Why do you play this game?

A buddy and I went to a nearby mall for lunch from school one day and decided to check out a poolroom that was there. I ended up skipping school from there on and got a better education and didn't take long to graduate from the Academy of Spherical Arts
 
Zerksies said:
No clue at all, i remember being mezmorized by the game on TV as a kid.
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Same. I used to love watching pool on ESPN when I was a kid. No clue why because I didn't have regular access to a table. Loved to play when my family would end up somewhere that had a table but had no clue what I was doing.

Then, many years later, when I was in college my then wife and I were bored and looking for things to do and there was a pool hall downtown. We went once and played and both loved it. Ended up going out and getting ourselves a couple Viking cues and played a couple times a week for the next year or so. Got away from it for a few years but picked it back up again after college when I moved to a new city for work and needed something to do since I didn't know anybody. Got involved in league play and have been playing consistently ever since (~15 years or so now).

As to why I like it so much....I think it's the combination of precision and control. There is something incredibly satisfying about making a ball AND controlling the cue ball to set yourself up for the next shot and just trying to keep that going.
 
When I was four, my parents bought a house with a pool table in the basement. My early technique was probably not BCA-approved, but I played a lot of racks on that table as a kid.
 
slide13 said:
Same. I used to love watching pool on ESPN when I was a kid. No clue why because I didn't have regular access to a table. Loved to play when my family would end up somewhere that had a table but had no clue what I was doing.

Then, many years later, when I was in college my then wife and I were bored and looking for things to do and there was a pool hall downtown. We went once and played and both loved it. Ended up going out and getting ourselves a couple Viking cues and played a couple times a week for the next year or so. Got away from it for a few years but picked it back up again after college when I moved to a new city for work and needed something to do since I didn't know anybody. Got involved in league play and have been playing consistently ever since (~15 years or so now).

As to why I like it so much....I think it's the combination of precision and control. There is something incredibly satisfying about making a ball AND controlling the cue ball to set yourself up for the next shot and just trying to keep that going.
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I liked it when i was really young and would watch it on TV. I remember being about 13 years old and scrapping up $2 for the pool hall that moved into my neighborhood. They closed down a year or so later. I really got into pool when i was 21 and another pool hall opened in the neighborhood. I played there about 30-40 hours a week, that lasted for a few years then they shut down about 2008. I bought my house in 2019 and put in a pool table and i haven't stopped since. There is a pool hall down the street from me, but i don't play there that often.
 
I'm inclined for my first response to be, I started playing pool when I was about 8 years old and I found I was really good at it it came very easy to me. By a teenager I was probably one of the best players in my town.

I'm not sure that's really the answer though. Because I was good at a lot of things I was good at baseball I played a little golf I was pretty good at that I played some tennis I was pretty good at that. martial arts was the best in the class. But I never stopped playing pool and all those other things I quit.

I noticed though what I was good at was individual sports. I don't think I was ever much of a team player. I even remember when I played little league baseball the chances were I wasn't even going to show up for practice.

I think I like pool also because it's kind of quiet and I can do it by myself. Most times in my life when things didn't seem so good I always retreated to pool. Not to get too personal, but my father died when I was young.

After the service and everybody was going back to the house I went to the pool room. I remember getting a table and just playing straight pool by myself for hours. They knew what had happened and nobody bothered me. No one asking to match up or do I want anything, they just left me alone which is exactly what I needed.

I like playing pool. I feel blessed to have found something that mattered that much to me.
Getting back to what I said about my father's funeral. I'm sure the relatives at the house probably said to each other where is that goddamn kid, he is probably at that Fn pool room.
They would have never have understood.
 
middleofnowhere said:
I'm inclined for my first response to be, I started playing pool when I was about 8 years old and I found I was really good at it it came very easy to me. By a teenager I was probably one of the best players in my town.

I'm not sure that's really the answer though. Because I was good at a lot of things I was good at baseball I played a little golf I was pretty good at that I played some tennis I was pretty good at that. martial arts was the best in the class. But I never stopped playing pool and all those other things I quit.

I noticed though what I was good at was individual sports. I don't think I was ever much of a team player. I even remember when I played little league baseball the chances were I wasn't even going to show up for practice.

I think I like pool also because it's kind of quiet and I can do it by myself. Most times in my life when things didn't seem so good I always retreated to pool. Not to get too personal, but my father died when I was young.

After the service and everybody was going back to the house I went to the pool room. I remember getting a table and just playing straight pool by myself for hours. They knew what had happened and nobody bothered me. No one asking to match up or do I want anything, they just left me alone which is exactly what I needed.

I like playing pool. I feel blessed to have found something that mattered that much to me.
Getting back to what I said about my father's funeral. I'm sure the relatives at the house probably said to each other where is that goddamn kid, he is probably at that Fn pool room.
They would have never have understood.
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I totally get it.
 
it started with some high school friends, we used to go to some dodgy snooker clubs, I liked the game but never took it seriously. in the 90s I live for a few years in NYC and pool tables were around in bars I use to go to so I played and I was pretty good for a banger.... One of those bars owner decided to put up an APA team with a few of the locals, me included and from there I was hooked... My team mates bought me for my birthday my first cue which i quickly upgraded.
When I moved back home I signed up for every league and tournament and slowly got better. My first big step was after getting the Robert Byrne tapes. A few years later I made friends with a really good player that mentored me for a while that brought my game up a few steps.
 
Grew up in a small midwestern town, population less than 2,000. We moved to new neighborhood, in the same town, when I was 6. Discovered a bumper pool table in my neighbors basement, which was more of a cellar, around age 8,and couldn’t get enough of it. Was sneaking up to the pool hall by age 10 and have never looked back. This was mid 60’s to early 70’s.


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Just ponied up $325 to play in a 730 and under 10 ball tournament on beautiful 9 foot Diamonds. Open tournament. No handicap. Double elimination.
Why did I do that? To test myself.
At around 5am the 2 guys that were left took a split. Both were 729 fargos.
Interesting day. Caught up with a lot of people that I haven't seen in a while.
I guess I thought it was anything can happen day.
 
Because I can't master this game and I think I never will. And I am a bit stubborn. Probably has nothing to do with this. Nah.
 
My father had a 9’ Anniversary he took meticulous care of. It was just the coolest looking thing in the world to me and I was blessed to start young and spent every available moment on it.

There’s so many things I love about the game, the beauty of it once you reach a certain level of proficiency, it’s like art. The different disciplines of it, and the variety of skills required to play them all well. Then there was the discovery of Action, and the more fascinating discovery that I truly thrived in it. The cast of characters in pool halls from all walks of life, making them more interesting than any other place to me.

Now in the twilight of my life, it’s remains my greatest joy. I still wake up like a kid at Xmas every day I go to play, and can’t wait to get to Hall. There’s never been anything quite like it for me.
 
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