Do You Need To Be Very Smart To Play Really Well?

Kickin' Chicken

Kickin' Chicken

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Or does this even matter?

Over the years I've been whooped up on playing pool with guys who I figured weren't very smart. At least not book smart.

Certain games, like for instance, 1p, requires a lot of strategic skill, so does this mean great 1p players are very smart? Or is it that the scope of the game is limited to doing physical things well such as: banking, kicking, kick safes, playing safe, shotmaking, position play, pattern reads, and breaking well?

Then, perhaps the only thing left to your intelligence is shot selection/patterns and when to be aggressive vs. when not to be.

I hear it sometimes when good players are in a defensive battle; "we have a real chess game here". But is it really like chess?

I wonder what percentage of playing pool [well] could be attributed to the mental aspect and what percentage is physical execution.

I know for a fact that it's possible to be very smart and shoot pool terribly. I have a cousin like that. :grin-square:

Any thoughts/comments are welcome.

Best,
Brian kc
 
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You just have to be smart enough to fend off the "sharks" while shooting.

All that strategy is nonsense, the important thing is looking cool before, during and after a shot. And when pocketing a shot look around the room to see who saw how great the shot you just made was and "give it to them."
 
If 'smarts' is the ability to recall 'moves' that apply to a current situation, or recall how to bank/kick/masse/jump/smooth/etc a ball to get the preferred result then sure, they're smart. But in all honesty, how many people do you know who you'd think weren't all that smart, that you put a toolbox and a broken down car infront of, and it ends up fixed... Or the 14 year old down the street who can clean your computer out in 45 minutes. You don't have to have a doctorate in physics or geometry to be a savant on the pool table, but being intelligent enough to out move someone when you're setting up the game, or knowing when to bail is going to make a big difference in how your night is going to go.

The kid down the street might go 'oh i'll fix your computer for you mister, i love doing that stuff', if he's smart, he goes 'oh yeah, best buy would charge you $65 mister, i'll do it for $35 if you tell your friends about how well i did it'...
 
you don't have to be smart . . .

but you have to have smarts!

Hu


Kickin' Chicken said:
Or does this even matter?

Over the years I've been whooped up on playing pool with guys who I figured weren't very smart. At least not book smart.

Certain games, like for instance, 1p, requires a lot of strategic skill, so does this mean great 1p players are very smart? Or is it that the scope of the game is limited to doing physical things well such as: banking, kicking, kick safes, playing safe, shotmaking, position play, pattern reads, and breaking well?

Then, perhaps the only thing left to your intelligence is shot selection/patterns and when to be aggressive vs. when not to be.

I hear it sometimes when good players are in a defensive battle; "we have a real chess game here". But is it really like chess?

I wonder what percentage of playing pool [well] could be attributed to the mental aspect and what percentage is physical execution.

I know for a fact that it's possible to be very smart and shoot pool terribly. I have a cousin like that. :grin-square:

Any thoughts/comments are welcome.

Best,
Brian kc
Click to expand...
 
Define smart......I've seen some pretty "smart" people do so pretty dumb things.

I'm sure everyone has...............whenever we look in a mirror.
 
I don't think you have to be smart to play good pool, but if you gamble at it you need to be street smart. You also need to be good at managing your money or you'll be playing for 40% off a stakehorse your whole career.

On a side note, people that play 3-cushion and straight pool seem on average to have more schooling. I don't know why I came up with that. Maybe because most don't gamble very high or not at all. Or maybe most of them went to Nit University:). Joke; you know respect you carom and 14.1 players. Johnnyt
 
Kickin' Chicken said:
Or does this even matter?

Over the years I've been whooped up on playing pool with guys who I figured weren't very smart. At least not book smart.

Certain games, like for instance, 1p, requires a lot of strategic skill, so does this mean great 1p players are very smart? Or is it that the scope of the game is limited to doing physical things well such as: banking, kicking, kick safes, playing safe, shotmaking, position play, pattern reads, and breaking well?

Then, perhaps the only thing left to your intelligence is shot selection/patterns and when to be aggressive vs. when not to be.

I hear it sometimes when good players are in a defensive battle; "we have a real chess game here". But is it really like chess?

I wonder what percentage of playing pool [well] could be attributed to the mental aspect and what percentage is physical execution.

I know for a fact that it's possible to be very smart and shoot pool terribly. I have a cousin like that. :grin-square:

Any thoughts/comments are welcome.

