Last night I got into a big argument with a young guy at the pool hall. I got so loud that the players on the next table suspended their race to 4 for $200 game until I quieted down. It's not like me to get this upset about anything at a pool hall, but I did and I'm still fuming a bit the next morning. So maybe detailing the problem will help me get over it.
I proposed a race to 3 for $20 to a young guy at the pool hall last night. We have played several times, always for very small stakes, and have usually played a friendly game with one another. I think he won $20 the last time we played. He called the flip correctly and broke the balls from the right side of the table. After trading safeties for a while, he picked up a couple of balls. Later, after he made a third ball, I commented that he had three to none for me. Quite a while later, the score was 6 for him and two for me. I started really focusing on my safeties and played as carefully as I could, eventually making a bank to bring the score to 6 to 3. So I grind and grind and grind and eventually even the score at 6 to 6. Another long period of safeties and I get another ball and now need just one. A couple of times my opponent just missed a bank that would have allowed him to run the two remaining balls, but miss he did. Finally, about an hour into the game, he leaves me a long almost straight shot for the win. As I get down on the shot, I see him move to stand directly in the line of the shot. I get up off the shot and ask him to move, which he does. I roll the ball in and get ready to break for the second game. But he says it is HIS break and the score is one to one in games!!!! What????!!!! He says this is the second game and that he won the first game. The more we talk about this the madder I became - I had worked my butt off to win this first game and now he says it's one to one and his break!!! He does remember winning the coin flip and breaking the balls, but says the ball I just made was the winning ball of our SECOND game! I point out that I NEVER break from the left side of the table giving me the right hand pocket so it is absolutely clear that I didn't break that game. Also, we ALWAYS mark games with a coin and there is no coin on the table. He claims that at one point I said, "You've got one and I've got none." This was probably his misremembering my comment that he had three balls and I had none earlier in the game. I could go on and on, but I think I've given enough of a description.
After coming home and thinking about it, I decided that he probably believed he was right as it would be just too bizarre to think that he was doing this in an attempt to cheat me out of a game. Maybe drugs or alcohol were clouding his memory and judgment? Maybe fatigue? So I will give him the benefit of the doubt and see what he says when I see him next. Surely, once his head cleared, he realized that he was wrong and maybe he will admit that when I see him next.
I proposed a race to 3 for $20 to a young guy at the pool hall last night. We have played several times, always for very small stakes, and have usually played a friendly game with one another. I think he won $20 the last time we played. He called the flip correctly and broke the balls from the right side of the table. After trading safeties for a while, he picked up a couple of balls. Later, after he made a third ball, I commented that he had three to none for me. Quite a while later, the score was 6 for him and two for me. I started really focusing on my safeties and played as carefully as I could, eventually making a bank to bring the score to 6 to 3. So I grind and grind and grind and eventually even the score at 6 to 6. Another long period of safeties and I get another ball and now need just one. A couple of times my opponent just missed a bank that would have allowed him to run the two remaining balls, but miss he did. Finally, about an hour into the game, he leaves me a long almost straight shot for the win. As I get down on the shot, I see him move to stand directly in the line of the shot. I get up off the shot and ask him to move, which he does. I roll the ball in and get ready to break for the second game. But he says it is HIS break and the score is one to one in games!!!! What????!!!! He says this is the second game and that he won the first game. The more we talk about this the madder I became - I had worked my butt off to win this first game and now he says it's one to one and his break!!! He does remember winning the coin flip and breaking the balls, but says the ball I just made was the winning ball of our SECOND game! I point out that I NEVER break from the left side of the table giving me the right hand pocket so it is absolutely clear that I didn't break that game. Also, we ALWAYS mark games with a coin and there is no coin on the table. He claims that at one point I said, "You've got one and I've got none." This was probably his misremembering my comment that he had three balls and I had none earlier in the game. I could go on and on, but I think I've given enough of a description.
After coming home and thinking about it, I decided that he probably believed he was right as it would be just too bizarre to think that he was doing this in an attempt to cheat me out of a game. Maybe drugs or alcohol were clouding his memory and judgment? Maybe fatigue? So I will give him the benefit of the doubt and see what he says when I see him next. Surely, once his head cleared, he realized that he was wrong and maybe he will admit that when I see him next.
