YOu can tell us the truth. We won't tell your mom.
If you can't play sober, what makes you think you can play drunk?
- Thread starter 9BallPaul
- Start date
YOu can tell us the truth. We won't tell your mom.
You obviously aren't a drinker.
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that after a couple of drinks, I can do anything. Really. I can take on Mike Tyson with no fear. I can clear that 15 foot gap between the edge of my roof and the pool below with no problems! I can even hook up with someone as hot as Megan Fox!!!
Pool?! That's nothing! I could probably beat Efren when I'm drunk.
- B <----------- will wake up with a screaming headache and no memory of it all the next day.
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that after a couple of drinks, I can do anything. Really. I can take on Mike Tyson with no fear. I can clear that 15 foot gap between the edge of my roof and the pool below with no problems! I can even hook up with someone as hot as Megan Fox!!!
Pool?! That's nothing! I could probably beat Efren when I'm drunk.
- B <----------- will wake up with a screaming headache and no memory of it all the next day.
As many have pointed out, it's all subjective. Some people can handle the sauce better than others and can put down a 6 pack while running a 6 pack. I've found that the limit for me is about one a game, playing league. That sounds like a lot but it's like 20 minutes between games in my league. Two take the nerves down a hair and turn the stroke loose. The last three or four are what I might call maintence beers. The other reason some people play better I think is they get their mind out of the way like someone already said.
I used to know a player, a really good player, who definitely played better when he was normal, which for him meant he'd smoked a couple of joints and drank at least a pint of liquor! I don't want to mention any names but he was from Peru Indiana which should wake up some of the players as to his identity. We were at a bar box tourney in Indianapolis one time and Gary and I went out to the car before the matches started in the morning, about 9:00. I was looking for a place to get some coffee and we ran into our buddy who went to his car and grabbed a fifth of vodka. He offered us a drink which we refused, kinda made me nauseous thinking about liquor after just getting up. He started gulping it down out of the bottle and before we entered the tournament about 15 minutes later, he'd finished of the bottle. He then started woofing at another player, kinda winked at Gary and I and started running out from everywhere on the bar box! I haven't seen him in several years, I kind of wondered if he survived!
Paul has been deceased for a few years now. I could tell a dozen stories.
I've seen people that play their best stone sober, some that play better with a couple of drinks in them, and some that play lights out when they are just short of plastered....
Personally, I play best sober or with very little alcohol.....but I've seen some that need a drink or two to calm themselves down or they can't make a ball/decision.....all people are different....IMHO, it's a confidence thing.....if you think a couple of beers makes you play better, then it does...
Personally, I play best sober or with very little alcohol.....but I've seen some that need a drink or two to calm themselves down or they can't make a ball/decision.....all people are different....IMHO, it's a confidence thing.....if you think a couple of beers makes you play better, then it does...
Alot of people believe that they play better when they drink has to do with relaxing because of the alcohol..Actually one can play better with a few drinks because of a medical fact...Alcohol thins your blood...when your blood is thinner you can concentrate better...taking a couple of aspirin can give you the same results.:wink:
PP.. He was something else.
Sherm ain't lying here, he just beat me to the punch.. The man could play and play lights out when his mixture was right.. I had the chance to see him play "snookered" to say the least and able to beat anyone in the room.
Sherm, I had heard that PP had passed away several years back.. Looks like DRW confirmed that. I have not seen him play since a few years before Gary passed away, so it's been a while.
Sherm ain't lying here, he just beat me to the punch.. The man could play and play lights out when his mixture was right.. I had the chance to see him play "snookered" to say the least and able to beat anyone in the room.
Sherm, I had heard that PP had passed away several years back.. Looks like DRW confirmed that. I have not seen him play since a few years before Gary passed away, so it's been a while.
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Voodoo Daddy
One Pocket 101
John "The Polish Prince" Dovinsky played his best pool in the 10-22 Heiniken range...dont be fooled he once told me.
I don't think drinking has a consistently positive effect on my play, but it occasionally does help me stop listening to that little self-conscious part of my brain. Occasionally it calms the nerves and gets me out of my own head, when I need it to. If I can shut everything out and relax without alcohol, then drinking tends to diminish my level of play slightly up to a certain point, and then drastically after I pass that point (somewhere in the 6-8 beers range, depending on how much food I have in my system).
