I just reread portions of this thread and my part in it. I definitely got steamed, but for good reason. I don't like it when someone knocks our sport and it's players as a rationale for making a dirty move. And that's what happened here. On top of it, the same guy makes all kinds of derogatory comments about the victims of his move, to imply that somehow he was the one who was wronged.
What's wrong here is that a small man with a few dollars and an over inflated ego, wants to tear pool down because he got BEAT by some smarter and more skilled pool players. He wants to shout to the heavens that pool is bad just because he can't play! His feelings got hurt and his ego was bruised. So now he doesn't have to pay. Do you begin to get the picture?
I have spent ample time in both world's to have an opinion on poker and pool players. As a group I'll take the pool players any time. I have seem more childish behavior at a poker table full of grown men, than in a kindergarten class. They whine and complain about every hand they lose, always faulting the player who beat them. They have an explanation for every losing session, never accounting for their own bad play. And when they win, they think they're geniuses.
Let's face reality here. Poker is not rocket science. Any idiot can play, and he might even win! The difference in skill level between a good amateur player and a top pro might be 5% at the most. In tournaments with hundreds of players, 90% of them may have a chance to win. That's why you see different names in the winner's box day after day, and week after week. There's a new star born every month. Finally, the great majority of the top players stay broke and need backers just to get in a tournament. It's a "sport" full of losers and crybabies! So why am I not surprised by what is going on here?
On the other hand, pool takes some real skill to be good at. Not just anybody can step up and play the game. It is a real sport, taking years of dedication to acquire the skills necessary to be a pro. Very unlike poker in this respect. Professional pool players should take pride in their abilities. They have earned the respect they receive. They have superior skills in one of the hardest games man has ever created. On a scale of one to ten, pool is a ten in the skills required to be a professional. Poker is about a three or a four. And I'm probably being generous there.
I guess all the above will begin to explain why I get upset when some poker playing crybaby gets on here and begins knocking our sport just because he doesn't want to pay a pool player the money he owes him.