Dirty Pool
- Thread starter TATE
- Start date
This is a very true statement. I have been gambling at gin, poker, golf & pool for over 40 years.
My only gainful employment during that period was as a hall owner for several years & handicapping football & basketball for a sports book in Vegas for a couple years.
There is far more gambling on golf courses & in the card games at the 19th hole than in pool. Gambling in pool has diminished to next to nothing compared to where it was in the past, the 90's and before.
I agree 100%.
But then....this is me...
:thumbup:
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I'm in the same boat as you. I have my work life, which pays the bills and then I have my other life, which is who I am.
I think Pool seems to get a lot of ppl in similar situations. It is, what it is.
Eric
I read his post as, "Golf had some messed up racist shit in the past and still cultivates or can cultivate a classist/elitist mindset today, while pool has generally been about skill at the table rather than race. Throught it's history, pool has been much more progressive in terms of respecting people for who they are than for the color of their skin or nationality. Therefore, I'd like pool to maintain it's relative independence from the mainstream."
At least that's how I read it. I know when I walk into a pool hall, I tend to see pool players. These players have various skill and differing personalities, and should be treated as people, not stereotypes. It seems that Chopdoc likes this subculture and is, in fact, fine with it being how it is.
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Great post, one of the things I've always loved about this seedy underworld of pool is its diversity.
As Galipeau said, it's about who you are in a pool room, not the color of your skin. In any given pool room you can find wayward souls from numerous different walks of life that gather between the walls of the hall to do something they all love, play & gamble at this game. As low long as you don't show your ass, everybody generally is accepted. Kind of like the island of misfit toys, no place I'd rather be.
Cleaning it up is about making a living at it; for those who never had the: aspirations, skill, or nerve to give that a shot - then cleaining it up is of no value to them.
For those that do/did have any of the above, then cleaning it up is of paramount value!
The Las Vegas strip was built with pension money that the mob controlled. Las Vegas was able to transition from that era to corporate control, and today is both a family destination and mecca for gamblers. They were able to find a balance, perhaps we can look at that model as a road map for the future of pool.
exactly !
I watch it in amazement at the stupidity. Make fun of me all you want for not gambling all night but I'll take my stack of cash and go home to my big house while your living in your moms basement any day of the week.
These people are stupid because they don't think like you? You make some really asinine and uninformed assumptions here, mr. big house. You can do whatever you want and they can do whatever they want. In the rooms I've played in it's none of your business what I do or anybody else does. I too like some of the dark side I've witnessed in poolrooms. I call it the diversity of poolrooms though. I too live "in a big house" in a very nice area and have raised a successful family and I feel more comfortable in a poolroom than anywhere else on earth. Love the atmosphere and the game.
I'm just wondering when people will stop trying to convince themselves that pool is in any way, shape, or form "mainstream". From the little room down the street to the biggest "championship" events in the world, the entire game is littered with hustlers and scam artists.
From the bottom up, it's about finding a sucker you can convince to play you for $5/game by missing a few shots while they watch. At the highest levels, it's those small time hustlers thinking on a grand scale. As a result, you constantly have missing prize money, broken promises, and bounced checks. If you enjoy playing pool, then shut up and play pool.. Stop worrying about "saving the game".
From the bottom up, it's about finding a sucker you can convince to play you for $5/game by missing a few shots while they watch. At the highest levels, it's those small time hustlers thinking on a grand scale. As a result, you constantly have missing prize money, broken promises, and bounced checks. If you enjoy playing pool, then shut up and play pool.. Stop worrying about "saving the game".
Las Vegas is in financial trouble in general. The balance sought was not found. But that's another conversation.
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And the pensions are insolvent too. Vegas is not the model to follow.
His idea is a good one though.
If The Hustlers had been more real like the Scooter show that was being attempted then it might bave got picked up for season 2.
I know that a lot of people will think that pool is better off without any reality show at all rather than the Scooter show because one that real would only hurt pools image more. But I dont think so. The only success pool has had has been by displaying the side that has attracted viewers.
How successful has the classy gentlemans game been lately?
My guess is if pool decided to keep it more real then we would get that happy balance in between the low life and the great pretenders. The complete low lifes would be exposed and weeded out better and the fake attitudes would not be neccesary and a pool that keeps it real would be entertaining.
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You've got to be kidding? A lot of the people who enjoy the, shall we say, "colorful side" of pool are successful businessmen with families, companies, homes, nice cars, etc. In fact, most of the serious cue collectors I've associated with are millionaires, multi-millionaires, etc.
I am not saying we are the seedy side but we don't mind it and many of us find the colorful characters of pool entertaining. I don't gamble much, but I enjoy it when I do and it makes pool (and golf) a lot more interesting to some of us.
The two events that caused pool to catch fire were movies, The Hustler and the Color of Money, both of which are about gambling and the seedier side of the pool hall culture.
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I used to believe cleaning up pool's image would help it grow even though I enjoy it the way it is. This is the people I'm used to being around. But now, I believe pool is so far from main stream middle America that it would never reach that goal.
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I remember a long time ago I was talking to a sports broadcaster about mma, which was nhb back then, before Zuffa even owned the UFC. He was adamant that the sport would never make it mainstream. He wouldnt even call it a sport, he said it was a spectacle. It was just a spectacle back then but that is how it started and it grew. Now I hear him on the air discussing big fights all the time.
Mma was too raw back then. Zuffa cleaned it up just a little and now the public accepts it. If they tried for too clean of an image I think it would have bombed. For a sport like mma or pool i think there is a happy medium between clean and dirty. If I had to figure what would make pool sell best as far as image goes I would say the happy medium ranks at the top, then the flat out dirty, and then the clean. Too clean makes a somewhat boring to watch sport even more boring.
The question is how to present the happy medium. I dont know for sure but I think that the happy medium is what its going to take to get fans and sponsors and television and media interested. I wouldnt be opposed to seeing a reality show that had some shocking characters that you had to watch to see what they were capable of doing next hit t.v. and grab some attention and then a more respectable series of events pop up to give pool credibility
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Yup.
Sometimes people are a little too quick to judge I guess. Some of the best people I know are broke bikers. Some of the biggest scumbags I know wear a suit. Somme of the baddest dudes I know are pint size. Some of the biggest wimps I know look like monsters.
Colorful characters in pool halls? Love it. Always have. But as you imply, be careful judging. You never know which one might kick your ass, own your bank note, be doing your wife, own half the town, or run you off a pool table,or know more than you.
I think I might be a "colorful character". LOL!
I can see where trob is coming from. Insecurity and inadequacy.
He can take his pile of cash and go home to his big house. I'll crawl back in my mother's basement. LOL! :thumbup:
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