Seems to me there is just so much to learn, and think about while playing.
Is it possible?
Is it possible?
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Can billiards ever mastered?
- Thread starter Darkridder
- Start date
Nope but the English language can be.:smile:
A man once said about billiards that the better I get the harder the game gets. It's the journey that's enjoyable and all the great folks and not so great folks in the pool fraternity.
To me, it's like golf. Even when you are "free stroking" it, it's fleeting/temporary. You rent the ability to play perfect pool, you don't own it. How often have you heard a pro golfer shoot a 65-66 and tell you they feel like they left 3-4 shots out there on the course? Granted, I'm no pro in either sport, but I can count on one hand the number of times I have played and had everything going (i.e. driver, irons, short game, putter). I think the same thing applies to pool.
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I agree. Unless one has started at a very early age in any endeavor,
the satisfying thing about learning that endeavor (at least for me),
is learning new things and applying those things to the overall craft.
Being patient yet persistent will get you there; provided one stays healthy
in order to maximize the number of years to attain the relevant knowledge.
The closest to mastery I've ever seen was the tournament Earl of the 80's and 90's. He made the game look so easy the way he controlled the cue ball and never missed anything. He was in complete control rack after rack and could run over the other top players at will.
Parica gambling is one other player who stood out above the rest. He also took control of his matches and never let up. He closed out a lot of very good players, never giving them a chance.
Keith had magic on a pool table, able to make the most difficult shots look like child's play. For a brief shining moment he played like no other, a speed above the mortal world. He stunned his opponents with his brilliance.
Buddy at his best was a like a perpetual motion machine. He could put you to sleep with run out after run out that all looked alike. Like Mosconi before him, he never seemed to have a hard shot, his position play was that good.
These are four who stand out in my mind for their mastery of the game.
One honorable mention to my old buddy Louie Roberts, gone but never to be forgotten. No one before or since could make balls like Louie, firing in the longest most difficult cut shots like they were hangers. Our jaws would be agape after watching him run out a rack with one hard shot after another, every ball splitting the heart of the pocket!
Parica gambling is one other player who stood out above the rest. He also took control of his matches and never let up. He closed out a lot of very good players, never giving them a chance.
Keith had magic on a pool table, able to make the most difficult shots look like child's play. For a brief shining moment he played like no other, a speed above the mortal world. He stunned his opponents with his brilliance.
Buddy at his best was a like a perpetual motion machine. He could put you to sleep with run out after run out that all looked alike. Like Mosconi before him, he never seemed to have a hard shot, his position play was that good.
These are four who stand out in my mind for their mastery of the game.
One honorable mention to my old buddy Louie Roberts, gone but never to be forgotten. No one before or since could make balls like Louie, firing in the longest most difficult cut shots like they were hangers. Our jaws would be agape after watching him run out a rack with one hard shot after another, every ball splitting the heart of the pocket!
You didn't mention Sigel?????
Your question was: "Can billiards ever mastered?" I assume you were talking about pool in general rather than the game of Billiards, in particular.
Regardless, I believe that there is no finite answer. Pool play is segmented, and incremental. You might practice short rail banks until you have mastered them. You may become the master of nine-ball breaks. You may become a master of draw, and follow shots. There's just too many aspects of the many games of pool to consider. And the word itself is vague. Those short rail banks you practiced are only as good as the highest number attained and if someone else attains that next higher number, then we have a new master. :smile:
Nice anecdotes, Jay. I figured Keith would be mentioned in that group.
These guys had a natural talent that the rest of us will never realize.
I would like to think part of this natural talent is the ability to see the shot clearly
(i.e. perfectly aligned and a perfectly straight stroke);
otherwise, how in the hell else could they make shots at will, right?
Self Mastery
In this game I would tend to believe that you master yourself and its a life long quest.
In this game I would tend to believe that you master yourself and its a life long quest.
True, it's a quest, Robin.
I know that when I was much younger one of my first jobs was working for a small bait shop on one of the local lakes. My job was to go out early in the morning and bait trot lines along the bank.
It was a union job and the boss said I would begin as an apprentice and then after a couple of years I would become a master baiter.
It was a fun job. :smile:
I boudt taht
My question to Jay, and all you others who have been citing players as masters, is: At what level to the guys (and girls?) earn the title? When do they become, what we may arbitrarily term, masters?
Could pool keep evolving?
Guaranteed.
