How did you first start to play pool?

Never even picked up a cue until I was a college freshman. Then Jack White came to my school for the first time, and held court! Wow! I was completely, totally, fanatically, hopelessly...hooked for life. Now, 40 years later, pool is my passion, my hobby, AND my job! Life is good...:D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Early 1960's... 2 of my friends had JC Higgins tables in their basements. That's where it began. They definitely were not Gold Crowns.
 
DogsPlayingPool said:
Cuaba,

That's what you call a "real pool hall", a row of bar boxes? The real pool hall was behind you where that table labeled "Brunswick" was stationed. :D:p

When you gonna be back in sunny Southern Cal?
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Actually that wasn't the first real pool hall I went to. It was a Brunswick bowling alley with a pool room full of Gold Crowns.

I'll be back in Cali when I have a good excuse. I'm always lookin for one.
 
Cuaba said:
Actually that wasn't the first real pool hall I went to. It was a Brunswick bowling alley with a pool room full of Gold Crowns.

I'll be back in Cali when I have a good excuse. I'm always lookin for one.
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Yeah, back in my day every alley had a room. Some with GC's and some with Anniversaries. Anyway, definitely let me know when you get out this way again. Maybe we can get the boys together again for another little tournament.;)
 
I had a 6 foot table in my basement when I was growing up. I used to play for hours playing a game I think was called 15 all by myself when I was like 6 years old. Now I have a 9 foot diamond in the new addition of the same house.
 
2 semesters ago, I always used to study with one of my buddies at school who seems to be better than me at just about everything I try to do. There was a pool table in the lounge of his residence hall so one day we went there just to shoot some games. I'd never played pool in my life before then but when I saw him play, he looked so comical and tragically horrendous at the game that I thought "pfft I bet I can beat him". He won 15 racks of 8 ball in a row and I called it a day.

My anger led me to start practicing (because I simply could not grasp the concept of him being better than me with such disgusting form, regardless of whether or not I knew how to play), somehow I managed to go the first 50 hours or so without even being able to hit the cue ball without miscueing... then I realized I just fell in love with the game... So couple months back he called me to go shoot some games, first rack of the night I run out on him and he straight up quits so I've never even had the chance to snatch those 15 racks back LOL
 
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I got started banging balls around in high school at a local pool hall, not too many serious players, it was mostly a high school hang out. We just hit balls into rails and thought we were a lot better than we really were. Another buddy had a table in his basement, so we would play a couple games every now and again.

My pool epiphany came early freshman year at the University of Pittsburgh. The Rec Center had 13 8' gold crowns, a 10' Snooker Table, and the century old Brunswick 3 Cushion table from the old Schenley Hotel in Pittsburgh. I spotted someone 3 doors down in my dorm with a cue case, and tagged along with him to the first meeting of the year for the Billiards Club. They had a $3 entry, handicapped 9 ball tournament every thursday night. I don't think I won a single match all first semester, but I was hooked.

I played almost every day, probably to the detriment of my GPA. That dorm neighbor became a close friend, and it helped my game tremendously to play with him. He was an A level player who had played for 6 - 7 years already, had played in Jr. Nationals, Valley Forge Jr.'s, etc...

Sadley, all the pool tables are now gone from the Pitt Rec Center in favor of Dance Dance Revolution machines and other garbage. The Billiards club is also gone. Almost all of my circle of Pitt friends that stay in touch were from the Billiards Club, it was sad to see that program go away.
 
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Back In The Day................

Here I am back in my great uncle's basement, circa 1974:
 

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1987. I was 12 the first time I got to touch and play on a small coin op table. My mom's boyfriend a New Yorker who moved to Puerto Rico had one in his country house. It was awesome. I was the only girl and whooped all the boys. But I never played with one again until I was 15 and living in Rockville MD. We had a really nice Pool hall on the same block as our apartment building. All the HS kids went there for fun. When I was 18 one of the owners took me under his wing. Let me play for free and he tried to teach me.

A couple of years back our Marriage therapist told us to go on date nights at least once a week. That's when we started getting regular playing time. Now we have a table at home, but we love to go out to the pool hall, we've made tons of new friends, kind people and they even give me the APA discount even though I told them not a member. Isn't that sweet!

To this day I've never played pool in a pool hall or bar in Puerto Rico. I'd love to but it's typically a place where lots of trouble happens. Drug dealers, muggings and murders. I'm not really interested in leaving my kids orphans :(
Cest la vie
Loren
 
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When I was 15 years old I got my first job, with my twin brother, at a local courier office unloading the truck and folding newspapers. My check would be about $20 bucks for a days work and I couldn't do much with it. My brother and I would go to the local bowling alley and get $20 bucks worth of quarters and play Friday night and sometimes Saturday night. We got hooked on pool. I bought a Titanium Walmart cue and a home-made blue jean case from a guy for a few bucks and I thought I was the stuff. I would walk to the pool hall with that thing and shoot almost everyday. My one day a week pay check and the urge to out do my brother on the table got me hooked
 
I was born on the back table of mom and dad`s pool room. I kicked (literally) a ball two rails before the cord was cut. :rolleyes:
 
I was 16, my brother (17 years older than me) asked if I wanted to go shoot some pool. When I told him I'd never played pool, he promptly fixed that problem. Took me to downtown Lake Jackson to Shooters (now closed and turned into a church, which is ironic) and taught me to play. After, he gave me a cue stick that he'd won playing poker in the Navy. Thanks to this forum I finally identified that cue as an Adam ST/1 Chimaera and still use it.

I played pool off and on casually for years. My dad liked shooting but the only tables were at bars, and as he was head deacon in his church and my mom was a Sunday school teacher and youth leader, we didn't shoot much. I never really got serious about casual games shot with friends.

After my divorce a couple years ago, I discovered a bar near my new apartment that had free pool. After a while, I met several players from local APA leagues as well as a few hustlers. (did them no good, I don't play for money unless it's a tournament) I started getting serious about improving my game, and was finally asked to join a team in time for this summer session. Now I'm an addict, and I know my "fix" is going to end up costing quite a bit.....

But it's so much damn fun!
 
Growing up with two of my friends that are brothers and they were both crazy good at everything they did. One day we played pool at the community center and it turns out they had one flaw. So naturally I love pool because I could win and still do. The older brother and I traded summers being taller and I also won that one. That's probably the only two that I won.

P.S. and cribbage
 
growing up my grand parents had a gc1 in the back room of their house. i started at about 4 or , they didnt let me use a cue the first few years so i had to push the cue ball with my hand starting out but that got me going been playing for 13 years now.
 
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