Make you a better Pool Player.:sorry: I hear this song and dance all the time, and I believe the answer is NO.
If you believe differently.......JUSTIFY WHY YOU THINK NOT
If you believe differently.......JUSTIFY WHY YOU THINK NOT
Does anyone actually believe GAMBLING will
- Thread starter CocoboloCowboy
- Start date
Cuz, if you bang the balls around meaninglessly with no shot counting for anything, when you're in a tournament and have to make a shot that counts, you are not used to making shots that count and you're going to choke or freeze or slobber all over yourself. Me, personally, I see guys banging the balls around for nothing for hours. I just don't get it. Someone recently asked me to join him in a "friendly" game. I told him, "I'm not that friendly."
How many pros do you know that do not or will not gamble. None. You can learn the basics without gambling, but to learn true pressure you need to gamble. Also, think of it as lessons, if you gamble with someone, they are more willing to teach you things they will not teach to people just asking. You can say all day "I practice with my friends and there is pressure there." How much will you lose if you miss the nine. Nothing. There is no True pressure playing with friends.
Just my opinion though...
Just my opinion though...
I believe gambling makes you a better player. It makes you concentrate more on shots then if you were just playing around. It's a good way to practice because you know your going to bare down on the shot everytime. Also someone told me that is your playing 9ball for $20 a game or whatever and you rattle the 9ball, the chances are you will not rattle that 9 again!
Neither Ralf Souqet or Thorsten Hohman gamble and they are two of the best in the world.
Since I don't really put much stock into tourneys (UNLESS YOU ARE A TOP PLAYER), gambling will Definitely increase your prowess at the table. If you are a top player, you will rise. If you are less than Pro level, let's say shortstop or less, gambling makes you play under constant pressure.CocoboloCowboy said:Make you a better Pool Player.:sorry: I hear this song and dance all the time, and I believe the answer is NO.
If you believe differently.......JUSTIFY WHY YOU THINK NOT
OK, scenario #1..... Pay $50 bucks for a regional event. Fun, but unless you are one of the ones predicted to win, you have no pressure on you. It's recreational. You know you're not the favorite and can look at it with the perscpective of "hey, it's just fifty bucks. It'll be fun to take a shot at it."
Scenario #2..... You are playing someone for $50 a set. In essence, if you're not stealing (nowadays that's hard to find), then you could have a $200 or so swing. Not only could you not win the $50, but you could lose $50 also. Hence, $100 bucks. And here, you ARE the favorite. (Or you shouldn't be playing anyway). Pressure. Without pressure, you WILL NOT GET BETTER.
Sidenotes: You get a reputation for being a great cash player, it helps put fear into your tournament opponents, also.
You start believing you can beat those guys in tourneys that you couldn't before. Also, they start believing it.
Think about this, you've paid your $50 entry fee and draw Efren. How much of a favorite are you? If you get it into your head that you are mentally tough enough to make it through one race to nine and play great, then you just might do it. Knock a great player off and see how much your confidence rises. Gambling and tourneys. But, to get that mental edge, you must stay on top of your mental game. To do this, you must have constant pressure. Gambling is constant pressure.
To support this argument, take Larry Nevel and let him play nothing but a group of a hundred "4" rated APA players for one solid year, without one even close match. Then, put him in the field of Efren, Johnny, etc. where they will fire back. How do you think he'll fair? He's had no pressure for a full year. See my point?
There are players that just don't get it, too. They are players, though, that will never reach ANY of their potential because they won't stretch out and allow themselves to.
Best of luck.
TrackKing said:
Ralph Souquet doesn't gamble.
As for no true pressure playing with friends I would have to question that person's pride. I can concentrate 110% in a friendly game because I don't like to lose. I don't usually gamble on pool. The pride of winning a set is enough for me to concentrate. I decided long ago that gambling is a black eye on the sport and I would not support that image. My main focus was on tournament play. I don't see any relation to gambling in your free time and playing in a tournament.
Now, that's not to say that I've never gambled. Of course I have. I get into ring games and really cheap sets every now and then. But I don't "gamble" gamble. In the money sets I play you may end up losing 10 or 20 bucks over an entire night of playing. Basically covers table time.
MULLY
They didn't start off that way. Sit down and chat with'em. Sponsors have different views of the gambling scene. I guarantee you if they had no sponsors, and went through a slump where they couldn't pay their bills with tournaments, and You came up and asked them to play a cheap $500 dollar set, WELL, you know where I am going with that one.brandoncook26 said:
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CocoboloCowboy said:Make you a better Pool Player.:sorry: I hear this song and dance all the time, and I believe the answer is NO.
If you believe differently.......JUSTIFY WHY YOU THINK NOT
I don't think it will make you a better player just skill-wise, but will help hone the "RIGHT NOW" performance where you need to execute what you learn in practice. I also feel any type of competition, league, tournament or gambling would do the same. Playing for money would make people more nervous usually, and if you can get over that and play your best without having that affect you, that would be an improvement in your game.
The issue I have personally playing for money is that I am a family guy with 4 kids, and I am not going to post up any more than I feel confortable losing. What gets me is people who make fun of that and tell me that $10 is not enough to play for. If someone can play for large amounts of money when it actually means something when they loose, that would make them a better "performer" but not nessesaraly a better "player", if that makes sence.
