Does anyone actually believe GAMBLING will

Thats OK Eric !

Fatboy said:
:confused: :confused: :confused: I'm confused, writing isnt my best skill thats for sure.
Click to expand...

Eric,

You may not be an Ernest Hemingway, (and your spelling is atrocious) but you have more common sense than 95% of your detractors. Thats why you have at least two of everything you want, while most of them are just trying to exist.

Dick
 
Last edited:
SJDinPHX said:
"You talkin' ta me" ? ( my Robert De nero impersonation)
Name me one sport, with NO GAMBLING in it. Oh I forgot Badminton !
Dick
Click to expand...


I'll give you that, man. There is gambling in every sport and you'd have to be a fool to believe there isn't. Only problem is, like I was saying yesterday, is that our sport unfortunately has a lot of scum bags hanging around trying to "get a game". Again, I'm not calling pool players scumbags, hell, I'd be insulting myself if I did that, what I'm saying is that there are a lot of scumbags around. And you know exactly the type I'm talking about.

I'll admit that putting some money on a game will help teach you to work with pressure situations, but I'm going to stand fast that gambling doesn't make you a better player. Gambling doesn't make you a great banker or make you able to draw the cueball 2 lengths of the table. Practice does that.

Also, as I stated in another post, I'm just as guilty as anyone else about putting money on myself to win games. I've been playing for 25 years for God's sake, of course I've gambled. I just don't credit the gambling for getting me where I'm at.
MULLY
 
League Play

I don't know if anyone has said this or not, but I felt more pressure playing in the regional APA tournament that any set I've ever played. DOn't get me wrong I'm pretty much a banger and play maybe a $50 set or two, but knowing if I lose my team doesn't go to Vegas, that huge.

If I had never gambled before I'm sure I would have dogged more shots that I did. Playing for a team is more pressure than playing for myself, but then again Im not playing for thousands.

But there is nothing anyone can say that will convince me that gambling doesn't improve your game. Especially your focus. I'll get whooped up by someone and then play $5 a game and I'll be doing all the whooping.


m
 
mullyman said:
I'll give you that, man. There is gambling in every sport and you'd have to be a fool to believe there isn't. Only problem is, like I was saying yesterday, is that our sport unfortunately has a lot of scum bags hanging around trying to "get a game". Again, I'm not calling pool players scumbags, hell, I'd be insulting myself if I did that, what I'm saying is that there are a lot of scumbags around. And you know exactly the type I'm talking about.

I'll admit that putting some money on a game will help teach you to work with pressure situations, but I'm going to stand fast that gambling doesn't make you a better player. Gambling doesn't make you a great banker or make you able to draw the cueball 2 lengths of the table. Practice does that.

Also, as I stated in another post, I'm just as guilty as anyone else about putting money on myself to win games. I've been playing for 25 years for God's sake, of course I've gambled. I just don't credit the gambling for getting me where I'm at.
MULLY
Click to expand...

Mullyman, I have no problem with your viewpoint, it is shared by many.
Lets just agree to disagree. Peace brother.

Dick

PS You may not believe this Mully, but I've been playing pool for well over 50 yrs. now, and I would bet I haven't practiced over 20 or 30 hours in all those years. Hmmmm, maybe thats why I was always just a banger who stayed in action. Heh,heh
 
Last edited:
mbippus said:
I don't know if anyone has said this or not, but I felt more pressure playing in the regional APA tournament that any set I've ever played. DOn't get me wrong I'm pretty much a banger and play maybe a $50 set or two, but knowing if I lose my team doesn't go to Vegas, that huge.

If I had never gambled before I'm sure I would have dogged more shots that I did. Playing for a team is more pressure than playing for myself, but then again Im not playing for thousands.

But there is nothing anyone can say that will convince me that gambling doesn't improve your game. Especially your focus. I'll get whooped up by someone and then play $5 a game and I'll be doing all the whooping.


m
Click to expand...

So if you go out tonight and gamble you'll be able to make 2 and 3 cushion banks with regularity? That's the point I'm trying to make when people are saying that gambling makes you a better player. No amount of money is going to teach you to play better, only practice does that. I'll agree it will help you focus more if you need it to though. My other point is that you guys are saying that people can't play seriously without money on the line. You may not be able to but I sure can. I hate losing, period. I don't care if it's for bragging rights or a thousand dollars. I hate to lose.
MULLY
but I do it all the time:grin:
 
SpiderWebComm said:
Gambling improves your execution. If you practice a hard shot 1000x and make it 60% of the time in practice, and then you setup the same shot and I bet you $1000 that you miss it.... your odds just dropped to 30% at best no matter how much you practiced it. It's human nature.