Best,
Brian kc
Click to expand...

Lots of questions Brian.

No, you don't have to be smart, especially book-smart, to play pool well, even 1 pocket. and No, it doesn't really matter.

Now if you're talking about visual intelligence, that's another matter. :D

JoeyA
 
no you dont have to be smart. but in a thinking contest i am betting on the smart one.
 
I think you need to at least be smart enough to drive yourself to the poolhall. Failing that, you can have someone take you. :)
 
People who are very smart don't choose pool for a career. The president can't run 3 balls for chrissakes. But if everything else is equal, I'll bet on the smart guy every time.
 
Nope!!! Can be dumb as a rock and still play great pool,,don't need to be sober either!! lol
Knew one guy,,couldn't read and a few others that could not carry on a conversation with,,real words. But they could play pool ,,,well.
Now that I think about it,,,,,I play my best pool when I quit thinking.:grin:

Makes me recall something I read about a guy that has the best memory,adding abilitys,,ect.. (very smart,but doesn't see it that way) First part of his life he though he was stupid because he couldn't understand math or the concept of many things.
He didn't figured out ,till in his teens ,,that not everyone seen numbers as a shape of different colors.
My memory fades from there~!!!:confused:
 
just smart enough to know how much quality practice it takes. there are a lot of smart people who have been playing pool for 20+ years and they've never taken the time to study the fundamentals, video tape themselves, get a coach and practice drills. the excuse I always hear is maybe they just want to have fun, then why do we hear so many of them constantly discussing why they haven't improved?
 
Smarts

Most players that play real good are usually pretty smart, but there are different kinds of smart. Book smart does not necessarily transfer to the pool table, and sometimes being street smart does.
 
Earl Strickland is "shark smart" because he is good at sharking players.

He doesn't have to play hard if his opponent is playing poorly.
 
I think you have to have a certain type of smarts but not necessarily pure book smarts.

I think when I started playing in the mid 80's, I read a stat that at that time only 4 of the male professional players had ever attended college. Varner was one, can't remember the others now. Not that some others maybe couldn't, but they didn't. I think it was more typical then for the best players to be street smart and very visually intelligent with some sort of inate knowlege of geometry/physics, even if they couldn't always explain it or process it in a pure academic manner.

This is similar to some other types of athletes who may not be book smart or didn't grow up with certain advantages but are able to memorize playbooks or analyze large amounts of data as it pertains to their game of choice. Interesting...

Scott
 
Kickin' Chicken said:
Or does this even matter?

Over the years I've been whooped up on playing pool with guys who I figured weren't very smart. At least not book smart.

Certain games, like for instance, 1p, requires a lot of strategic skill, so does this mean great 1p players are very smart? Or is it that the scope of the game is limited to doing physical things well such as: banking, kicking, kick safes, playing safe, shotmaking, position play, pattern reads, and breaking well?

Then, perhaps the only thing left to your intelligence is shot selection/patterns and when to be aggressive vs. when not to be.

I hear it sometimes when good players are in a defensive battle; "we have a real chess game here". But is it really like chess?

I wonder what percentage of playing pool [well] could be attributed to the mental aspect and what percentage is physical execution.

I know for a fact that it's possible to be very smart and shoot pool terribly. I have a cousin like that. :grin-square:

Any thoughts/comments are welcome.

Best,
Brian kc
Click to expand...

I don't know if you're watching American Idol this season, but this young man, James, has mental impairment (he's afflicted with several debilitating syndromes) and has limited learning abilities, emotional and mental capacity. My assumption is he would score poorly on a test of any sort.

However, when it comes to music, his ability to memorize, interpret, arrange, and perform on stage is sheer genius. He remembers every note, every lyric, every move, and every beat. He executes his routines confidently and flawlessly, and the music professionals are honestly captivated by him.

I am saying this because there are different types of intelligence. There is not one definition that can define intelligence. I have watched the best pool players in the world and I do believe they are exceptionally coordinated, highly analytical, with considerably higher than average puzzle solving abilities. Whether this equals the definition of intelligence is subject to debate, but that coupled with thousands of hours of practice, certainly results in a genius for playing pool.

Chris
 
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justnum said:
Earl Strickland is "shark smart" because he is good at sharking players.

He doesn't have to play hard if his opponent is playing poorly.
Click to expand...

Totally surprised it took 15 posts before Earl got chucked under a bus.

If i could hug this thread for surprising me, i would...
 
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