Vintage Bar Table Tutorial
- Thread starter JPB2
- Start date
Humidity is a huge factor.
Makes the balls stickier.
When it comes to chalk less is more.
The old time clips of hustler drilling the chalk vigouesly while looking over the table is misleading. A careful touch up while observing the application is what I strive for. I want a thin smooth coat. Just as when I paint a door.
The change in humidity here going from dry to rainy is making the table and balls behave slightly differently. More likely to leave chalk mark on the cueball. I still get them on occasion but cleaning the balls is always a time out option
Less often is less chance to get a kick or cling. Playing center ball with a natural Rotation at cueball to object ball collision lowering the possibility of a kick is my method. Staying on the right side for the shot with shape is a huge factor.When roaming the Northwet my first task was an honest ass says mint of the conditions and the hazards was first of the first. Survival is still my strong suit. Preparation makes execution a higher percentage wager.
Oh yeah almost forgot, practice practice practice.
I played a lot of bar table pool back then. A good night on a challenge table could yield $50-100. That was a very good days pay back then.
No two bars were the same and the tables played were different! Cue balls, lights, rails, etc. It took getting used too. I would watch carefully until it was my turn to play, learning all I could before I hit a ball. There was no warm up or time to practice. And if you lost you might have a long wait to play again.
You learn to play good from the get go! I was there to make money, not make friends. I was never satisfied until the last guy quit. I loved the feeling of going home with my pockets stuffed with bills. First thing when I got home was to put the money on the table and neatly unfold it, count it and put it away. Then I could go to sleep thinking good thoughts.
I NEVER stalled in bars. I gave them my best game. They all wanted to be the guy who beat me! And I rarely got any heat from anyone. I was friendly but very competitive. That's what worked for me.
No two bars were the same and the tables played were different! Cue balls, lights, rails, etc. It took getting used too. I would watch carefully until it was my turn to play, learning all I could before I hit a ball. There was no warm up or time to practice. And if you lost you might have a long wait to play again.
You learn to play good from the get go! I was there to make money, not make friends. I was never satisfied until the last guy quit. I loved the feeling of going home with my pockets stuffed with bills. First thing when I got home was to put the money on the table and neatly unfold it, count it and put it away. Then I could go to sleep thinking good thoughts.
I NEVER stalled in bars. I gave them my best game. They all wanted to be the guy who beat me! And I rarely got any heat from anyone. I was friendly but very competitive. That's what worked for me.
Finding 2 or 3 places like that where you could make the rounds until you eventually had to move on was what many of us looked for. Farm them. A dollar went much further back then and a $20 8 ball table stake was gold if you could hold it all night.
The only thing that could ruin the action would be some guy whining to the owner about having to play table stakes when he didn't wanna.
Ruin a good thing real quick.
Playing my best game was something I tried to avoid, #1, bcuz I have a lazy streak, #2, bcuz I can't have a blast focusing on execution. I'd rather roll on auto pilot and have fun and bear down when necessary. Only play hard enuf to win. Easier to return that way and kept headaches to a minimum. But that's just how I roll.
I didn't want to wait four or five games to play again. That's lost wages for me.
Some guys would only play for a drink. I'd ask them for the dollar instead. The guys who would bet 3 or 5 made up for it.
Your whole post rings familiar with me.
Walking in and playing cold on a new to me table was a natural stall. Generally it would take a while to get acclimated to the table and conditions. The earliest misses tended to set the hook.
My personal rule was an hour or a hundred bucks (whichever came first) to decide if I liked the game.
That was in the "good Ole Days". When the tables were a quarter and $5 an hour was good pay. Never quit my day job but supplemented, My after work hobby was more fun than watching TV and paid for my beer and food.
Playing with the other hand was a natural stall at first. Then the left got as good as the right. Only briefly was I able to keep them playing with an offer to play left handed. The east side and primarily Bellevue was my Seattle briar patch. The Mustard Seed 2 had 8 tables and was home court for a few years.
Ah "back in the day" when the tables were a quarter and, "for a beer?" Was the opening question when encountering a new potential customer.
Throwback Wednesday!!!!
Well last night's league lessons paid for my beer and a, uh let's see. Oh yeah "Never Count Your Money While Sitting at the Table" is the song lyric that I applied to playing pool as well. I could take a 20 and turn it into 17 ones and fell like I had lot.
I started with $6 in my play pocket.
Now it's 38 and quarters, who paid in quarters$. Oh yeah that's my change from the gas station coffee.
Hope my team mates retain the lessons.
Reminds me of the team that made the rent playing Harry Platis one pocket. On the play night Harry would have all 4 empty their pockets and that's what the first game was for.
They were definitely forged in Fire. The corporation led by Gabby Mike Danner, RIP my friend and mentor. One on the five and 2 on the 9, ring game rules was last night's post league lesson. Oh what memories it brought. And a small profit to boot. Plus the place was empty by 9!!! I didn't mean to run them off.
In most places I found I could set a table limit if there were more than one table. I'd write on the chalkboard, if there was one,
$5 a game or whatever we played for.Or you could word of mouth it. Gets around to everyone pretty quick that if you aren't betting, play the other table.
As long as nobody objected, this could go all night long.
And in many cases, number went up as the midnight hour approached.
You betcha.
If things are hopping don't lose the table or you'll be warming your chair for an hour.
Like Jay said, that's long wait for slow pay.
