How good were you when you first picked up a cue?

[Geosnookery]

We we all have our aptitudes. I was always good at sports. Also, as boys we were always honing our hand/ eye coordination be it throwing rocks, shooting pucks, playing marbles, ping pong, yo-yo, soccer or whatever. At age 14 I started to play Snooker and never found it ‘hard’. Perhaps I was terrible at it but could beat my mates so it made me think I was better than I was.

In contrast I’ve played guitar for over 50 years and still ‘ok’ at best. I don’t have any innate talent in the arts….music, drawing, etc.

 

[hotelyorba]

I guess if you have at least the 'motor skills'-talent of knowing/feeling how to move the cue in a fairly straight line through a cueball (without anyone telling you how you should do it), then you're off to a good start the first time you play. Add to that a basic feel of where to aim the CB at the object ball to make it go a certain direction (let's say, towards a pocket) and then you know you found a new passtime that will bring a lot of fun in your life.

That's basically what happened to me some 25+ years ago. Some buddies from school introduced me to this game called 'pool' and right then I knew, I was gonna play the h*ll out of this game. Not saying I ever got to world beater level or anywhere near it, but I still see a lot of recreant bangers who just don't have the foggiest notion how this whole stick-against-ball-against-other-ball-towards-pocket principle works and I know I was at least instantly far beyond that level.

Took me a lot of years after that first introduction to the game, to really understand the importance of fundamentals though. And now that I have internalized those fundamentals, I just can't imagine anymore what I was doing in those earlier years. Only thing I really remember from those years, is that I experienced playing the game far more intensely than I do now. I think it's because I thought about the game in a more subjective sense (winning/losing was happening to me) and now I mostly view the game objectively (if I perform the stroke with X speed and Y tip placement on CB and then result will be Z).

 

[PoolBum]

How good were you when you first picked up a cue?​

I was good until I first picked up a cue. After that I was bad to the bone.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

First Cue was crooked house Cue at Boys Club in Miami. Tables wobbled and made terrible noises when balls sank.

Boy would wait an hour for chance to play winner who won privdge to play longer.

We were having fun.

 

[Black-Balled]

How good were you when you first picked up a cue?​

I was good until I first picked up a cue. After that I was bad to the bone.

Calm down, damn!

 

[MrKnives]

I ripped a nice tear in my uncle’s cloth as a 9yr old and got better ever since

 

[michael4]

I was at the same level as I am now,

 

[The_JV]

When I first picked up a 'pool' cue, I was a god. Didn't need CB control during those days, as I could make anything from anywhere. Of course I had ~7yrs of intense snooker play prior.

I don't recall my struggles when I first took up snooker at 13 though. I'm sure it's my subconscious protecting my fragile ego. I do know I had a couple of years of haphazard undirected play before a credible player took pity on me and showed me the right way to form a bridge...lol.

 

[bbb]

i was so bad i decided to take up 3 cushion billiards......
you didnt have to make a ball...
sorry i couldnt resist
no offence intended

 

[mikemosconi]

HA HA HA - when I was 10- 1963- my Dad bought us a table for our finished basement ( two older brothers)- I remember that my friends and I would play one rack 14.1- the first guy to get 8 points won- probably took us 20 minutes just to play one rack- a run of 5 balls was amazing - but it sure was fun!

 

[BlueRaider]

Awful. Just above bottom of the barrel. Ever seen the drunk people at the pool room on a night out who miscue over and over? I was barely above that. I didn't miscue but I had no sense of how to aim, align my tip on the cue ball, or stand to deliver a straight stroke.

I got a little better when my college roommate showed me how to make an open bridge. Then a little better still once we started playing more frequently, but I stayed at APA SL 2/3 level (estimating) for around 5 years because I never practiced and never read/watched any instructional material. And it didn't help that all of my buddies were about the same skill level as me.

 

[middleofnowhere]

i was so bad i decided to take up 3 cushion billiards......
you didnt have to make a ball...
sorry i couldnt resist
no offence intended

I know you're probably being funny but I used to play in a pool room that had four beautiful Verhoven billiard tables. I can't tell you how many half-ass pool players once they wandered over to those billiard tables never came back and they excelled at the game.

Well this is my opinion it's also an observation, I've known lots of pool players who played pretty damn good Billiards. It doesn't seem to work the other way around.

Sang Lee played 9 ball with my wife. All he did was rack. Now my wife was a real good player it wasn't really that expected that he would win, but my God he couldn't run three balls.
Carlos Hallon on the other hand was/is a very good pool player. I gave him the wild 7 and it was really close. He was a terrific golf player on the snooker table.

Blomdahl can really play, very solid pool player. I think he is probably an exception though.

 

[ShootingArts]

I was so bad I bought three or four beers for every one I drank. However I found some old ten footers in a deep dark cavern and an old pool hall where time was cheap and I hit balls, lots of balls. With no particular aptitude and no mentor I hit balls about six months before I was even on the beer bets in bars. Another two months and people were buying me lots of beer. By the end of the first year I was looking for low stakes cash games. End of two years I thought I was pretty good, not realizing how bad my competition was! Another two or three years and I could play pool a little.

Add it all up, it took me four or five years to hit my stride. A natural I wasn't!

Hu

 

[sjm]

I began playing in 1969 at the age of 11. I had been watching top players for over two years by then, so I knew how straight pool worked.

Regardless, I was absolutely terrible. In my first couple of years, I was happy with any run over 10 balls. I probably played two hours of pool a week in my youth, and even at age 18, my high run was still a modest 58.

I didn’t, play my best pool until I was in my 30s.

