Giveaway Signs of Beginner / Recreational Players

ChrisinNC said:
This is a list of some telltale signs I’ve come up with, running a family oriented pool room for 27+ years. I’m sure others and myself will come up with additions to this list, but this is a good start - Feel free to add!

1) Racking the balls at the wrong end of the table, even though the rack hook is located at the correct end of the table, even though there is no foot spot at the head end of the table to know where to rack the balls at.

2) Never removing the chalk from the ball tray to place on the rails of the table and/or failure to ever use the chalk on the cue tip or to know how to use the chalk on the cue tip.

3) Application of the miniature golf rule - using the butt end of the cue to move the cue ball one butt width off the cushion when the cue ball ends up on the cushion.

4) Attempting to rack the balls with one hand on the rack and/or attempting to rack the balls standing on the side of the table rather than the end of the table.

5) Scooping under the cue ball in an attempt to jump the cue ball over an impeding ball.

6) Applying the BIH behind the headstring rule strictly at all times, even if the player with BIH has to kick down the table and back to try to hit the one of their balls or the 8-ball.

7) Returning the set of balls to the counter with the ball tray turned upside down where the balls can easily fall out.

8) When customers return the balls to the counter, they tell you how many games they’ve played, even though they are charged for the time they played and not for the number of games played.

9) 2 or more players getting bored enough that they invent this game of banging around moving balls at the same time.

10) Players that jack their cue up 45° or more when attempting to hit a cue ball that is frozen or close to frozen on the cushion.

11) Returning the ball rack to the counter with the ball tray, even though the ball racks are kept on a hook on the foot end of the table.

12) Players that request whether we supply any hand chalk / talc.

13) Players that continually accidentally bang their cue in to the table light grids 4’ above the table surface, on their follow-through.
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Chalking up like like they're drilling for fkng oil in China.
 
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Ever watch people rack 8 ball on a billiard table? :LOL: Saw it a bunch of times at a place I used to play.

A couple of other tells:

"I don't like 9 ball, it's pure slop!"
"Real players play Call Shot."
"Playing safe is chickensh*t pool!"
 
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ChrisSjoblom said:
Racking for 8-ball with the 8 sitting on top of the back two rows of balls as they tighten the rack, then using their forefingers to flick the 8 into the gap in the center of the rack to make sure everything is as tight as can be.
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forgot about that one. Also making the 8 jump from that same spot by pushing the rack forward hard then stopping abruptly. Rack removed with a twirl of course
 
ChrisSjoblom said:
Racking for 8-ball with the 8 sitting on top of the back two rows of balls as they tighten the rack, then using their forefingers to flick the 8 into the gap in the center of the rack to make sure everything is as tight as can be.
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The opposite of that is watching someone hold the balls tightly to the rack and slowly move it up and down to see if any are spinning....
It amazes me that more people don't do this. I frequently rotate the rack and perform this trick to find the best corner. If it's a place I play frequently, I'll even put a little piece of tape or something to mark that corner so I don't have to hunt for it next time.
 
Rocket354 said:
A few more:

Closed fist bridge.

Saying, "you keep missing lucky" when you play a safe. (As if I just happened to miss the pocket by two diamonds after making four straight balls center-pocket.)

Thinking the 1 ball has to be at the head of a rack of 8 ball.

Come over to gently and condescendingly tell you that the 8 ball has to be racked in the middle, when you are racking for 14.1 or 1p.

Let you know that you have a really bad break, after an appropriate break for one of those two same games.

(Those last three might be more from people who straddle the line of beginner and intermediate.)
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We got an old guy in his 90's that plays with us some , he gets upset every time someone doesn’t put the 1 ball at the top of the 8 ball rack.
 
ChrisinNC said:
This is a list of some telltale signs I’ve come up with, running a family oriented pool room for 27+ years. I’m sure others and myself will come up with additions to this list, but this is a good start - Feel free to add!

1) Racking the balls at the wrong end of the table, even though the rack hook is located at the correct end of the table, even though there is no foot spot at the head end of the table to know where to rack the balls at.

