Do you ever get any rumours or evidence of match fixing or rigging in pool matches? Is it common or does it just not happen? .I ask after our revelations in snooker in England where our No. 1 has been suspended pending investigation.
gilbis
http://www.snookercoaching.limewebs.com/
It's funny you should bring this up. Pool has a considerably worse reputation than snooker. In fact, snooker has always had a reputation as a game for gentlemen and many of us were a little surprised at the current scandal with Higgins.
Pool has always been the "bad boy" sport. There isn't much money in pool. Since there is very little official bookmaging wagering on pool games, it has mostly occured in other ways.
- Part of pool hustling has always been "dumping". Dumping is when a "backer' is talked into staking a player in a gambling match. The players agree which opponent will win, and split the money up afterwards.
- Another tactic is "steering" - where a player is set up in a bad gambling match, and whoever does the steering is getting paid.
- Part of tournament pool is "savers", where players agree to split 1st and 2nd place prize money, regardless of outcome. This is not considered a corrupt thing, but a necessity of staying on the tournament circuit.
- Some tournament matches have been rigged as Cree-Do pointed out, where bet making used to take place. In the one case there were multiple players involved and it was also an unsuual tournament format where "winner takes all" - generally a bad idea for a pool tournament and encourages this sort of thing.
What's sad is, many of the people who play pool at the top level are really good, decent people, but they are desparate.
Chris
