well i haven't been playing all that long in the grand scheme of things, 3 yrs of league when I lived in Ontario and no one really seemed to gamble there that I knew of anyway short of a small clique of guys and I wasn't a part of their "circle" so i wasn't ever invited to play with them.
Last night I drove to the closest pool hall (hour or so) as I was told they had an 8ball tourny on saturdays. Well no dice, nothing going on. I was a little bummed but I was there so I asked the bartender for a set of balls. She quickly asked if I was waiting for people or meeting others. I joked back that I was a loser and here on my own. Well no sooner does she smile at me does this dude JUMP from his seat and ask to shoot. I mean half a blink later! Sure what the hell better than banging balls alone for the night. I grab my cues and get the table. He doesn't care if we play 8 or 9 ball although I know that this is THE 9ball pool hall of the city so I say lets play a set of 8ball to get warmed up. I won the set 5-3 I think and he leaves for a smoke break. comes back asking if I want to play for something. Now, I'm still a newb but could kinda tell he wasn't making all the shots he should based on the ones he was making. I said sure what do you want to play for? After humming and hawing he says $10 race to 5 9ball? Cheap. Sure bud lets go. I've played 9ball a handful of times but said what the hell. hill hill dude beats me $10 down. boo. I played well all in all so I was pretty happy since it wasn't my game. Again smoke break and then says again? same race? I'm in and he offers to play an 8ball set. Bonus for me. First rack I play a beauty break out not noticing the 8 was wired for the corner. down 0-1 basically after the break. He wins rack 2, I scratch giving him BIN on 8 down 3-0, I come back to hill hill and he wins again.
All in all a great little experience for me as I've never played for cash before and its been over 7months since I've played anyone really other than my wife who's 3 skill levels below me so I don't take it as serious. It was awesome to have the pressure and the feeling of competing.
In the end I paid up and we exchanged #'s for the next time I come to town.
Two thumbs up from the loser this time. This was probably one of the more enjoyable nights of pool that I've played (even though I lost) in a LONG time. Gave me that itch to really focus and get better. :thumbup:
Last night I drove to the closest pool hall (hour or so) as I was told they had an 8ball tourny on saturdays. Well no dice, nothing going on. I was a little bummed but I was there so I asked the bartender for a set of balls. She quickly asked if I was waiting for people or meeting others. I joked back that I was a loser and here on my own. Well no sooner does she smile at me does this dude JUMP from his seat and ask to shoot. I mean half a blink later! Sure what the hell better than banging balls alone for the night. I grab my cues and get the table. He doesn't care if we play 8 or 9 ball although I know that this is THE 9ball pool hall of the city so I say lets play a set of 8ball to get warmed up. I won the set 5-3 I think and he leaves for a smoke break. comes back asking if I want to play for something. Now, I'm still a newb but could kinda tell he wasn't making all the shots he should based on the ones he was making. I said sure what do you want to play for? After humming and hawing he says $10 race to 5 9ball? Cheap. Sure bud lets go. I've played 9ball a handful of times but said what the hell. hill hill dude beats me $10 down. boo. I played well all in all so I was pretty happy since it wasn't my game. Again smoke break and then says again? same race? I'm in and he offers to play an 8ball set. Bonus for me. First rack I play a beauty break out not noticing the 8 was wired for the corner. down 0-1 basically after the break. He wins rack 2, I scratch giving him BIN on 8 down 3-0, I come back to hill hill and he wins again.
All in all a great little experience for me as I've never played for cash before and its been over 7months since I've played anyone really other than my wife who's 3 skill levels below me so I don't take it as serious. It was awesome to have the pressure and the feeling of competing.
In the end I paid up and we exchanged #'s for the next time I come to town.
Two thumbs up from the loser this time. This was probably one of the more enjoyable nights of pool that I've played (even though I lost) in a LONG time. Gave me that itch to really focus and get better. :thumbup:
