I’d like to see more tournaments with jump with the cue you’re playing with.
how has pool play changed over time?
- Thread starter evergruven
- Start date
I’d like to see more tournaments with jump with the cue you’re playing with.
I love trying to kick a ball I'm hooked on. When I succeed, I talk about how much that part of the game was appreciated in the days of old.
RailBanger
Registered
It's the superior option in many situations, because you have more control; you can kick safe. When you jump, you're turning the cue ball loose.
Also, in the "days of old"
, you'd get three-fouled in a heartbeat if your kicking game was weak. I don't think many local tournaments play three foul anymore.It's the superior option in many situations, because you have more control; you can kick safe. When you jump, you're turning the cue ball loose.
Also, in the "days of old"
I don't mind the 3 foul rule. Let's wrap this rack up, and start the next one.
For playing the game itself- The SPEED of the tables today- much faster! You need much more control over your stroke today to control the cue ball for position- Many years ago, guys could let the cue go without possessing a great stroke and the cueball did not "fly" around the table - today you need a fluid stroke that allows the TABLE to do the work - IMO - you need more artistry today than years ago. Also, pocket size on modern competitive tables ( pocket angles & slate shelf at the pocket) are GENERALLY more challenging than 25 or more years past. So the cue ball and object ball travel much faster on modern tables and with smaller pockets- you need a greater controlled stroke to pocket balls in those smaller pockets and control the cue ball position. More so than on the tables and equipment of yesteryear. I would imagine that modrern day golf clubs and tennis rackets also require more CONTROL in golf swings and tennis strokes than the equipment of years ago. In ALL cases today- yes, the balls move faster and further more easily- so all athletes need more precision in their stroke execution to control that speed. For those growing up in the game today- it is a more natural adaptation- for old timers, I am sure that most find their "old" stroke habits need to be adjusted. Thirty years later I still struggle with mine!
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The internet changed the face of the game. There used to be at least 200-250 road men constantly traversing the country looking for action. Now I doubt there are a couple of dozen. Number one it's too expensive and number two you can't sneak in on anyone. In the old days there were a lot of great players that almost no one knew what they looked like, just their name.
Nowadays, good players have to match up with other good players or give up big weight to weaker players to get any serious action. Most of the top players just stay in their own neck of the woods now and wait for something to happen. Only the very best players follow the tournaments (read that Pinoys). Everyone else is playing for scraps.
The one thing that hasn't changed is hardly anyone is making a living playing pool! It's been that way forever.
Nowadays, good players have to match up with other good players or give up big weight to weaker players to get any serious action. Most of the top players just stay in their own neck of the woods now and wait for something to happen. Only the very best players follow the tournaments (read that Pinoys). Everyone else is playing for scraps.
The one thing that hasn't changed is hardly anyone is making a living playing pool! It's been that way forever.
The biggest change to pool over time (I have been playing since I was 7, now 45), is there is a lot less people playing pool today in the U.S. Pro pool has nothing to do with it really. Pro pool just rode on it's back.
To a lesser extent, and of course my opinion, pool is quite boring to watch today. You could take the mics away from just about any pro tournament today (just have video) and not miss much at all. Personality. People like to watch a good personality. There is a reason Fats and Mosconi were the most watched match in pool history, and it was not Fat's pool game.
To add, Safety play has been the biggest change to the actual play. It slows the game down, and is not much fun to watch for a spectator.
To a lesser extent, and of course my opinion, pool is quite boring to watch today. You could take the mics away from just about any pro tournament today (just have video) and not miss much at all. Personality. People like to watch a good personality. There is a reason Fats and Mosconi were the most watched match in pool history, and it was not Fat's pool game.
To add, Safety play has been the biggest change to the actual play. It slows the game down, and is not much fun to watch for a spectator.
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Back in my day.....
You could walk into any good sized pool hall and find a ring game you could jump into.
The equipment favored better players, and knowledge was protected.
Most of us smoked, and would lay our cigarettes on the rail.
Some rooms you had to make sure the house man wasnt looking if you needed to jack up to curve the ball. If you jumped, you were tossed.
There were no computer time keepers. Mechanical ones only, and thats only if the pool hall was "big time". Lots of places kept time on little slips of paper.
Some rooms you would walk into, and face a proverbial 'murderers row', a line of guys licking their chops looking for action.
When times were slow, prop bets reigned supreme.
You could walk into any good sized pool hall and find a ring game you could jump into.
The equipment favored better players, and knowledge was protected.
Most of us smoked, and would lay our cigarettes on the rail.
Some rooms you had to make sure the house man wasnt looking if you needed to jack up to curve the ball. If you jumped, you were tossed.
There were no computer time keepers. Mechanical ones only, and thats only if the pool hall was "big time". Lots of places kept time on little slips of paper.
Some rooms you would walk into, and face a proverbial 'murderers row', a line of guys licking their chops looking for action.
