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

hotelyorba

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
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 exactly the same for me, it's uncanny. Or maybe it happens to a lot of players? I too felt like a superhero when I beat my friday night nemesis. Looking back I still feel like I played my best pool back then, just because of those games where I crawled back from being 8-2 behind to a 10-8 win. Or not being able to sleep when the exact opposite happened.
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.
I hear a lot of those lower-level players say 'I know I should make this shot because I made it before' which to them defines their skill level. I used to say the same thing when I was at that level. I think one of the first steps towards wanting to grow as a player, is understanding that all the shots you ever made are of no significance. What matters is the probability that you'll make it again the next time it comes up. And that probability goes up when you start paying attention to technique, fundamentals, stance, all that stuff. Not to forget the mental side.
 

Z-Nole

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
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.
Archer was a young guy coming through Tallahassee when I was in college. You could just tell that he had more of “it” than the other road players who were coming through. I just knew one day he would be looked upon as one of the top of the top tier players.
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
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.
Wow! That was a legendary match, and Rempe’s hall of fame resume was to lack a world championship. My first straight pool event attended was the PPPA World Straight Pool Championship in 1976 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In that one, Larry Lisciotti had to double dip Mizerak to win the title, and that’s just what he did.

I was there in 1980 when the 59 year old Balsis made his run all the way to the final against a still up and coming Mike Sigel, but it was Mike’s time to win his first world title.

Nice to compare notes with anyone who has been around pro pool longer than I have.
 

justnum

Billiards Improvement Research Projects Associate
Silver Member
I just get lucky, I still am the lowest rated player in my area.

My first time was with dad at a pool room, for me it just clicked.

Soon I asked to keep going, this was in middle school.

Then for high school I said I will goto public school if I get a pool table.

I learned work ethic at the pool table and reading shot diagrams is easy, but playing the shots took a long time to learn.
 

noMoreSchon

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As a pool pup, I thought I was great. But was not. Took on most shots, and got out quite a bit. A veteran shortshop I was playing one day, gave me some wisdom that crushed me. 'When I was your age I shot way better than I do now'...I couldn't believe it. Here I am a guppy in a sharks world, and the best players played better than I do, and they shoot worse than what they shot when they were my age. As I aged, that sentiment of shooting better as a teen stuck with me. I now understand it, taking on the impossible shot, not caring about losing the game, but the amazing shot that won it. I feel that, even if he didn't mean it the way I took it, the eyes and dexterity of children make playing pool 'easy' but the wisdom from playing makes it simple. He may not have shot the impossible shots anymore, because he didn't have to. And he shot harder shots and made them in his youth which translated to he shot better. Myself, I still take on the impossible shots, I just never have grown up, and I am just fine with that....(I did make more in my youth though)...
 

middleofnowhere

Registered
Wow! That was a legendary match, and Rempe’s hall of fame resume was to lack a world championship. My first straight pool event attended was the PPPA World Straight Pool Championship in 1976 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In that one, Larry Lisciotti had to double dip Mizerak to win the title, and that’s just what he did.

I was there in 1980 when the 59 year old Balsis made his run all the way to the final against a still up and coming Mike Sigel, but it was Mike’s time to win his first world title.

Nice to compare notes with anyone who has been around pro pool longer than I have.
The Balsis Rempe match was I am pretty sure 1974. It was funny, before the mens final I think it was Conrad Burkman did the introductions. He referenced what we had just seen earlier in the day with the ladies final. Who knew it was going to happen again the same day.
Ironically, the ball Rempe missed was a 9 ball. I had won a qualifier to play but they let me give my spot away. I chickened out with all those great straight pool players. Im not exactly a coat and tie type of guy. If someone knows Rempy, I would love to hear his recollections of that tournament.

In one match Diliberto needing maybe 10 and got bad on the break shot. He should have played safe but shot and missed. Rempe needed 117 (I can't believe I remember that). He ran out. Here is another crazy thing in that tournament. Rempe is running out playing Mataya. Needing like 4 he misses a ball. He just out of nowhere missed it. Mataya is not even in the room. People are calling for him saying it's his shot. Mataya comes in the room looking at the table, Rempe is in the chair. The ref tells him the score and he runs 111 and out.

Now a days people all take pictures with their phones and there is almost a complete photographic record of everything. Back then I liked to take pictures and took a lot of pictures of players. Usually not so much with them playing but just around. Jack Colovita in the hallway eating a donut or Dorothy Wise not so ladylike sleeping in a chair, those kinds of pictures. Unfortunately most all my stuff was lost in a hurricane when my garage flooded
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sjm

middleofnowhere

Registered
Wow! That was a legendary match, and Rempe’s hall of fame resume was to lack a world championship. My first straight pool event attended was the PPPA World Straight Pool Championship in 1976 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In that one, Larry Lisciotti had to double dip Mizerak to win the title, and that’s just what he did.

I was there in 1980 when the 59 year old Balsis made his run all the way to the final against a still up and coming Mike Sigel, but it was Mike’s time to win his first world title.

Nice to compare notes with anyone who has been around pro pool longer than I have.
I had to do some research on what I had written because at my age as clear as memories seem I sometimes second guess myself. I read where Jean Balukas played Harada in the 1975 US Open final. I'm thinking am I delusional I was sitting there in 1974. Turns out they played in the final both years.

I found this,
"The 1974 U.S. Open held at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, Balukas defended her title, again beating out Harada but by a much closer, nail biting 100-99 final score. This was Balukas' third straight U.S. Open title at the age of 15. The close finale echoed the results seen in the men's division, where Joe Balsis defeated Jim Rempe 200-199 for the men's crown".

The comment to the score being closer with Jean and Harada in the above paragraph. That is referring to Jean beating her earlier by a score of 75 to 1 in the final they played one game to 100. Same with the men. They played one 200 point game.

I feel better now I'm not losing my mind.
 
Last edited:
Top