Do you celebrate "LUCK"?

tank69

tank69

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've played in numerous scotch doubles 9-ball tournaments lately and the "luck" I have seen lately is incredible. Granted, we all get lucky and so many say "It's just part of the game"….I get it, I embrace it, I can deal with it. What amazes me is that when "players", and I use that term loosely with this group of "ball beaters", slop in a shot, they fist pump, high five and celebrate as if this was their intention. Maybe it's just me, but I find this lacking class and just plain sad. I slop in a ball, I'm actually ashamed, I was rewarded due to an error on my part. If I get out of the rack, I actually apologize for the "lucky roll" I got…..as many other players have done to me. I'm just curious if anyone else feels this way or is it because I'm such a nice guy? (doubtful, i know) LOL
 
I appreciate luck, I don't celebrate it or necessarily rub it in my opponent's face like some of the people I've played before would.
 
I'd much rather be lucky than good !

. . . . sadly , most of the time , I'm neither . . . . ;)
 
I'm pretty sure most good players accept luck as part of the game but don't celebrate when they fluke something in. Most even give a little wave of apology, I know I usually do to sort of to acknowledge it, but I don't think it's always necessary. I actually went so far at one point to not stay focused after getting a lucky roll which resulted in me turning the table over too often, now I might apologize or feel slightly bad but I'm going to accept it and do my best to run out the game or set, since the luck eventually rolls both ways.

Now for your normal league type player, I've certainly seen people celebrating, or even worse pretending like that's what they were trying to do. Not much you can do about that but try to not let it bother you.
Scott
 
I'm in a beef right now with a guy over the whole "luck vs skill" thing and I guess that's my biggest problem I have with it. If the guy would just admit every once in a while that he fell in a pile of poop the size of Mt Everest, I'd be fine with it, but most of the times he insists he played it that way.
 
I agree with you Tank. I also feel like those who celebrate lucky rolls in the way you're describing, pray for and rely on that luck to get by since they have no real skill.
 
Yep, The Color of Money monologue quoted this, so it must be twue!

9-ball is rotation pool.

The balls are pocketed in numbered order.

The only ball that means anything...
that wins it, is the 9.

The player can shoot eight trick shots in a row...
blow the 9 and lose.

On the other hand...
the player can get the 9 in on the break...

if the balls spread right, and win.

Which is to say that luck plays a part in 9-ball.

But for some players...
Iuck itself is an art.


Ratta said:
Luck is an art itself ^^
Click to expand...
 
Jean Balukas definitely preferred skill to luck. :embarrassed2:

I used to shoot on a Busch league. I was over-rated as a 6 out of a 7, I thought. Each week, we'd play another team, and put up 5 of our team members against theirs with the handicapping system in force. So, if I was a 6 and had to play a 3, I had to spot them 3 games. :(

One week, it came down to the 5th set of the day. They pitted me against a girl named Vicki on the other team. She was also a 6. We went to the infamous hill-hill on the score, and it was my turn to break.

I could the sweat pouring from my forehead, and my body was starting to get heated. I must have been red as a beet, which I do sometimes when I'm nervous. All eyes were on me as I was getting ready to break. I looked at my team captain and said, "Sonny, 8-ball side pocket." I used the ol' 8-ball break, and I got lucky. That 8-ball flew in the side pocket, and my team won.

They all came over to me, giving me the high-five, hugs, and cheering loudly. It's one of my favorite pool memories. Yep, I celebrated luck that night. :thumbup:
 
I agree with the OP. I don't get all fired up when I'm the beneficiary of a lucky occurance. I usually make the "guess it's better to be lucky than good" statement, quietly. Shake my head and shrug my shoulders a bit.

Last thing I would do is whoop and holler.

I actually act the same way when my opponent get's the lucky roll. You might as well laugh as cry, I figure. I''ll often say "just like you drew it up, right?" with a grin on my face.

It's supposed to be fun, this game of ours. Luck doesn't factor into things very often in my little world (yes, even APA here, we have few instances of luck deciding things... it happens, but not all that often), and we aren't playing for big stakes, so enjoy it for what it is.
 
I never celebrate it. I always wave as an apology and expect the same in return but don't always get it. That being said I think we all can admit that we'd rather flop the 8 ball hill hill than miss it and sell out. I was playing a tournament yesterday that didn't go so well actually and in my last match, the pockets would reject the balls pretty often because the leather or the angle....I don't know but a table is not supposed to reject a table when you play a stop shot in the center of the pocket.

