Good Players Never Drink?

As long as a person knows how to hold their drink it's all fine with me.
I don't think I agree with the statement that "good players never drink". There is a lot that goes when it comes to being a better player.
Anyone who thinks just by giving up booze they're going to be a ball or 1-half ball better is wrong. The only single thing that makes people better is the amount of time they put on the table doing productive practice sessions or just by matching up to get more seasoned.
 
aces805 said:
Its funny you bring up the pool room potentially offering healthy options. The league I participate in is here in sunny Southern California where people are into taking good care of themselves. If the pool room did offer veggie burgers, kale, tofu, etc...I think those items still would struggle to make $$$ for the room owner.

People just don't associate being in a dark pool hall at night with healthy lifestyle choices.

If your alternate universe where there are bright windows and healthy menu options were to exist anywhere, it would be here in LA. Bright, sunny days, beautiful girls, and people into being fit and healthy.

Myself, I enjoy tipping a couple of cold ones back while hanging out with pretty LA girls and running out on occasion. Life ain't all that bad when a man can do that.
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I shoot out of Orange County. You'd think its the ideal place for something like this, but its really not.

I'd think a bright, sunny room would be a hinderance to your game. Glare, light in your eyes and shadows would play hell. A dim room with a well lit table is the best way to go.

As for the healthy food, the bar I shoot out of has no kitchen. They let us bring in whatever food we want. Sometimes I eat healthy, sometimes its a 4 by 4 from In N Out.

Now, to the drinking. I'll have two to three drinks on league nights. I usually get there around 5:30-6pm and leave between 11:30 and midnight. When you factor in food I eat and water that I drink all night, that isn't enough alcohol to impair my game at all. I sure wouldn't want to drink coffee all night though. I think I'd play better drunk than I would with the shakes from too much caffeine.
 
I started playing while having a beer or two. While I was getting better, I was also drinking more and more. Sure, I could play great(for me) here and there while schnockered. Turns out, I have a more consistent game while sober and have more 'good' nights. So, when I really want to knuckle down in a big tournament or something, I try to make sure I'm sober. Other than that, I'll take another shot and a beer, bartender!
 
Other than the one video of keith, I don't see pro players have more than a beer, maybe 2.
Probably not enough to really affect much of anything. And who knows if that one video of keith
is typical, in terms of how much beer he has, how often he has it, and whether he played full speed or not.

I think your decision is sound but I'm a little biased, being a non-drinker makes it easy anyway.
I agree pool hall food often sucks drinks are always limited. It's all alcohol and a few sodas.
I'd love a place to serve a milkshake or smoothie.
 
CurvedCue said:
Since joining a league the temptation to drink while playing has never been stronger. I have finally decided not to drink during league games. You never see the pros drink while playing. And I rarely see the better league players drink. So clearly, if you want to be at your best you should be a teetotaler.

Has anyone else had to battle this problem?

I am a casual drinker and do love my beer. Which makes abstaining even harder.

Then again, I never drink while at the gym or swimming either.

I wish we could associate pool playing with things that were healthy rather then always putting it side by side with alcohol and chain-smoking and sunless, dank, depressing cave-like dwellings filled with loathsome worms, gruesome gnomes and hideous witches. (Excuse the decorative lingo :D)

Like wouldn't it be so cool to have a pool parlor that served power shakes and smoothies and high quality cappucinos? And the sun shined through and pretty damsels in white dresses with flowers in their blonde hair brought you organic free-range turkey or vegetarian burgers, instead of atrocious greasy junk that barely passed for food?

Sorry, I guess I went off on a longtime fantasy. :p
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Some great players drink when they play and play on a high level.
 
Juicing

Whoa now Curve Cue! What about "JUICING"? I would pay $8 for a large green juice at any pool tournament.

JoeyA
 
Black-Balled said:
Plenty of pros drink. You should attend a tournament, if you want to see proof.

More than a few people drink before going to the gym too.

