Non-Gambling Pool Players

I guess my rebuttal would be, assuming that you agree quality one pocket has much to do with assessing risk vs reward… how can you expect it to be played at a high level when there is no risk or rewad?
yea i agree there, my first answer is that i play with friends that know and trust each other

we learn by watching and discussion and put value on those instead of money
 
"To 'win' is a bad reason for playing because this motive will not help you become good at the game... Those of us who fall in love with the game don't do so because we love to win. We fall in love with it for other reasons: the pleasures of small motions... Focusing on the grace and elegance of your shots, pushes your competitive anxiety away from the center of your awareness."

Bob Fancher, PhD. - The Pleasure of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards
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Our favorite back in the day was race to 5 for $25 9-ball at the pool room. Nowadays, getting the screen out of their faces is a bigger challenge....I guess I don't see thrill in online gambling. 😩
I have ostracized myself to Siberia in one hall in my town simply bcuz I asked for anybody willing to gamble look me up. They all look at me like I've got one big eye or something. Needless to say, my practice time there is lonely.
 
I have gambled quite often after the divorce to make enough money to buy groceries and other necessities of life like shoes for my kids and school supplies ha ha
This was in a tournament setting at a local pool hall or the occasional bar down town .
I was also working 3 jobs part time to try and get ahead of child support after being unable to work for 6 months after a surgery and my paychecks were getting hammered by the state and after taxes I wouldn't even get half .
So in other words to quote a old joke a friend once told me a Hit man is cheaper than a divorce attorney ha ha and yes I'd be out by now !

Even my youngest daughter remembers back in those days when we're at a local bar for a meal and someone asks me to play a game of pool , she gets a silly grin on her face then asks are you sure you want to do that ?
I don't get what the big deal is. We all play this game for personal reasons. You're not a nit if you don't gamble and you're not a loser if you do. We're all players who love this game and hope it continues on forever. Long after our stories are dust.
 
Wagering with your freinds or a group of known regulars, fine.

Playng for money (or anything for that matter) with some rando in a bar is an incredibly bad idea in my book. Truly a risk filled recipe for disaster. Even if you’re the better player you’re going to lose money anway appeasing them to keep the peace.

Aren’t movies are made about this?
 
I'll play poker, bet on the ponies, buy lottery tickets, put money down on football and baseball; but I won't bet (on me) at pool. I'll only put up money on something I have a chance at winning!!! But, I will play ya for beers.
Not opposed to wagering on pool, as I have backed other players...but not me.
 
Nathan Childress is from Joey's area and he's got some gamble.
Joey's a good guy. Last saw him in VA. He won the tournament iirc, not much time for gambling 😂
That match last night was fantastic, for those who didn't see it.
Wish I could have tuned in. The question about Joey was not to prove my point. I really don't know if he gambles or not.
 
Wish I could have tuned in. The question about Joey was not to prove my point. I really don't know if he gambles or not.
Depends on what you mean by that. Does he play on his own money or will he play if someone else backs him?
I don't know the answer to that.
Most top players "gamble" with other people's money.
Very few have their own monetary stake in the game or only some small piece if the bet is over $100. I don't blame them, traveling and playing eats up a ton of cash. The few times I've seen him at tournaments he's traveling with his dad, sometimes his sister.
If the game is right I'm sure there are no shortage of people willing to back Joey, he plays great. Super consistent.
Here's the Lukas vs Kledio match:
 
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Playing backed is not gambling.
Winning has positive value, your backer wants to put you in more games and you make money.
Losing has negative value, your backer isn't going to back a loser for long, you make nothing.
Every match you accept, you take this risk.
I'd argue it is gambling.
Especially when it's part of how you make your living.
 
To be gambling, one must have skin in the game -- that's real skin and not some amorphous intangible requiring tortuous rationalization.

In the usual player/backer arrangement, the backer has all of the real or monetary risk. The backer also takes on the included jeopardy of possibly being dumped. All a backed player has in it is the matter of the time spent playing the match, but, as a player, he is going to have time in the mix somewhere -- by definition and practice, he is a player.

I know some long term relationships between players and backers that extend far into the realm of friendship, even approaching that of family. I also know of several relationships in which the two parties keep "accounts" of their winning and losing -- when they are "down", the player takes nothing, or a reduced split, until the account balances out. I have also observed some relationships that I can only describe as predatory and rife with resentment flowing in both directions.
 
Wagering with your freinds or a group of known regulars, fine.

Playng for money (or anything for that matter) with some rando in a bar is an incredibly bad idea in my book. Truly a risk filled recipe for disaster. Even if you’re the better player you’re going to lose money anway appeasing them to keep the peace.

Aren’t movies are made about this?
I never ran into a problem doing that in the 80’s & 90’s when I needed $. I wasn’t there for fun, make $ or leave.

I got caught in one dicey spot, got out unscathed. And I didn’t even play, they just didn’t like me. lol.

Bars aren’t my jam, never have been. Thankfully I don’t need the $ anymore. And bars are dead now too.
 
I never ran into a problem doing that in the 80’s & 90’s when I needed $. I wasn’t there for fun, make $ or leave.

I got caught in one dicey spot, got out unscathed. And I didn’t even play, they just didn’t like me. lol.

Bars aren’t my jam, never have been. Thankfully I don’t need the $ anymore. And bars are dead now too.
In my neck of the woods, Midwest, bars were THE thing in the 70's thru the 90's. Only big table play was 1p and that didn't get big til later on. If you could play a lick bars were like having your own ATM machine.
 
I’m 68 & times certainly were different.
I grew up in Queens NYC & gambling started in grade school.
Flipping baseball cards, pitching pennies, playing ’crack top’ with spinning tops…
Early on I realized that losing my money (cards, tops) had a bigger impact on me than the reward of having more.
Child of depression era parents, I appreciated what I had & didn’t enjoy risking it.

Same for (bar) pool, but with the addition of alcohol fueled personalities.
The guys that connected their virility with winning and losing.
The tap beer drinking stiffs that wanted a top shelf drink when they won, but would hand you a 25¢ beer when they lost.
It was all no safety, honest effort….. make a hotdog Hail Mary shot and get accused of hustling.

I was perfectly happy holding the table for as long as I could. That quarter saved on the table was a tap beer in my belly.

I was no great player, still not.
But I love the game.
The first time I touched a pool table, I was in 5th grade. I knew, right then, that there was ‘magic’ afoot and I needed to be part of it.
Much like the first time I saw someone catch a fish.
 
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