Age vs Experience

My opening statement has always been, "9 ball is the young man's game and 8 ball the old man's game."
There's definitely well as Yogi said, "Half the game is 85% mental. So a young fit and knowledgeable player should prevail. 🤷‍♂️
In the Long run. ☺
So as I age, the races need to be shorter. Then they can grumble about getting beat by that Old (terms of endearment) gentleman.
Last pocket 8 ball is a simple old man's game. Or 1 and 15 in the sides last pocket.
 
Always bet on the young guy. (If the older player has/had the same top gear as the younger).

Making the shot, even if it’s the wrong shot, wins the match.
 
sellingboe said:
As I'm watching a 2022 match between Filler and Immonen, with Filler leading by a decent margin late, I started contemplating the age vs experience factor. With athleticism favoring youth and experience favoring age, I still wonder why youth seems to dominate the leader board. Is it as simple as experience doesn't add as much value as athleticism (i.e. hand/eye coordination)? I'm sure this has been addressed before, but I welcome fresh perspectives on it.
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In 1P, experience plays a much larger role than rotation games. However, at some point no one beats father time.
 
I lost my “killer instinct “ when I got older which translated into focus for me. I could focus for hours when I was younger and would hop in the truck and drive a hundred miles if I thought a certain player was going to be somewhere. I get mentally tired now and instead of hopping in the truck it’s more important to catch the next episode of 1883
 
sellingboe said:
Ok, I accept that. What are the "too many" to which you are referring? I get hand/eye. Beyond that, I'm at a loss. Mental should favor experience.
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As you age in to your 50s and older, it’s not as much your 20/20 vision clarity or lack of that is a factor (which is usually correctable with the right lens prescription) as much as it is the gradual decrease in your 3D depth perception and how that affects your accuracy and your shotmaking confidence. At least I’m finding that to be the case for myself.
 
8cree said:
To me, one of the main benefits the younger guy has is that he doesn't have enough experience to know he's doing "it" wrong, so he's playing loose and carefree.
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That is likely true - the younger players generally play with so much confidence they don’t overthink everything. Yes, that sometimes can lead to mistakes, but most of the time they sure make it look easy.
 
Earl touched on this in his commentary. He said that back in the day the young guys got whooped fairly often and players didnt really start winning yill around 30. But now there is so much good information out there and guys are playing at a youmg age so they pick up enough experience very early on and by the time they are in their early 20s they can be world beaters.

u see it in a lot of sports these days...the young players are just smarter than they used to be. instead of getting to the pinnacle of their sport and still needing to learn the game to a large degree, their bball IQ or football IQ or whatever is at a much higher level at the start of their pro career than it used to be for previous generations.
 
I think the burning desire to win fades over time. And likewise, losing doesn't sting as much. It doesn't happen overnight, of course....it takes many years. At least, it did for me. Sure, I still want to win, but somehow it just doesn't seem as important now, as it did 50 years ago. Especially considering that I have played games where the consequences of winning and losing were much greater.

As others have mentioned, Father Time waits for no one.
 
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WobblyStroke said:
Earl touched on this in his commentary. He said that back in the day the young guys got whooped fairly often and players didnt really start winning yill around 30. But now there is so much good information out there and guys are playing at a youmg age so they pick up enough experience very early on and by the time they are in their early 20s they can be world beaters.

u see it in a lot of sports these days...the young players are just smarter than they used to be. instead of getting to the pinnacle of their sport and still needing to learn the game to a large degree, their bball IQ or football IQ or whatever is at a much higher level at the start of their pro career than it used to be for previous generations.
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Huh? Archer was a world beater by the time he was 18. Corey by the time he was 16. And Corey didn't step foot in a pool hall until he was 14. IDK when Archer started.
 
iusedtoberich said:
Huh? Archer was a world beater by the time he was 18. Corey by the time he was 16. And Corey didn't step foot in a pool hall until he was 14. IDK when Archer started.
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Right. And Earl was at the top in his early20s but for most guys....who weren't in big money games with top plsyers in their teens, they had to learn their lessons as they started their careers. Now young guys that play very tidy smart games are more of the norm than the exception like the hall of famers u mentioned.