Now, conversely, if you make that same shot 60% while betting decent money on it and I ask you to make it for fun, you might only make it 40% because your heart isn't into it.

Being a hardened gambler develops your heart. Heart makes you NOT FLINCH during a time of crisis.

Playing for funnies will never develop that... I dont care if you shoot that shot 10000x.... if the world ENDS if you miss it......AND your HEART is not developed.....the pocket will either look like a thimble or your shooting hand will feel like Michael J. Fox the millisecond before impact.
Click to expand...

Sorry to disagree but this is simply not true for most people. Maybe YOU needed (or still need to) develop your "heart" but I don't and most guys I play with or against don't. Many of them do gamble, including all of my terammates, and I don't yet in a final game to win a big match I'm always one of the guys they look to.

We don't play for thousands of bucks but we play for what we consider important stakes. Yes we are lowly league players and not high rollers but I don't see any more chokers in league play than anywhere else.

Do you really think athletes NEED to gamble to develop the ability to play under pressure? I don't think you really do. Not if you are honest with yourself and look outside the poolworld at other sports.

Ed
 
SpiderWebComm said:
Every sport has gambling. Every single one. If I recall, there was a sportsbook at my casino with every game / every sports odds, over/unders, etc.
Click to expand...
SpiderWebComm said:
Yes but few athletes are placing bets. The betting is for spectators in other sports.


The key is playing under pressure. If you FEEEEEL pressure beating up your APA buddy in a match and you get better off of it, perfect. 99% of players (of all sports) think that putting up the cash is the best exercise in pressure.

I think you are very wrong here. All sports? There is lots of budding future pro hockey prospects where I live. All ages from 12 to 20. NONE of them use gambling as a way to add pressure and improve their playing ability under pressure.

They practice and practice untill they can fall back on perfect mechanics even under pressure. Come to think of it this is how soldiers are trained as well. Do it enough times so that even under life or death pressure you will do the right thing.

Damn. Why didn't someone inform the military that GAMBLING is the best way to instill pressure performance in soldiers?

Ed
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
the whole pool gambling culture has one glaring problem.

it's not about playing pool its about winning the money..

the result... the match up

If Efren spots me the one ball. and I win in a race to 10. I didn't beat Efren...

I just won a little money

gambling can help your game if you are playing better players even..

learning how to match up means you never have to get better at the game.

you can't have it both ways...
 
depends on the person

i personally believe that gambling helps only if you are broke and gambling to feed yourself or your family...this really puts the pressure on. thus helping with pressure situations.

otherwise, if you have plenty of cash to spare, gambling wont do much for your game if you have no heart in the game.
 
SJDinPHX said:
Mullyman, I have no problem with your viewpoint, it is shared by many.
Lets just agree to disagree. Peace brother.

Dick

PS You may not believe this Mully, but I've been playing pool for well over 50 yrs. now, and I would bet I haven't practiced over 20 or 30 hours in all those years. Hmmmm, maybe thats why I was always just a banger who stayed in action. Heh,heh
Click to expand...
Mully, my sentiments also (except for around 22 years). Wait, I take that back, I may have practiced more in the first ten years. Nah, I was probably gamblin' then, too.
 
emccune said:
Sorry to disagree but this is simply not true for most people. Maybe YOU needed (or still need to) develop your "heart" but I don't and most guys I play with or against don't. Many of them do gamble, including all of my terammates, and I don't yet in a final game to win a big match I'm always one of the guys they look to.

We don't play for thousands of bucks but we play for what we consider important stakes. Yes we are lowly league players and not high rollers but I don't see any more chokers in league play than anywhere else.

Do you really think athletes NEED to gamble to develop the ability to play under pressure? I don't think you really do. Not if you are honest with yourself and look outside the poolworld at other sports.

Ed
Click to expand...
The Original question was "will it make you better?" YES. Surely you would agree that it won't hurt your game? If it doesn't hurt your game, it would probably help it then, right?
 
crawfish said:
Mully, my sentiments also (except for around 22 years). Wait, I take that back, I may have practiced more in the first ten years. Nah, I was probably gamblin' then, too.
Click to expand...


