Anyone know Robin Bass? Stands 5'6" weighs 115 lbs if that, and can drink from open to close and only get better as he plays. He ran a 9 pack on Snorks hammered beyond hope and after a night on the town and little to no sleep. Scary.
How Drunk Can a Player Be???
- Thread starter billiardshot
- Start date
In my case drinking alcohol moderately does improve how well I play. I have done this for years and I have proven it beyond coininsidence. What it does for me is relaxes me. My stoke is much better. When I'm about to play in a tourney I make sure I had an adequate amount of acohol in my system. Of course I don't drink to the point where I can't walk. Probably just below or above the legal limit to drive. It works for me. It doesn't work that way for everyone.
I don't know if you're talking about "Peru Paul" but it sounds like it. I knew Paul for many years and you're right, he would drink about a fifth before and during most, if not all, of the tournaments he played in. He had a tendancy to participate in a few other activities as well. He was a good guy, and as far as playing drunk, he could play with the best of them.cubswin said:
I, too, feel like a little beer in me helps. Not terribly much - it helps being a "sipper". 
I'll generally have two, maybe three pints over an evening. Just a bit in me tends to (I figure) relax me a little bit, just enough. I don't drink to the point that I, I guess, "feel" it - i.e. no impairment.
And yes, I *have* known people who played better drunk than sober. It's bizarre.
I'll generally have two, maybe three pints over an evening. Just a bit in me tends to (I figure) relax me a little bit, just enough. I don't drink to the point that I, I guess, "feel" it - i.e. no impairment.And yes, I *have* known people who played better drunk than sober. It's bizarre.
A few years ago, I decided to actually play some pool and get ready for our city's annual tournament. I probably played the most pool I've played in 7-8 years in a month stretch to get ready for the tournament and give a good showing.
The first day of the tournament I start drinking around noon with some friends and I'm doing pretty well in the winners bracket. About 10 pm I had to play the two-time defending champion of our tournament and he'd just won the US Open a few weeks before that. I was nervous to say the least, but I was just about hammered from drinking and doing shots all day. During our match, my buddies are sending me beers like crazy and I'm winning pretty handily. I've got him 8-4 and never missed a ball, then I've got a 3 ball that's a little difficult but definitely makeable with the next ball lined up on the 9-ball for the cheese to win the match. I get down to shoot and I don't know if it was the nerves or alcohol but I get dizzy and can't even focus on the ball and brick it. The guy makes the ball and combo, then runs out the next rack. I really shocked him as I asked for a break to go get a beer, more to cool my head than for the beer. I come back and play a perfect game, including the best safety of my life to win the match 9-6. The place went nuts with cheers and clapping for the local guy winning.
The next day I have an 11 am match and I'm hurting BAD. I couldn't even get a bloody mary until noon so I end up losing 9-0, I finish up 5-6th in the tourney. You MIGHT be able to play good pool while drinking, but you'd better not have a tough match the next morning if you get hangovers like me lol...
Now here's the kicker, after that tournament all of my friends think I need alcohol to play that good again so any tourney I go to, they start pouring shots down me. I absolutely do not play better drunk but I can't convince my buddies of that.
Shane
The first day of the tournament I start drinking around noon with some friends and I'm doing pretty well in the winners bracket. About 10 pm I had to play the two-time defending champion of our tournament and he'd just won the US Open a few weeks before that. I was nervous to say the least, but I was just about hammered from drinking and doing shots all day. During our match, my buddies are sending me beers like crazy and I'm winning pretty handily. I've got him 8-4 and never missed a ball, then I've got a 3 ball that's a little difficult but definitely makeable with the next ball lined up on the 9-ball for the cheese to win the match. I get down to shoot and I don't know if it was the nerves or alcohol but I get dizzy and can't even focus on the ball and brick it. The guy makes the ball and combo, then runs out the next rack. I really shocked him as I asked for a break to go get a beer, more to cool my head than for the beer. I come back and play a perfect game, including the best safety of my life to win the match 9-6. The place went nuts with cheers and clapping for the local guy winning.
The next day I have an 11 am match and I'm hurting BAD. I couldn't even get a bloody mary until noon so I end up losing 9-0, I finish up 5-6th in the tourney. You MIGHT be able to play good pool while drinking, but you'd better not have a tough match the next morning if you get hangovers like me
lol... Now here's the kicker, after that tournament all of my friends think I need alcohol to play that good again so any tourney I go to, they start pouring shots down me. I absolutely do not play better drunk but I can't convince my buddies of that.
Shane
biblewriter
Registered
How Drunk Can They Be?
There have been a lot of top pro drunks. Greenleaf was the prime example. He could run a 100 balls on a tough 5 x 10 tables when he was so drunk that he had to hang on to the rails to keep from falling down.
Do not get the idea that Greenleaf's drinking was cost-free. He lost more than one title to Taberski because of forfeiture or drunken incompetence.
I've seen many elite players who like to drink while they gamble. Up to a certain point (about a pint of whisky) they appear to be unaffected. Indeed, a few nips may relax them and bring on their super A game. At least for a few hours. If both players are experienced drinkers things work out even on the booze factor.
Years ago grifters had the notion that getting a top player drunk was a good hustle (WC Fields used the drunk pool player gag in his movies). The problem is that a great player has to get VERY drunk to fall off enough to lose. Anybody who doesn't belong in the game to begin with will go broke long before the booze makes the pro vulnerable.
Smarter conmen quickly realized that booze was too slow and they began "jarring" players with drugs that brought champions down to amateur level without the shooter realizing he had been drugged.
Jarring has pretty well stopped since four or five players died after being "jarred." The Feds take a very dim view of a drug poisoning and the culprits are still serving long prison terms.
Johnnyt said:
There have been a lot of top pro drunks. Greenleaf was the prime example. He could run a 100 balls on a tough 5 x 10 tables when he was so drunk that he had to hang on to the rails to keep from falling down.
Do not get the idea that Greenleaf's drinking was cost-free. He lost more than one title to Taberski because of forfeiture or drunken incompetence.
I've seen many elite players who like to drink while they gamble. Up to a certain point (about a pint of whisky) they appear to be unaffected. Indeed, a few nips may relax them and bring on their super A game. At least for a few hours. If both players are experienced drinkers things work out even on the booze factor.
Years ago grifters had the notion that getting a top player drunk was a good hustle (WC Fields used the drunk pool player gag in his movies). The problem is that a great player has to get VERY drunk to fall off enough to lose. Anybody who doesn't belong in the game to begin with will go broke long before the booze makes the pro vulnerable.
Smarter conmen quickly realized that booze was too slow and they began "jarring" players with drugs that brought champions down to amateur level without the shooter realizing he had been drugged.
Jarring has pretty well stopped since four or five players died after being "jarred." The Feds take a very dim view of a drug poisoning and the culprits are still serving long prison terms.