First time ??????

frankncali

frankncali

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The best memory thread got me thinking about this.

I can remember the first times I ever saw pool being played and just seeing a pool table.

Just curious as to others first times playing or seeing tables or pool being played.


For me I went into a bar with my father and uncle on a saturday to get
lunch. (they had great cuban sandwiches). I was around 5-6 years old.
I can remember two bar tables and 2 guys playing. Its a clear and vivid memory for me.

I remember going to a friends party once and seeing a table pushed up against the wall. I asked about it and they said that they played
some but they had pushed it over for the party. I was around 14 then.

First time I went to play pool. I was 17 or 18. I showed up where two friends were playing. They asked me if I wanted in and I said yes.
I racked and they said they were playing for a $1 a game. It was 9ball.
I said okay. He broke and then left me a clear shot with 6 balls on the table.
I ran them out thinking that the game was easy. I can remember thinking that I was finally getting to play after seeing tables a few times but never being able to play. For the record I got waxed the rest of the night LOL.

I was hooked then however. Its always amazed me how the game gets to
some but not others. At times I wish my buddy (steve fuller) would have never invited me to play that first night. Other times I am thankful he did.
 
Just curious as to others first times playing or seeing tables or pool being played.

Seeing tables:

I was about 4 or 5 years old and my dad was the volunteer chief at the local fire department. They had a 9 foot table in the break room. The kids weren't allowed to play, but I remember watching my dad play with some of the guys.

The first time I ever played I was about 13 or 14 and my best friend Kerii's grandfather had a table in their basement. We'd play a few hours a day, actually, and had no clue what we were doing. We'd drink our Mountain Dew and turn Warrant up so loud her Mamaw would come down and scream at us. Papaw would come down every once in a while, run racks and we'd just watch him. Her uncle David was pretty good as well.

Amanda
 
frankncali said:
The best memory thread got me thinking about this.

I can remember the first times I ever saw pool being played and just seeing a pool table.

Just curious as to others first times playing or seeing tables or pool being played.


For me I went into a bar with my father and uncle on a saturday to get
lunch. (they had great cuban sandwiches). I was around 5-6 years old.
I can remember two bar tables and 2 guys playing. Its a clear and vivid memory for me.

I remember going to a friends party once and seeing a table pushed up against the wall. I asked about it and they said that they played
some but they had pushed it over for the party. I was around 14 then.

First time I went to play pool. I was 17 or 18. I showed up where two friends were playing. They asked me if I wanted in and I said yes.
I racked and they said they were playing for a $1 a game. It was 9ball.
I said okay. He broke and then left me a clear shot with 6 balls on the table.
I ran them out thinking that the game was easy. I can remember thinking that I was finally getting to play after seeing tables a few times but never being able to play. For the record I got waxed the rest of the night LOL.

I was hooked then however. Its always amazed me how the game gets to
some but not others. At times I wish my buddy (steve fuller) would have never invited me to play that first night. Other times I am thankful he did.
Click to expand...

My mother signed me up for after-school pottery classes when I was 7 or 8 years old. When I got to the after-school program, I immediately noticed a 9-foot table and an 8-footer. Within seconds, I gravitated to the 9-foot table and asked to play. A bigger kid asked me, "Do you know how?" Of course, I said yes and picked out a cue. Just to make sure, he tells me to make a bridge-hand like I was holding a pencil and to hit the white-ball first. I'm glad he said this because I didn't really have a clue up until then. I picked out a shot at the side-pocket and made it. It was a hanger but it felt great and I knew right then, there was no way in the world I was going to make it to that pottery class every week.
 
The first table I remember was when I was 10 or so, in my cousin's "game" room. A crappy little 7-footer with a wood (maybe cardboard??? :rolleyes: ) bed that rolled off like a drunk walking home.