Well for what it's worth, same here. I practiced a lot my first 5 years or so but the last 20 have seen minimal practice time and a lot of playing sets and tournaments. Yes, I have bet on myself playing pool in the past and I will again in the future. I'm not saying that I never bet, what I'm saying is betting is not the reason I'm at my current level.
MULLY
 
mullyman said:
Well for what it's worth, same here. I practiced a lot my first 5 years or so but the last 20 have seen minimal practice time and a lot of playing sets and tournaments. Yes, I have bet on myself playing pool in the past and I will again in the future. I'm not saying that I never bet, what I'm saying is betting is not the reason I'm at my current level.
MULLY
Click to expand...
But you can't say it "didn't help you." The original question asks whether it helps or not. Surely you can't deny that it helped?
 
the two sides here will never agree, it's in people's nature to gamble or not.
when i play passtime pool , i play to the level of my opposition, when i play for cash i play to the level of my ability. no one i know that plays better than me plays fun pool.i guess i don't have the level of concentration need for funsies.
 
softshot said:
the whole pool gambling culture has one glaring problem.

it's not about playing pool its about winning the money..

the result... the match up

If Efren spots me the one ball. and I win in a race to 10. I didn't beat Efren...

I just won a little money

gambling can help your game if you are playing better players even..

learning how to match up means you never have to get better at the game.

you can't have it both ways...
Click to expand...


This makes no sense to me. When I was a teenager back in the 60's, I used to mainly play guys who were out of school and working for a living. Because I was a kid they figured they should beat me. I'd spot them 15, 20, 25 points in a game of straight pool to 50. They needed a spot to make the game even, so I gave it to them. Of course, this made the game challenging for me and I had to play hard but that's the nature of the game.

Spotting people balls is a way to encourage competition. It's ridiculous to expect everyone to play even.

As far as the funsy proponents go, I see them all the time. Their motivation really is different than mine. I know a couple guys who luv to win so much that they'll match up against some chump who has no chance and play him for hours and come out of the match feeling like a champion. That's sick. Me, I get no joy from beating Joe Blow. What makes me feel good is winning a couple bucks.

One last observation. People who populate the poolrooms of today, for the most part, bear no resemblance to those who populated the rooms of my youth. Unfortunately, nowadays, the golf mentality has been adopted by casual pool players. Like their counterparts who shoot 120 but go home feeling good because they scored 1 par and a birdie, they stink up the pool room but cherish the memory of one bank shot or one lucky cut. They should be issued pink arm bands when they walk in the door.
 
In short, my answer is yes, betting on yourself in pool will make you a better player. You just have to have the stones for it.

I've read a lot of these reponses and skimmed through more of them. I think I've only seen one other response touch on what I'm about to say. Youth is a key factor in improvement. Young players out there looking to improve need to know there is no quicker way available to accelerate the learning curve than to get in action. DVDs and books should be supplemental to your "hard knocks" education. Not to be melodramatic, because I'm not advising anyone to bet their case money if they don't want to, but when you're betting pool it's sink or swim. It's hard to learn how to win from instructional material.

Personally, I think I'm too old and tired to get better. I don't even think I have the patience to try to become the player I used to be.

And just to make sure this is addressed, one can definitely learn new shots, techniques and strategies while betting pool and while receiving a spot. I mean, it really makes the most sense that if learning is a motivation, you will learn the most while playing a better player who can give you a spot. Noone is advocating putting a match to your money. The point of betting pool is to win, after all.
 
This is how I can answer this question...

Have I gambled at pool? Yes

Did it make me a better player? Yes.

Did it make me a better person, husband, or father? No.

I gambled high and I gambled low - at first out of necessity, then I saw myself gambling for no apparent reason.

In 1996, I came under fire in an internal affairs investigation because I was a police officer, and a room owner, and word got around that I was holding money games in my pool room after hours. If you ever want to see somebody dance - watch a cop that finds himself on the other end of the questions.

That chapter of my life caused a lot of headaches that I have ended up severely regretting. It was a living nightmare and it severely affected every aspect of my life personally and professionally at the time.

Now to get back to the subject - will it help you as a player?

Yes and no.

Not everybody can control their drinking, and not everybody can control their gambling. I fall under the "idiot" column in both activities.

If you can gamble and it doesn't adversely affect your life like it did mine, then go for it and have fun.

If it makes you nervous, and your ego pushes you forward to put the rent and grocery money up on the light, then you need to sit back and evaluate yourself.

25 years ago, I looked around the local pool room and saw 20-30 examples of everything I didn't want to become someday. Most of the everyday people that I know don't have anything to show for gambling at pool. Most of the big name players that I know usually don't gamble with their own money, so that clips them out of the equation.

Just be smart about it and learn to realize when you're in over your head.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top