How has pool affected your life...

Chili Palmer

Chili Palmer

Give or take an 1"
Silver Member
Like the title says - How has pool affected your life?

Just like most people here, I have a long history with pool going back to my childhood, I don't have time to tell any stories right now because I have to head out the door but I've been wanting to start this thread for a long time but keep forgetting about it.

To start...

I used to go the bars with the old man when I was around 10 or 12, he'd sit at the bar and hit on the waitress and I would go play on the table and would throw quarters in the juke-box, when I was thirsty I would go to the bar tender and tell her I wanted my "usual", a Shirley Temple - I was 10 or 12 :)

When I really started playing in 1986 I met a few people in my life that changed the direction of my life drastically later on.


What's your story?


I'm sure this is a duplicate of some past thread and my apologies if so.
 
A hot summer day in 1972 after a Little League game I walked into the Pool Hall. You know the one where you yell rack after the game and the house man comes to the table and racks the balls and you throw down a dime. I could not even play and miscued for about 3 shots and the grump ole dude grabbed the house cue from my hand and told me I could not play.

I was mesmerized as i would go back and watch the rest of the summer and watch the guys play. Front table was Snooker, Next table was quarter on 3, 6, 9, Next table was .50 on the 3, 6, 9,. And 3rd table which was center and in from of where house man hung out was always $1 on 3,6,9 or if any road men came in looking for action

Fast forward 2 years and now my brother was working there as night time rack man and I had educated myself a little more and could run out some. He allowed me to practice a lot And my game improved.

At the age of 17 I could win local action but never had the jingle to gamble high level.

Now to address the op, At age 20 I married the daughter of the now day shift rack man. I had won a lot of local tournaments and gambled daily on those same tables but was now in and out of action on the main table. I was the night shift house man and during the winter lived large. Summer life became so poor that I eventually had to get a real job. The new craze was video games and the electronics.

So my life was molded around pool and was pool was my until pool died in our little town. At one time there were 3 pool rooms and they were all booming. I would bet this is the story of a lot of folks other than maybe getting married to the house man daughter.

I am now 62 years old and have a Diamond in my house and try and play daily. Summary is I have obtained shortstop speed and the occasional night where people might think who is this guy. Not very often tho. Lol
 
It has been such a POSITIVE force in my life. I love to play and have since I was a teen.
I am 47 and now addicted to one pocket... I also have far more cues than I ever thought I would.
My life revolves around pool and I am blessed to have built a business working in pool tables.
I am working on a new career path in pool, but not just tables now: LIGHTING AS WELL!

About 3.5 years ago the most amazing gift God has ever given my wife and I, is our Daughter Hannah Lee.
My career in pool has CHANGED MY LIFE FOR THE BETTER. I could not be more thankful.

Here is my story in the mechanics forum about my career in pool :

I started my company on this day in 2012!! WOW!

Today I celebrate 10 YEARS IN THE BILLIARD INDUSTRY!! I just received my first deposit of the next DECADE in the mail a few minutes ago!!! I am very proud of my business and its growth. I never thought it would go this far. My wife Lesley has been an essential part of all of it and recently...
forums.azbilliards.com

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trentfromtoledo said:
It has been such a POSITIVE force in my life. I love to play and have since I was a teen.
I am 47 and now addicted to one pocket... I also have far more cues than I ever thought I would.
My life revolves around pool and I am blessed to have built a business working in pool tables.
I am working on a new career path in pool, but not just tables now: LIGHTING AS WELL!

About 3.5 years ago the most amazing gift God has ever given my wife and I, is our Daughter Hannah Lee.
My career in pool has CHANGED MY LIFE FOR THE BETTER. I could not be more thankful.

Here is my story in the mechanics forum about my career in pool :

I started my company on this day in 2012!! WOW!

Today I celebrate 10 YEARS IN THE BILLIARD INDUSTRY!! I just received my first deposit of the next DECADE in the mail a few minutes ago!!! I am very proud of my business and its growth. I never thought it would go this far. My wife Lesley has been an essential part of all of it and recently...
forums.azbilliards.com

View attachment 640680View attachment 640681View attachment 640682
Click to expand...
Great story, Trent
 
Pool has been the one thing I know I can go out, forget about any issues I have at work or home and zone out.