When times were slow, prop bets reigned supreme.
Back in my day.....
You could walk into any good sized pool hall and find a ring game you could jump into.
The equipment favored better players, and knowledge was protected.
Most of us smoked, and would lay our cigarettes on the rail.
Some rooms you had to make sure the house man wasnt looking if you needed to jack up to curve the ball. If you jumped, you were tossed.
There were no computer time keepers. Mechanical ones only, and thats only if the pool hall was "big time". Lots of places kept time on little slips of paper.
Some rooms you would walk into, and face a proverbial 'murderers row', a line of guys licking their chops looking for action.
When times were slow, prop bets reigned supreme.
Yup I remember those days.
Geez I'm old.
I talked to Ralf Soquet about this when he did a lesson in my area because I was curious about the changes and also the players.
His thoughts, like mine, was that the current players are stronger as a group than the players from his era (80s, 90s, early 2000s).
Part of that was due to a bit tougher equipment (faster cloth is easier but they tended to play on much larger pockets in many events) so they learned to pocket balls on tougher shots, and more paying attention to details like racking and breaking. There is also more technical knowledge about equipment and how to play available. There were no pool schools in Europe and Asia churning out young kids that were taught like the snooker schools do, where they do tons of drills and focus on mechanics. This lead to many good players that are just solid players, maybe not the most creative or fun to watch, but they hardly miss and play textbook position.
I love to watch players escape safeties. It's an art, and a skill. I think mature players / spectators appreciate its importance. It may be an example of a generational gap.
When I first began playing 9ball for $$$ it was 5 and 9. Sometimes even 5 *7* and 9. It could get confusing!
Back in my day.....
You could walk into any good sized pool hall and find a ring game you could jump into.
The equipment favored better players, and knowledge was protected.
Most of us smoked, and would lay our cigarettes on the rail.
Some rooms you had to make sure the house man wasnt looking if you needed to jack up to curve the ball. If you jumped, you were tossed.
There were no computer time keepers. Mechanical ones only, and thats only if the pool hall was "big time". Lots of places kept time on little slips of paper.
Some rooms you would walk into, and face a proverbial 'murderers row', a line of guys licking their chops looking for action.
When times were slow, prop bets reigned supreme.
We used to bet on who could run out the front door first. We would be sitting on the bench at the back wall by the golf table. "GO!". One of the guys I used to do it with doesn't even remember it anymore. I mentioned it to him a few months ago. He gave me a blank stare... In his favor, though, it's been almost 50 years. We were probably 16 or 17... and we did it a bunch of times. Or who could throw a rock farthest. That was a big one on slow days...
In the rotation games, I see more players using open bridges. I feel this is due to the required accuracy on tighter tables. It could also simply be more Europeans in the big tournaments who have snooker backgrounds. Either way, I do notice that difference.
Back in my day, “knowledge was protected “Back in my day.....
You could walk into any good sized pool hall and find a ring game you could jump into.
The equipment favored better players, and knowledge was protected.
Most of us smoked, and would lay our cigarettes on the rail.
Some rooms you had to make sure the house man wasnt looking if you needed to jack up to curve the ball. If you jumped, you were tossed.
There were no computer time keepers. Mechanical ones only, and thats only if the pool hall was "big time". Lots of places kept time on little slips of paper.
Some rooms you would walk into, and face a proverbial 'murderers row', a line of guys licking their chops looking for action.
When times were slow, prop bets reigned supreme.
In the early 70’s there was not a lot of pool knowledge, My first books were Mosconi Red Book and a Hoppe book. Snooker was big and there were some good books if you happened to travel through London.
In the 80’s a lot of good books were published and soon after VHS of matches and instruction.
In the Chicago area we had some great pro tournaments in the early 90’s, thanks to Williard.
Today the only thing that keeps you from the secrets is your skill level.
Was this a few months back when Roy set that group class up?
Well, people want to win.
Still, I know there were "crybabies" back even before the amplification happened with Sigel snapping his cue, Mosconi cursing, and a few more outbursts. BUT, I saw it much more when Strickland went "full tilt" on his many instances. THAT is when I got sick of that crap...
This is somewhat insignificant for most but I don’t remember any other color but green cloth on a table years ago.Maybe a home table but not at the halls. I did not travel the country so my knowledge on this is limited I suppose.
This doesn't actually have anything to do with how pool has changed but
I have had guys tell me that blue cloth or any other color than green, will throw their game off. Psychological thing I guess. Or they are just looking for an excuse.
This doesn't actually have anything to do with how pool has changed but
I have had guys tell me that blue cloth or any other color than green, will throw their game off. Psychological thing I guess. Or they are just looking for an excuse.
When I was learning,
a) tournaments were 14.1
b) gambling was: push out 9 ball $1 on 5 and 7 $2 on 9
c) bangers were 8-ball.