Gambling DOES NOT help your game, ever!

[jay helfert]

There are hundreds of sports out there, millions of competitors, the example of an Aggassi hustling ball boys puts it in the lowest possible percentile.

And don't think that any of these guys ever thought they were learning and improving because they were gambling.

Only in the Pool world will you ever see people defending gambling as constructive.

Gambling is addictive, plain and simple, the nature of it causes people to do very stupid things. Gambling addiction is a disease that many suffer from, to promote it is absurd.

Young people who gamble for the smallest amounts often don't have the maturity to understand the implications of betting. Young pool players need not worry about such things, rather concentrate on practicing, drilling, and local tourneys.

I think you are way off base buddy. Yes gambling can be addictive. Look at the proliferation of casinos across America. I would contend they are putting a strain on the national economy. All the paychecks that go into slot machines every week. Those are the sick gamblers, not some poolplayers wagering a couple hundred bucks, and for the most part passing the money around.

To off handedly label gambling as an unhealthy derivative in pool, is a little extreme. Gambling and sports have been intertwined for time immemorial. There have been prominent athletes in many sports who enjoyed a wager from time to time. In golf, Lee Trevino comes to mind first. He never played a pro event until age 27, as he plyed his trade on public courses across Texas. He became a fair country golfer I think. Even the illustrious Arnold Palmer always had a wager made by the time he reached the first tee in a practice round. Present day, the great Phil Mickelson will bet thru the roof if challenged. Does this make him a bad guy or poor role model? I think not. He seems to be universally loved, this high stakes gambler.

In tennis, no less than John McEnroe was known to wager sums exceeding tournament prize money the day after the event concluded. And Agassi is famous for challenging competitors to jack it up. In bowling the list of gamblers reads like a who's who. Maybe the greatest of all was Dick Weber, who never passed up an opportunity to make a little side money. His son Pete has gladly carried on this tradition with some healthy five figure wagers, including betting even money on a 250 game!

The list is endless in all individual sports, as well it should be. I contend it is a natural progression for a man (or woman) to want to place a wager on their own particular set of skills. It happens every day in poolrooms, golf courses, bowling alleys and tennis centers.

Does it make them any better players? You bet it does! It's one thing to play for fun and quite another to have something besides pride on the line. As for young people and gambling, better to learn at any early age the rigors of gambling and how to negotiate a game. After all, everything we do in life IS a gamble to a certain extent. Every stock you buy, property you invest in, business you start and even job you take, is a reflection of your willingness to gamble on your future.

It is a part of the fabric of society. To make a blanket statement that gambling is unhealthy is not well reasoned in my opinion.

 

[cuetechasaurus]

Smashmouth is lying

Smashmout, you are either lying or exaggerating about those players who said gambling doesn't help. Almost all of them gamble, and they gambled as they were up and coming players.

You don't have a clue what you are talking about. Do you think practicing for hours on end helps your mental game? What happens when you get in a high pressure situation in a big tournament for the first time? You shake, your heart is pounding, and all those drills you did mean nothing. You can't pull the trigger. You jump up off the shot to get it over with. That's what happens when you have a mental crash during pool. Gambling is what builds HEART, it helps you focus and play better under pressure. You can't develop heart from anything else. When you are down 10-1, you think it's over. When a player with heart is down by that margin, as long as he is at the table he thinks he can win. And it's been done before. Having perfect mechanics won't get you anywhere if you have a weak mind. Your mind controls everything overall, and it can make your perfect mechanics become the opposite.

Smashmouth, I think that you have gambled a couple of times, you couldn't deal with the pressure, and couldn't make a ball to save your life. You lost badly and were completely humiliated. That's most likely where you got this silly idea. You are full of yourself, and you have no idea what you are talking about. I also think you are deliberately misquoting the pros. And there are very few sports you can compare to pool, the main ones would be golf, bowling, and chess. And the majority of top players at each of these disciplines gamble.