It does bring frustration when I'm not playing well, ha ha... mostly due to gaps in practice or when I've not had enough sleep.
Pressure in tournaments, league matches I've played a dumb shot or missed a sitter.
But the positives far outweigh the negatives.

On and off I've been involved in promoting the game, including Snooker, running tournaments and associations at State level.
Been in media for it, run websites and forums - met a lot of my heroes.
Dabbling a bit with software now, been doing testing with the Salotto team and some folks at FargoRate.

My 9ft Olio table at home is more of a workbench these days, when I had a good 10 year gap again.
Started playing again in 2021 and this year putting the time in again to try and get in top 10 Australian rankings as that has got going again with a new association running things now.
So I might invest money again in getting that table sorted, or buy a Diamond Pro-Am 9ft.

I own a few businesses, my back ground is in Engineering, but now more into projects, start ups and even own a cafe.
I did attempt working with a few people with getting a poolhall going in Sydney, had 8 9ft tables ready in storage and a very famous Snooker table.
The 2010 Finals table my country man Neil Robertson won his World Title on.... alas, did not work out and that table is still in storage.
It will go to a good owner one day or maybe a new venture.

So really, the last 30 years or so Pool, Snooker has been a big part of my life when I think about it...
Not stopping anytime soon, knocking on the door of 50 and I have good contact lenses so still play.
Knees get a bit sore sometimes, and I'm way too fat at the moment. Ha ha...
Still, I keep telling the Wife if I play 5 times a week it is good exercise -- she ain't buying that though :-)
 
Kentucky Rack Man said:
A hot summer day in 1972 after a Little League game I walked into the Pool Hall. You know the one where you yell rack after the game and the house man comes to the table and racks the balls and you throw down a dime. I could not even play and miscued for about 3 shots and the grump ole dude grabbed the house cue from my hand and told me I could not play.

I was mesmerized as i would go back and watch the rest of the summer and watch the guys play. Front table was Snooker, Next table was quarter on 3, 6, 9, Next table was .50 on the 3, 6, 9,. And 3rd table which was center and in from of where house man hung out was always $1 on 3,6,9 or if any road men came in looking for action

Fast forward 2 years and now my brother was working there as night time rack man and I had educated myself a little more and could run out some. He allowed me to practice a lot And my game improved.

At the age of 17 I could win local action but never had the jingle to gamble high level.

Now to address the op, At age 20 I married the daughter of the now day shift rack man. I had won a lot of local tournaments and gambled daily on those same tables but was now in and out of action on the main table. I was the night shift house man and during the winter lived large. Summer life became so poor that I eventually had to get a real job. The new craze was video games and the electronics.

So my life was molded around pool and was pool was my until pool died in our little town. At one time there were 3 pool rooms and they were all booming. I would bet this is the story of a lot of folks other than maybe getting married to the house man daughter.

I am now 62 years old and have a Diamond in my house and try and play daily. Summary is I have obtained shortstop speed and the occasional night where people might think who is this guy. Not very often tho. Lol
Click to expand...

Nice story. On the flip side, my ex-wife hated the fact I played pool and it was one of our main issues for many years. I got out of it in 2004 after moving to Idaho and when I got back in it in 2018 we were separated but working on things (fools mistake) and she finally came around and encouraged me to play, she knew it was my happy place. I finally moved out in late 2018 and let her keep the furniture and I rented my current house and bought a table instead of living room furniture ;)
 
trentfromtoledo said:
It has been such a POSITIVE force in my life. I love to play and have since I was a teen.
I am 47 and now addicted to one pocket... I also have far more cues than I ever thought I would.
My life revolves around pool and I am blessed to have built a business working in pool tables.
I am working on a new career path in pool, but not just tables now: LIGHTING AS WELL!

