I'm sure I'll offend 99.6% of the AZ population, but I despise gambling on 9 ball, and can barely tolerate the game period unless its played league style (points per ball, so riding the 9 is neither a win, nor a smart thing to do). Don't get me wrong, I do love watching a couple of top flight players going at it in 9 ball because you get to see some truly beautiful position play and great runs. In the weekly 9 ball tourney and all the "just for fun" 9 ball at my local room, you see everyone closing their eyes and kicking at the 9 ball just praying it will fall. I much, much prefer 8 ball, where you have to prove you can do something other than pull a horse shoe out of your arse with some miracle combo for the ride, or letting your opponent run out 6 or 7 balls and cleaning up the last couple for the win. Please dont interpret this post as a knock on the game of 9 ball or the people who prefer playing it.. it only takes into consideration the games at *my* local room which have turned me off of gambling on 9 ball or even wanting to play it. On a side note, I only gamble VERY occasionally (I turn down probably 9 out of 10 requests) and the ones I do accept are either from someone whos bugging the holy crap out of me and I know I can take their $5 and shut them up, or from a REALLY good player who I'm essentially paying to watch them shoot and I always get a few tips afterwards.
