Do you refuse to play against weaker players?

Let's see:

If you won't play with weaker players, and the stronger players have the same standard, that is, they won't play with you. you'll be all alone, with nothing to do but play with yourself.:D
 
Russ Chewning said:
Meh... I've never felt sorry for an opponent. I beat my wife's brains out on our second or third date, when I took her to my home pool room, City Lights in Tacoma, WA. It started out as regular 8 ball, and I basically ran out every time she missed. Then, I told her I would bank the 8 ball to give her a chance.

I tried real hard to plan my last three balls right so I had a hanger bank. Then, the spot moved to me playing one handed and her playing regular.

I tried as hard as I possibly good to run out on her every time. The spot eventually ended up where I had to play one handed and bank the 8 ball wherever my last ball fell. That made it an even game.

Not telling about that to brag, just to illustrate that I'd try to beat my own mother 11-0 if I had to play her a match. All my friends who ever played me knew I was going to try my absolute hardest, and they did not take it personally. If it was just some guy in the barracks I was playing (I was in the Army), I tried to absolutely destroy them.

I remember one kid I played a lot in the barracks.. He was pretty good, and could have been a great player if he got a good practice regimen going on good equipment. After I took a month off to practice, I came back and played him, and beat him so badly over a number of non gambling sessions, he ended up giving up pool. I didn't feel bad one bit about it either. I considered that pool table in the dayroom mine, and if you stepped up to play me on it, you deserved what you got. I ended up buying his Meucci cue off him and an awesome price when he quit, too. Bonus!

Danny McGoorty used to say he had to hate his opponent while he was at the table. That's what works for me, too. I want to crush my opponent's spirit when I am at the table with them. Imagine, if I end up playing some real good young player in a big regional tournament, and I slack off for one shot, and he gets a rack that he otherwise may not have. Then, he runs a few racks, but still loses a match 9-4. He'll think.. "9-4 is not that bad, I'll get him next time." If I played him so hard that I bear down the whole match, and I don't give him that shot, he might get beat 9-0. I will be in that dude's head every time I play him. He better be a mentally strong player to put that beating out of his mind.

What I guess I am saying is this. That weaker player that you can't play hard against.... He might be a real player one day. Beat him now... Beat him often. Beat him badly. He'll either quit playing the game... or he will really push himself to get better, to avoid getting beat 11-0, 10-0.

I used to think it was my responsibility to beat younger players as badly as possible, to separate the wheat from the chaff. If they end up giving up the game early, they save themselves lotsa money on table time.

Russ
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I see your point, I just don't share it. Guess I don't have that ultimate killer instinct in me, I can live with that. For me the absolute main thing about playing pool is enjoying myself. I just do not enjoy not having to work to win all the time.
I have to ask though, do you think that playing one-handed and having to bank the 8 into the same pocket as the last objectball helped YOUR game somehow? Like I said I'm still trying to improve myself and will play weaker players, just not all the time.

gr. Dave
 
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zeeder said:
I'm mostly in the opposite situation. Nearly all the players I play are weaker than I am. It's not even so much that I am really good but rather that the stronger players don't come to the pool hall anymore! It's just not right that a low B player can't find someone to whip his arse. :(
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I was in your neck of the woods last Monday, stopped in Boochies for an hour to hit some balls while I waited for my son to get off work. That place hasn't changed a bit.

If you come to St Louis I'm sure you will be able to find someone to give you some competition, the Sunday 9 ball tourney at Riverbend always has some A and b players.
 
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I would rather not play most weaker players.

If someone wants to learn and improve their game, I'll play them all day long, help them practice, etc. I'll have them shoot the same exact shot over and over and fetch the balls for them at the opposite end of the table.

If it is a friend, I'll play them.

The reason I don't play weaker players is if I win a game or two, they will not play me anymore. Or even if they see me run in a few balls in a row but I let them win, they don't want to play me anymore (I'm getting my balls out of the way to make things easier for them, but they don't realize this). So there is no point in getting out my stick for just two games. Why bother? (They scatter like cockroaches when a good player comes in.)

And for very beginning beginners, I don't feel it helps them to play someone who is going to leave them with most of their balls on the table (8-ball). They need to practice shooting in their balls. Probably best they play someone who gives them plenty of chances to make their balls. I'm losing my patience to miss intentionally and set them up for an easy shot (which they miss over and over).