Malcolm Gladwell wrote an interesting article on the societal factors involved with drinking that I think has several points that relate to the specific aspect of playing pool.
http://www.gladwell.com/2010/2010_02_15_a_drinking.html
I more or less started playing pool in bars, because there aren't any real "pool halls" in my immediate area, so drinking while I play just came naturally. I can have a beer or two and stop, or I can drink the whole time I'm playing. The thing that seems to bump my game up is spending the time at the table. After a 4 hour session of playing consistently, I'm always playing better than I was in the first half hour. I'm sure that's incredibly surprising. The drinking doesn't seem to affect that part. And to be clear, I'm talking about drinking while playing pool, not playing pool while drinking. The order of importance is what makes the difference. Drinking while playing pool does not get nearly as large a bar tab as playing pool while drinking.
And I've met a lot of people who can play pool when they're too drunk to do anything else. But most of those people have had some history with speed, and playing for 8-12+ hours while tweaking, so maybe there is an unconscious muscle memory thing kicking in for them.
Johnny
Malcolm Gladwell wrote an interesting article on the societal factors involved with drinking that I think has several points that relate to the specific aspect of playing pool.
http://www.gladwell.com/2010/2010_02_15_a_drinking.html
I more or less started playing pool in bars, because there aren't any real "pool halls" in my immediate area, so drinking while I play just came naturally. I can have a beer or two and stop, or I can drink the whole time I'm playing. The thing that seems to bump my game up is spending the time at the table. After a 4 hour session of playing consistently, I'm always playing better than I was in the first half hour. I'm sure that's incredibly surprising. The drinking doesn't seem to affect that part. And to be clear, I'm talking about drinking while playing pool, not playing pool while drinking. The order of importance is what makes the difference. Drinking while playing pool does not get nearly as large a bar tab as playing pool while drinking.
And I've met a lot of people who can play pool when they're too drunk to do anything else. But most of those people have had some history with speed, and playing for 8-12+ hours while tweaking, so maybe there is an unconscious muscle memory thing kicking in for them.
Johnny
9BallPaul
Banned
Higgins was the last of the rogues. RIP, Alex, and I'll tip one to you tonight.
I used to think I played better while drinking. Then I started paying attention.
It took a little practice, playing sober, but the difference is ridiculous. Not to mention the improvements in behavior, and reduction in bad gambling.
One beer and I start shooting with the "good enough" strategy. I play OK, so it works out a lot of the time. The truth is, I'm taking less time, making worse decisions, and just shooting my way out of it. Or not. But it feels like I'm doing well, even when I'm not.
Bottom line: I play sober. And I play better for it.
-s
It took a little practice, playing sober, but the difference is ridiculous. Not to mention the improvements in behavior, and reduction in bad gambling.
One beer and I start shooting with the "good enough" strategy. I play OK, so it works out a lot of the time. The truth is, I'm taking less time, making worse decisions, and just shooting my way out of it. Or not. But it feels like I'm doing well, even when I'm not.
Bottom line: I play sober. And I play better for it.
-s
I personaly think the higher level you play at the more alchol effects you.If you a bar ball banger I can see where a few beers could lossen ya up and youd swing at stuff you wouldnt sober.But the more precision you try to play the soberer you need ton be.I drink and sometimes to much but all my buddys laugh because i wont drink playing pool or golfing.It seems to realy take away from my game in both.
My APA 9ball team won cities and went to nationals this year. Placed 33rd spot out of 399 teams. We went with a 9/6/5/4/3/2/2. At cities, play started at 8am on a Saturday. So I look and see my team has ordered a pitcher of beer at 8am and one of our guys is there at the bar having a few shots of whiskey at 745am. The bottom line is that is the physical state our team played in all year and if they wanted to play with what got us this far, they decided to go with it. I told them to just not overdo things, as we had to play all day.
To their credit the team played great at cities and quite well at nationals. Only after a long time period of more and more alcohol did it seem to impact our players in a negative manner but we got lucky and by that time we had already positioned ourselves where the the non/low drinkers (myself and one of the 2s) were up for our matches.
To their credit the team played great at cities and quite well at nationals. Only after a long time period of more and more alcohol did it seem to impact our players in a negative manner but we got lucky and by that time we had already positioned ourselves where the the non/low drinkers (myself and one of the 2s) were up for our matches.
Is Pual still alive??