I played a shot and the 7 ball went in and came back out and hit the 9. Well my opponent decided to give it to me because its really the table that ****ed me up. I was really surprised.
 
ineedthesix said:
I agree with you Tank. I also feel like those who celebrate lucky rolls in the way you're describing, pray for and rely on that luck to get by since they have no real skill.
Click to expand...

That's what ticks me off the most. It's OK for them to celebrate luck, but when you call them out on it, then you're "crying about it". Makes no sense.

That's why I play 14.1 pretty exclusively. Either you can run balls, or you can't run balls.
 
If I slop something in I usually say "sorry". I certainly don't celebrate.

Edit: This is when something is on the line. If I'm goofing around with friends I may rub it in a little.
 
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i will in some way acknowledge that i crapped it in and i am sorry. i'll either say something or use a gesture to let them know i didn't mean it. when i play league and my team chears it on i will usually give them crap for it. i have stopped shooting and turned to them and said what the hell are you chearing about? if you play 9 ball or 10 ball without call pocket rules, or apa 8 ball you have to live with it. but even in 14:1 or one hole it has come up. someone hits a ball that rattles and has no business falling but somehow finds it way in or the called ball is going to miss but clips another ball and falls. it happens, to all of us sometimes. you just have to be resigned to the fact that it may happen and when it does don't be an ass about it by chearing or *****ing. just take the rolls as they come, there's nothing you can do about them.
 
tank69 said:
I've played in numerous scotch doubles 9-ball tournaments lately and the "luck" I have seen lately is incredible. Granted, we all get lucky and so many say "It's just part of the game"….I get it, I embrace it, I can deal with it. What amazes me is that when "players", and I use that term loosely with this group of "ball beaters", slop in a shot, they fist pump, high five and celebrate as if this was their intention. Maybe it's just me, but I find this lacking class and just plain sad. I slop in a ball, I'm actually ashamed, I was rewarded due to an error on my part. If I get out of the rack, I actually apologize for the "lucky roll" I got…..as many other players have done to me. I'm just curious if anyone else feels this way or is it because I'm such a nice guy? (doubtful, i know) LOL
Click to expand...

For the love of God, never apologize to me when you get lucky. Just move on like it is part of the game. I hate the hand wave and the I'm sorry it's brutal.
 
I would not be proud of a lucky shot but I would never appologize for it. I do everything I can capitiliaze on it. Never feel bad because you got lucky. In order to win tournemants you need luck on your side.
Too many times have I gotten a bad roll or been un-lucky and lost a match.
 
I have a buddy who jokingly pumps his cue over his head with both arms. It's all in good fun and he just does it in the company of friendly players. It's his way of stating "sorry" to his opponent.
 
GMAC said:
For the love of God, never apologize to me when you get lucky. Just move on like it is part of the game. I hate the hand wave and the I'm sorry it's brutal.
Click to expand...

I agree. I hate the "I'm sorry" routine. I know that luck happens. It happens for me and against me. It is part of the game.

If you really are sorry, then just give up your shot and let me at the table.

Actually, that sorry routine just fires me up because to me, it is so disingenuous and hollow that I now REALLY want to win.
 
HOw many people????

ctyhntr said:
Yep, The Color of Money monologue quoted this, so it must be twue!

9-ball is rotation pool.

The balls are pocketed in numbered order.

The only ball that means anything...
that wins it, is the 9.

The player can shoot eight trick shots in a row...
blow the 9 and lose.

On the other hand...
the player can get the 9 in on the break...

if the balls spread right, and win.

Which is to say that luck plays a part in 9-ball.

But for some players...
Iuck itself is an art.
Click to expand...

HOw many people heard the balls break and the music start in their head when reading the last line of that???

:)

Jaden
 
Having been on both sides of the luck issue, I can say the only time it bothers me is when the person I'm playing starts throwing a temper tantrum. He could've just kicked at a ball and rattled it in off of 6 rails without missing a step, but the first time I get half a roll or opt for a position-on-the-next-ball / safe-if-I-miss shot I have to hear about how terrible I am, and how they can't believe they're going to lose because of luck, etc. It seems like a little bit of skill breeds a lot of ego in some people, and they practice sharking and b*tching more than their game.
 
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