try and force it!
 
Extremly *barkin* isn t that kind of playin i really like- if 2 players wanna compete for money- they should do- sure the typical sentence before, kdding, jokin, teasin etc. - but if its comin up to the point where 3rd persons trying to create some *mental* pressure onto the opponent i hate it. Used to saw things several times long ago- and the best satisfying thing is, if you re such a good player that you re able to keep talkin to them while playin and run out your game anyway. When Francisco came to germany (Bustamente), almost noone knew him- he came to my town into *my* pool-hall and it was SO GREAT how he shoot the lights out and *silenced* the room just with his amazing game. The first guy who was beaten by him immediatley phoned up the next better guy(a really really good hustler) and told him that he has to hurry to earn money from that *unknown* wannabe-hustler (i swear, that were his words^^)- i knew Bustamente already and was enjoying it while ordering my next Jack Daniels- the next *patients* came in and Francisco again *silenced* the room......it was a scenery like on a meeting when someone went over- Before they cheered like in a football-stadium.......and some sets later like lil pupils being scary in front of the teacher.......


teasin, kidding, blabla is all ok, until it not gettin unfair. Or it should end, like Greyghost wrote..then some fists needed to justice perhaps. (not really fine-but some guys needin that somewhen somehow to learn *normal* respect).

just my humble opinion,

Ingo
 
Yup...orthodontic surgery is expensive, and now days a fight can involve anything from bare knuckles to bazookas. I think I would limit my less than favorable references to ancestry, appearance, ability, etc. to those whom I knew well enough to predict their reaction. A direct approach often produces desired results.......and I'd rather be paid with silver than lead...Dan
 
i just found out what its like to woof at a fighter...
Been there, done that.
As the dentist was extracting what was left of one of my teeth, he looked at me and said, talking when you should have been listening eh, yep seen it lots of times.
 
Woofing

Jimmy Mataya could turn a room upside down when he made a game.
But he had lines he didn't cross.At his most out-rageous 'Floyd',like Fats,
would have every one grinning ,even the 'woofee'.He made the game
exciting but not dangerous.When a player 'loses' it ,he usually gets bad
action or no action.
 
I've found that saying: "I don't play for money" stops woofing cold...


I dunno Steve, depends on how empty the place is....if there aren't many other prospects - next comes the, "well, how about for drinks?"

I have run into this many times, and after finally agreeing - have had the satisfaction of the opponent walking back from the bar with my Diet Coke refill...lol. If he has to trudge back and forth for a couple more, I'll buy him his drink without being beat. Some guys just CAN'T (read: won't) play without something on it.....
 
a lot of smart people in this thread

There are a lot of smart people posting in this thread and I mean that most seriously. When you start woofing anything more than the mildest, "I can beat you on the pool table", you should know who you are woofing at. There are a lot of places where you don't just have the person you are woofing at to deal with but everybody in the place.

I have been reading the Buddy Hall excerpts and that was the way it was often done back in the sixties and seventies. Bearing in mind that minimum wage was $1.25 an hour, starting off at three or five dollars a game would let you roll up a week or three of pay pretty quickly. Union construction wage was $9.05 an hour and I could triple that an hour pretty easily betting small on a pool table. If you keep it good natured competition usually the loser wants to raise the bet himself to catch up a little bit. More importantly you can come back to the same place and often the same players over and over. Trouble start over your woofing and often you have killed the golden goose.

Hu
 
Is there an informal 'off limits' where the banter/taunting/baiting/insults just won't go? Anything or anybody not fair game for making a game or creating a mental advantage once underway?

How about the end game-when the player or backer may be ready to pull up. Maybe the head games now escalate to get that last barrel to be bet. Do things get uglier then? Is the wife/girlfriend/mother/granny/female backer now the target? -if not so, earlier.

Is this done? Are there ongoing 'grudge matches'? Or do most big games get played without the drama once the game is made?/where likely most of the drama has played out in the pre-game barking/negotiating session.

Don't know-are there rules?

Who's more likely to rile things up-the player or his people/backer?

Does it just depend on.........?


3railkick

non-gambler/race to 7 for $20

Yes. There are things that are off limits. Being a total asshole is one of them. Competitive trash talking is ok. You have to know yourself and your opponent and the situation to know where you can go. Generally "yo mama" type stuff is over the line.

Too me barking was half the fun in matching up. You get a guy so hot that you had him beat before he got to the table. Sometimes I was that guy if my opponent managed to get under my skin enough for me to take a bad game.

It's an art and there is a line.
 
Before you start barking you might want to make sure you are the biggest dog in the house or you could end up with your tail between your legs.
 
I have a simple rule -- Know who you are woofing at.

When his backers starting acting like jerks it only made me concentrate all the more and then seriously kit his butt because he did not stop their attempts at sharking.

Friendly is one thing, acting like a jerk can get you hurt, in more ways than one.
 
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I have had people try and take it over the line with me and if you can reverse it and make fun of them then it really takes the wind out of their sails.

One time my friend asked me to come down to the pool room and play some $500 sets with these guys from another town. These guys were known to match up for at least $500 a set. It was 11pm when I got the call and I really didn't feel like going so I asked to make sure that they would play for a nickel a set and post two sets. He said ok so I went.

Then they get there and only want to play $200 a set.

So the barking starts. Back and forth until I said "you want to play me for $200 and you come in here wearing your big brother's leftover shorts that are too big for you, can't afford a belt, and need new underwear since yours are hanging out??? Take your $200 and go across the street to Wal Mart and buys some clothes that fit and come back when you have some money and heart to go with it."

This brought the house down and they couldn't wait to get to the table. I got the 7/8 for $500 and another $200 on the side. We won two sets and they were done.
 
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