First time I played on a decent table was at my college union. About 20 Gold Crown II's, pretty well maintained, at a cheap rate/hour for students. That's when I found out that I had never really played before - both from the other people whuppin' up on me and those tight pockets. :)

Scott
 
I vaguely remember some friends of my parents having a table in their basement. My dad and his friend played a game or two while we were over there for dinner and I remember watching very closely, but I can definately recall forgetting that there was a white ball you used to hit the others into the hole with. Seems like the next time I came across a table (at that same house) and a bunch of us kids went downstairs to play someone had to explain to me that you didn't just hit the balls straight in with the cue. Apparently you had to use the 'cue ball'. Who knew? I was probably about 5 or 6.
 
When i got bit by the pool bug.

I was young. In fact i think i was concieved on my grandparents pool table. Both sets of grand parents had on of those sweet sears tables from back in the 60's.Wood instead of slate. On my moms side the cloth was blue, the 15 ball had a hole in it so big i could put my finger in it. My dads side was a green cloth covered in dog hair. All balls were intact but the one corner pocket was a vacuum. It sucked anything close in. I remember always wanting to play. My uncle would plop me up there and i would roll the balls around and eventually smash my finger and then away i went. Then the day came when i could see over the side and poke a stick at the balls, BAm i was addicted. I would sneak down anytime i could get away from the dinner table and no uncles were finished eating. Well then my first real memories were wheni was about 10. My uncle badgering me to take a rub of skoal and shooting pool. All his buddies in the basement betting skoal cans on the game. I never did take a dip but when i finally talked em into letting me play, i won my uncle enough snuff for a month. and there it was, ADDICTED to the game. Oh the memories of the short stick to shoot the shots cause the wall was in the way. The memory of my one uncle bringing home an aluminum cue. That thing was always ice cold to the touch. Not a cuetech i am talking aluminum like a baseball bat. All screw on tips. BAby powder everywhere. Oh the good old days. I do have to say whem my granpa would come down i would watch like i was in a trance. His soft stroke. The way he moved from one ball to the next and when he missed forget it. You never had a shot. Then the day came when i got my own table. My grandfather struck with parkinsons disease. I got him out there and the gleam in his eye. He had a tuff time walking around the table. The cue was like magic in his hand. He wasnt running out or anything ,but to see him in action again. The smile on his face and i know the memories of those days in the pool room for him were running around his head. So thats where i got the bug. Thanks grandpa for the memories and stories of those lunch hours you went to the pool hall.

PAt
 
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I was about 13 when I went to my uncle's house in Riverside, Ca. and he had a 9 footer in the garage. My cousins and I weren't ever allowed to play but I would sit for hours watching my dad and my uncle and a few of the older cousins play and drink all night on weekends. When they would take a break they would take their cues in the house with them so we couldn't play. So, we would play pool hockey, similar to air hockey, sliding the balls as fast as we could from one end to the other while my cousin would attempt to stop me from scoring a goal. My uncle would catch us doing this and scream about us ruining the rails because we were throwing the balls so hard. To me though, it wasn't any different than him missing a shot into the rail, lol.
When I had a motorcycle accident when I was 19, my friend and I went to Varsity Billiards one day to see what pool was all about, this was right after TCOM came out. From the that day on, I was hooked. And broke. :D Watching my dad play was incredible, it seemed he never missed. I talked him into going to Varsity with me one day because I just had to see if I was as good as him. I wish I had never done that because I won and all those childhood memories of him never missing were now gone. I know he let me win that day but as I got older and played better I realized that he really wasn't as good as I had thought. Him and my uncle told me stories of their nights out at the bar and winning money and beer all night and I do believe that. My dad used to take me around when I was in my teens and get me money games on bowling. Sometimes staying out all weekend, betting as much as $500 a game, so I knew my dad had gamble and probably did bet it up on pool in the bars when he had the chance.
Anyway, that was my first memory of pool. Peace, John.
 
I was 8 years old and on holiday in France with my family. We stayed for one night in a large hotel and there was a coin-operated table in the lobby. I'd guess it was a 6' or 7' table, but it seemed huge to me at the time. I remember it had American-style numbered balls (Bar tables in the UK where I grew up had yellow and red un-numbered balls) and that I loved how they looked and moved.

