Skill wise? No gambling won’t make you a better player. You still need to execute your skills regardless, however I will say gambling may make you a better player as far as handling pressure.
Because 99.9 percent of the people probably are just there to have a few drinks and pass the time, they don’t care anything about the tables, cues etc. they simply don’t take the game seriously like we do.
it’s hard to compare styles from yesterday and today. Players back when Efren was in his prime hardly jumped, however I think Efren was an extremely smart player and would have adapted if he had to use the jump cue more often.