If it's a tic, I can understand but still wouldn't play them ( unless it was a tourney ). What I HATE is when they're slow-playing ( deliberate ). Even sweating a match, tourney or action, is BRUTAL!
Worst case od slow-playing
- Thread starter Michael Andros
- Start date
If it's a tic, I can understand but still wouldn't play them ( unless it was a tourney ). What I HATE is when they're slow-playing ( deliberate ). Even sweating a match, tourney or action, is BRUTAL!
Back in the early '90's, my league team and I were playing in the semi-final match for the city championship.
About half way through the match, I draw this guy whom I had never seen before.
As the match was about to start, I walked over and put my hand out to shake his hand. He looked at me and then, down at my hand. He turned and walked back to his team's table. The rest of his team started laughing.
It was his break. He made a couple balls on the break. Looked like an easy out.
It took him about 15 minutes to shoot the first four balls in. I was fuming, but tried not to show it. With two balls left and the eight ball which were basically stop shots, I looked at my watch.
It took him eleven minutes to shoot the final three balls with his team whooping and hollering between shots.
I stood up to shake his hand and again, he turned his back on me.
Finally, It was a race to eleven and the score was tied up 10-10 with me playing the final game.
I won the flip and broke the balls. It was a simple run out. I ran down to the eight ball, at my normal pace, leaving the cue ball about a foot away from the eight, straight in the pocket.
I looked over at my opponent and them, at the opposing team's table and decided to take a break.
I went to the restroom for about five minutes, then out to the parking lot to smoke a cigarette. I headed back in to the table. I picked up my cue and set it back down after about a minute while laughing and joking with my teammates.
I looked over at my opponent and saw the veins in his neck throbbing and the rest of his team were fuming and talking sh*t. I just smiled.
I picked up a bottle of talc and poured about half the bottle into my hand. Then, I clapped my hands together and the talc exploded into a cloud.
After the talc settled, I grabbed my towel and wiped my hands and cue off a few times..
I picked up my cue and got down to make the shot. I quickly stood up and walked around the table, looking at the shot from every angle for a couple of minutes.
I, then, walked around the table and shot the eight ball in quickly.
My team was laughing and hollering when the other team started calling us every curse word under the sun. It made us laugh even harder.
Then, One of their guys yelled they were going to whip our azzes!.
And that's when the bar owner walked out from behind the bar with a .45 in his hand. He said "Not here.....Not tonight! Now, get the **** outta here!
To say the least, the party broke up pretty quick after that! LOL
Got a call from the league owner a little later saying the other team had issued a complaint against me for stalling. I explained what happened and he was cool with it, but not to make a habit out of it.
Stones
About half way through the match, I draw this guy whom I had never seen before.
As the match was about to start, I walked over and put my hand out to shake his hand. He looked at me and then, down at my hand. He turned and walked back to his team's table. The rest of his team started laughing.
It was his break. He made a couple balls on the break. Looked like an easy out.
It took him about 15 minutes to shoot the first four balls in. I was fuming, but tried not to show it. With two balls left and the eight ball which were basically stop shots, I looked at my watch.
It took him eleven minutes to shoot the final three balls with his team whooping and hollering between shots.
I stood up to shake his hand and again, he turned his back on me.
Finally, It was a race to eleven and the score was tied up 10-10 with me playing the final game.
I won the flip and broke the balls. It was a simple run out. I ran down to the eight ball, at my normal pace, leaving the cue ball about a foot away from the eight, straight in the pocket.
I looked over at my opponent and them, at the opposing team's table and decided to take a break.
I went to the restroom for about five minutes, then out to the parking lot to smoke a cigarette. I headed back in to the table. I picked up my cue and set it back down after about a minute while laughing and joking with my teammates.
I looked over at my opponent and saw the veins in his neck throbbing and the rest of his team were fuming and talking sh*t. I just smiled.
