First Time in Pool Room with a Cue

akaTrigger

akaTrigger

Hi!
Silver Member
I was nervous the first time I took my cue to the pool room. It was a simple-looking cue, and now I don't even remember the name of it, lol.

But, I showed up to the pool room in San Antonio, and deliberately walked in without my new cue because I felt "weird" about bringing it in. I shyly told someone there, "I bought a cue." "Where is it?" he asks. I reply with, "It's in the car." He told me, "go get it, don't leave it in the car, it could get stolen."

I got it and brought it in and as I walked down the long aisle to the other end of the building to the few people I knew, I felt uneasy about bringing in the case. Like, everyone was looking at me, wondering why I had my own cue. I felt, I dunno, nervous and self conscious. Well, that was only that one time! I don't know why I felt uneasy that day.

I suppose I'm not in the norm - everyone else prolly couldn't wait to bring in their first cue. Anyone else want to share when they took their first cue into a pool room?
 
One of the bars we play a league team out of is kinda nasty. Terrible bar sticks. On a Fri or Sat night they have bands, free pool on Tues. Anyway, I keep a cheap Dufferin sneaky there and always feel weird when I get it out. Seems like you get those "he's cheating" looks. Probably just in our heads....
 
coryjeb said:
One of the bars we play a league team out of is kinda nasty. Terrible bar sticks. On a Fri or Sat night they have bands, free pool on Tues. Anyway, I keep a cheap Dufferin sneaky there and always feel weird when I get it out. Seems like you get those "he's cheating" looks. Probably just in our heads....
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Why would you want to play with a "Terrible" bar stick?
 
Stoked

When I got my first cue ($20 Rocket) 1962, made by someone in Chicago , I was stoked, took quite awhile before I even considered a case, was young then, probably 13, back then we all wanted to show our stuff off, I even remember an $80 Viking Cue that Gordy (Gordon Hart) came out with, ostrich wrap, 4 points and inlays, with a super joint, it was the coolest looking cue I ever saw, I never new ostrich had leather, but I was just a kid, now I still wonder if they do. :D
 
Yeah..I remember being 16 and going to the pool room for the first time by myself. I had an $80 Viking Pool cue...and I'm practicing, like I'm the sh*t. This guy comes up to me (with no cue) and asks if I want to play $1 a game 9 ball. I lose a quick 5 games in a row and quit him. I was shaking like a leaf for that dollar......but I was hooked from then on. I figured the more I played, the less I would shake...and I was right.

Matt_24 <--Still shake a little.....
 
My "first" pool cue was a mali the owner of On Cue Billiards gave me. I actually loved that thing. Unfortunately, it had a bad day and ran into a wall...

The first cue I bought myself was a sneaky pete dave whitsell that was stolen. That thing was like gold! To this day (ten years later), I still shoot with a Dave Whitsell, but this one is a lil nicer. But the sneaky pete had my heart:lovies: .
 
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My first time in a pool room with my own stick wasn't all that long ago, always played with bar cues. In a way I kinda miss not worrying about scratching or dinging the cue I'm playing with, flinching should it get knocked over or knowing anything about quality cues, ah but its too late, I'm hooked now.
 
I had similar feelings. I was a little anxious about taking my own stick for the first time. I remember it being like the first baseball game I took my own bat to...the self conciousness goes away soon.
 
I bought my first cue while at The U in the early 80's. I bought one from Abe Rich (RIP) and remember going into the student union with it for the first time. There were a few really good players there then and as soon as I walked in with my own stick, everyone wanted to play. I wish I still had that cue, but I gave it to an old girlfriend of mine.:angry:
 
My friend bought me a Justis case right when I decided to start playing in local tournaments. I was still nervous then about breaking in front of anyone--worried about flying the cue ball off the table, so having this high-end ostentatious case with me, I felt like the whole world was watching me.

I didn't have the game to justify the case which really made me self-conscious. But I couldn't leave the case at home since it was an expensive gift and it would have hurt his feelings. So I just had to work through it until I eventually didn't think about it. I still don't have the game to justify my case or cues, but I'm old enough not to care anymore.
 
My Case

beetle said:
My friend bought me a Justis case right when I decided to start playing in local tournaments. I was still nervous then about breaking in front of anyone--worried about flying the cue ball off the table, so having this high-end ostentatious case with me, I felt like the whole world was watching me.
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My case was bought more to transport other people's cues and shafts than mine so it is on the large side and a nice solid built case although nothing fancy. It does intimidate folks in some of the places I go in and mark me as a shark. Amongst guppies I guess I am. It doesn't help much when I bring my three dollar Budweiser cue with a torn and taped Budweiser vinyl soft case in though.