It's not that it nevrr happened before, it's that it is much more common now and guys can get their seasoning much earlier on.
 
WobblyStroke said:
Right. And Earl was at the top in his early20s but for most guys....who weren't in big money games with top plsyers in their teens, they had to learn their lessons as they started their careers. Now young guys that play very tidy smart games are more of the norm than the exception like the hall of famers u mentioned.

It's not that it nevrr happened before, it's that it is much more common now and guys can get their seasoning much earlier on.
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I don't think anyone learns to play pool when they are already grown and have day jobs. No time for that then. It's a teenage sport. Kids get hooked, and spend every waking moment in a pool hall that they can get away with. If they get the pool bug as a teen, it will carry over once they have day jobs and they will gamble with their day job money.

If they don't get the bug as a teen, it won't happen as an adult. Very rare in my experinece. And it certainly won't happen with pro player level players. ALL those guys (and gals) were addicted as kids or teens.
 
iusedtoberich said:
I don't think anyone learns to play pool when they are already grown and have day jobs. No time for that then. It's a teenage sport. Kids get hooked, and spend every waking moment in a pool hall that they can get away with. If they get the pool bug as a teen, it will carry over once they have day jobs and they will gamble with their day job money.

If they don't get the bug as a teen, it won't happen as an adult. Very rare in my experinece. And it certainly won't happen with pro player level players. ALL those guys (and gals) were addicted as kids or teens.
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Earl wasn't talking about older guys suddenly becom8ng pros. He was talking about younger pros really struggling early till they really learn the pro game.

Maybe it was a case of Earl being Earl and doing a bit of revisionist history, but his statements fit what we are seeing across many sports rn, the young players are much smarter than they used to be.
 
sellingboe said:
Ok, I accept that. What are the "too many" to which you are referring? I get hand/eye. Beyond that, I'm at a loss. Mental should favor experience.
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But in the mental portion the young have more hunger and drive along with boatloads of confidence and lack of fear. That's all tough to overcome with just wise. Especially early in the "young lions" career they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
 
One things for sure, many of the older great players are much better at matchin' up, and handicapping their head up confrontations.
 
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bbb said:
I think in onepocket experience has more importance
Since shotmaking is not the only skill needed to win
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I heard Filler had basically no idea how to play 1P when he spotted and robbed Tony a few years back.
My memory may be a bit fuzzy though.
 
tim913 said:
I lost my “killer instinct “ when I got older which translated into focus for me. I could focus for hours when I was younger and would hop in the truck and drive a hundred miles if I thought a certain player was going to be somewhere. I get mentally tired now and instead of hopping in the truck it’s more important to catch the next episode of 1883
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This. I am sure age has a lot to do with it but I am also much more financially stable today. I'm not as hungry/greedy as I was when I wanted to grind every dollar. I now feel the "oh well..." creep into my game on occasion where there was once "I'm still taking his money". I definitely don't focus on every shot anymore and I'll rush a shot when my back hurts. "I'm gonna take that guy's money!" turned into "That guy wants to take my money!" I've been getting in the box a bit more lately and I'm showing signs or recovery. I'm not dead yet.
 
JolietJames said:
I heard Filler had basically no idea how to play 1P when he spotted and robbed Tony a few years back.
My memory may be a bit fuzzy though.
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filler knew how to play onepocket and he and tony played even ...no spot
filler had been playing on that table for weeks
tony tried to out shoot filler which was the wrong strategy
and filler didnt miss a ball
had tony given filler no shots for 10-15 minutes or more at a time
he may not have looked so sharp
regardless thats a one case example
age and experience keeps players past their 9 ball prime still tough to beat in onepocket
jmho
 
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