I picked up a bottle of talc and poured about half the bottle into my hand. Then, I clapped my hands together and the talc exploded into a cloud.
After the talc settled, I grabbed my towel and wiped my hands and cue off a few times..
I picked up my cue and got down to make the shot. I quickly stood up and walked around the table, looking at the shot from every angle for a couple of minutes.
I, then, walked around the table and shot the eight ball in quickly.
My team was laughing and hollering when the other team started calling us every curse word under the sun. It made us laugh even harder.
Then, One of their guys yelled they were going to whip our azzes!.
And that's when the bar owner walked out from behind the bar with a .45 in his hand. He said "Not here.....Not tonight! Now, get the **** outta here!
To say the least, the party broke up pretty quick after that! LOL
Got a call from the league owner a little later saying the other team had issued a complaint against me for stalling. I explained what happened and he was cool with it, but not to make a habit out of it.
Stones
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Th slowest player of the nine ball era, far slower than any of Ralf Souquet, Jeremy Jones, Danny "Kid Delicious" Basavich or Klenti Kaci, was Greg Fix, a PBT professional of the late 1990's. Greg used to make Buddy Hall nuts. I recall a match in which Buddy repeatedly called tournament director Scott Smith over to issue a slow play warning to Greg, who never really did speed things up.
Agree with the tone of this thread that ridiculously slow play is a form of sharking.
Agree with the tone of this thread that ridiculously slow play is a form of sharking.
I played a guy in a tournament once who was notorious for being slow.
He had the 7, 8, and 9 left on the table in one game, with a stop shot on the 7.
I knew he was gonna be slow, so I turned to watch the table to my right, where a wheelchair player had just broken the balls. I watched this guy in the wheelchair run the rack out, turned back to my table, and the guy hadn't shot the 7 yet.
He had the 7, 8, and 9 left on the table in one game, with a stop shot on the 7.
I knew he was gonna be slow, so I turned to watch the table to my right, where a wheelchair player had just broken the balls. I watched this guy in the wheelchair run the rack out, turned back to my table, and the guy hadn't shot the 7 yet.
Second on Strong Arm John
I once played a snail with air brakes....... Real stories Real people.
I was around and I saw both play. They were slow, but both of them played faster than Greg Fix. Based on your post, it's safe to say you never saw Greg Fix play.
Yeah, and it worked. Killed my game. Made me hate the game.
Irving's last competitive play came in the late 1980's and he was already starting to show early signs of dementia by then. Yes, he played slowly at the very end, and I even saw him miss twice with ball in hand in one of his last few 14.1 matches. Yes, he way very slow at that point, but Crane was not a slow player in his prime. Greg was over 50 years younger than Irving and could only have played him during Crane's final years of competing.
Here's a thread from 2006 in which a few who'd watched or played Greg Fix chimed in on his ridiculously slow play. https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=30412&highlight=greg
I'm Not a slow player....
I'm not a slow player, but probably not the fastest. Being older and
having tremors.. I just have to take a little more time, unless I have a
few beers (which I try to limit to a couple).
A while back, playing in a tourney, I run into a young man. After a few
shots he starts in, telling me I'm slow playing him and stalling trying to
shark him. I wasn't! He got me fired up... and to those of you out there
who have the fun of essential tremors know, that just exacerbates them.
So being on tilt.. he bounced me easily to the losers side.
I settled down, had a beer or two, and worked my way through to meet
him in the final. I can't remember what it was, I think races to 5. I had
to win 2 races. From what I remember ( I kind of went into the zone) he
had 2 shots at a ball, one of which was a 9 I rattled in the pocket. I won
5-1, 5-0....
It was a sweet revenge.
td
I'm not a slow player, but probably not the fastest. Being older and
having tremors.. I just have to take a little more time, unless I have a
few beers (which I try to limit to a couple).
A while back, playing in a tourney, I run into a young man. After a few
shots he starts in, telling me I'm slow playing him and stalling trying to
shark him. I wasn't! He got me fired up... and to those of you out there
who have the fun of essential tremors know, that just exacerbates them.