I did feel very funny when I first started carrying a cue. A hinged cue was more the mark of a wannabe pool player redneck than a player most of the places I went. I had a plain Meucci which was pretty tall cotton back in the time and I cut up an old blanket and hand sewed it into a soft case. Most places it stayed in the car. Only rarely when I was playing a good player with a quality hinged stick of his own did it come out.

Hu
 
My first cue was a Mali that I still have to this day. I'll never get rid of it. My friend and I liked to play pool a lot at the rec center in college. We both got our first cues at the same time, and for a couple of girls, we were both just as nervous walking into the pool hall for the first time with our cues. We were the only girls in the joint. We made an agreement with each other that we'd go in together so we wouldn't feel so weird walking in with our own cues. We were only 19 and didnt play well at the time, but we wanted to learn, badly. We just didn't want the guys to think we thought we were good since we had our own cues. We walked in together, got a table and played pool for the rest of the day. It was great and no one made fun of us or anything. It was all in our heads. This was 16 years ago, I'm hope women still don't feel that uncomfortable nowadays.
 
Felt the same way as the OP.....very nervous first time I walked in with a cue....felt like everyone was looking at me.....and in truth, a few were, but I think most were just trying to size me up....since I had a shiny metal case, I'm sure I did look like a chump ;)

Funny thing, now that I haven't played much pool over the last year, almost every single time I walk into a real pool hall, the first guy I run into says, "you up for some cheap sets????" Unfortunately, I need to hit a few balls before I gamble, but it kinda makes you look forward to getting back on your game :grin:
 
The first cue I ever bought was a Players cue. It wasn't terrible, but I didn't know anything about cues at the time. I remember taking it to Wilt's in Arlington (now closed) the first time. I actually bought about 4 Players cues total before I moved on to my Pechauer... which I still use today. It's the cue in my Avatar.

Wilt's was a great place and never felt nervous about bringing a new cue in there. I definitely miss that place.
 
mali

shayla said:
My first cue was a Mali that I still have to this day. I'll never get rid of it. My friend and I liked to play pool a lot at the rec center in college. We both got our first cues at the same time, and for a couple of girls, we were both just as nervous walking into the pool hall for the first time with our cues. We were the only girls in the joint. We made an agreement with each other that we'd go in together so we wouldn't feel so weird walking in with our own cues. We were only 19 and didnt play well at the time, but we wanted to learn, badly. We just didn't want the guys to think we thought we were good since we had our own cues. We walked in together, got a table and played pool for the rest of the day. It was great and no one made fun of us or anything. It was all in our heads. This was 16 years ago, I'm hope women still don't feel that uncomfortable nowadays.
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a mali was my first cue as well,and i have mine aswell as 2 others.

i bought mine in 89 along with a pleather case.

i felt weird walking into crocodile alley carrying it because i thought ppl would think that i was good since i had my own stick.

i picked the mali because it was as close to muecci as i was able to get.
 
i never felt nervous when i strolled in with the first cue i bought. i guess that was because my friends who taught me all had thier own. i was about 18 or 19 then. fast foward to today and i just started playing again after about eight years and now make money to buy nicer stuff, i walk into mr. cues here in atlanta and a guy starts asking me how much i want to play for and what i'll spot him. i tell him i don't really play for cash and sure as hell ain't spottin' him. he tells me he thought i was "high dollar" because of the case and cues - nothing fancy just a nice instroke and some really old meucci. now i think about it every time i walk into a room. i think people think i am something i am not just because i have decent gear, and once they see me shoot they'll just laugh me off.
 
My first cue was a cuetec replica that had a 12mm shaft, fiber-glass coated shaft, etc.

I brought it in and banged balls around in a room called corner pocket.

By the end of the first day, they were closing and a few guys were pulling chairs around a pool table - getting ready for a poker game.

Well, I asked if I could play and lost all the cash on me plus my crappy little cue.

I was 16 at the time, and extremely stupid. Looking back, those guys were probably taking the muck and arranging it, putting it on top, poorly false shuffling, not cutting and crushing me in.... and I never would have known because I looked more helpless than the "Feed the Children" commercials you see on TV.

Thems the good ol' days, though.

Dave
 
Honestly, when I brought my first cue in, it never even crossed my mind what other folks might be thinking.

If I was in my twenties, I probably would have been wondering, but there's something about being in your forties that couldn't make you care less about that kind of stuff. :D
 
T said:
Honestly, when I brought my first cue in, it never even crossed my mind what other folks might be thinking.

If I was in my twenties, I probably would have been wondering, but there's something about being in your forties that couldn't make you care less about that kind of stuff. :D
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It's called being an adult.
Kids worry about appearances. Chrome fart cans and wheels on Civics, $150 sneakers, cool cell phones, ect. Adults worry about paying their mortgages, medical insurance, life insurance, food for the family, home repair, kids, water bill, sewer bill, cable bill, electricity bill.
 
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