Usually I wait for someone to ask me to play. If it is a weaker player, I'll say I want to rest for awhile and point them to someone else who might want to play. If there is no one else to play them, then I'll play.

Now if someone walks in the door who can beat me sometimes or most of the time, then I'll be very interested and play them for hours. And they also want to play me for hours win or lose.

If a shark walks in, I let him play everybody else. Then when no one else wants to play him because he is winning every game, I will jump up and play him for several hours after that. Just me and him. I don't care if I lose every game. I sometimes win a few.

My favorite sight is to walk into a place and see a shark sitting down by himself because no one wants to play him. I get out my stick with a quickness!
 
Answers

No I don't unless they have money in their pocket and quarters on the challenge table. Occasionally, you get the 'uninformed' person that gets up on the challenge table and won't play for 'table stakes' or will interrupt a 4 or 5 way challenge game for money, but otherwise no I don;t.

When I practice I practice, I don't bang balls around.

I sometimes get asked to teach or help a player, which I almost always do, because I like someone that wants to learn and improve their game, so in that respect I guess I will, but those times are pretty rare anymore.

To me, I have put a lot of effort, study, and playing time to develop my talent, and I consider my talent worth something, just the same as my getting a college degree is worth something.
 
When asked to play for free, I try to get them to play for just a little something, even if I have to give weight. I am always trying to stir up as much action as I can in the room where I play, and I've found that playing beginners for the table time, a round of sodas, or $1 a game is a good way to start them on the road to being money players. I will however help a player out with their game for free, but not by playing them. If they are serious about learning, I will work with them for hours for free showing them drills, strategies, proper mechanics, shots etc. I feel that as players get better and their confidence goes up, they are more likely to gamble as they start to feel that they might have a chance to win.
 
Snapshot9 said:
No I don't unless they have money in their pocket and quarters on the challenge table. Occasionally, you get the 'uninformed' person that gets up on the challenge table and won't play for 'table stakes' or will interrupt a 4 or 5 way challenge game for money, but otherwise no I don;t.

When I practice I practice, I don't bang balls around.

I sometimes get asked to teach or help a player, which I almost always do, because I like someone that wants to learn and improve their game, so in that respect I guess I will, but those times are pretty rare anymore.

To me, I have put a lot of effort, study, and playing time to develop my talent, and I consider my talent worth something, just the same as my getting a college degree is worth something.
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I totally agree... when I was a weaker player eager to learn from the better players I had one choice: gamble with them. They would play cheap sets, and I never won,but it made me a much better player today. No free lessons, you gotta pay your dues.
 
I read somewhere in an article about Efren that he enjoys playing weaker players because they shoot shots that most players think may be wrong, and that he can learn new things sometimes this way. If it works for him, it's fine with me. I guess if your Efren, EVERYONE is weaker:D Plus, I like to teach when I can.

Gerry
 
ill play anybody that steps up in my pool hall because its cheap and there is a shortage of people serios about the game around as it is. i generally just go for every possible run out and practice rediculous banks if i miss shape. if im playing for $10 an hour i generally wont play weaker players.
 
alstl said:
I'm not talking about gambling or a tournament, I'm talking about just hitting balls. If a weaker player asks you for a game do you play them or decline?
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I play and try to give up some weight to get a little practice in.

Chris
 
alstl said:
I was in your neck of the woods last Monday, stopped in Boochies for an hour to hit some balls while I waited for my son to get off work. That place hasn't changed a bit.

If you come to St Louis I'm sure you will be able to find someone to give you some competition, the Sunday 9 ball tourney at Riverbend always has some A and b players.
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Yeah, I've played in a couple of the GAT events but haven't done very well because I'm not that good and I never play on the small tables...lol. I know there are many good players in STL but it just sucks to have to drive two hours to try to find a game and then, more than likely, have to play for money to get a game. I'm poor already and with the price of gas now it's a pretty expensive proposition. Hopefully I'll have more time/income to make the trip more often once I finish school.

Is the touney at Riverbend on 9'ers?
 
zeeder said:
Yeah, I've played in a couple of the GAT events but haven't done very well because I'm not that good and I never play on the small tables...lol. I know there are many good players in STL but it just sucks to have to drive two hours to try to find a game and then, more than likely, have to play for money to get a game. I'm poor already and with the price of gas now it's a pretty expensive proposition. Hopefully I'll have more time/income to make the trip more often once I finish school.

