Do you dress up to play?

F

Fastolfe

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My first billiards teacher used to say that one who dresses well plays better, and if he doesn't, at least he won't come across as a slacker at the table. I've always followed his advice and show up (and usually play) in 3-piece suit for important matches. For regular play, a crisp shirt and light V-neck pullover will do, but I avoid playing in jeans and T-shirt. Subconsciously, it forces me to try and make my game match my appearance I suppose. Not that I look all that good, but I try to look a notch better kept than my opponent.

Do you dress differently when you play? Does it change your game too?
 
Perception is reality

Our State Tournament has a collar rule and I feel that a large group of people dressed nicely looks much more welcoming than a bunch of rag-tag poorly dressed folks. I think I play better when dressed well, yet comfortably. It's all in how you carry yourself as well.

To the non-pool players who observe the crowd at our state tournament, what do you think they think? Do passers by react favorably or do they scoff. First impressions make a difference in the overall feel for what pool 'is'.

I see this alot with a group of students I work with. Sometimes we are decked out in something akin to a three-piece suit, other times youthful casual dress. The general public always comments on how ' nice and polite' these young people behaive when we are dressed nice. Similarly, there isn't that welcoming reaction when dressed casually even though the students are really acting no differently. PERCEPTION clouds reality.

In conclusion - if all folks dressed nicely, we might have a different perception of our 'sport'.

JMO
 
Jeans, t-shirt, & sneakers all the way. If the place is cold a flannel shirt over the t-shirt. I'm of the opinion that you play better if you're comfortable, you're comfortable dressy, I'm comfortable casual. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't play in any event or at any place which had a dress code.
I'm 64 years old and cannot think of one moment in my whole life when I preferred to wear a suit.
Steve. <== Just a country bumpkin.
 
Fastolfe said:
My first billiards teacher used to say that one who dresses well plays better, and if he doesn't, at least he won't come across as a slacker at the table. I've always followed his advice and show up (and usually play) in 3-piece suit for important matches. For regular play, a crisp shirt and light V-neck pullover will do, but I avoid playing in jeans and T-shirt. Subconsciously, it forces me to try and make my game match my appearance I suppose. Not that I look all that good, but I try to look a notch better kept than my opponent.

Do you dress differently when you play? Does it change your game too?
Click to expand...

If you are talking about tournament play, not the weekly bar tournament, but larger tournaments. I always dress very nicely. Years ago I played in a suit in some of the bigger tournaments like the BCA US Open straight pool but it was not comfortable. It is not easy playing in a jacket. I remember Miz dropping his pants and tucking his jacket in his waist as he leaned over the table so as to not foul a ball. Those jacket rules were ridiculous. I don't like it when I see the players in large tournaments dressed like bums though. One can only assume they don't have anything else to ware and looking like bums is normal for them. I remember being at a tournament and NY Blackie got into the finals and had nothing to ware that was nice. It wasn't required but I think he just wanted to look good. He went across the street and bought a pair of black pants and a nice shirt. It was funny he was in the corner of the room in his underwear as some girl hemmed the pants for him because they were too long.
 
Good Thread .

Well it depends on where I'm shooting at , Now if it's on a league night I'll wear a RL Polo and some nice jeans with dress shoes , or if a weekend I'll wear some nice dress slacks and Polo and dress shoes .

To me I like to dress up or more less look neat and clean when I go out to shoot .

I had a guy that comes in to the bar I always come to and he asked me why I was dressed up so nice and I said I like to look good when I'm out shooting .

Everyone has there own style to shoot so I'm not biest .
 
That brings to mind a line that Minnesota Fats used. " Playing pool in a tuxedo is like putting ice cream on a hot dog." :)
 
Generally it's jeans and a polo shirt for me, because most of the time I play I go to the pool hall straight from work. It used to be jeans and a t-shirt, but my office instituted a collared-shirt policy.

If I play on a weekend it's jeans and t-shirt for cold weather, or cargo shorts and t-shirt for warm weather.

I think you play best in what you're most comfortable in, and particularly in the same type of clothes you do most of your practicing in.

-Andrew
 
catscradle said:
I wouldn't play in any event or at any place which had a dress code.
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Matter of fact, I regularly have to go play inter-club matches, where I'm supposed to wear the official polo shirt supplied for members of my own club. It's an official requirement of the national pool federation, and if I don't wear it, the other team can ask that I don't play. Yet I never wear the hateful thing: it's epilepsy-inducing red, has my name written in my back in huge white letters of the ugliest typeface they possibly could find, it's too large for me, and has the obnoxious logo of our sponsor - a cement mixing company - written everywhere. No way I'm wearing that horror. So I turn up in a suit, my teammates complain, the other team members complain, and I tell them to get stuffed if they don't like it. So far I've never been thrown out :)
 
I can hardly wait to hear from NewStroke.
I think everyone should try and dress nice and casual. Gabe Owen, whom I've been around at several tourneys really surprised me last month. Being one of the sports premier players a little more is expected...At the Music City Open he looked like a bum. Oh well, maybe I'm gettin too old...
 
I'm trying to figure out how someone plays in a suit. A jacket and or long sleeves is too much for me. I need to have that stuff to be out of my way.

I don't really play competitive yet, just an under 21 league I just started. I would imaging the most I would go would be similar golf. Slacks and a collared shirt.

Right now when I'm just shooting around it's jeans and a t-shirt. I pretty much prefer basketball shorts though. They are more comfortable and it makes easy access to chalk.
 
my humble opinion...

is that pool is a recreational hobby and sport for me and I can't imagine any circumstance under which I would play in a three-piece suit. That said, I do take pool seriously and am an A- player but until someone with dressy expectations sponsors me, (and nobody's gonna be doing that), then jeans with either a nice collared shirt or a tee seems fine.

However, I won't knock any opponent of mine who chooses to dress to the 9's as long as I'm comfortably sinking the 9's.

KC
 
Usually in Jeans and a Polo and oxfords but sometimes tennis shoes.

On special occasions I like to wear Hawaiian shirts.
 
Depends.....

For practice, just jeans or shorts with a t-shirt and a pair of "DC" sneakers. For league, still jeans and a polo or button up. For tourneys, slacks, polo and dress shoes. I usually don't notice a difference in play. What I do notice is that everytime I wear slacks and a nice shirt, I wish I had on jeans and a t-shirt (lol).
 
What????

rootbeer506 said:
I'm trying to figure out how someone plays in a suit. A jacket and or long sleeves is too much for me. I need to have that stuff to be out of my way.

I don't really play competitive yet, just an under 21 league I just started. I would imaging the most I would go would be similar golf. Slacks and a collared shirt.

Right now when I'm just shooting around it's jeans and a t-shirt. I pretty much prefer basketball shorts though. They are more comfortable and it makes easy access to chalk.
Click to expand...

Where do you keep your chalk?:shocked2:
 
i always wear my dog costume and sandles with socks to play pool whether it be practise or comps. Its what i feel the most comfortable wearing.
 
I have 3 classy t-shirts I wear for tournaments, depending on the location:

"Get Bent" - classic black T
"I have a culinary boner" - I'm a fan of fine food
"The only job I need is a blow job" - when I am unemployed

:D

Local bar tourney, comfy t-shirt.....big event, slacks and a collared shirt...
 
I remember back in the day the first time I went to Johnson City it looked like a best dressed convention, every one was dressed to the teeth alligator shoes, Geno Paoli knit shirts that cost about 100.00 then, silk sharkskin suits, now the scene looks like a large tacky party
 
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