You gotta be smart about it. Study everything. Otherwise your courting chaos.
The area I was in played a huge part in how I approached a place and what went on after. Like everything else, you gotta read the room. Grab a beer and go sit where the vantage was good. Strike while the iron was hot.
That rings so true. The new to me biker bar had me loudly asking the bartender, "Anybody in here play worth a F***?" No response? Go on to the next tavern.
One tavern close to home had me , after work racking 9 ball on one of the 4 tables then sitting at the bar with a beer. Kinda like bobber fishing.
Mike was from Middleton, Ohio and I grew up in nearby Dayton. I ran into Mike on my first "road" trip at age 19. We played all day to a draw and I was pleased with that outcome. We remained friends forever after that.View attachment 934297
Throwback Wednesday!!!!
Well last night's league lessons paid for my beer and a, uh let's see. Oh yeah "Never Count Your Money While Sitting at the Table" is the song lyric that I applied to playing pool as well. I could take a 20 and turn it into 17 ones and fell like I had lot.
I started with $6 in my play pocket.
Now it's 38 and quarters, who paid in quarters$. Oh yeah that's my change from the gas station coffee.
Hope my team mates retain the lessons.
Reminds me of the team that made the rent playing Harry Platis one pocket. On the play night Harry would have all 4 empty their pockets and that's what the first game was for.
One on the five and 2 on the 9, ring game rules was last night's post league lesson. Oh what memories it brought. And a small profit to boot. Plus the place was empty by 9!!! I didn't mean to run them off.
I hated the tables where they could bet a drink or $1. If you lost you might as well go home. But sometimes i might win 15 or 20 games in a row. I was playing for free and would walk out with pockets stuffed with ones.In most places I found I could set a table limit if there were more than one table. I'd write on the chalkboard, if there was one,
Or you could word of mouth it. Gets around to everyone pretty quick that if you aren't betting, play the other table.
As long as nobody objected, this could go all night long.
And in many cases, number went up as the midnight hour approached.
You betcha.
If things are hopping don't lose the table or you'll be warming your chair for an hour.
Like Jay said, that's long wait for slow pay.
My rent was 25 a week so you figure it out. It was a living and I didn't need a real job. I could sleep till noon and get up and go have my .99 cent breakfast. I was basically a poolroom bum and I was happy!
Fortunately I only encountered that a couple of places. Small taverns with only one table were as Forest Gump would say, "like a box of chocolates". The chalk board adjacent the table with 8 names up made it critical to hold the table for the one dollar games. That was the late 70s and Straight 8 was the game. Straight 8 no bullshit would be the clarification if I asked what their version of Straight 8 was.
Work was hard to come by but I was making union construction wages or better playing pool so I wasn't unhappy. I was getting up at daylight or just after from years of doing it working for a living. I was staying short on sleep because that was when I was taking a nap many days.
"FOOL!" I realized there was no earthly reason to get up before one or two PM. Piddle around until about four thirty and go make the rounds.
The only real issue is I go nocturnal very easily. If I stay up nights for a month it takes me a year to get used to sleeping nights again. Fine when playing pool but it sucks working or running a business.
Hu
Sometimes after the bars closed at 2AM I would go to an all night poolroom. I might end up driving home at 6 or 7 AM. I was driving the opposite way as the heavy traffic of people heading for work, so very little traffic for me. Clear sailing on my side of the freeway.
I remember thinking what suckers they are. I could sleep all day while they were working at some boring job. I had no alarm clock and got up whenever I wanted. I liked my life! As long as I had a few hundred in my bankroll I was fine. Just get up and hit the poolrooms in the day time and the bars at night. Grind out 25, 30 or 40 bucks and have a late night snack on the way home. I preferred the giant turkey leg fresh at the Hollywood Ranch Market, which was open 24 hours.
No ambition, not a care in the world. Living the lazy man's life in my 20's. All thnx to pool!
I could eat good for $5 a day. .99 cent breakfast, $1.75 lunch of a burger and fries and a $1.50 turkey leg for dinner. So if I made 20 bucks that day I was doing fine. I kept bologna and bread in my fridge and some soft drinks. I had all I wanted.
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Again, such a similar history.
To avoid the wait the 9 ball ring game was the logical and profit able solution.
In the Northwest it was an honest effort with up to 5 players. Shooting from kitchen on scratch. Fouled shot generated option for next shooter. Sometimes the rotation was shuffled to make it more fair. Of course there were times I played in a 3 handed game knowing they played from the same pocket. On one such occasion the weaker player was setting up the stronger. The shooter played Almost as good as me. So at 1 and 2 the stuck 20 was approaching, I approached the shooter and said, "I can't beat both of you. How 'bout you and me for 10. I had employed a Cole Stance with Budweiser bottle in hand and quietly making the offer. The set man had rabbit ears and jumped into our conversation with , I Wanna Play TOO!
Sooo, my suck sinked and direct reply was, "you don't understand. I said I can't play both of you but will play him for 10. (As I could be better than even in 2 games). YOU! I will play for 20. Do you wanna play?"
He sat down.
Oh my I am triggered.
Alaska and the pipeline project provided a huge opportunity for a person with on the pool table skills and oh don't forget the gold being mined up there.
I had the pleasure of aquintance with a few that had success up there. One was a Gal that could jump a full ball with her shooter using the pumpkin ball. AT 12 INCHES!