 

[12310bch]

It's the rush , man. How can you get excited without there being something of worth dependant on the outcome? And don't give me the old self-satisfaction bit. I once told a younger player who complained about being nervous in tournament play that being excited was a good thing. That's what he's here for. Enjoy it. Whenever he quit being nervous find another game.

 

[PoolSleuth]

I personally feel you should have a Gambling Mentality to Gamble. I personally hate loosing money on Games of Chance, Dogs, Horses, Lotto, Scratchers, or Pool.

As I do not have OODLES of money to repleanish my losses, and I will only Gamble on Pool like a $5.00 Entry Fee for a Tournament, or Games of $0.25/Game, or like a Race to 3- or 5, or 7, or?

If I gamble more than that is starts become a Personal distraction, and I am focused on the possible Loss of Funds more than shooting, thus that interferes with my shooting.

Pool IMO is not 100% a Game, of Skill, as NO ONE CAN CONTROL all the Balls upon any given table 100% of the Time. IMO

 

[cueandcushion]

Gambling definitely makes you better.

The more poker you play..the more you will win.

The more lottery tickets you buy...the more times you will win the powerball.

If you gamble enough money, you will be Efren every time. All you have to do is bet higher than him then your pool game will get better. Its a fact.



The most educating thing I ever read about gambling was on a bumper sticker.

GAMBLING: A tax for people bad at math

 

[PoolSleuth]

The most educating thing I ever read about gambling was on a bumper sticker.

GAMBLING: A tax for people bad at math

That is too funny but so true...

 

[Craig Fales]

anyone wanna play some cheap sets?....
________

 

[Timberly]

Do you think practicing for hours on end helps your mental game? What happens when you get in a high pressure situation in a big tournament for the first time? You shake, your heart is pounding, and all those drills you did mean nothing. You can't pull the trigger. You jump up off the shot to get it over with. That's what happens when you have a mental crash during pool. Gambling is what builds HEART, it helps you focus and play better under pressure. You can't develop heart from anything else. When you are down 10-1, you think it's over. When a player with heart is down by that margin, as long as he is at the table he thinks he can win. And it's been done before. Having perfect mechanics won't get you anywhere if you have a weak mind. Your mind controls everything overall, and it can make your perfect mechanics become the opposite.

How many times has anyone on here stood in front of a mirror and practiced exactly what they were going to say to that special someone or that group of people? The first time you spoke to that person or group of people, you had the same reaction that I highlighted in bold print? LOL, I've talked to myself in the mirror for 34 yrs. If you put me in front of an arena full of strangers all looking at me and waiting for me to be a good speaker... OMG, my knees would bruise each other from knocking so hard!

If I were to start out with a couple of friends, then family members, then a classroom of peers, and so on... by the time I got to a larger group, I would be more comfortable speaking in front of large groups. I would be more prepared and less nervous.

you dont have to be a sucker to gamble, play small and make the right game so it helps the better player AND yourself. Its about "match practice" all the tope players do it in addition to their practice and they do it for a reason, its certainly not to rob each other! There are no suckers at that level.

If you have tournaments on tap then dont worry too much. There are different levels of gambling and everybody on here has their own opinion of what it means, try to differentiate between "match practice" and getting robbed.

I'm one of the biggerst nits out there. I never have and never will (unless I win the lottery) have a lot of money to lose.

Many grey hairs, pounds, & yrs ago, I picked up a pool cue and I did "ok". For the most part, the game came fairly natural to me and the more I practiced the better I got. People tried to talk me into playing in local weekly tournaments and I thought they were crazy. I was TOO scared. Just the thought of it made my heart pound!

Then one day in the pool room after banging the balls around forever, my friend suggested we play for a race to 5 for $5. LOL, I was every bit as nervous as I was when I thought about playing in tournaments. I could afford $5 so I did it. After awhile I got used to that and was able to play a race to 5 for $10 against someone else that wasn't as good of a friend. I wasn't nearly as nervous. Things progressed from there. I never lost or bet outside of my means. Long story short, when I finally did play in my first tournament, I was more calm and much more relaxed and focused because I had experienced pressure in a match.

