GENDER IN POOL ... Do Men Play Better Than Women? ... Recent Legal Trial

@sjm
Measurimg someone's conceptualization abilities just by watching them may be misleading, especially if you're talking about the top female players. It's really not possible to know if they are shooting a shot incorrectly due to a conceptualization error or simply because of competence. You really need to talk to them about their decisions. Listening to Allison Fischer in the booth tells me she's pretty sharp. I will often shoot a shot different than a high level pro because I'm more likely to miss it if I shoot it "correctly". I'm sure this plays a part in the female game. Another factor is the top females know what it takes to compete at the rotation games -- so that's what they focus on. Not too many of them spend their off hours banging out 20 bucks a rack playing one-pocket.
 
BasementDweller said:
@sjm
Measurimg someone's conceptualization abilities just by watching them may be misleading, especially if you're talking about the top female players. It's really not possible to know if they are shooting a shot incorrectly due to a conceptualization error or simply because of competence. You really need to talk to them about their decisions. Listening to Allison Fischer in the booth tells me she's pretty sharp. I will often shoot a shot different than a high level pro because I'm more likely to miss it if I shoot it "correctly". I'm sure this plays a part in the female game. Another factor is the top females know what it takes to compete at the rotation games -- so that's what they focus on. Not too many of them spend their off hours banging out 20 bucks a rack playing one-pocket.
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I have discussed shot conceptualization with many of the women who are in the BCA Hall of Fame, Allison Fisher included, and some of the top women players of all time are counted among my closest friends. I have played hours and hours of pool with many of them, Allison Fisher included, and I have socialized with many of them on a regular basis. I am not speculating. I have also attended about 100 WPBA events in my life.

Still, competence is relevant if you mean competence in the ability to determine the percentages and, thereby, design the right shot for the right occasion. Yes, it can be argued that this might be deemed a competence gap.

Cueing competence, however, is not relevant here. If a man and a woman are equally competent in shot execution, the man, with very rare exception, will be the better player because of his edge in decision making and shot design. I am hard pressed to think of even three exceptions I have ever seen at a pro level of play.
 
Likely similar reasons there are few female chess grandmasters. On average, women excel at ‘multitasking’, while men ‘focus’ better.
 
Seeing a flush of top women players married or dating top players, I wonder how or if it will influence how they play or conceptualize runouts. Pia Filler, Kristina Tkach, Margarita Fefilova Styer ...

You would think they would see how their significant others runout tables and would apply some of that knowledge. Yet sjm says it isn't or hasn't happened.

There are obviously many factors that separate men and women, some of which go back to the genesis our species and are perhaps lost to time. But I admit that now and then I am quite puzzled by choices that women make relative to men.

One other thing I have noticed: Woman use draw far less than men. I see this professionally and in pool halls.

I don't know how many times I've seen a woman go forward on a ball and come off a short rail, while a man would draw and come off a long rail. The ball would travel less for the man, but require different levels of power and dexterity to pull off.
 
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sjm said:
I have discussed shot conceptualization with many of the women who are in the BCA Hall of Fame, Allison Fisher included, and some of the top women players of all time are counted among my closest friends. I have played hours and hours of pool with many of them, Allison Fisher included, and I have socialized with many of them on a regular basis. I am not speculating. I have also attended about 100 WPBA events in my life.
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I'm curious about what you mean by shot conceptualization when referring to gender differences in pool. Would be nice to see some examples...
 
Badpenguin said:
I'm curious about what you mean by shot conceptualization when referring to gender differences in pool. Would be nice to see some examples...
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Pool is just like chess….the right move is the winning move. I feel women aren’t that mean…..that’s why I love them.
 
Badpenguin said:
I'm curious about what you mean by shot conceptualization when referring to gender differences in pool. Would be nice to see some examples...
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Two examples of where there is a big difference in conceptualization are in a) defensive shot selection and b) downside management.

Defensive Shot Selection
There is a big gap in defensive shot selection between men and women. Men are more attentive to where the blockers are and play better angles behind those blockers. They are consistently more creative in building complex defensive strategies. They also use defense to open clusters more often than women.

Downside Management
Men do much more than women to manage their downside. Not only do they find many more two-way shots than women, but they ae much more attentive to speed control in managing the downside while they play offense. In addition, men are much more careful with their object ball when they play cue-ball-oriented safeties.
 
pt109 said:
Pool is just like chess….the right move is the winning move. I feel women aren’t that mean…..that’s why I love them.
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I once heard a railbird ask a stake horse what he looked for in the players he staked. The horse replied, “to a man, all great players I’ve ever seen have a certain mean streak to them”.
 
dr_dave said:
I recently served as an expert witness in a legal trial dealing with transgender women participation in female billiards events. Check out all the details in the following article, excerpts of which appear in this month's issue of Billiards Digest magazine:


And for more info on this topic, see:

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A transgender woman is a male who identifies as a woman who often has surgery to become a woman.....TOTAL LIE!!! There is no surgery that makes a man BECOME a woman, the surgery only makes the man LOOK like a woman, the surgery is nothing more than an expensive costume, the man still has xy chromosomes and ALWAYS will, Truth can only set you free if you desire objective truth, any other kind of truth is a lie.
 
Yeah self pity notwithstanding, the consensus among those so inclined is their 'soul' is the other sex. Crazy world this is it's possible that individuals might go get the ultimate tattoo to just fit their environment - actually the more I try to understand this, the less I comprehend or care...
 
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