2) Never removing the chalk from the ball tray to place on the rails of the table and/or failure to ever use the chalk on the cue tip or to know how to use the chalk on the cue tip.

3) Application of the miniature golf rule - using the butt end of the cue to move the cue ball one butt width off the cushion when the cue ball ends up on the cushion.

4) Attempting to rack the balls with one hand on the rack and/or attempting to rack the balls standing on the side of the table rather than the end of the table.

5) Scooping under the cue ball in an attempt to jump the cue ball over an impeding ball.

6) Applying the BIH behind the headstring rule strictly at all times, even if the player with BIH has to kick down the table and back to try to hit the one of their balls or the 8-ball.

7) Returning the set of balls to the counter with the ball tray turned upside down where the balls can easily fall out.

8) When customers return the balls to the counter, they tell you how many games they’ve played, even though they are charged for the time they played and not for the number of games played.

9) 2 or more players getting bored enough that they invent this game of banging around moving balls at the same time.

10) Players that jack their cue up 45° or more when attempting to hit a cue ball that is frozen or close to frozen on the cushion.

11) Returning the ball rack to the counter with the ball tray, even though the ball racks are kept on a hook on the foot end of the table.

12) Players that request whether we supply any hand chalk / talc.

13) Players that continually accidentally bang their cue in to the table light grids 4’ above the table surface, on their follow-through.
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Ball bangers and hard hitting play. Turns the cue ball loose on every shot. Chalks up w wrong hand or puts chalk on floor and proceeds to grind away at it w tip of cuestick.
I've seen this done several times, to my chagrin. But I guess we all gotta start someplace. Noticed a trend nowadays of players offering assistance that wasn't there when I began playing. Only way to build knowledge base back then was to 'pay for it'.
No wonder I'm broke and still don't know a @*$+!?# thing.😂
 
Dead Money said:
I saw a local guy do that once because he was so pissed about losing his cash. Dropped it too!
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The one I saw was a gorilla redneck lifting the table. Didn't occur to him to feel the rails underneath the table for the stuck ball.

You might get away with this with a one-piece slate Diamond table, but this was a standard Gold Crown 3. I suspect the feet and slate were never the same afterwards.
 
WildWing said:
The one I saw was a gorilla redneck lifting the table. Didn't occur to him to feel the rails underneath the table for the stuck ball.

You might get away with this with a one-piece slate Diamond table, but this was a standard Gold Crown 3. I suspect the feet and slate were never the same afterwards.
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Yes. The feet bent and there was some damage to the slate on the dropped end.

This dude was pretty much a functioning lunatic...always on something.. speed ..booze...you name it.
 
Saw a girl chalk her tip by placing the cube on the tip and then pushing it down one time like a button. She miscued a lot so I told her to rub it a little
 
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I definitely gotta get out more. I never imagined how many ways there are to chalk (or not chalk) a cue tip
 
A few months back a large group took over a bar table next to me, and one guy took my table's rack to use without asking and then didn't return it. I semi-politely asked to have it back and he complied.
 
Some of us learned stuff 50 - 60 years ago that is not cool now. Or we learned it from older players, playing for the cheese, and never thought about it until the fact that it did not make sense occurred to us when we were less impressionable. Then it's just an old habit dies hard thing. Like after using the cube, you are supposed to flick any loose chalk out (into the air onto the floor :) ) and place it gently on the rail blue side down for the next player. Just common courtesy! Well it was, some places, long ago....

About them wussie safeties: before TV changed things, heads-up 9-ball was often played push-out option on every change of turn. Now that makes safety duel a real duel. When, exactly, did BIH rule become common for missing a safe ball, in 8 ball? I first picked up a cue in the back of country grocery stores as a pre-teen, then learned in bars, not pool halls, so maybe it was more prevalent. Though IIUC, 14.1 would have been the game in a pool hall at that time anyway?

Probably everyone who has played with a sneaky has a story or 2 to tell about some guy who was overly convinced by the subterfuge that it was a house stick.
 
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