Who cares if I can still play the game with a bridge I hated and played like shit with. I played to win. In Pittsburgh, at Jimmy Marino's Golden Cue we had four really decent C players all four of us were right on the 5-6 player ranking edge. Any one of us could beat the other on any given day. It was competitive. Did I beat a B player now and then? Yes, I did and I loved it when that happened. The same was true with golf when my shoulders went out I quit playing altogether rather than play like a hack. If I'm just going out there to shoot 90 why bother. If I'm never going to shoot in the seventies again the hell with it. A part of my job was taking customers golfing. I tried to beat their brains out every chance I got. If a customer beat me, and some did quite often, it was because they were better than me and not because I went into the tank for them.
You are a sad,sad person. I feel sorry for you. You were only happy playing pool if you won? You never played pool because you enjoyed it? Sorry if that is not true, but in the bulk of your posts, it certainly sounds that way.
We have a guy on my team who just turned 84. He still is playing twice a week. He keeps saying he wants to quit, because he just cant play as good as he used to. I keep telling him I wont allow him to quit. We want him to keep playing because we enjoy having him around. I asked him what he is going to do if he does quit. All he's going to do is sit around the house, sitting in front of the boob tube, and will end up dying in his recliner. I told him he doesn't have to be as good as he used to. We want him on the team because we enjoy his company.
And another thing... When you're playing pool, you are just playing the game with another person. The true competitor that you're playing against is the pool table itself. It's the table you need to defeat. And you're trying to do it before the other person does.
You see a true winner isn't measured by how many games they win, or how many people they defeat. A true winner keeps plugging away when the times get tough. A true winner keeps trying even though they know they may never play at the ability they did when they were younger. It's part of growing old. Stop being a baby and get used to it. Learn how to use that open Bridge. With time and effort you may find that the hard work will pay off. That's what winners do.
If you're not willing to do that, then I don't know why you're on this forum. Go to your recliner, turn on The Boob Tube, and just wait for the Grim Reaper. Myself, I hope to die with a pool cue in my hand. When someone comes up to me and asks..."Do you want to play a game"? My response is...YES SIR! AS MANY AS I CAN BEFORE I DIE!