Sometimes people only hear about the thousands lost and how so & so is living on the streets because they went bust, blah, blah, blah. There's more people out there that gamble within their means than there are that don't. You only hear about the ones that don't because it makes for good gossip.

You're either not getting the picture and understanding of conditioning ones self or you're simply trying to stir things up. At this point, I'm not sure. I just know that I try to use common sense in all aspects of my life. Common sense told me that if I could play for a $1 then I could play for $2 and when I graduated to being able to play for $20, I paid $10 and entered a local weekly tournament and didn't blink an eye. If I had never bet that $1, I never would've been able to pay that $10 to enter the tournament. My nerves didn't and wouldn't have allowed it.

To each his own.

 

[JoeyA]

I see what you are saying. How then are you to practice pressure situations? You know it is more than knowing how to make shots.

While I like a lot of what was said in this original thread:

I asked a top pro if gambling was necessary to become a really good player. He said "Almost EVERY good player learned how to play pool while gambling."

Gambling conditions you to pressure and you can do it almost any time. If you could play in tournaments every week you could stay battle-conditioned.

JoeyA

 

[Jude Rosenstock]

While I like a lot of what was said in this original thread:

I asked a top pro if gambling was necessary to become a really good player. He said "Almost EVERY good player learned how to play pool while gambling."

Gambling conditions you to pressure and you can do it almost any time. If you could play in tournaments every week you could stay battle-conditioned.

JoeyA

He has a point. The plain and simple truth is, if you do well in a tournament, you might play between 5 and 10 sets over the course of two-days. When gambling, I've been known to do 10 sets in a single session. I mean, non-stop pool for about 10 hours straight and I only got better as the night progressed. Once you've done that and been successful at it, your appreciation for consistency just changes. If you've never ever had a session like the one I describe, I think it's impossible to really comment on it until you do. It's so exhilerating and yes, the lessons learned from it are unique to a gambling experience. That is to say, you're not going to get this playing hee-haw.

 

[ironman]

Why is it that people think top players know everything? They make mistakes too you know. There isn't one path to becoming a great player, in fact I doubt anyone had the same experiences, priorities, opportunities as anyone else.

Top players are people too, and people make mistakes. Just because they can run 23946 racks in a row makes them a good teacher, good person or right about everything. Some of them don't even know what tip they are using, where they are hitting the ball, what they are going to retire on or what day of the week it is.

Sheesh.

I don't think they know everything, they just know things about the game the rest of us would kill to know. Why do you think most are so envious and try to make them look so stupid.

 

[desert1pocket]

I'm not even going to get into whether the act of gambling helps your pool game or not, but I can say that many better players won't show you anything unless something is on the line. This is more true for some games than others. To give an example, I have played one pocket with Scott Frost and Glenn Bond many times, both for free and for money. When playing them for free they tried to run out almost every shot without caring about the risks, and the only thing I learned is that they both shoot pretty straight. When playing either of them for $100 a game however, they played one pocket the way it is supposed to be played and I learned many new shots, safeties, and moves. One of the best tried and true ways to learn the game of one pocket is to play grandpa for money with better players. Can you learn strategies playing for free? Sure, but once you get to a certain level of play, it is hard to find anyone better than you who will play for free. If you can find a great player who will show you their "A" game for free, you have found a rare opportunity and should not pass it up.

 

[Jimmy M.]

I must know you if you're from around here. Who are you? You can PM me if you want to stay anonymous in here. Or you can just ignore me if you want to stay anonymous to me too.

