Reflections on a life of Pool

[book collector]

I'm sitting here , just turned 70 and wondering how it all went by so fast. Seems like last month it was 1965.
I wish I had never picked up a cue.
I 'm like almost everybody else on this forum and thought I would one day take my toothpick to the pool room , run into a millionaire idiot and win a bunch of money, and be on easy street
I have watched this game destroy so many peoples lives with this charade that I can't let it pass.
Yes I saw a couple of people over my lifetime of pool, that I know for a fact won at least 1/4 million dollars or more.
One of them lost everything to bookies and never spent more than 200 dollars on anything but gambling it back away.
The other ended up a drug addict, the lawyers got all of his money after he would wreck his cars. Keeping him out of jail.
I watched at least 20 people who had really rich parents , never do anything with their lives, waiting on them to die, so they could inherit the money .
Most of the parents outlived them, the ones that finally got the money , never lived more than a year, because now their addictions had no financial limits.
It's all a big ugly joke when you can see the whole picture, the problem is , most people only really want to see part of it anyway.
If you can play pool once or twice a week for a few hours and it doesn't take time from your family or livelihood and you don't feel the need to win some suckers money, pool can be a beautiful game.
For those of you who think it's a great life, beating people out of their money while playing the game you love, no need to look for the biggest sucker when you walk in the door, you brought him with you.

 

[Island Drive]

I would of never played, but because I wasn't doing that good in school my dad grounded me. Welllllllllll he had a wet bar in the basement and a 4x8 pool table, sooooooooooo I started hitting clay balls. Came home from school one day, and the table was gone. He sold it for $20. Wellllllllllllll in the chicago area every down/bowling alley had brunswick tables. Opened up the yellow pages, and low and behold there was a pool room next to the bowling alley on Roosevelt rd in Glen Ellyn. I walked in, saw some friends, won 24 dollars and said, ''this is easy''. They had 18 GC I's and great house cues. Even started seeing Gordon Hart start peddling his cues in his beginning, with a suit on and dressed to the 10's. And the counter man/old could play a little, his name was Roy.

 

[ShootingArts]

A beautiful place to do it!

I think I'm going to get up at 4 a.m. tomorrow.... go sit by my table,
and contemplate.

td

I passed through Scottsdale a handful of times. Always on my way somewhere. I wanted to spend more time poking around, beautiful country! A great place to sit and watch the sun come up, maybe with a good cup of coffee.

Hu

 

[TX Poolnut]

Just sitting here at 4 AM, looking at my pool table and wondering what happened in my life. I could have been a doctor like my father and my brother. I could have been many things, so why did I chose this path to follow. Maybe I was just too lazy to go to school all those years. I didn't really like being cooped up in a classroom. I enjoyed the open road and new adventures.

So here I am fifty years later, reflecting on what and who I am. I sit here in my easy chair; a pool table, my cue and the cue ball my only company. In the distance my little Bose radio chimes out soft classics. I like to dance around the table when I'm alone. I'm at peace, what more can one ask. Thanks for joining me on this journey.

Only regret things you have done; never regret things you haven't done.

 

[ribdoner]

i would of never played, but because i wasn't doing that good in school my dad grounded me. Welllllllllll he had a wet bar in the basement and a 4x8 pool table, sooooooooooo i started hitting clay balls. Came home from school one day, and the table was gone. He sold it for $20. Wellllllllllllll in the chicago area every down/bowling alley had brunswick tables. Opened up the yellow pages, and low and behold there was a pool room next to the bowling alley on roosevelt rd in glen ellyn. I walked in, saw some friends, won 24 dollars and said, ''this is easy''. They had 18 gc i's and great house cues. Even started seeing gordon hart start peddling his cues in his beginning, with a suit on and dressed to the 10's. And the counter man/old could play a little, his name was roy.

swank?????

 

[Island Drive]

swank?????

Yes sir!!!!!!!!!! Owned by the airline pilot. Merry Xmas, and don't forget Lord and Ladies in Wheaton.

 

[Boxcar]

I've read this thread a couple of times now, and these words just seem right. I hope you don't mind.


"My Way"

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain
I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows
I took the blows
And did it my way

Yes, it was my way

 

[ribdoner]

Yes sir!!!!!!!!!! Owned by the airline pilot. Merry Xmas, and don't forget Lord and Ladies in Wheaton.

You and I played some straight pool in SWANK before 66, I didn't like it and pulled up.

Bill Blake and I strolled into L and L one evening to find Mexican Johny playing Dick Swain....it wasn't pretty

I talked to Kevin K a few months ago, he seemed at peace and doing fine

 

[Island Drive]

You and I played some straight pool in SWANK before 66, I didn't like it and pulled up.

Bill Blake and I strolled into L and L one evening to find Mexican Johny playing Dick Swain....it wasn't pretty

I talked to Kevin K a few months ago, he seemed at peace and doing fine

I've seen Kevin a few times in the past decade or so. Tell em I'll be at the Mandalay Bay US Open for the first 3 days.4-13-4-15.

 

[lstevedus]

I'm sitting here , just turned 70 and wondering how it all went by so fast. Seems like last month it was 1965.
I wish I had never picked up a cue.
I 'm like almost everybody else on this forum and thought I would one day take my toothpick to the pool room , run into a millionaire idiot and win a bunch of money, and be on easy street
I have watched this game destroy so many peoples lives with this charade that I can't let it pass.
Yes I saw a couple of people over my lifetime of pool, that I know for a fact won at least 1/4 million dollars or more.
One of them lost everything to bookies and never spent more than 200 dollars on anything but gambling it back away.
The other ended up a drug addict, the lawyers got all of his money after he would wreck his cars. Keeping him out of jail.
I watched at least 20 people who had really rich parents , never do anything with their lives, waiting on them to die, so they could inherit the money .
Most of the parents outlived them, the ones that finally got the money , never lived more than a year, because now their addictions had no financial limits.
It's all a big ugly joke when you can see the whole picture, the problem is , most people only really want to see part of it anyway.
If you can play pool once or twice a week for a few hours and it doesn't take time from your family or livelihood and you don't feel the need to win some suckers money, pool can be a beautiful game.
For those of you who think it's a great life, beating people out of their money while playing the game you love, no need to look for the biggest sucker when you walk in the door, you brought him with you.

I am almost 70. A couple of more months. I have lived most of my life in central Ohio. Played pool in various forms for over 50 yrs. Hung out in a lot of different places to play pool. Old fashioned pool rooms, bars, bowling alleys, ect. Thanks for telling it like it really is. Its a game I really like to play for a hobby, but its just a game. Luckily I was born extremely farsighted, so I always worked real jobs, TG, and ended up with enough to retire on. Got my eyes fixed because of cataracts. Can see a lot better now. Still play as much as I can in retirement. Mostly just for fun with some guys like me that can play a little. Go to the Derby every year. I used to play a lot in Columbus. Do I know you? Seems like I do. Like I said. Thanks for telling it like it really is.