Finally Lost Playing for Money...

[Get_A_Grip]

Well considering your opening offer of a Cecil a rack turned into $10 a rack, the guy you said was setting you up saved you $630. Moral of the story, it could have been worse.

Well, it also could have been better. I started out up 3 games, but at $100 a game we would have had to pay after each game. If he only had $300, he might of had to quit after a few games.

 

[Get_A_Grip]

I very rarely play for money. But the other night I went down for the local weekly tournament playing 8-Ball on the bar box. I end up playing a guy on my team and he is rated an A and I am rated a B so he has to spot me a game. I win the first one and then I just got tight. Couldnt run out. Couldnt make a ball. Just pathetic and he ends up stomping me.

Now I am just hanging out watching a few guys play and next round he gets beat and asks if I want to play a little 9 ball on the big tables. I agree. He wants to go race to 7 for 10 and since I was playing terrible I said nah lets just do race to 5 for 5. Yeah I know it is cheap, but like I said I very rarely play for money. I get on the big table and just cant miss. I played free and loose. I did slop in one 9 ball but even on that shot I think I made the ball I intended to. I ended up winning 5-1 I think.

With as bad as I was playing I think he thought he would be stealing and I really thought the same which caused me to just lighten up and free stroke. That is probably the best I have played on the big tables in a long time.

It's not bad to start out playing cheap. When your confidence builds, then you can bet more and see how you do.

I've been playing for long enough in the bars for money, that I am confident that I can play well for up to $100 a game. I've been asked before to play for $200 a game -- we ended-up playing for $100 for a couple games before he kept dropping the amount as I was winning, and I ended-up only winning around $250.

 

[gypsy_soul]

B player asks A player to play for $100 a rack on a barbox, either someone's sandbagging or someone has too much money, where is this bar? you might have some company soon.

Well I'm in Dallas TX and I love playing strangers ! I'm self employed so I work 20 days in a row then off for a week or so. When I'm off I'll get a cheap plane ticket somewhere . Flip a coin and go for a week and play whoever . I lose and win but by the time I get back I'm hardly missing a ball. A 3 ball difference for sure . Playing strangers and putting money on the line is like a drug to me . So if y'all are interested I'm your huckleberry .PM me

 

[Get_A_Grip]

good question... it's bad business to put in the work only to give the profits to a guy you know is a better player.

make the better players have to sneak-up on you or sweat it till they give-up the nuts.

good thing the guys setting you up were on your side.

I don't mind playing a much better player for money ONCE, to see how I do. But I'm not crazy. I fully realize that if I play a player with a better average long enough, they will get the money.

Right now, I generally play people that I know for money if their average is similar to mine (or lower of course), but will play just about any stranger that I run into in the bars for $10 to $20 a game, or higher if they don't appear to be a world beater and they are willing.

 

[Get_A_Grip]

Well I'm in Dallas TX and I love playing strangers ! I'm self employed so I work 20 days in a row then off for a week or so. When I'm off I'll get a cheap plane ticket somewhere . Flip a coin and go for a week and play whoever . I lose and win but by the time I get back I'm hardly missing a ball. A 3 ball difference for sure . Playing strangers and putting money on the line is like a drug to me . So if y'all are interested I'm your huckleberry .PM me

Ahhh, no thanks. I know that I'm not the best player around. The point of my thread was to fess up that I finally did get beat by someone after a long winning streak. But it happened to be the top person in the league and with an average WAY higher than mine. The $70 I lost means nothing to me -- I just enjoyed the competition.

 

[Get_A_Grip]

B player asks A player to play for $100 a rack on a barbox, either someone's sandbagging or someone has too much money, where is this bar? you might have some company soon.

Actually, I told the guy setting the match up that I would play for $100 a game. I figured that the guy I'd be playing was in our league, since we played after league night. I also know that there are only a few guys right now in the league with higher averages, so I figured I would give it a try. I didn't know exactly who I was playing until right before we started, but when he told me his name, I knew that he was the top player. When I asked the guy that I heard he wanted to play for $20 a game, he then said that $10 would be better for him.

 

[couldnthinkof01]

I don't do it "for" the money. It adds extra pressure and makes the game more fun for me and more of a challenge.

Sounds like good times to me. Glad you had fun!

 

[Get_A_Grip]

Average of what? 3 games of what?

JC

We were playing 8-ball. We all play in a 8-ball league. I've rarely been asked in a bar to play anything but 8-ball. Ocassionally someone asks to play 9-ball, but it's very rare. I did take 4th place in our state tournament in 9-ball the last time that I played in it though.

 

[GideonF]

We were playing 8-ball. We all play in a 8-ball league. I've rarely been asked in a bar to play anything but 8-ball. Ocassionally someone asks to play 9-ball, but it's very rare. I did take 4th place in our state tournament in 9-ball the last time that I played in it though.

But how do you calculate the "average"? I thought maybe 10 points for a win and a point a ball for a loss, but then the averages would be higher for the top players in the league.

 

[Get_A_Grip]

But how do you calculate the "average"? I thought maybe 10 points for a win and a point a ball for a loss, but then the averages would be higher for the top players in the league.

I posted the scoring already. 1 point for each opponent's ball left on the table, plus 2 points for the 8-ball, for a maximum of 9 points per game.

So far, I have a high night of 22 points. But some nights you just don't have a chance to shoot much, so I think I have a low night of 2 points. I do have the most table runs in the league at 4.

 

[JC]

I posted the scoring already. 1 point for each opponent's ball left on the table, plus 2 points for the 8-ball, for a maximum of 9 points per game.

