for the past year, Matt Tetrault and i have been the only ones playing straight pool in the room i go to. with a dozen 9' GCs and Anniversaries, that's pretty sad.
but as i became known there as "the guy who always plays straight pool", and as people got to know me, some of them started showing some interest in the game, saying they used to play it, and it's a great game, whatever happened to it, hey we should play a game sometime, etc. after hearing that for a few months, i wrote it off as mild enthusiasm that would never really turn into anything.
Tuesday night shows how fast things can turn around. Damien, a well-liked by everyone high-ranked player in the room came over to me and said hey, let's play a game. he beat me handily, being a Much stronger player, even though he hadn't played 14.1 in a while, he still remembered a lot of strategy and patterns. then he said with a wistful/hopeful voice "want to play another?". hell yeah!
next thing you know, two other guys on a table nearby quit 9-ball and started playing 14.1, and half the place was kibitizing about shots, saying what a hard game it is.
we all ended up playing until almost 2am on a weeknight, my opponent was anxious to find out when i'd be back to play again, and the others want to play more as well.
now to figure out how to amp this up...
but as i became known there as "the guy who always plays straight pool", and as people got to know me, some of them started showing some interest in the game, saying they used to play it, and it's a great game, whatever happened to it, hey we should play a game sometime, etc. after hearing that for a few months, i wrote it off as mild enthusiasm that would never really turn into anything.
Tuesday night shows how fast things can turn around. Damien, a well-liked by everyone high-ranked player in the room came over to me and said hey, let's play a game. he beat me handily, being a Much stronger player, even though he hadn't played 14.1 in a while, he still remembered a lot of strategy and patterns. then he said with a wistful/hopeful voice "want to play another?". hell yeah!
next thing you know, two other guys on a table nearby quit 9-ball and started playing 14.1, and half the place was kibitizing about shots, saying what a hard game it is.
we all ended up playing until almost 2am on a weeknight, my opponent was anxious to find out when i'd be back to play again, and the others want to play more as well.
now to figure out how to amp this up...
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