How good were you?
- Thread starter CGM
- Start date
knifemakermike
Registered
I played my first weekly 9-ball tournament when I was 14 years old. I didn't know it back then but our county was home to some of the best players and great pool halls in Florida.
I had zero idea what good was but I could run a few balls and just fell in love with the pool scene, something about Metallica songs and the Eagle's Hotel California playing on repeat in a dark dungy place lol.
I found out they had a weekly 9-ball with players ranked from 3-12 and I decided to enter even though it was $12 (a lot back then for a kid). They ranked me a 3 and I got smoked so bad the first two matched but still had a blast.
Fast forward 3-4 years later and I somehow got up to a 6 ranking and even won the weekly tournaments from time to time, probably most on luck.
Such vivid memories of a great culture, I guess that is why all these years later I started to play again.
I had zero idea what good was but I could run a few balls and just fell in love with the pool scene, something about Metallica songs and the Eagle's Hotel California playing on repeat in a dark dungy place lol.
I found out they had a weekly 9-ball with players ranked from 3-12 and I decided to enter even though it was $12 (a lot back then for a kid). They ranked me a 3 and I got smoked so bad the first two matched but still had a blast.
Fast forward 3-4 years later and I somehow got up to a 6 ranking and even won the weekly tournaments from time to time, probably most on luck.
Such vivid memories of a great culture, I guess that is why all these years later I started to play again.
My first one was a tournament full of bangers with a few just-above-average players and two real good ones. So I won a few rounds, but got nowhere near money.
Second tournament, I drew Rico Diks who was multi-european champion at that point. I didn't know what top-level pool was supposed to look like. I guess he showed me. I don't even know why I bothered to screw my cue together.
Second tournament, I drew Rico Diks who was multi-european champion at that point. I didn't know what top-level pool was supposed to look like. I guess he showed me. I don't even know why I bothered to screw my cue together.
For most people you found out you weren't nearly as good as you thought you were. It usually goes something like this. You knew that you weren't good enough to win the tournament, but you thought you could probably be competitive with a lot of the people in it and maybe even win some matches and at least keep the matches you lost pretty close. In short you felt like you probably belonged there even though you knew you had no chance to win the whole thing yet. Instead you probably ended up getting blown out of the water, maybe even going two and out, with lopsided scores to boot, and learned where your skills really stood.
I think the above is pretty typical for most people. The crappy and in some ways fun thing is that just like many/most of us you will likely have that very same "I'm not nearly as good as I thought I was" revelation several more times throughout your pool career as you continue to get better. As your own skill level increases, so does your ability to recognize and appreciate just how much better somebody else's skill level really is.
It is much worse in the competitive foosball world. My first introduction to competitive foosball went a little like this:
I was 24, in a bar playing pool, winning drinks all night. I look over at the foosball table and see a 5'2" girl practicing foosball alone. I'm a 6'3" dude and thought I knew how to play. She notices me watching, looks at me, smiles and asks if I want to play. We play out the few balls she has left and I kinda feel like I am holding in there. She then took the key to the table out, opened the top and dropped another rack (9) balls (she owned the table and all of the others in the area, it turns out).
We played about a dozen games and in that time I scored maybe 4 times. Turns out she was one of the top rated women in the world at that time.
Playing pool in a decent tourney for the first time is a bit like showing up to the Tour De France on a BMX bike. Playing competitive foosball tourneys for the first time is like taking that same BMX bike to Lemans.
The best pool player at the frat house has a chance at winning a game against an average tourney player. The best foosball player at the frat likely won't score twice a game against the lowest level of tourney pool players.
OK, so I know this is a response to a very old post, but I FINALLY pulled the trigger and played in my first 9 ball tournament last night.
Most of the guys there (about 30) were warming up for a bigger tournament today so there were quite a few decent shooters. I have been putting off playing in a tourney for a while mostly because I thought I would embarrass myself.
Round 1 I am pretty nervous but I luck out and draw probably the worst guy and win 5-1. Round 2 I draw probably the best guy in the place and lose 5-1. Round 3 I go hill-hill and wind up losing 4-3 but I feel like I should have won 4-1 but I dogged some shots and gave it away.
All in all it was awesome. I liked the tourney waaaaaay better than league and I can see myself slowly getting away from that format altogether. I really want to get better and it was nice to see where my skill set really is. Its hard to gauge in a handicapped league. It all went down pretty much how the above quote laid it out. Im not nearly as good as I thought I was but Im good enough to pay for the cheap lessons I got last night.