Is Ginky gone??

[Williebetmore]

PS: Somehow I will likely get flamed and quoted as a Ginky hater for the above paragraph.

Hey, if you are not getting flamed at least once a week you are not pulling your weight on this forum. JMO

 

[Vicki]

One of my favorite memories of Ginky was at the 2001 US Open which started on 9/10. Ginky, and all of the NY players, were understandable upset since their hometown was blown to smitherines. They could not contact their families, return home, or do anything but watch the news and pray. Ginky had a Bludworth cue that Leonard had given him. It was his favorite because of what it meant to him sentimentally. He raffled the cue and sent the money to a charity benefiting the families of rescue worker victims. It was his idea. No one made him. No one gave him a mention in any magazines or patted him on the back for it. He never asked for thanks or mentioned it to anyone again. Selfless.

If any of you have anything else to say about a guy like this, I dare ya. Ginky is one of the good guys, no matter what his profession.

In 2000 I went to play in the BCA Amateur Tournament. Ginky was friends with my boyfriend who asked Ginky to get a guest pass for me to watch the pro event. I had never met him before. I approached him when I saw him in Vegas, told him who I was, and he smiled at me and said he had something for me. He didn't make me feel foolish, which I tend to feel when asking for a gift from someone I don't know. He could have forgotten to get it, given it to someone else, made a production about having to go get another... whatever. Later I found out he had to pay for the guest pass. He didn't ask for the money and when I offered he flat refused. He said my boyfriend had done him a favor and it was the least he could do.

The guy knew the right thing to do and he did it, repeatedly.

Vicki

 

[Wally in Cincy]

I was once reading a gambling discussion board. It sort of mirrored this place. Folks discussing strategy and such.

But the general consensus there was it was as hard to make a living playing poker (according to that board) as it is to make a living playing pool (according to this board).

Good luck George.

 

[Steve Ellis]

Haven't you been watching poker on TV? When they do win, they win over a million. When's the last time anyone in pool had a chance to win a million? The answer is Earl the Pearl and he didn't get the whole million. Besides that one time, the money made in pool tournaments is rediculously small!

I for one don't blame Ginky for trying to find another way to make a living. How many of us on this board have jobs other than playing pool? Even if the money was pretty good, the travel would have been out of the question during the time I was raising my family. When the money gets up to the 6 or 7 figures, more people will be willing to take a chance at making it. Until then, it's a pretty tough way to make it.

Well, a couple of big money tournaments don't convince me that poker playing for a living is a whole lot better than gambling at pool for a living, though I will admit there are a whole lot more suckers playing poker. Everybody things they've "got the right stuff", when in fact they don't.
Don't forget the "buy in" for those tournaments paying that kind of money is 10,000.00 (I think, but that vicinity anyway). A lot more to win, but a lot more to loss.
If you like to read, try reading Big Deal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player. It gives a pretty good insight into professional poker.
Steve.

 

[LastTwo]

Well, a couple of big money tournaments don't convince me that poker playing for a living is a whole lot better than gambling at pool for a living, though I will admit there are a whole lot more suckers playing poker. Everybody things they've "got the right stuff", when in fact they don't.
Don't forget the "buy in" for those tournaments paying that kind of money is 10,000.00 (I think, but that vicinity anyway). A lot more to win, but a lot more to loss.
If you like to read, try reading Big Deal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player. It gives a pretty good insight into professional poker.
Steve.

There is not much action in pool these days. There is a helluva lotta action in poker. Good poker players don't win a few thousand one day, and get snapped off for all of it the next day. Good pool players do, it happens easily. Poker players tell me that the game is not all about winning, but it's about minimizing your losses. For example, win $1000 one day at the casino, go the next day and run bad to lose $100, you quit and you're still up $900. In pool, beat some loser easily for $1000, the next day he wants the nuts for $2000 per set, you lose $4000. Maybe that's a bad example, but I think there are a few here who agree with me.

 

[Celtic]

Yep, it is pretty lame. He was just not good enough to make a decent living at the game. Mind you if he were as good at golf he would be a millionaire and live in luxery with those skills on Pool is a sport that unless you are top 10 in the world you are better off doing something else.

This is a flame against him? As I said, you pick out just the first sentance, which was totally a lead in to my saying that the state of pool sucks because were he as good as golf as he is at pool he would be on the PGA (which takes loads of skill Ted, you have to be damn good Ted, are you getting this TED?) and he would be a millionaire with his winnings (which also takes serious skill Ted, you know winning on the PGA Ted, the big tour, beating Tiger, and beating Wier, and beating Mikkelson, yeah, you know, making millions of dollars on the PGA Ted? Gee, I was really taking a cut on Ginky there wasn't I Ted.)

I could have said the same damn thing about Reyes or Bustamante. Take the top pool player on the money list today, there is a good chance HE would be better off doing something else moneywise. OMG there I go again, I flamed another poor pool player, and this time it was the best in the world, I am not sure who is the top right now, did I flame Archer? Was it Yang? Maybe Busta? Any one of which would BE Tiger woods and have a contract from Nike making over 10 million dollars a year in endorsments alone.

I really hope you understand now Ted, if you don't then I am not sure how a person with your limited capacity for knowledge even turns on the computer and finds this forum every day.

 

[thebigdog]

So just how is switching to being a professional poker player going to improve that situation for him (or anybody else)?

Poker is where the action is now. Alot of the stakehorse money is now going to the poker tables. Their just isn't many young players coming up through the ranks in pool, I was very surprised to find after being away from pool for 10 years when I came back to watch the Reno Open last December it was all the same guys that were at the tournaments in the 80's. So it seems like for every young player out there right now like John Schmidt, Corey Duell, etc. you have guys like Mark Tadd, Tang Hoa, and Ginky who have decided to try something new and give up the game. I think this is a very good reflection of what sad shape pool is in when some of its real up and coming players are deciding to give up. I don't blame them either, just doesn't seem to pay off all that well.

