While its not like it use to be theres Action in Houston all day every day. Its not as good as when there were a number of big backers, but you can find a game anytime at 5 or 6 different places and $20 a game to $300 a set with ease. And if One Pocket your game you'll get the beat you want.
Non-Gambling Pool Players
- Thread starter Biloxi Boy
- Start date
It might have something to all the money flowing up to billionaires at the top of our economy, and not into workers pockets, to offset inflation.
I think you'd find younger people would gamble just fine if they had much spare money for things outside of rent and groceries.
And Netflix and cell phone and car....theres just so many more dings in life now.
In the modern economy... Cell phones and cars are kinda somewhat mandatory.
And living in the shi55y economy we are right now.. Netflix is prolly about the cheapest form of entertainment, dollar for dollar. Unless we feel that workers should basically just go to work, slave away, and then come home and go to sleep, to do it all again tomorrow.
I've never gambled and never will. I love the game for what it is.
In the 60's when I made $42.50 a week I was up $20 and the guy left the room to avoid paying. Same thing happened with a different person few weeks later. I never played for $$ again...maybe for time. I never needed anyone's money and hated giving mine away.
My parents went to the track as a Sat night out. Dinner and $2.00 a race. I do have relatives that got caught up...and I mean caught up. They never learn.
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
I don't play for money. Used to play some cheap sets and ring games with friends. Never enjoyed the money aspect of it. I know that makes me a nit, loser, etc. in the eyes of 'real' pool players. Maybe it's my logic combined with my empathy.
Logic because I believe that very few gamblers of any sort come out ahead in the long run. I'm ready for the responses from all the usual suspects who will claim that they've never lost more than a fiver but take down thousands every day. If they do, they aren't gambling, they are conning.
Empathy because I know that I have a better life than most and don't want to be an enabler for degenerates to lose what little they have to me.
Logic because I believe that very few gamblers of any sort come out ahead in the long run. I'm ready for the responses from all the usual suspects who will claim that they've never lost more than a fiver but take down thousands every day. If they do, they aren't gambling, they are conning.
Empathy because I know that I have a better life than most and don't want to be an enabler for degenerates to lose what little they have to me.
I used to gamble cheap sets but generally don't anymore. It brings out the worst in people. Take a friendly guy, throw $50 on the table, and all of sudden you'll hear a never ending bitchfest about the rolls, the table, the music, the angle of the sun coming through the window, etc. etc.
I also don't need the money that I'd be willing to play for, nor do I need it to focus on playing well.
I also don't need the money that I'd be willing to play for, nor do I need it to focus on playing well.
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DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
100% bud. Self-actualization, in a way. I find it kinda sad when someone says that they need money on the line to play well, or, 'make it interesting'.
I like tournaments, league not so much or just challenging myself to run more balls in straight pool. I am fortunate enough to have a group of friends who are strong players that enjoy competing for no money. I am not opposed to playing cheap sets I just don’t feel the need to do it. If I did I would budget a set amount of money to lose each month. All of my friends who gamble manage how much they lose so they never get in a bind.
sudocrushms
Well-known member
I never play for money (except stupid stuff like quarter games). As someone said up-thread: it brings out the worst in people and I play only because I enjoy the game.
Unfortunately most of the decent players in my area won't play if there isn't money on the table...
Unfortunately most of the decent players in my area won't play if there isn't money on the table...
Biloxi Boy
Man With A Golden Arm
To each his own. Everyone needs to quit evaluating by reference to the ends of the spectrum. Compulsive people gonna compulse just as haters gonna hate.
What is undeniable is that pool, in America, in the 20th century, was strongly associated with gambling -- both on the game itself and most other types. One should never deny their roots -- don't like them if you like, just don't deny them. If you scratched the surface just a tiny bit, many, many, many, if not most, pool rooms were simply a front for a booking operation. And the gambling went on and on and on until it didn't.
Here, "everyone" gambled, and for a young, hip, dude in the 1960s and 1970s, pool provided an excellent (or alternate) form of gambling, especially in a social or public setting. "Everyone" became a pool player because they gambled. Now that pool is not as hip, and sports betting, poker, and casinos have become so pervasive, these folks are no longer pool players. I run into these guys all the time around here, and if you try to discuss pool with them, they no longer brighten up, but, mention online sports betting, and they're off . . . These folks simply never fell in love with the game like I did, but things were sure more interesting when they were all hanging around.
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8intheside
Well-known member
I gamble on just about everything but pool, except for the occasional game of three ball with friends. I play pool for the love of the game, and I’m ok with that.
Makes it hard to ever start gambling. ...
After 3 years of probability and statistics in college, I don't gamble--maybe for a beer.
g0ds gReeN
Active member
I generally only gamble on games of chance.
This sums up exactly where I'm at now. Back when I was a teenager and before I was working anywhere, winning $40 or $50 meant I could take my girl out that weekend. That made low stakes gambling fun and exciting for a teen.
Having all that been stated, I still need to play for something otherwise I just can't get into the game. On the rare occasion to do win something, I typically tell them just to pay the time. As someone else on this thread said, if the amount I lose is small enough, I can chalk it up to entertainment and it won't bother me.
Unlike some though, I don't mind folks that choose not to gamble; I actually respect them for it. I'm just a little different.
Why
That should be "Real Ignorant" pool players. McCorry's on the Slough in Woodinville was adjacent my work place for a year. I had developed a good friendship with a person that didn't gamble which was fine with me as we played about even.
After my physical construction work I didn't hit my stride till the third beer. So after work games with him were enjoyable. One evening as I was winding down after work my non gambling friend had been holding the table. A newcomer trying to impress a first date was grumbling to his date, "This (some slur) guy plays good but he won't even gamble." He was loud talking to take a jab. I intervened with, "I Like to Gamble and that other table is open." He had to tuck tail after 10 straight.
He said he could play .