My older brother, all of 10 at the time, seemed to know all the rules somehow in that way that older siblings always do, although I am sure he had never played before either. I remember distincly that he won, and that was the only time I have played any kind of cue sport with him. However he now has a house with a Snooker table in it, so when I get a chance to visit I'll be able to finally get my revenge ;-)
 
My parents good friends had a table in their basement, an 8 footer. I started playing there with their kids, I would have been about 10 or so. The kids with the table were much better than I. I think the first snooker table I saw was at the Mount Kenya Safari Club, what a place. I was about 13. The tour guides son had been there before so he knew all the good places ! We played for hours, and my mom was quite beside herself as she had no idea where I was. She thought I'd wandered off and was eaten by a lion or something equally as nasty. Nope, I was just playing pool :D That may have been the first place I played golf too. There was a very strange 9 hole course where all the holes crossed a large open area in the middle. The tee boxes and greens were spread around the outside of the open area. Like I said, a bit strange. The snooker table was down in a basement room that looked like a serious mens club, paneling and millwork everywhere. I think William Holden liked that room a lot, I know I did .... I was hooked !

Dave
 
i was 17 yrs old, and waiting for my friends in the parking lot of a bowling alley. i was sitting in the bed of my truck since it was nice out(country boy..LOL) and a guy was walking across the parking lot, he stopped and started talking to me. turns out he owned the pool hall across the street, he invited me to come over when i had some time.

well after we finished bowling, i decided to go over there. it was nothing i'd ever seen, it was smokey, loud(had a juke box that was always turned up). at that time, it was full of 8 ft tables, except for a back room with a 9 ft table, this was the action table. there was actually a decent amount of money floating around in that room at the time, so i watched some guys gambling. money changing hands so quick.........i was intrigued.

so i started playing on an 8 ft, i wasn't really any good, but i was making balls pretty well for a noob. the owner took a liking to me and started showing me how to play, he's not all that great a player, but at the time i had no idea, to me, he played like god.

so over the next few months, i never had any money, i would sneak away(my parents told me i wasn't allowed in there, after i told them about where i went that night). i was always broke because these guys showed no mercy, they relieved me of my paycheck every week.

after a few months of that, i quit..........cause i was getting broke so quick. didn't even look back until i was 21........then i was hooked. turned out though, that i had picked up good habits somehow, and didn't take long to learn how to play halfway decent.

a few months later, i really got to see how pool was played, i saw keith play in richmond............but thats a whole other story :D

VAP
 
frankncali said:
At times I wish my buddy (steve fuller) would have never invited me to play that first night. Other times I am thankful he did.
Click to expand...



Is that the guy that pulled his pants up everytime after he shot? He dated a blonde girl? Great story Frank!
 
The first time I remember seeing a pool table was at a place called "Hunt's". My dad used to have to go in there to "take care of some business" and all of the "old men" were playing dominos and pool, I must admit I was curious to say the least.

Tha first time I played pool was at my local boys club. I started out playing bumper pool. The boys club was divided into two sections, 6-12 years old and 13-18 years old(I think). Anyway they only had a bumper pool table in the 6-12 year old room so that is what I played. By the time I was about 9 I won a BP tournament and I was allowed to go into the "older boys" room to play pool. I am not sure if it was a 4x8 or a 4-1/2x9, all I remember is I was allowed to go play regularly. I was a kid and I was involved in other sports and they kind of sidetracked my pool playing for several years.

The next time I remember picking up a stick I was 15. I was downtown with my dad and I wandered into a local poolroom called Herman and Ann's.(this is when it was still across the street Frank). They had the biggest table I had ever seen in my life right in front of the room(found out later that it was a 5x10 snooker table) They always kept the balls on the table, so I picked a stick up and shot a ball that was about 3 or 4 inches off the rail and cut it passed the side pocket into the corner pocket. A couple of old men sitting on the benches jaws dropped open, it was then that I realized how small the pockets was :eek: Needless to say I was hooked and Herman and Ann's became my second home for the next 10 years or so!

