How do you handle light sharking?

How do you handle this situation

  • Stare him down for a sec and hope he gets the point

  • “Hey do me a favor, I can hear you guys.. thanks bud”

  • “Yo stfu please I’m shooting thank you”

  • No need to say a thing I’ve shot in Philipines this is nothing

  • Shoot through it great workout for my mental game

  • Other

  • Address his friend instead “Excuse me we’re playing for money I can hear you, thanks”


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A famous player of yesteryear was well known for the coin trick. I can't remember who at the moment but somebody will if they want to post it.

Hu
Funniest story was from Mosconi’s book. A regular opponent would try to distract him by spilling powder on his shoe 😁.
 
A famous player of yesteryear was well known for the coin trick. I can't remember who at the moment but somebody will if they want to post it.

Hu
Well in the Northwest it was Lake City Red. Coin jingles was one of his moves. My run in with him over his sharking tactics in a tournament gave me the inner fire to win my first Big tournament.
First he disputed a foul I called on him. First response was "that's a chicken shit call". That soon changed to "it didn't happen", when the tournament director got involved. So the decision was made to rerack and start over. It was an early game in a race to 4 eight ball bar box tournament. So after I broke the second time, he started in with the talk. Using the key word Cheater and just at the sharking volume. I got up off the shot and stood square in front of him and unloaded. "Whining Crying Shark move Expletive " was the opening of my high volume address, which ended with, "when it's your turn you can whine and cry all you want. When I am at the table, act like a man and sit there and STFU!"
The adrenaline elevation I got out of it took me all the way through the loosers side and victory in the finals. 🤷‍♂️ Lake City Red hopefully has been resting in Peace for a long time now.
 
I often play with headphones in. Not sure if this is frowned upon or not. Don't see many others doing this. No one has ever told me it's not acceptable.
I knew a guy years ago, before earbuds, who would put two quarters in his ear. That's two, not one, and only in one ear. I never asked.
 
Funniest story was from Mosconi’s book. A regular opponent would try to distract him by spilling powder on his shoe 😁.
I don't know if it is the same incident remembered differently but Mosconi said that was Irving Crane always dressed in a nice suit so they would have fun with him by accidentally spilling white powder on his trousers.
 
The most sharkable player I ever saw was a guy who was in our house league for a while. If he was down on a shot and somebody three tables away -- yes, really, 35 feet away -- was moving to their next shot, he would grumble and get up. He wasn't in league long.

On the other hand -- from my August 2000 column in Billiards Digest

I saw the other extreme in a practice session of Nick Varner's. Nick was attempting to run as many balls as possible in one pocket (that's another challenge you might try for focused practice). He had been shooting sets of this for a few hours on the table right in the middle of the pool room, which was chosen because it had the best cloth, although everyone who came in would have to pass it on the way back to the counter.
Two policemen — levis, blue windbreakers with "POLICE" on the back, guns strapped to their hips — came in the front door and proceeded by the table and back to the rear of the building to round up a teenager who hadn't really done anything but wasn't where he was supposed to be. I was watching as they got the kid into an arm-lock to move him away from his friends by the pin ball machines.
Nick continued to play. As the gendarmes moved towards the door, they stopped right by Nick's table to put the cuffs on for a more comfortable stroll to the car. Nick continued to play. He never mentioned the incident, and I believe he did not even notice that it was going on.
 
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depends on if it's a pull string (in which case I cut off the string so they can't turn it off while I'm shooting anymore) or a light switch. The switch I just cover with duct tape, more commonly referred to as Missouri chrome around these parts. There will be no light sharking where I'm the victim.
 
I don't know if it is the same incident remembered differently but Mosconi said that was Irving Crane always dressed in a nice suit so they would have fun with him by accidentally spilling white powder on his trousers.
Yeah, I had that backwards. After Crane would repeatedly dangle his big ‘ultra shiny‘ shoes in Willie’s line of sight by the pocket when he was down on a shot, it was WILLIE who would spill powder on them (and the pant legs).
 
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