About 3.5 years ago the most amazing gift God has ever given my wife and I, is our Daughter Hannah Lee.
My career in pool has CHANGED MY LIFE FOR THE BETTER. I could not be more thankful.

Here is my story in the mechanics forum about my career in pool :

I started my company on this day in 2012!! WOW!

Today I celebrate 10 YEARS IN THE BILLIARD INDUSTRY!! I just received my first deposit of the next DECADE in the mail a few minutes ago!!! I am very proud of my business and its growth. I never thought it would go this far. My wife Lesley has been an essential part of all of it and recently...
forums.azbilliards.com

View attachment 640680View attachment 640681View attachment 640682
Click to expand...

Awesome, for a brief time last year I was involved in a pool league that had some pretty good potential and we started making dinner money, as opposed to lunch money, and it felt good to earn some money on pool. I remember sitting in a bar once talking with a guy from work and there were two tables with matches that were involved with our league. Pretty cool sitting there eating lunch watching someone play in your pool league. Turns out, one of the other founding members couldn't make a hard decision so I stepped away. They seem to be doing OK as I noticed their logo on Chohan's shirt recently in one of his matches, felt pretty good knowing I helped get that going. I have another pool related idea but trying to sort out the rest of my life first. Ex-wife just moved out of state so I will be a single parent for the next 8 years, still figuring out how that will work but hopefully, I'll get going pretty soon on the pool thing.
 
telinoz said:
Pool has been the one thing I know I can go out, forget about any issues I have at work or home and zone out.

It does bring frustration when I'm not playing well, ha ha... mostly due to gaps in practice or when I've not had enough sleep.
Pressure in tournaments, league matches I've played a dumb shot or missed a sitter.
But the positives far outweigh the negatives.

On and off I've been involved in promoting the game, including Snooker, running tournaments and associations at State level.
Been in media for it, run websites and forums - met a lot of my heroes.
Dabbling a bit with software now, been doing testing with the Salotto team and some folks at FargoRate.

My 9ft Olio table at home is more of a workbench these days, when I had a good 10 year gap again.
Started playing again in 2021 and this year putting the time in again to try and get in top 10 Australian rankings as that has got going again with a new association running things now.
So I might invest money again in getting that table sorted, or buy a Diamond Pro-Am 9ft.

I own a few businesses, my back ground is in Engineering, but now more into projects, start ups and even own a cafe.
I did attempt working with a few people with getting a poolhall going in Sydney, had 8 9ft tables ready in storage and a very famous Snooker table.
The 2010 Finals table my country man Neil Robertson won his World Title on.... alas, did not work out and that table is still in storage.
It will go to a good owner one day or maybe a new venture.

So really, the last 30 years or so Pool, Snooker has been a big part of my life when I think about it...
Not stopping anytime soon, knocking on the door of 50 and I have good contact lenses so still play.
Knees get a bit sore sometimes, and I'm way too fat at the moment. Ha ha...
Still, I keep telling the Wife if I play 5 times a week it is good exercise -- she ain't buying that though :)
Click to expand...

Sounds like you've done quite a bit. Are you trying to get Salotto going in AUS? We tried working with them when we started our league last year but their pricing structure just wasn't feasible for us as we were trying to keep the players costs to a minimum as we were all tired paying too much each night to play a few games of pool.
 
Chili Palmer said:
Sounds like you've done quite a bit. Are you trying to get Salotto going in AUS? We tried working with them when we started our league last year but their pricing structure just wasn't feasible for us as we were trying to keep the players costs to a minimum as we were all tired paying too much each night to play a few games of pool.
Click to expand...
Yes, I've helped get it going in Australia and worked out a Salotto Series - tournament based, using Challonge to keep a draw going.

But, using the power of Salotto to let players meet and play whenever, wherever (has to be 7ft table if 7ft tournament, or 9ft for 9ft tournament).
As the results are FargoRated, I see the outcome under Public Matches in the FargoRate App - to then enter in the Challonge draw.
They get 8 weeks to play 3 matches in groups of 6 round robin.
Then we have a 1 day shoot out at a venue needing only 4 tables, so makes it an easier sell for venues who give up 8 to 16 tables for a normal tournament.