On the matter of early blooming, I can say that it seemed to me that the ones who would go on to be great had shown world class speed by age 18. Among those I saw when they were very young were Sigel, Hopkins, Strickland, Archer and Ortmann, all of them BCA Hall of Farmers now. The outlier is BCA Hall of Famer Joe Balsis, who won nearly all his titles between the ages of 40 and 60.

 

[Nostroke]

I did a six pack right away! When i put the beer down i missed BIH on the first shot.

 

[middleofnowhere]

I began playing in 1969 at the age of 11. I had been watching top players for over two years by then, so I knew how straight pool worked.

Regardless, I was absolutely terrible. In my first couple of years, I was happy with any run over 10 balls. I probably played two hours of pool a week in my youth, and even at age 18, my high run was still a modest 58.

I didn’t, play my best pool until I was in my 30s.

On the matter of early blooming, I can say that it seemed to me that the ones who would go on to be great had shown world class speed by age 18. Among those I saw when they were very young were Sigel, Hopkins, Strickland, Archer and Ortmann, all of them BCA Hall of Farmers now. The outlier is BCA Hall of Famer Joe Balsis, who won nearly all his titles between the ages of 40 and 60.

I remember reading Balsis was a good player when he was young. I found this on line.

Quote,
Joe grew up playing in the billiard room of his father, John, whose business was in the sale of meat. At an early, Balsis was deemed skilled enough by age 11 to play exhibition matches against professional players including Andrew Ponzi and Erwin Rudolph.[3][4] When in his teens, he won four consecutive annual junior titles, then left the game and joined the Coast Guard as a boat machinist for several years during pool's temporary decline. In 1944, he took up competition again, winning the Armed Services Champion title.[2]

Balsis rejoined the game in 1964 Balsis, where he began to compete professionally. The following year, he won the 1965 Billiard Room Proprietors Association Tournament. In 1966 he won the 1966 World All-Around Championship held in Johnston City, Illinois. Balsis would then win back-to-back titles at both the 1968 and 1969 Jansco Brothers' Stardust Open "All-Around" championship.[2] Between 1965 and 1975 Balsis reached the final of the U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship on five occasions, where he would win twice (1968 & 1974).[4]

 

[sjm]

I remember reading Balsis was a good player when he was young. I found this on line.

Quote,
Joe grew up playing in the billiard room of his father, John, whose business was in the sale of meat. At an early, Balsis was deemed skilled enough by age 11 to play exhibition matches against professional players including Andrew Ponzi and Erwin Rudolph.[3][4] When in his teens, he won four consecutive annual junior titles, then left the game and joined the Coast Guard as a boat machinist for several years during pool's temporary decline. In 1944, he took up competition again, winning the Armed Services Champion title.[2]

Balsis rejoined the game in 1964 Balsis, where he began to compete professionally. The following year, he won the 1965 Billiard Room Proprietors Association Tournament. In 1966 he won the 1966 World All-Around Championship held in Johnston City, Illinois. Balsis would then win back-to-back titles at both the 1968 and 1969 Jansco Brothers' Stardust Open "All-Around" championship.[2] Between 1965 and 1975 Balsis reached the final of the U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship on five occasions, where he would win twice (1968 & 1974).[4]

That is right. Joe, a great junior, chose the armed services and then family business over pro pool, and missed a lot of years of competition. It was remarkable that he still managed to become a hall of farmer.

I got to know Joe and liked him a lot.

 

[JC]

When I first started at 12 years old I sucked eggs.

After 50 years of practice I am happy to report my ass now sucks buttermilk.

 

[middleofnowhere]

That is right. Joe, a great junior, chose the armed services and then family business over pro pool, and missed a lot of years of competition. It was remarkable that he still managed to become a hall of farmer.

I got to know Joe and liked him a lot.

I saw him play a number of times but only met him once. I was at the BCA Show and they were playing the juniors nextdoor. I was sitting in the bleacher watching, like the only one there and he came in and sat next to me.

We talked quietly for maybe half an hour. I broke the ice when I told him I was sitting front row where he beat Rempe in the US Open. 200 to199. Rempe had missed the game ball, an easy shot in the side.

After the miss Rempe almost fainted from shock. When he went to his chair his girl or wife had to hold on to him. Balsis ran out coming with a tough shot from the end rail to start the run. Funny that afternoon Jean Balukas beat Miko Harada100 to 99. In the women's final.

 

[BlueRaider]

And now that I have internalized those fundamentals, I just can't imagine anymore what I was doing in those earlier years. Only thing I really remember from those years, is that I experienced playing the game far more intensely than I do now. I think it's because I thought about the game in a more subjective sense (winning/losing was happening to me) and now I mostly view the game objectively (if I perform the stroke with X speed and Y tip placement on CB and then result will be Z).

I've experienced this as well. I used to play 8 ball vs a friend of similar skill level with nothing on the line except pride. Those matchups were unbelievably intense because we were both low-level players who desperately wanted to beat each other. I remember leaving the pool room after losing a really close race to him and feeling like I wanted to jump off a bridge. And if I won, I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the day. It was similar when I first joined league. Wins and losses stuck with me for at least a full day afterwards.

But the better I've become at pool, the less emotional I get about the game because I feel so much more "in control" of everything. When I make a mistake, it usually comes down to not taking enough time during my pre-shot routine, not taking enough time to judge the angle, or missing a shot I need to practice and am low percentage on. I don't really blame myself much anymore because I know my limitations and I know that I can't miraculously shoot like a Fargo 700 just because I want to beat the other guy. I have to play within myself. But I think a lot of lower-level players don't really understand their limitations fully and think that they can just concentrate and focus and bear down and suddenly shoot lights out, and thus they get much more emotional about ebbs and flows in their games.