I am like you Frank, sometimes I wish I would have never wandered into that pool room. BUT I AM GLAD I DID!
 
The first memory of a table... I was 13 & dated a guy whose parents were well to do. Their basement was a rec room. They had a 9 ft w/red cloth right as you entered. One step down was the rest of the room...wet bar, fireplace, sports memorabila, sliding glass doors, large wooden deck.... (at some point in my life I will have something as close to it as I can get)

First time I played I was 15. A friend took me to a local pool room (not where any action was ever played... a local bar with four 9 ft tables) My friend liked to play and I was so insecure that I would make him rack backwards with the head ball pointing to the end rail because I could aim for the row of 5 easier than I could the one ball.

When I was 17 I started hanging around with some guys that could shoot pretty good and sometimes they would go to the pool room where the action was to try to play one of the "real players". I learned a lot from watching so I started practicing when we went to the pool hall and I ended up picking up the game quite well. I played everyday for about 3 or 4 yrs and did pretty good for being self taught. LOL, now I can't run 2 balls :rolleyes:
 
RichardCranium said:
My first time was in Grade School Summer Recreation...We would show up to the School Cafateria and they had all kinds of games...The two most popular games were Checker Pool and Bumper Pool....The younger kids got stuck with the Checker Pool. Once you had the guts to step up and play Bumper Pool, you waited in line (usually about 7 or 8 deep) to play a game....There was (No Handicap), and there was always an 8th grader that knew the table marks....He also had the side with a loose bumper and made every ball...You played your one game and then sat and BS'd with the other kids while you waited for 7 or 8 more games until it was your turn again.....I always looked forward to going to school those three months of every year......eventually I got to be the 8th grader.....:)
Click to expand...

I remember Bumper Pool. Haven't seen a table in a long time. I went to the Y when I was a kid, They had a table there.
 
I grew up in a really small town. One of my Uncles owned the only store around for about twenty miles. It was one of those old country stores that had everything from a washateria to an oil change rack. There was a room off to the side with one coin op pool table.

The first time I saw the pool table, I was with my Mom in the washateria. I could here the balls crack when someone would break. When I asked my Mom what the sound was, she told me it was only someone playing pool in the pool hall. It didn`t take long before I figured out a way to get on top of a big commercial dryer, and look through a small opening into the ''Pool Hall''.

When I saw those colorful balls rolling around, I was completely mesmerized. Of course, I was soon brought back to reality when my Mom realized where I was. I was scolded and told to never go near a pool hall, bad people go in there and bad things happen.

A couple of years later, another Uncle actually took me inside with him. The smell of smoke and stale beer stung my young nose. He told me to sit on the old wooden bench and be quiet. I saw the game of pool played for the first time.
 
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Sizl
One thing I have noticed when traveling and since moving away is that
we were very lucky to play and be around the action like we were. Its not
like that too many other places.
Many many memories.
So many things happened that it was almost something of FICTION.
At Jimmy A.s place I remember the card throwing bet and a hotdog eating bet. "Pizza" racing a guy running backwards outside Hermans!!
Junior telling his stories. Canadian Bobby spearing the wall at Checkers with
at least 2-3 cues. Black Bill yelling at the cops that he was NO PUNK.
$100+ games of .......................Dominoes.
Ring games........Miss Zara bring "W" a shoebox full of money and
him dumping it out on the table hollering "now we can gamble". Lil Jon coming through each year a few times......Mr. Nelson.........Ronnie Yarborough...Doug James....Canadian Joe L.........a $100 a ball pay ball game that Rick Howard busted with it filled with top guys....kelly pool....Tammy and
Mrs. Lynette...Chickenman....and of course Mr. Goff.