The players pay as they go for the Salotto rates, the deeper you get, the more matches you've paid for but the prize money more than makes up for it and as its not a traditional weekend tournament, it scales to be as big as possible - really no cap.
AUD$50 buy in.
The Fargo fees via Salotto are peanuts really, but I can see why in a league format it would add up as you tried.
Players covering min 3 matches in 8 weeks, and 4 or so on finals day is not a big deal.

Players cover their own table fees or if its at a friends house, depends on the host's arrangement. On that note, I'm trying to convince players with tables at home to host a group of 6 during that 8 week period - they get to meet new players as well, adds to the social element.
So in theory, you end up with a City Wide Poolhall - not just relying on one venue which often comes with baggage and conditions.

If it goes well, I have worked out a Salotto version of Challonge/CueScore - that makes it even easier for TD's than using the App and having to check results elsewhere. That is a few sprints down the road on their roadmap, as their App is still the priority.
 
In my first post, I mentioned I had met some people due to pool that would drastically change my life. The buddy who got me into pool was on my league back in Omaha and we needed a sub one night and he says his brother in law plays a little pool so he calls him up. When his brother in law showed up he and I got a long great and it turns out he took 2nd in the state college championships back in his day. He was about 10 years older than me so I'm guessing his college days were late 80's. Anyways, me, the BIL, his brother and two of their friends, and my friend who now lives in Boston were on that team for almost 10 years together and had some pretty good times.

It drastically affected my life in 2001 when the company I worked for as a transportation manager went out of business and the BIL offered me a job at their startup working in the offender supervision world - we built GPS house arrest units. At that job I ended up traveling the country for 8 years and have met some pretty amazing people all across the country. And because it was a traveling job it allowed me to move to Idaho on a whim. Had I not played pool I never would've met him and not had the chance to travel the country (I did drive OTR for a year but that's a different experience as you're always going from point a to b) and get the experiences I've had.


Funny side bar about being addicted to pool: when I started playing it was all I could think of - all day every day. I remember sitting at a friends house and there about 6 or 8 of us in the room and someone would say "what about this" (speaking to me), and I would have to say I'm sorry, what? Because all I was focusing on was trying to figure out to bank a ball of the couch and have it go between the chair and the table, or other random pool shit involving their furniture, yeah, I was hooked.

Still today it's my happy place. I come home from work, put my stuff down, walk straight to the pool table and just shoot balls. I can do that for hours. Sometimes I care what I'm doing but most times I don't, just hitting balls, watching how a firm hit affects the action, banking, kicks, 3 railers, it doesn't matter - as long as I'm at a table I'm good ;)
 
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telinoz said:
Yes, I've helped get it going in Australia and worked out a Salotto Series - tournament based, using Challonge to keep a draw going.

But, using the power of Salotto to let players meet and play whenever, wherever (has to be 7ft table if 7ft tournament, or 9ft for 9ft tournament).
As the results are FargoRated, I see the outcome under Public Matches in the FargoRate App - to then enter in the Challonge draw.
They get 8 weeks to play 3 matches in groups of 6 round robin.
Then we have a 1 day shoot out at a venue needing only 4 tables, so makes it an easier sell for venues who give up 8 to 16 tables for a normal tournament.

The players pay as they go for the Salotto rates, the deeper you get, the more matches you've paid for but the prize money more than makes up for it and as its not a traditional weekend tournament, it scales to be as big as possible - really no cap.
AUD$50 buy in.
The Fargo fees via Salotto are peanuts really, but I can see why in a league format it would add up as you tried.
Players covering min 3 matches in 8 weeks, and 4 or so on finals day is not a big deal.

Players cover their own table fees or if its at a friends house, depends on the host's arrangement. On that note, I'm trying to convince players with tables at home to host a group of 6 during that 8 week period - they get to meet new players as well, adds to the social element.
So in theory, you end up with a City Wide Poolhall - not just relying on one venue which often comes with baggage and conditions.