So far, I have a high night of 22 points. But some nights you just don't have a chance to shoot much, so I think I have a low night of 2 points. I do have the most table runs in the league at 4.

Sorry for all the questions but I've never heard 8 ball scored anything like that and I was trying to get a feel for the level of players involved in my head to better visualize the action.

It sounds very counter intuitive scoring to the strategy of the game. It's like a total offense scoring for a defensive and strategic game. I don't think you could play your best 8 ball while shooting for your highest score thereby creating a dilemma.

Who is the sponsor of the league that came up with this? Is it a national organization that I'm oblivious to being from BCA country or a local thing?

Thanks,

JC

 

[Get_A_Grip]

Sorry for all the questions but I've never heard 8 ball scored anything like that and I was trying to get a feel for the level of players involved in my head to better visualize the action.

It sounds very counter intuitive scoring to the strategy of the game. It's like a total offense scoring for a defensive and strategic game. I don't think you could play your best 8 ball while shooting for your highest score thereby creating a dilemma.

Who is the sponsor of the league that came up with this? Is it a national organization that I'm oblivious to being from BCA country or a local thing?

Thanks,

JC

To be honest, I'm not sure who came up with this system. But you are right, in order to maintain a high average, you need to go for the runout at virtually every opportunity. Then of course, any missed runout with only a couple balls of yours left, gives your opponent an easy chance to get out himself.

You basically need to break and runout at least once, at least every other league night, in order to have one of the top averages. I actually did runout 2 times in one night this year, and the third game that night my opponent broke and ran out against me, to prevent me from an opportunity to get a perfect night.

EDIT: After thinking about it some more, I think that because this is a bar league with a total of 15 games to play a night, to speed the games along, this type of total offense scoring is probably an attempt to make all of the games go faster.

 

[JC]

To be honest, I'm not sure who came up with this system. But you are right, in order to maintain a high average, you need to go for the runout at virtually every opportunity. Then of course, any missed runout with only a couple balls of yours left, gives your opponent an easy chance to get out himself.

You basically need to break and runout at least once, at least every other league night, in order to have one of the top averages. I actually did runout 2 times in one night this year, and the third game that night my opponent broke and ran out against me, to prevent me from an opportunity to get a perfect night.

EDIT: After thinking about it some more, I think that because this is a bar league with a total of 15 games to play a night, to speed the games along, this type of total offense scoring is probably an attempt to make all of the games go faster.

With all due respect what we have is a banger league set up for and designed by such. If I were you and there is a more serious league around I would jump ship ASAP if your goal is to bring your level up. And of course keep gambling. Nothing hones the ability to shoot near your highest speed under pressure like money games.

Keep doing whatever is fun at any rate.

JC

 

[Get_A_Grip]

With all due respect what we have is a banger league set up for and designed by such. If I were you and there is a more serious league around I would jump ship ASAP if your goal is to bring your level up. And of course keep gambling. Nothing hones the ability to shoot near your highest speed under pressure like money games.

Keep doing whatever is fun at any rate.

JC

Right now it is the ONLY league in my area. But this same scoring system was used in the bigger city league that I was a part of that had 300 players.

 

[nitekram]

I said $100 per game. He then responded with, how about $20 a game. I said fine.

Then when the player stepped up, I told him that I heard he wanted to play for $20 a game, and he said, how about $10 a game. When I asked his name, he obviously confirmed my suspicion that he was the top player.

Good thing he dropped the price...

 

[JC]

Right now it is the ONLY league in my area. But this same scoring system was used in the bigger city league that I was a part of that had 300 players.

Must be a regional thing. What part of the country are you from?

The standard BCA scoring as Gideon was talking about gives the winner 10 points and the loser the score of their balls pocketed. We have five person teams and play a round robin for a total of 25 games a night. And use two tables so there are only 12.5 games played per table per night. The highest score you can get is a 50 which would make you a 10.0 average. In our small league the top players are usually clustered right around 9.0 to maybe 8.7. The funny thing is that the 9.0 seems to be considerably better than the 8.5 playing head to head. The 8.5 might only win a game or two out of ten.

Sometimes with this scoring system you can end up with a zero when you might easily have had a 5 by picking off the ducks instead of playing for the eventual win. Nothing is perfect but the cream does eventually rise to the top as it probably does in your league too with the scoring system you use.

JC

 

[Slasher]

Last time I got asked to play for cash on a barbox was at doubles, I think they thought my partner was weak so I stuck a five pack on them and that was that.

 

[gxman]

$100/game of 8b on a barbox is big stakes.

Seems like a bad match up and one could be out of 500-1000 in a hurry.

 

[Get_A_Grip]

$100/game of 8b on a barbox is big stakes.

Seems like a bad match up and one could be out of 500-1000 in a hurry.

I agree that $100 is rather high, as most players don't carry too much with them.

I carry around 1k at all times.

But playing high may have lead to him needing to quit loser, as I did start our session being up by 3 games.

 

[Shannon.spronk]

It's not bad to start out playing cheap. When your confidence builds, then you can bet more and see how you do.

I've been playing for long enough in the bars for money, that I am confident that I can play well for up to $100 a game. I've been asked before to play for $200 a game -- we ended-up playing for $100 for a couple games before he kept dropping the amount as I was winning, and I ended-up only winning around $250.

I am confident enough to play for money. Right now I just dont have the time to practice. That tourney was the first time outside league that I had been on a table in close to a year. I am a senior at an engineering school so my time is very valuable. Now in a few years I might have more time to get out and play for a little. I have played for much more than that at times as well. But that was when I had more time.