I wish I had been keeping record of all the stuff that went on. Most of the above was just at Hermans. More crap took place all over town. heck there
was $50 and $100 three ball one year at Warrens during Hermans tournament.

Remember Johnny Archer , Jimmy Wales and Tony Ellin leaving the pool room, with all of us in tow, and going to the basketball court to gamble on free throws?? The guys on the court thought we were NUTS when we piled out of the cars and they started the WOOFING.

From the first day I ever went to Hermans I knew I was a pool player and not a person that played pool. I remember sitting and watching for hours most of the times never hitting a ball at my begginning. I think I was afraid to miss something.

How about this one ...one of my favorites....
Stick playing Gerry Watson snooker. Watson hits the last red and swings three rails and freezes him to the 5 on the other end. Stick fouls......Watson shoots the same shot and it looks almost identical at the end....Stick fouls and shakes his head.....Watson fires the same shot again and freezes the ball again to the five.....Stick then says "what do you do with that?"....
Jimmy A says from the side " well I would start by moving the f%^king 5 ball!!". He did and Watson had a shot but played a different shot and hooked him behind the newly positioned 5ball........." f&^k it I would quit now" yelled Jimmy A.
Everyone was dying laughing even Stick and Gerry.

Maybe its memories of pools past that keep the infection active and kicking inside of us.



sizl said:
The first time I remember seeing a pool table was at a place called "Hunt's". My dad used to have to go in there to "take care of some business" and all of the "old men" were playing dominos and pool, I must admit I was curious to say the least.

Tha first time I played pool was at my local boys club. I started out playing bumper pool. The boys club was divided into two sections, 6-12 years old and 13-18 years old(I think). Anyway they only had a bumper pool table in the 6-12 year old room so that is what I played. By the time I was about 9 I won a BP tournament and I was allowed to go into the "older boys" room to play pool. I am not sure if it was a 4x8 or a 4-1/2x9, all I remember is I was allowed to go play regularly. I was a kid and I was involved in other sports and they kind of sidetracked my pool playing for several years.

The next time I remember picking up a stick I was 15. I was downtown with my dad and I wandered into a local poolroom called Herman and Ann's.(this is when it was still across the street Frank). They had the biggest table I had ever seen in my life right in front of the room(found out later that it was a 5x10 snooker table) They always kept the balls on the table, so I picked a stick up and shot a ball that was about 3 or 4 inches off the rail and cut it passed the side pocket into the corner pocket. A couple of old men sitting on the benches jaws dropped open, it was then that I realized how small the pockets was :eek: Needless to say I was hooked and Herman and Ann's became my second home for the next 10 years or so!

I am like you Frank, sometimes I wish I would have never wandered into that pool room. BUT I AM GLAD I DID!
Click to expand...
 
My dad was a fair player in his circle and day, but I first got into pool as an 8-12yr old from his Saturday 10:30am to 3pm rounds of bars as state Alcoholic Beverage Control rep and basic politicking. Three sisters, one son, I got the Saturday shot at Dad's time. Fair? Who says life is or should be fair, it just flat never was or ever may be, just ask anyone, for example my sisters. Forward.

It seems Dad needed to be there chatting with the bartender and a refreshment while I was bored and itching to go, yet... enterprising me, one could find interest in these stray balls left over on the coin-op tables after Friday night closing. Naturally right grip hand eventually meets cue butt and... After habituation, sometimes he would shoot me a quarter or two to keep me busy with a fresh rack while he partook of the sparkling liquid conversation of the day bartender and lunch patrons. I didn't quite see the full value, but appreciated the table time, making your basic lemononade from lemons.