If it goes well, I have worked out a Salotto version of Challonge/CueScore - that makes it even easier for TD's than using the App and having to check results elsewhere. That is a few sprints down the road on their roadmap, as their App is still the priority.
Click to expand...

Sounds a bit like our league, it was basically a challenge league where people challenged each other to move up the ladder and they could play anywhere, anytime. At one point the local hall was so busy they required our league players to call them in advance to schedule their matches because they didn't have enough tables. I would like to think our league is what drove them to go with all diamonds, but can't confirm.

The difference with us was, we weren't really part of the Salotto experience so there were no payouts, etc. It was our thing, we just needed a way to get into FR and going that route just didn't pencil out on paper.

Either way, cool things are going well for you and I'm jealous of your location. I watch a ton of the 4x4 guys from down under on YouTube, good people. I've said for decades that if I ever go to Australia, I'm buying a one-way ticket ;)
 
Chili Palmer said:
Sounds a bit like our league, it was basically a challenge league where people challenged each other to move up the ladder and they could play anywhere, anytime. At one point the local hall was so busy they required our league players to call them in advance to schedule their matches because they didn't have enough tables. I would like to think our league is what drove them to go with all diamonds, but can't confirm.

The difference with us was, we weren't really part of the Salotto experience so there were no payouts, etc. It was our thing, we just needed a way to get into FR and going that route just didn't pencil out on paper.

Either way, cool things are going well for you and I'm jealous of your location. I watch a ton of the 4x4 guys from down under on YouTube, good people. I've said for decades that if I ever go to Australia, I'm buying a one-way ticket ;)
Click to expand...
Let me know if you plan a visit, will show you around and we can have some games.

I do know a few people into 4x4 as well, so will get that fixed up for you as well.
 
Great thread.

I’ll add my story later, I want to write it nicely. I think it’s going to be a long post.

The short version-it’s a long story and has a happy ending, pool has been good to me and I attribute much of my success and very little of my failures in life to pool and the people in pool.

On another note, what a brilliant thread!!!

Fatboy Approved

My very best and thanks,
Fatboy😃😃
 
Pool was fun.
After a year or two I finally saw what good pool looked like.
I figured I can do that, these guys are no better than me.
Pool became less fun but, more addictive.
Now it's a nice way to relax or get the competitive juices flowing.
Met some great people along the way.
 
Chili Palmer said:
Like the title says - How has pool affected your life?

Just like most people here, I have a long history with pool going back to my childhood, I don't have time to tell any stories right now because I have to head out the door but I've been wanting to start this thread for a long time but keep forgetting about it.

To start...

I used to go the bars with the old man when I was around 10 or 12, he'd sit at the bar and hit on the waitress and I would go play on the table and would throw quarters in the juke-box, when I was thirsty I would go to the bar tender and tell her I wanted my "usual", a Shirley Temple - I was 10 or 12 :)

When I really started playing in 1986 I met a few people in my life that changed the direction of my life drastically later on.


What's your story?


I'm sure this is a duplicate of some past thread and my apologies if so.
Click to expand...

Well for one thing, I met my wife in a pool hall on a sort of a blind date setup through her sister and her sister's boyfriend at the time, both of whom I knew through playing. My son who is about to turn 22 has been in love with playing since he was 8, we traveled around the country together for years for tournaments, Jr Nationals, a league event or two, Vegas, Chicago, etc... Now he is a manager and bartender at a pool hall and is loving it, making great money at it.

Most of my friends I am in touch with for many years and meet weekly I met through playing pool.

I am almost never bored when traveling for work even by myself since any pool hall I visit there are a bunch of new friends / tournaments waiting to be discovered.

For a while now I have really enjoyed bringing in and teaching new players to really appreciate and learn pool vs just going to hit balls when drinking, there are probably a dozen or more players that I think kept with the game that I dragged into learning to play when I saw them shooting and showed them a few tips on the basics. One of them just went to SBE with me. I'm not really going to get any better but seeing others improve and become fans of the game due to things I showed them is a great feeling.
 
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