I approve.
Drinking, Smoking, and Shooting?
- Thread starter Shooter08
- Start date
I smoked a lot of weed in college and hated it the whole time, but it was what all my friends were doing so I figured I just needed to learn how to enjoy it. I eventually realized it's just not for me - I get panic attacks and all that, so now I just avoid it. Conversely, I like boozing a bit too much so I try to avoid that stuff too. If I kept going drinking the way I was at a point, I was in danger of becoming a full blown drunk. I perform much better in pool and life with nothing besides water going down the hatch.
No judgment from me either way though. One of my buddies who is an excellent player is blazed out of his gourd the entire time he's playing and can't seem to miss a ball.
No judgment from me either way though. One of my buddies who is an excellent player is blazed out of his gourd the entire time he's playing and can't seem to miss a ball.
As I say this, I know I sound like an addict justifying usage...I have gone back and forth with this for years. I do think that a minor MJ buzz helps me to focus more on the shot at hand. I think it also calms the nerves under pressure. I THINK I play better.
NOTE: In the end, I don't really care. I do not think it hurts the game for sure, and I enjoy it immensely when shooting stick. I am going to continue to go with it!
"I'm Marty Huggins and I approve this message"......haha
Even though I can't/don't puff the magic dragon anymore, puma122,
I do feel the the same way about it as you just described.
I hope more people chime in on this thread, I'd love to see it grow and
grow. Interesting read if you ask me. I realize there will be many people
that know about this subject first hand, but they'll only choose to read
what others right and won't post an opinion, because it's personal and
nobody's business but there own.
Before I played regularly I thought a drink or two helped. As I got better it became obvious it was hurting more than helping, so I stopped (never drank much anyway).
Nowadays a little smoke (not too much) helps me focus and maintain my interest for practice, but if I play anybody, even for fun, I'm too easily distracted and it works against me.
pj
chgo
Nowadays a little smoke (not too much) helps me focus and maintain my interest for practice, but if I play anybody, even for fun, I'm too easily distracted and it works against me.
pj
chgo
For years I was convinced drinking/smoking helped me. I was confident that the right cocktail of drugs would bring the best out of me. Timing red bulls, regular smoke breaks, always sipping whiskey, painkillers every night.
Last year I went sober for a session and my game went to another level. I couldn't believe I sabataged my game for so long. Now if I want to play at my best I do it sober.
Last year I went sober for a session and my game went to another level. I couldn't believe I sabataged my game for so long. Now if I want to play at my best I do it sober.
Personally anything that affects my hand eye coordination, or motor skills, will make me play worse. I used to be a pot head and drank a lot. If I would have laid off the booze and weed when I was gambling, I might have enough in the bank now to retire, but I doubt it.:grin:
Alcohol and weed affect different people in different ways. Some it get them all happy and relaxed, others not so much. I play with a couple of guys that like to go outside to have a "break". I am not really sure if it helps them or not, but they think it does, so I guess it works for them. Me, I don't really see much difference after they come back from their "break" other than they have red eyes and are much more mellow.:smile:
Alcohol and weed affect different people in different ways. Some it get them all happy and relaxed, others not so much. I play with a couple of guys that like to go outside to have a "break". I am not really sure if it helps them or not, but they think it does, so I guess it works for them. Me, I don't really see much difference after they come back from their "break" other than they have red eyes and are much more mellow.:smile:
I'm not sure.
Some thirty odd years ago I came staggering into our local pool room, drunk on my ass. I went up to the bar and before I could say, "Give me a Bud Lite." I threw up all over the counter. I had just eaten half of a peperoni and sausage pizza, and the puke dripping off the counter smelled so bad that I threw up again, and shit my pants at the same time. I was a freaking train wreck.
I must have passed out for a while because the next thing I knew I was sitting in the back seat of a Volkswagen beetle smoking a doobie and listening to Jimmy Hendrix.
Things got even more weird when I started sucking on a sugar cube. I got real small and then kind of melted into the dashboard lights..........now what was you question? :smile:
Some thirty odd years ago I came staggering into our local pool room, drunk on my ass. I went up to the bar and before I could say, "Give me a Bud Lite." I threw up all over the counter. I had just eaten half of a peperoni and sausage pizza, and the puke dripping off the counter smelled so bad that I threw up again, and shit my pants at the same time. I was a freaking train wreck.