I am pretty much with Stones: I used to keep it clean and chase the cash, but now I'd rather have fun. And I am not sure there is a measurable skill difference either, as long as I not get plastered.

There are certainly examples to support either side of the drink/ don't drink argument. Some people play better with a lotta booze in 'em, some people don't. That doesn't affect our choices for ourselves.
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Keith McCready was known to enjoy an adult beverage on occasion while playing I believe, allegedly.
 
hang-the-9 said:
This is probably just me, and I may not fall into the "good player" category LOL, but it seems that even if I have ONE beer, I lose.

Not sure why, but I've kept track and it's almost 100% true for me. I only remember winning once after drinking during a match. Coffee, I win, beer I lose.
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Forget the beer. Put some Sambucca or Kalua in your coffee. The best of both worlds. :grin:
 
Bardtj said:
Was watching a match between Buddy Hall and Keith McCready US Open 9 Ball. Between racks Keith would be seen sippin on some beer. Guess who was the victor... Mr. McCready. I think if it loosens a player up, it can't hinder there game.
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I have never known Keith to "sip" on a beer.lol
 
JumpinJoe said:
Huge markup on fountain sodas everywhere.
Cost $2.25 a soda where I play, has to be more profit there then a bottle of beer that runs $2.50/$3.50

Ice tea $1.75

Whiskey, shots, mixed drinks, now that's another story, that's a money maker
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I can buy a keg of Bud Light for my home kegerator for just under $110 here in TN. have no idea what the bar pays. There is 165 12oz beers in a keg so a beer costs around 67 cents. So, $2.50 per draft will yield around $1.83 in profit.

Coke is around $50 per BIB bottle. It is mixed at a ratio of 1 gallon syrup to 5 gallons of water. So a 5 gallon syrup bottle will yield 30 gallons of fountain drink. If served at 20oz increments in a cup with a straw and lid then it should cost around 25 cents.

People usually drink more beers than coke.
I have no idea how the whiskey cost works out due to the tax rates a such.

Black-Balled said:
Plenty of pros drink. You should attend a tournament, if you want to see proof.

More than a few people drink before going to the gym too.

I am pretty much with Stones: I used to keep it clean and chase the cash, but now I'd rather have fun. And I am not sure there is a measurable skill difference either, as long as I not get plastered.

There are certainly examples to support either side of the drink/ don't drink argument. Some people play better with a lotta booze in 'em, some people don't. That doesn't affect our choices for ourselves.
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If I'm playing normal league, beer tends to be a detriment if I drink more than one a hour. Then I get sleepy earlier.

If I'm playing in a tourney like last weekends US Amateur Championship qualifier, where my adrenaline is skyrocketing, then drinking a beer an hour and alternating it with a Coke or coffee every other hour is stone cold cheating. I finished second in my bracket at Mr. Cues in Atlanta this weekend. My high finish was partly due to the synergistic effects of the alcohol, caffeine and adrenaline.
 
JoeyA said:
Whoa now Curve Cue! What about "JUICING"? I would pay $8 for a large green juice at any pool tournament. JoeyA
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Yeah, seriously! Back in the day (waaay back) I used to hang out at this joint in San Diego: http://www.yelp.com/biz/society-billiards-and-cafe-pacific-beach#query:billiards hall

They actually had GOOD food and a nice selection of non-alcoholic drinks, even an espresso machine. Also, a front patio with bay windows that allowed in healthy, Vitamin-D filled light. And to top it off, you might find an attractive young lady bringing you your hand-tossed pizza. No warty trolls or gnomes. And you were just a few blocks from the beach. So catch some waves, brah, before your 9-ball match. :thumbup:

…. drinking a beer an hour and alternating it with a Coke or coffee every other hour is stone cold cheating. I finished second in my bracket at Mr. Cues in Atlanta this weekend. My high finish was partly due to the synergistic effects of the alcohol, caffeine and adrenaline.