 

[Teddy Harris]

<snip>
I could have said the same damn thing about Reyes or Bustamante. Take the top pool player on the money list today, there is a good chance HE would be better off doing something else moneywise. OMG there I go again, I flamed another poor pool player, and this time it was the best in the world, I am not sure who is the top right now, did I flame Archer? Was it Yang? Maybe Busta? Any one of which would BE Tiger woods and have a contract from Nike making over 10 million dollars a year in endorsments alone.

Saying that Reyes or Bustamante, or any of the top players aren't good enough to make a decent living at the game is laughable, because they are doing it. Saying it about a guy who is not here to defend himself, and isn't doing it, is a downright attack on the man and his game.

I really hope you understand now Ted

What I understand is that you said;

He was just not good enough to make a decent living at the game. .

Your statement about Ginky has nothing to do with the top players of the game being paid millions of dollars? Fact is, your implication is that even if the game did pay millions of dollars like golf;

He was just not good enough to make a decent living at the game. .

if you don't then I am not sure how a person with your limited capacity for knowledge even turns on the computer and finds this forum every day.

Typical of someone who cannot carry on an intelligent discussion to throw insults around, as you did in your earlier post that was deleted because of the insults and foul language.
You are in way over your head, boy...

 

[Celtic]

OK Ted, I will do this really slow so you understand ok, because I understand now that you are a little "special".

You state in your exact order:

What I understand is that you said;

He was just not good enough to make a decent living at the game. .

Your statement about Ginky has nothing to do with the top players of the game being paid millions of dollars? Fact is, your implication is that even if the game did pay millions of dollars like golf;

He was just not good enough to make a decent living at the game. .

And that is where you are a moron. Because I stated that if the game DID infact pay millions that:

Yep, it is pretty lame. He was just not good enough to make a decent living at the game. Mind you if he were as good at golf he would be a millionaire and live in luxery with those skills on the PGA.

I think that is pretty bloody clear, I am not sure how you have trouble reading it, lets break it down for ya to help you understand as it was the FIRST bloody post.

Yep its pretty lame

Pretty lame a guy with Ginky's skills cannot make a decent living out of the game.

He was just not good enough to make a decent living at the game.

This is apparent, he is now playing poker cause themoney is better, but wait, and this is the kicker, I continued to say:

Mind you if he were as good at golf he would be a millionaire and live in luxery with those skills on the PGA

If he had the skills in golf that he had in pool he would be a rich professional golfer. That is the way that reads to me and most other people who speak english. This is all quoted word for word from my original post. It is the total opposite of your claim that:

Your statement about Ginky has nothing to do with the top players of the game being paid millions of dollars? Fact is, your implication is that even if the game did pay millions of dollars like golf;

He was just not good enough to make a decent living at the game. .

I am done Ted, if you dont understand after all of that I really don't care, most of the people on this board are smart and I am sure can read what I said and tell it was not a cut on Ginky but praise for his game and a cut at the pool scene. If you are too slow to understand at this point screw it.

 

[LastTwo]

So just how is switching to being a professional poker player going to improve that situation for him (or anybody else)?

When it comes to making a living off of poker, it's not about winning all the time (although that would be nice), it's about minimizing your losses. For example, say you run good one day playing hold'em and you make $5000 playing $20-40. The next day you come in, you run bad, and you lose $1000. You can stand up and quit, and still be up $4000. The fact of the matter is, playing $20-40 hold'em, this is very possible to do. Playing pool, say, gambling for $5000 is not something you are going to come across every day. When you bet that large sum, the other guy can play better than you that day, and you are stuck 5 grand. In poker, you can lose a little and quit, then come back and run good, quadruple what you lost, quit, lose a little the next time, quit, etc. etc. There is alot more money in poker than there is pool. Plus, when you quit while you are ahead in poker, you've still got heart, and nobody is going to call you a nit.

 

[Hopster]

Wel i dont know the man personally but i saw him play for the first time on ESPN the other day against Archer. I wish him all the luck in the world at Poker but knowing a bit about the game and knowing quite a few players, it takes tremendous discipline and concentration to be succesful at it.
People see all the tourneys on tv and think "Hey this is easy i can do that too". Alot of people are in for a surprise, lol.
Its like a guy told me, this time right now is a huge bonanza for the players who have been at it for years and years. Its like the market boom of the nineties if you will. So many people with so little knowledge are getting chewed up and spit out on a regular basis its hysterical.
After having read so many positive things about this fellow and being an ex New Yorker myself, i hope he does well and can handle the swings.

 

[bruin70]

Yep, it is pretty lame. He was just not good enough to make a decent living at the game..

i MUST add that ginky was and has been seriously hampered by complications resulting from a bad injury suffered years ago to his shoulder and neck.

 

[Celtic]

i MUST add that ginky was and has been seriously hampered by complications resulting from a bad injury suffered years ago to his shoulder and neck.

I guess this is what you get when you call someone a PGA pro level million dollar+ level of skill in their sport on this board.

 

[Nineballking]

Ginky is the most technical perfect player ever!

If I had to recommend any top player to emulate, I would say without any fear or doubt, that would guy would be George San Souci. He had the best stroke of any player ever. I loved how he followed straight thru on ever shot. He is the most picture perfect player I have ever seen. I wish I had his perfect fundmentals.

 

[Cue of Fury]

Yep, I have on tape a match of Ginky playing Johnny Archer in the BCA Open 9 Ball Championship and his stroke is magnificent. He played great pool.