If you could go back

I agree with Rufus. Pool has been good to me as I was always pretty much a loner. Going back 15 or 20 years, I would have focused and buckled down considerably. I've only started learning and taken it much more seriously in the last 5 or so.

I have few regrets in life, pool isn't one of them. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have spent as much money on cues. OK, I'm lying.
 
"If you could go back to the first time you picked up a pool cue, and you knew everything you know today, would you walk away or do it all over?"

I have to say I would do it all over again. Pool has been my life and I figured out a way to make it my livelihood. I was drawn to it by some unknown force at age 4 and at age 69 am still fascinated by what is left to learn every time I play.

Each game is a new experience waiting to unravel. What other life could have been so interesting?

Bill Stroud
 
If I had to start over, I would've started much earlier..

Like others have said, you get out of something what you put into it. The same with it being a sort of meditation.. I can still go to the bar and rack em up by myself for hours at a time.

Few things compare to that feeling of knowing you've done something wonderful.. or finally figured out something difficult.

The people? You guys are awesome. Maybe a few pains in the arse, but that's the same with anything anywhere and is heavily outweighed by the people that you won't soon forget. This is a hobby that can pay for itself if done right, can lead you to places you'd never think to go in a million years (and maybe places you wouldn't go back to in a million years!) and find people that have character beyond description. For a game/sport that's not flooded with money, there's a damn large number of people that know the name Minnesota Fats for example.

After starting playing league, a good friend commented to me.. "Wow, that's cool. That subculture must be really interesting."

The look on somebody's face when you help them through their first table run. Or when the person you've been playing with/teaching starts playing you tougher and it catches you offguard..

Sure, I can think about the money I could've earned by working instead.. but that'd be trading happiness, and I don't think any amount of money could be enough. Maybe I should've eaten ramen for a few years, that would've saved a lot of money, too.. or quit drinking.. or smoking.

Can it be rough, getting pulled in and losing yourself in something that you really enjoy? Sure. Would I stop? Not in a million years.
....
Curious.. why do people wish they played lefty? I'm a righty that plays pool lefty. Sometimes it seems to me like it would've been easier if I played righty since I'm right-handed.
 
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Cdryden said:
Nothing has been as constant in my life as the game of pool. Whenever I play it takes my mind off of everything else. It's not the most important thing in my life but it HAS been the most reliable. It's also a big part of who i am today.
I dont think the game bankrupts your soul, I think some of the people involved in the game take allot more than they give, but that not the game. The game is pure, people make it dirty and deceitful. It's what you make of it.
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^^^^^^^^^^^:thumbup::thumbup:^^^^^^^^^^^

I would go back and correct my stroke early on. I struggled with keeping my stroke straight because i used to "chicken wing".... led to me missing a lot of my routine shots. Took awhile to fix what i was doing wrong. Back then i was just messing around for the most part, the last 3 years or so i have been getting pretty serious about it, more so in the last year. I would've put alot more time in early on, now i'm married with a newborn and it's hard to keep up on my game with so much going on. Also it is a downer that most of the people who play a good game around here i'd like to knock out because most of them are lowlife scum.
 
I read the quote "It will bankrupt your sole."

This is true only if you make it true. Pool was the most important thing in my life. Then I had to grow up. In 1979 I determined that pool was #4 in my life. Pool became #5 in 1981, #6 in 1986, and #7 in 1987.

Partner (wife), children, then business, all come before pool. I love my family and I love this game, in that order. I would not trade any of it. No regrets.
 
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i'll do it all over, start playing, and do one thing different, will keep on playing as i've had some (ON)s and (OFF)s off the game in the past years, for instance, When I started playing pool, after couple of years I had to stop due to the army for 2 yrs, then came back to the game after that long stop, played for another 2-3 yrs, then again stopped due to some business, and back, and out once again for couple of years, I know i keep doing it, but I just dont like it, but sometimes I had to. it always take my game backwards, then i start getting my game back... and so on, its a bad thing for me, I will try not to quit again for couple of years
 
book collector said:
If you could go back to the first time you picked up a pool cue, and you knew everything you know today, would you walk away or do it all over?
As much as I love to play I think I would walk away , just because of the huge portion of my life I have given to it in several capacities.
I have also spent a lot of money playing at the game over 45 years.

This is not a pool knock thread, like I said , I love to play the game.
I am just curious if other people feel the same, or if they still have the same emotions as they did when they started.
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Now that is a very tough question!!!
I have spent most of my life in this game, I have pretty much accomplished all the game had to offer. Would I do it again knowing at the end of the road there is NO monetary gain???
I’d have to say………………………..hmmmm like I said that is a very tough question!!!
I loved my life 100% so I guess I would have to say yes… Although, I would of wanted to add a little education. And after thinking a little longer about it...I would have had some very strong Coaches teaching me.
 
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If I could go back, I would have paid more attention to that short old guy with the porkpie hat shuffling around Brighton Billiards and milked him for all the information he'd have been willing to share about pool and one pocket.
 
This one hit a nerve

thepavlos said:
If I could go back, I would have paid more attention to that short old guy with the porkpie hat shuffling around Brighton Billiards and milked him for all the information he'd have been willing to share about pool and one pocket.
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When I was a 19 a man in his late 60's would offer some advice
once in a while.
I was polite to him as I was raised to to respect my elders...but I let
it go in one ear and out the other.One thing he told me was to make
friends with each shot instead of hitting so hard.
I figured giving everybody weight in the room made me a player.

Years later ,when he was gone , I found that he had been an excellent
player and also a problem solver who could work whenever or where ever
he felt like...he had an IQ off the charts.

So I'm making a public apology.albeit a little late.
-I'm sorry Lorne..and God rest you
 
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