I'm not even going to get into whether the act of gambling helps your pool game or not, but I can say that many better players won't show you anything unless something is on the line. This is more true for some games than others. To give an example, I have played one pocket with Scott Frost and Glenn Bond many times, both for free and for money. When playing them for free they tried to run out almost every shot without caring about the risks, and the only thing I learned is that they both shoot pretty straight. When playing either of them for $100 a game however, they played one pocket the way it is supposed to be played and I learned many new shots, safeties, and moves. One of the best tried and true ways to learn the game of one pocket is to play grandpa for money with better players. Can you learn strategies playing for free? Sure, but once you get to a certain level of play, it is hard to find anyone better than you who will play for free. If you can find a great player who will show you their "A" game for free, you have found a rare opportunity and should not pass it up.

 

[enzo]

its just pretty simple to me that if all things are equal, for example if identical twins played pool all their lives, and the only difference between them was one gambled everyday and the other didnt, well, if they matched up for a thousand it would be a slaughter. the twin who gambles everyday plays better cus he can play when it counts, which is really all that matters in pool. if you cant understand this its probably gonna take you a while to progress, but thats ok too, to each their own.

 

[td873]

Not at all, under any circumstances, period! It's a myth.

Gambling inherently changes the nature of the game you are playing.

When you gamble, you will have a cognizable ramification if you lose and thus you will play a different type of game. For some people, more money is required to get them to play their "best game" - which is not a function of ability, but a function of mental calculation to WIN each and every game versus PLAY a game. This translates to improve your chances of winning with each shot you take.

In this regard, when you gamble, you will not take uncalculated risks or "flyers." You will hone your ability to properly assess the difficulty of shots and situations, the risk / reward associated, and will learn to be honest with your own abilities.

These qualities are critical at the top echelons, since one miscalculation can cost a match or a whole tournmanent.

Without motivation, even the most disciplined players will get "lazy" during a session and do something foolish. If you can be motivated without gambling, then you have a gift that the rest of us weren't blessed with.

-td

 

[td873]

its just pretty simple to me that if all things are equal, for example if identical twins played pool all their lives, and the only difference between them was one gambled everyday and the other didnt, well, if they matched up for a thousand it would be a slaughter. the twin who gambles everyday plays better cus he can play when it counts, which is really all that matters in pool. if you cant understand this its probably gonna take you a while to progress, but thats ok too, to each their own.

If one twin never gambled, how would they match up for a thousand?

Just a thought...

 

[Harvywallbanger]

Pool is a mental game. If you think that gambling helps your game then it does. If you don't think that it will help than it won't. It helps me and as long as I believe it will than it will.

 

[enzo]

If one twin never gambled, how would they match up for a thousand?

Just a thought...

i guess that is the point, it would be his first time and hed get absolutely robbed, hence, gambling does help your game (or in more precise terms, your effective game, or what you can actually do under pressure).

 

[td873]

i guess that is the point, it would be his first time and hed get absolutely robbed, hence, gambling does help your game (or in more precise terms, your effective game, or what you can actually do under pressure).

My point was that there was an invalid premise to start with resulting in a flawed result - since he "never" gambled, he wouldn't ever gamble, hence there would be no match up, and he couldn't lose.

Also, using the "same" logic you posed: since the "Gambling Twin" would win if they gambled, is it logical to say that the "non-Gambling Twin" would win if they just matched up for nothing since he had more "experience" not gambling.

Just a thought...

-td

 

[Timberly]

My point was that there was an invalid premise to start with resulting in a flawed result - since he "never" gambled, he wouldn't ever gamble, hence there would be no match up, and he couldn't lose.

Also, using the "same" logic you posed: since the "Gambling Twin" would win if they gambled, is it logical to say that the "non-Gambling Twin" would win if they just matched up for nothing since he had more "experience" not gambling.

Just a thought...

-td

Lets switch it up a little. You've got one twin that's gambled and one that's never gambled. Neither one of them has ever played in a tournament before. They're both great players and they're going to play in a large tournament with spectators... who stands a better chance of holding up and playing their game?