I learned from former buddy Mark (ages 6-12, 14-16) a little something, like the fragile nature of friendships and competition the hard way. He taught me the basic chess moves in the first 3 games, then I crushed him the next 8 games that afternoon and we never ever played that game together again. We didn't know handicapping back then, it was all dark ages and mano-el-mano stuff. Mark was six months but more importantly a year younger in school through no fault of his own, so he tended to develop new friendships and allegiances quickly in that year away from elementary school to junior and high schools, so we drifted apart wistfully while I was sent off to

7th grade, then promptly met a well-to-do 6'2" handsome tall guy (unlike moi) who's parents provided a rec room and an 8ft. Sears hardwood table and we found out we both respected pool, each other, were well matched loved all games, 8-ball, rotation, straight-pool, snooker, etc. and were very pool developmentally well-matched; it came down to execution that day mostly so there was no crushing skill difference that ended the friendship (and we always made it a point to share info and develop, not to get an edge and beat up on the other) thus a lifelong pool friendship developed, and today 32 years later we still play pool and are still best friends. Hello, Chris in Lawrence, KS!

8th grade, 1973, the country is going to hell, race riots, the KU college student union is burning, Ma wants to know where her kids are, so a home rec room that my older sis Lauren dubbed the "Sullivan Resort and School of Evangelism" complete tongue-in-cheek and with wooden hand-lettered sign and Valley 7x3.5 converted freebie coin-op with Red Mali cloth was initiated.

Mom dare not open the door and really come down, she actually just wanted to know where her offspring and all the neighborhood kids and possibly associated riffraff were hanging out, doing God knows what, but she really doesn't want to know quite everything happening down there from school close to 9 or 11pm and friends must, or must not, eventually go home. Housework, dishes, and plausible deniability and it works for the parents on the other end of the extension phone if you just yell from the top of the basement stairs for them who mights or might nots be wanted to be found quite yet. You know the drill, you delinquents and my best buddies here. Sweet scent of adolescence.

Downstairs I had the upper hand on the table for the most part, like Efren (I wish) always just a bit ahead of the others but not wanting to crush their spirits so I "let them" or really ~honestly~ dogged more than a few game balls. You tell me why the one through the seven are easy, and I can tell you how to dog position on the eight to the nine, yet still end up winning by playing weak players, and BELIEVE in your heart of hearts you are honestly a "better than average player" just like all the rest of us nutcases posting here. Ciest la vie, life goes on, 85% win ratio was sufficient target enough for me back then.

For obnoxious friends of friends or other dubious choosings like Tobin that wouldn't get out of the line of the shot and quit sharking, I developed "special shots" like "break shot nail Tobin in the nuts!" call shots aforehand, warning him to move, he ignores me at his peril and ends up knees on floor both hands holding his crotch, the whole gang in absolute f*cking stitches. Position play _IS_ all memory, you see, and a quarter-ball break shot hit slightly jacked up does the trick, I had nailed the wall on that trajectory the week before. Tobin was especially very satisfying and special to me, because he then wrongly assumed it was luck not skill, and claimed I couldn't do it again. KerBLAMMO, as diagrammed. Numbnuts forever after in my mind... The Wei table, bless his soul, just never quite developed the expressiveness to capture this true event in shockwave. I lived it, loved it. Nevermind, Tobin never ever had trouble ignoring helpful instructions from me after that, it must have been a top dog thang we worked out and very satisfying in the end for me.

Back to Dad. Occasional reports of my home-court advantage and natural fabulous yet untested skills leaked out, and occasionally after his evening forays he would venture home and kick my little behind hard, showing me 3-rail banks on the case 8ball corner and side pocket shots, and other 2 and 4 cushion wonders the future yet beheld, and that my meager pool skills had quite a ways yet to go to be "there". Thanks for everything dad, and pool.

Better yet, my 9yr-old daughter wants to be with me, knows I love pool, and schedules lessons to be with me, last part more important than the game yet, but she has heart, and not a bad beginning stroke for a B player father..

Pool. Life. Continues. Great game. 600 yr history. We haven't even gotten into public rooms and unnamed opponents yet.

Billiards, Pocket Pool, Hell, I am still 16 and virtually unbeaten yet. Great thread.
 
The first time I seen a pool table was in a crack house. It was being used to count and distribute the money. Didn't know that it had any other use.:shrug::rotflmao:
 
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