Giveaway Signs of Beginner / Recreational Players

Justaneng said:
Have you ever done the weekly tournaments at The Shed? (Either location? It wasn’t a tournament but I might have ruined a date night for someone else there at the Laowaijie location. I never spent enough time in Shanghai to seek out actual pool halls.

One thing I like about playing pool in China is that the 8-ball rules are consistent anywhere you go. The number of pool halls per capita increases massively the more rural you get. Zhangpu had one about every block and most of them usually had a good crowd.
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hahahaha Those weekly tournaments are great people watching I imagine. I didn't play at the Shed, but against their team once. It was when I was not interested in pool, maybe 5 years ago-ish. A friend I played snooker with got me to play. I went for one week only. I hate sitting around all evening waiting for 1-game format, with all the posturing. I imagine it's good for socialising and getting drunk on 'little Friday'.

I also find that although they are playing pretty consistent rules, they are often playing Chinese-8 rules even on the American table (though they still call the black ball...Thank F*** - otherwise I'd lose my mind haha)

I also find that although there are a lot of halls, they are like 90% Chinese-8 and vary drastically in quality. The American style halls I have found are usually top notch. Never seen anything like it. Yuan8, 9ight etc. They are really awesome.

Did you live in Shanghai for a while, or just visit?
 
Flakeandrun said:
I guess besides the odd-game on YouTube I had watched before, my only experience of pool is here in China. Where the halls that are around are massive, and events are quite popular. There are bar leagues, but like I said, you wouldn't really bring your own cue unless you wanted people to laugh at you or think you were a 'try-hard'

As for 7-footers, cannot stand it! haha 9ft and 10ft tables are the ones for me. I don't mind a bit of English Pool now and again when I am at home. But don't really enjoy that.

As I mentioned before, I am really intrigued by American attitude to pool, and find it really fun with the hustle/gamble culture. I'd like to experience it first hand sometime!
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I have to ask -- what is the quality/condition of house cues in Shanghai/China? Used to be, I had no reason to drag my cue everywhere or to plan my every pool excursion because I was always able to find acceptable house cues. Today, forget it.
In fact, it got so bad I had to buy a jump/break just to have a decent cue for breaking.
 
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Flakeandrun said:
Did you live in Shanghai for a while, or just visit?
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I do overseas assignments for work where I end up living in China for 6 months at a time or so (so home for 6 months, gone for 6 months). Most of my time in China though is in industrial cities well away from the tier-1 locations (Quanzhou, Tengzhou, Zhangpu, Ordos....).

Our main China office is in Shanghai and I end up there for meetings, residence permit processing, medical, etc... so over the years I've probably spent 2 months or so in Shanghai not including quarantines.
 
Bob Jewett said:
You mean like Efren?
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I was going to mention this... I think it is a Filipino thing. Almost all the local Filipino players (some of them quite good players) put the chalk upside down on the rail. I'm told a few of them about it, but their English is about as good as my Tagalog, so it is lost on them. :)
 
sbrownn said:
Where and why did this (very bad form / habit) ever start? I know some really good players that do it! Sigh...
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The only reason I can come up with as to why it is so popular to some is because it is unquestionably the easiest and most efficient way to apply chalk to your tip - you pick it up with your fingers with the chalk side down and don’t need any adjustment in your fingers to chalk your tip and then place it back on the table with the chalk side down, without ever having to flip it back over in your fingers.

It’s just an extremely lazy and selfish thing to do, as it results in chalk dust all over the rails for everyone else.
 
Biloxi Boy said:
I have to ask -- what is the quality/condition of house cues in Shanghai/China? Used to be, I had no reason to drag my cue everywhere or to plan my every pool excursion because I was always able to find acceptable house cues. Today, forget it.
In fact, it got so bad I had to buy a jump/break just to have a decent cue for breaking.
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House cues in halls depend on the place. Most pool halls it's 50/50 - the hall I practice at has pretty decent house cues. Often, because of the large number of tables, and the desire to encourage more players, they allow and accept house cues will be treated like garbage. They also normally have a few tables that are not to be touched by your average Joe, but for the regular, more serious players.

As for bars, again, depends on the bar owner and his thoughts on the holy game of pool. One or two are really good quality, but the vibe of the bar/manager is so bad you'd rather go to a lesser bar.