So being on tilt.. he bounced me easily to the losers side.
I settled down, had a beer or two, and worked my way through to meet
him in the final. I can't remember what it was, I think races to 5. I had
to win 2 races. From what I remember ( I kind of went into the zone) he
had 2 shots at a ball, one of which was a 9 I rattled in the pocket. I won
5-1, 5-0....
It was a sweet revenge.
td
There's an elderly gentleman in my league who is a very slow player. Last session I was playing him and he took about 8-10 minutes thinking about his shot, then took a time out (another 5 minutes), then went to shoot and forgot what they had talked about and spent another minute or two refreshing his memory. Then he took another 1-2 minutes actually lining up and shooting the shot.
The match took nearly 3 hours to play. I was posted first and all four other matches were completed before mine was over. I was salty about it at first because I'm convinced at least part of the slow playing is intentional, but as time went on and I drank more IPAs it became less aggravating and more mindblowingly hilarious how long this guy takes to shoot.
The match took nearly 3 hours to play. I was posted first and all four other matches were completed before mine was over. I was salty about it at first because I'm convinced at least part of the slow playing is intentional, but as time went on and I drank more IPAs it became less aggravating and more mindblowingly hilarious how long this guy takes to shoot.
Beat the slow players at their own game. If he takes 5 minutes and 27 seconds for his shot, then you just sit in your chair for the same amount of time then get up and shoot. No one can say anything to you if they say nothing to him.
If someone asks what you're doing, tell them you're studying the table trying to figure your shot.
Just because your opponent walks around to study the table, strokes his cue 37 times, gets down for a shot 8 times, doesn't mean that you're way of calmly sitting in you're chair is not studying the situation, it's just a different way than him.
Pretty soon they'll probably put a shot clock on his ass,,, and yours as well! lol
(Now this is not meant for folks that are just old maybe with medical problems)
If someone asks what you're doing, tell them you're studying the table trying to figure your shot.
Just because your opponent walks around to study the table, strokes his cue 37 times, gets down for a shot 8 times, doesn't mean that you're way of calmly sitting in you're chair is not studying the situation, it's just a different way than him.
Pretty soon they'll probably put a shot clock on his ass,,, and yours as well! lol
(Now this is not meant for folks that are just old maybe with medical problems)
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I have tremors as well but only on the right side ( and, of course, I'm right-handed ). When I hit balls lefty, there's no tremors whatsoever. And the tremors only last so long... sometime 10 minutes, sometimes 30. No rhyme or reason to it.
Happy to see you brutalized the kid in the finals... :grin-square:
I’ve got mixed feelings about overly slow players.
If a player is busy and not wasting his time, I can live with it.
I’ve known three good snooker players that would saw away on their warm up strokes...
...they’d shoot when it felt right.....one of those guys I would actually practise with...
...his choice of shots was world class.
The slow players I couldn’t stand were the ones who used it as a competitive advantage...
...lotta staring into empty space.
..if I gambled with them...the price got tripled.
If a player is busy and not wasting his time, I can live with it.
I’ve known three good snooker players that would saw away on their warm up strokes...
...they’d shoot when it felt right.....one of those guys I would actually practise with...
...his choice of shots was world class.
The slow players I couldn’t stand were the ones who used it as a competitive advantage...
...lotta staring into empty space.
..if I gambled with them...the price got tripled.
That's what I hated as well and what this thread is about. Not people who can't help it ( tic or health, age, etc ) but guys who are stalling. And what drives me nuts is not them staring off into space ( and, yeah, been there, done that ) so much, but the ones who bend down to "line up the shot" like... a thousand times, and THEN walk around the table 4 or 5 times, every single f'ing shot. I wanna SHOOT 'em!. For some reason that used to realllyyy bother me.
I just wouldn't gamble with them. Not worth the energy.