So alcohol and caffeine are Pool's version of performance enchancing drugs?! :eek:
 
The drink / don't drink decision ... tough sometimes

I'm ready to start up a new season with my team. My team mates are all serious about winning and doing their best. While I'm more interested in having fun. But because I happen to be the their top player, they don't ask me to bear down on each game. They know I'll come away with my fair share of wins.

In past seasons I've enjoyed a couple of cold beers each league night. This season, I've decided to go dry. No, I'm not suddenly getting serious. I just haven't really been much of a drinker until I started playing league again. In my younger days, I could power down several drinks and be just fine the next morning. Now, just 2 beers can rough me up. So it's going to be non-alky beers or some other soft drink this season.

As far as Keith McCready drinking, yes, he could power down the beers and still shoot lights out. I've seen him for countless hours and most of that time, he had a beer somewhere nearby.

Keep in mind, some people just shoot better when they're buzzed only because that's the way they're used to playing. Take that buzz away and they get too edgy - and play below their regular speed. Heck, I've known guys get so smashed they had to brace themselves against the table but then, shoot the nutz off everyone in the room.
 
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I've always thought that playing in the same manner as you practice should give you the best chance to play your best.
 
when you win 100 of them they all kind of run together, with or without alcohol.

upindaklub said:
Keith McCready was known to enjoy an adult beverage on occasion while playing I believe, allegedly.
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We all did back in those days. Buddy can't remember half of the tournaments he won during a 10 year stretch....of course when you win 100 of them they all kind of run together, with or without alcohol. Pool and booze goes together like peanut butter and jelly.....just don't consume too much "jelly". ;)
 
I've never been much of a drinker at all. The last time I drank a beer,I had some kind of unexplained episode 2 1/2 hours later (I wasn't "dosed") and left my weekend bar in an ambulance,with a self-inflicted skull fracture. Never again.

On the other hand,years ago Scotty Townsend offered me the 7 ball on the condition that I had to drink a beer every time he did,and he'd spot me 30 :eek: of those too.

During the tournament at the time this was offered,he stayed in a 10-ball ring game for literally 2 days,and when I asked he said he was on his 71st beer.

I have no reason to think he was bullshittin'. He was also several thousand ahead at the end of the ring game.

The version of the story about how Buddy and Efren got matched up at Red's in '85 Grady told me was that Buddy had been on like a 2 day bender and was literally passed out when the game was arranged. Buddy wins a 10-ahead 10-ball in under 2 hours. Tommy D.
 
I love drinking, but it is rare you will see me drink when playing pool.
 
Proof in results?

Stones said:
I've been playing a looooonng time.

When I was younger, any competition whether it be league, tournament or gambling was played for one reason: to win. I never drank while I was playing.

Now, league play has taken on more of a social setting to be with friends and having fun so I'll have one or two while catching up on the weekly gossip with my team mates depending on the ability of our opponents.

If we are playing a tough team, I'll buckle down and hold the drinking to a minimum.

My attitude has changed over the years from "win, win, win" to " screw it, if it isn't fun, why bother?".



Stones
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I obviously can't speak for others, but here's my experience.

I began drinking at 14, and drank way too much in the '60s. It contributed to losing a marriage and at least one very good job.

But I still had success in bowling and pool during those years. I once ran sixteen banks while VERY drunk. But I knew, even that night, that that was an abberation.

I was not usually the best bowler in leagues I competed in, yet often finished the season with high average, because I virtually NEVER even drank a beer at least till the tail end of the last game. In 1967, I broke almost every scoring record in our local league association.

The same with pool. I played in some quite strong leagues and on many championship teams at all levels. Though usually NOT the best player in the league, I managed to win the high average title 47 times...because I saved my drinking till the last game or after the match.

The last time I actually got "drunk" was 1986, and my best years came in the '90s.
 
Good players never drink?, but alot of great players did drink and drink more!

I would say the newer generation of pool players dont drink nearly as much as the generation before them.

Now iam talking about real good pool players that gambled, 60s 70 s 80s.

I dont no for sure about the players in the real early days, but i would guess they liked the bottle also!
 
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