Is the touney at Riverbend on 9'ers?
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I understand, my son went to school there. The tourneys are on barboxes although there are other rooms in St Louis that have tourneys on 9' tables.
 
alstl said:
I'm not talking about gambling or a tournament, I'm talking about just hitting balls. If a weaker player asks you for a game do you play them or decline?
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I've found that when practicing, you don't want to play someone who is too much stronger than you are. The weaker player will get frustrated if he is completely over his head.

Instead, find a stronger player who is a notch or two better than you. The weaker player will need to elevate his/her game to win and the stronger player still needs to be sharp to win the match.
 
alstl said:
I'm not talking about gambling or a tournament, I'm talking about just hitting balls. If a weaker player asks you for a game do you play them or decline?
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I'll play just about anybody, so long as they're not a jerk.

If they are way better than me, it'll show up pretty quick.

If they are weaker players, I'll make sure they enjoy the game. It's no fun to just smash someone in a friendly game. If they really enjoy the game, we'll make sure it's fun for both of us.

By the way, Efren says he watches poor players to learn from them. They have absolutely no fear of any shot, and will take impossible ones, and sometimes the ball goes down. When that happens, he takes note of it, studies it and plays around with it and tries to incorporate it into his repertoire.

Flex
 
It depends on the skill level of the person.

Right now, i'm in the mood to mainly just play guys who are a notch or two above me, and play on a 9ft table.

The last couple of guys whom I've played that are better than me, one guy was giving me the 7ball, and I ended up loosing hill hill when i scratched on the 9ball, when i had a hard ass cut. The next guy i played a couple days later, he plays a bit less than the first guy, and we played even, and same thing, I lost both sets when it was hill hill. Then last nite, i was playing a guy, and we ended up even. And this was on 9ft tables.

The funny thing is, in my area, everything is 7ft tables, except for the higher skilled people. And I can take someone who wants to play me, and get them on a 9ft table and drill them endlessly, till they hate me and everyone else. But on a 7ft table with the same lower skilled people i either loose or maybe come out a lil ahead or break even.

So over all yea, i wont play weaker players, cuz they dont like playing on 9ft tables.

dave
 
I will generally play against a weaker player (not that it comes up too often). I will say that it often gets too easy and I will get too bored to keep up any type of concentration. I think I have to be in a specific mood.

I never ask a noticeably weaker player to gamble... in fact, I generally don't ask anyone to gamble. I'll ask players my speed to play a ring game or something cheap, but mostly just because I know they won't play unless there's some money involved.
 
I love to play, I'll play anybody. Playing weaker players sometimes forces you to concentrate harder so you don't fall into the "playing down to the level of your compitition" trap.
 
I read somewhere that to become a great player you need to play 3 types of players:

1. Players stronger than you, as to learn from better players, and get the edge needed to improve to their level.
2. Players that play about the same as you, as that each match is a fight/competitive.
3. And players that are weaker than you so you can drill them and gain confidence and learn how to win.

A golf analogy that is going on at the moment. Tiger Woods dominated at all levels, including amatuers. He learned how to win and dominate. Now, he is dominating at the biggest stage of golf. Michelle Wie is potentially advancing too quickly (according to some), gaining experience, yet not winning at ANY level. She is choosing the route of only playing better players. She basically is skipping or skipped some levels where she could of won and dominated, namely amatuers, and she is not focusing soley on the WPGA.

Back to pool, I like to play all of the above, yet prefer to play better players when opportunitys are available.
 
It depends on the individual. I, for one, have a habit of playing to my opponents level. The result? I play down to a lesser player's level and get frustrated. Thus, I lose to people that I know I am better than.

Perfect example: a good friend of mine and I play together often. Now he's an old man but still a great guy. And he can barely bend over as he broke his back in a motorcycle accident years ago. But he loves to play and I love to play with people I like. Realistically, I should be giving him the 7 and still winning. But, because I play to his level and because I get very agitated when i do play below my own level, I wind up playing him even... and sometimes I lose!!!

Wow! I really suck! :(
 
Billy_Bob said:
I would rather not play most weaker players.

If a shark walks in, I let him play everybody else. Then when no one else wants to play him because he is winning every game, I will jump up and play him for several hours after that. Just me and him. I don't care if I lose every game. I sometimes win a few.
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What pool hall do you play out of?
:-)
JoeyA
 
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