To me gambling is a way to stay sharp for tournaments,I like to joke to people when they tell me they dont gamble and only play tourneys,I tell them just to think like its me and them in the finals. :grin:
I do believe it is a good substitute for the pressure of tourneys and keeping you sharp.I do have some sparring partners who will play hard with nothing on the line as will I but is there pressure,not really true pressure when there is your money on it. :wink:
I do believe it is a good substitute for the pressure of tourneys and keeping you sharp.I do have some sparring partners who will play hard with nothing on the line as will I but is there pressure,not really true pressure when there is your money on it. :wink:
crawfish said:
I think it's sad that someone would need the pressure of losing money to put their best game out there. As I stated in a previous thread, I don't usually gamble and if I do it's for fun. There is no pressure of not eating this week if I lose. Even without that so called "pressure that will make me better" I would relish the opportunity to draw someone like Efren in a tournament. Nerves wouldn't affect me one bit. I've played some top pros before and I gave it everything I had. Granted, I lost those matches, but I didn't shrink away from the challenge and the pressure of looking at Buddy Hall across from me didn't sway me one bit other than I was glad to be able to play against someone as great as he is.
But like someone else said, everyone is different. For myself, I have enough pride in myself and in my game that I don't need the pressure of gambling to get me to concentrate.
Rodney Morris is going to be here next week. I decided to pay the 100 bucks for the challenge match. I'm not afraid to play him. If anything I'm hoping to shoot the lights out and show him how well I play.
MULLY
I'll probably lose but I'm gonna go down shooting and if he plays any safeties against me then I know that he respects my game.
SaltLakeDamian
Registered
You don't have to Gamble in order to bring your concentration to a high level. But what gambling will do, is make you play better under the heat. It won't happen over night but the more you put yourself in those pressure situations the more you will be able to stand the heat when it comes. So in my opinion, gambling does make you a better player. Just look at Shane Van Boening, thats how took off and became so great over the last couple years. Just ask him.
I'm not sure if gambling will make someone a better player, but I think it will make someone a better competitor. I think all of us know players who play great in practice or for free, but have trouble competing in tournaments and for $$. Forcing yourself to compete in a situation where poor play will lead to financial pain, I believe, builds mental toughness. I would also suspect that nearly all top pros have gambled at some point; for many, that's the only way to log the necessary hours on the table and still be able to feed and clothe themselves. After they get to the level of Souquet, however, where they're a threat to win any tournament against any field, then they generally have the financial freedom to stop gambling if they so choose, and some do.
CocoboloCowboy said:Make you a better Pool Player.:sorry: I hear this song and dance all the time, and I believe the answer is NO.
If you believe differently.......JUSTIFY WHY YOU THINK NOT
I totally believe it does. I know it does. Take someone who takes lessons their whole life versus someone who is in action their entire life. I'll take the gambler over the lesson taker any day.
Gambling develops killer instinct / bear-down qualities. Drills will never develop these qualities the same way. You have to have harsh consequences for missing / losing, I think, in order to develop these. Short of electroshock treatment for missing, gambling is it.
You just made my point for me. You're putting up the money and already "I'll probably lose, but I'm gonna go down shooting"? To me, mentally, you've already lost. You're only hoping he plays a safe on you to show you some respect. Oh well, you might be the exception 1-1000 that gambling won't help. Best of luck. Didn't you see the scene in the Hustler where Newman tells Fats that "even if I lose, I'm still the best."? In his mind, he'd already lost, that's why George C. Scott said, "Stay with this kid, he's a loser." It's that mentality that gambling DOES help with.mullyman said:
as soon as you enjoy betting on your game, you will not enjoy not betting on it. imo.
where i grew up, the only way for beginners to learn anything on the pool table was to play and bet against much much better players, because they wouldnt teach. i had realized long after that i cannot not bet and play/enjoy the same.
where i grew up, the only way for beginners to learn anything on the pool table was to play and bet against much much better players, because they wouldnt teach. i had realized long after that i cannot not bet and play/enjoy the same.
brandoncook26 said:
They don't gamble know. But they have in the past.
Have you ever
heard the term, 'Strength through adversity'? Well, gambling creates adversity, and makes one reach for strength inside of them. War brings out the best and worst of people, and gambling (a mini war incognito) does likewise.
Yes, I know you should only gamble with money you can afford to lose, but that is not real life, and losers often have to do without many things, which in knowing, just adds fuel to the fire to win.
Gambling keeps your focus on the surface at all times, with immediate consequences if you don't. And when you reach a certain plateau, one mistake can have dire results for you.
heard the term, 'Strength through adversity'? Well, gambling creates adversity, and makes one reach for strength inside of them. War brings out the best and worst of people, and gambling (a mini war incognito) does likewise.
Yes, I know you should only gamble with money you can afford to lose, but that is not real life, and losers often have to do without many things, which in knowing, just adds fuel to the fire to win.
Gambling keeps your focus on the surface at all times, with immediate consequences if you don't. And when you reach a certain plateau, one mistake can have dire results for you.