I must have passed out for a while because the next thing I knew I was sitting in the back seat of a Volkswagen beetle smoking a doobie and listening to Jimmy Hendrix.
Things got even more weird when I started sucking on a sugar cube. I got real small and then kind of melted into the dashboard lights..........now what was you question? :smile:
I play best sober, about the same with a single beer in me but any more and it goes downhill from there. And it's not because I can't or don't drink....I can and do, more than I should probably, but usually not when I'm playing pool. Thankfully I rarely want to drink much when playing.
Drink more.
This has been discussed before, and I see that I'm in the minority, but I almost always drink when I play in tourneys or for money. Anything less than 2 drinks and Im very tense and have a tendency to worry about everything else other than the match. Once I get the 2-3 cocktails in me, I relax and focus much better on the task at hand. May not work for you, but it definitely works for me.
(Don't smoke weed, so I can't answer that one)
(Don't smoke weed, so I can't answer that one)
I have kind of a unique take on this situation than I see most posting about here....
I have had 5 back surgeries and can't play pool for any sort of extended period of time unless I take pain meds. So, the obvious answer is they help me because without them my stance/fundamentals would be SO jacked up that I would never have any type of consistency. With that being said, I think they also help me a bit if I am playing any type of competitive game (tourney, league, money, etc...anything besides just banging balls w/friends). It keeps me from getting tense like I have a tendency to do when I am playing a game that I genuinely care whether or not if I win. I don't think my game is affected negatively by any sort of "fuzziness" the meds might cause people.
Now, to address the same aspect of the question that everyone else is answering...
100 years ago when I was young and bar hopping (before any back issues), I had that "zone" (or at least felt I did) where I could shoot lights out! But it was definitely a diminishing returns thing that was fleeting and difficult to maintain and I'm sure I spent too much time either thinking about it or pursuing it and I'm sure I would have been much better off had I just not tried to find that zone and just played straight.
I have had 5 back surgeries and can't play pool for any sort of extended period of time unless I take pain meds. So, the obvious answer is they help me because without them my stance/fundamentals would be SO jacked up that I would never have any type of consistency. With that being said, I think they also help me a bit if I am playing any type of competitive game (tourney, league, money, etc...anything besides just banging balls w/friends). It keeps me from getting tense like I have a tendency to do when I am playing a game that I genuinely care whether or not if I win. I don't think my game is affected negatively by any sort of "fuzziness" the meds might cause people.
Now, to address the same aspect of the question that everyone else is answering...
100 years ago when I was young and bar hopping (before any back issues), I had that "zone" (or at least felt I did) where I could shoot lights out! But it was definitely a diminishing returns thing that was fleeting and difficult to maintain and I'm sure I spent too much time either thinking about it or pursuing it and I'm sure I would have been much better off had I just not tried to find that zone and just played straight.
.................
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This is a good thread to tell a little story about playing TOO high.
I was playing in as big barbox tourney quite s few years back.
Archer was there as was Tommy Kennedy.
At this time in my life I had never smoked the Amsterdam weed but someone had some and needless to say I got as stoned as I've ever been. The time I walk back in they call me to play Marty Free. Marty breaks and scratches and after studying the layout (9b)
I put the CB down and shoot the 3 ball. What makes it so bad is that I did the same thing twice. Marty thought I'd lost my mind and I had.......
I was playing in as big barbox tourney quite s few years back.
Archer was there as was Tommy Kennedy.
At this time in my life I had never smoked the Amsterdam weed but someone had some and needless to say I got as stoned as I've ever been. The time I walk back in they call me to play Marty Free. Marty breaks and scratches and after studying the layout (9b)
I put the CB down and shoot the 3 ball. What makes it so bad is that I did the same thing twice. Marty thought I'd lost my mind and I had.......
hell, I still do that without imbibing so it must be the "residual affect" from days gone by!
Sometimes you're barely holdin on...amateur!
At least I was thinking a couple balls ahead :grin-square:
I can tell by your avatar pic that you aren't thinking straight though.:grin-square:
Lose one's hard earned money gambling while impaired and get busted for DUI on the ride home. Not for me. I play bad enough without a buzz. I prefer to have my senses when dealing with $$$
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Some would argue that your senses are absent if you play pool for you 'hard earned money'