I play in a bar that has an English pool table actually, that is covered in beer and all kind of shit. You can take the pockets off the table and whatever else. It's one of the only bars here I've found that really has a 'dive' feeling (I don't go to bars to play pool, I go to forget about being a human lol)
 
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Justaneng said:
I do overseas assignments for work where I end up living in China for 6 months at a time or so (so home for 6 months, gone for 6 months). Most of my time in China though is in industrial cities well away from the tier-1 locations (Quanzhou, Tengzhou, Zhangpu, Ordos....).

Our main China office is in Shanghai and I end up there for meetings, residence permit processing, medical, etc... so over the years I've probably spent 2 months or so in Shanghai not including quarantines.
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Wow, out in the 'sticks' - it's weird to me, as my village has less people in than the first building I lived in here. It doesn't necessarily feel crowded though. Some of the lesser tier cities are still more convenient than anything I'll ever know back home.
If you ever end up here in Shanghai again, give me a shout. Ordos is a wild place! Make a city for millions, and barely anyone there!
 
eastcoast_chris said:
I was going to mention this... I think it is a Filipino thing. Almost all the local Filipino players (some of them quite good players) put the chalk upside down on the rail. I'm told a few of them about it, but their English is about as good as my Tagalog, so it is lost on them. :)
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I asked a Filipino friend why they do that and he said, "That's how you use." and demonstrated that when you pick it up, it's already oriented to the tip.
 
DeadStick said:
Bar players who take my cue from my table, and when confronted still don’t believe it’s mine after I show them the TS engraved in the butt and the fact that it unscrews in the middle.
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I had something similar happen to me. I had my break cue (a Huebler merry widow) and my playing cue (a Schon with a floating points and a linen wrap). The person was looking for a cue and grabbed my Huebler. When I told him it was my cue, he put it down and grabbed the Schon. He gave it back, but I still wonder how he could possibly think that the Schon was a house cue.
 
Oikawa said:
Not having a tantrum when they lose against a worse player.
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Have to disagree with you, see a lot of excuses and sulking. Had one Russian friend who wanted so desperately to believe he had talent lol - he also could not control the 'bragging' when someone clearly lets him win. Just want to give people like that a little head pat and send them on their way lol
 
Flakeandrun said:
Have to disagree with you, see a lot of excuses and sulking. Had one Russian friend who wanted so desperately to believe he had talent lol - he also could not control the 'bragging' when someone clearly lets him win. Just want to give people like that a little head pat and send them on their way lol
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I guess there's bad losers in all skill brackets. I've just personally seen the most of them among those who can play well and run racks, but are still nowhere near being a pro, around the 550-650 fargo range. Below and above that they seem to take losses better on average.
 
The only reason I can come up with as to why it is so popular to some is because it is unquestionably the easiest and most efficient way to apply chalk to your tip - you pick it up with your fingers with the chalk side down and don’t need any adjustment in your fingers to chalk your tip and then place it back on the table with the chalk side down, without ever having to flip it back over in your fingers.

It’s just an extremely lazy and selfish thing to do, as it results in chalk dust all over the rails for everyone else.
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I think there is something more to the origins than that, as i noted in post #60.
The older guys who chastised me (50+ years ago) about -not- putting the chalk blue-side down seemed to have some fetish about loose chalk particles in the cube, in addition to convenience. They demonstrated chalking with the corners of the chalk with attention, (not drilling it), then the wrist flick to toss any loose chalk into the air away from the table, and then gently placing blue side down on the rail. Though thinking harder about it, they tended to be focused often gamblers who "got in a flow" when shooting as used to be common, and did not like anything to break that rhythm.
So maybe convenience & an element of superstition involved, too.
 
Chalk side down has the advantage of not getting a blue chalk mark on your shirt, that distinctive square mark that reveals where you have been.

When I was married I always kept a cube or two of blue Master chalk in every vehicle. Partially as emergency back-up when I went in a place with no chalk fit to use, more importantly to "document where I had been."

If I had been somewhere that would annoy my wife and was returning home late I would carefully apply the top of the blue chalk cube to the area of my t-shirt near the belt line in a couple places. Then I would tell her, "Honey I can't lie to you. I have been making mad passionate love to a beautiful blond for hours!"

"HA! In your dreams. I see that chalk on your t-shirt. You have been down at the pool hall with those bums!"

"Shucks, can't get nothing past you girl."

Hu
 
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