Opponent on Cell Phone - Disrespectful ?

[alstl]

My wife's youngest brother died suddenly 3 years ago. I was at the gym - actually a community center with a weight lifting area - and my cell phone rang. I normally don't like to answer in the gym because I don't like to disrupt my workout but in this case I made an exception because I knew she was stressed out and needed to talk. She started rambling on and on and I just let her get it out of her system.

A woman came over to me and told me I was irritating her. Rock and roll music coming through the speakers didn't bother her. 20 people having conversations didn't bother her. Me talking to my stressed out wife on my cell phone bothered her. I told her to go bleep herself and with 9 months left on my membership I walked out of the building and didn't return. Community center with weight lifting equipment isn't a gym. I got a membership at a gym. Membership was twice as much as the community center but no problems at all until the covid shut the place down. People are too busy working out to notice someone on a cell phone.

I guess the pool halls I've been in were louder and more raucous than what a lot of others have experienced. I focus on the balls on the table and keeping an eye on my stuff so it doesn't get stolen. If a cell phone sharks you I'd say you would melt in most of the pool halls I've been in. One reason the Filipinos do so well when they come to America is they have spent many hours in those "street matches" which chaos erupting between every game and people packed around the table. Their focus is on the balls. We have players who are sharked by a cell phone.

 

[JessEm]

Disrespectful if face excessively buried in phone. Can't even discuss game afterward because of it, etc.

Cheating might be the only solution. Don't call your own fouls. Give the cueball an advantageous nudge with your tip if slightly hooked. Anything you can get away with that will give you an advantage. If THEY don't care, neither should YOU. And, if they DO care, the problem will eventually work itself out. Think of it as 'preoccupied detachment therapy'.

 

[garczar]

Disrespectful if face excessively buried in phone. Can't even discuss game afterward because of it, etc.

Cheating might be the only solution. Don't call your own fouls. Give the cueball an advantageous nudge with your tip if slightly hooked. Anything you can get away with that will give you an advantage. If they don't care, neither should you. And, if they DO care, eventually the problem will work itself out. Call it 'preoccupied detachment therapy'.

I like the idea. Cheat 'em til they wise up. Novel idea.

 

[JessEm]

I like the idea. Cheat 'em til they wise up. Novel idea.

I'm afraid it's the only way.

 

[trob]

My wife's youngest brother died suddenly 3 years ago. I was at the gym - actually a community center with a weight lifting area - and my cell phone rang. I normally don't like to answer in the gym because I don't like to disrupt my workout but in this case I made an exception because I knew she was stressed out and needed to talk. She started rambling on and on and I just let her get it out of her system.

A woman came over to me and told me I was irritating her. Rock and roll music coming through the speakers didn't bother her. 20 people having conversations didn't bother her. Me talking to my stressed out wife on my cell phone bothered her. I told her to go bleep herself and with 9 months left on my membership I walked out of the building and didn't return. Community center with weight lifting equipment isn't a gym. I got a membership at a gym. Membership was twice as much as the community center but no problems at all until the covid shut the place down. People are too busy working out to notice someone on a cell phone.

I guess the pool halls I've been in were louder and more raucous than what a lot of others have experienced. I focus on the balls on the table and keeping an eye on my stuff so it doesn't get stolen. If a cell phone sharks you I'd say you would melt in most of the pool halls I've been in. One reason the Filipinos do so well when they come to America is they have spent many hours in those "street matches" which chaos erupting between every game and people packed around the table. Their focus is on the balls. We have players who are sharked by a cell phone.

Thats just silly.. it’s a gym for gods sakes lol That’s a Karen pure and simple.

 

[SBC]

If you don't control the situation, the situation will control you.

 

[ShootingArts]

The best way to get their cell phone use out of your head is to see it as an advantage for yourself. If they are extremely engrossed with their phone, ease away when your turn is over without telling them. When you are sure they can see you out of the corner of their eye my old head jerk trick works too. After a shot, jerk your head around to look at them. They will think they missed seeing a foul. Doing this a few times will get their focus back on the game! I have even had people call foul when I jerked my head! "Really? What did I do?" They can't tell me since in reality all I did was jerk my head to jack with them.

When you really want to be cruel start playing shape where all they can see is your butt and combine that with the head jerk. I have had people getting out of their chair to watch shots when they realized I was playing shape to hide my shots from them. Needless to say, once their mind is more on my "cheating" than the game they have pretty much no chance. I originated these maneuvers to deal with sharkers, works fine for those on the cell phone too!

Hu

 

[BC21]

I don't care one bit, as long as it doesn't slow the game down. I guess it's human nature though to want to be on display, to make sure others see the awesome shots you pull off. I mean, if you want or need your opponent to watch you play, then it would probably be annoying when you make a great shot, or play a great safety, and look over at your opponent to see that he or she wasn't even paying attention. Lol. It doesn't bother me. And when they ask, "How'd you make the 6?" or whatever....I tell them they should've been paying attention.

 

[ChrisinNC]

If you don't control the situation, the situation will control you.

This thread has been morphed into a question that is far from the situation I originally described, which is explained in the second paragraph of my original two paragraph post. Basically I consider my playing with this opponent as more of a free lesson/learning opportunity for them, for the benefit of their game, not mine.

Under that scenario, my question was whether others here thought that was disrespectful for him to be preoccupied with their phone rather than observing and paying attention to the game - my thought process, decision making and shotmaking / positioning execution while I had the table?

As far as the first question proposed in my two paragraph original post, when I’m playing a tournament match or a gambling session, if my opponent chooses to be preoccupied with his phone while I’m shooting, that’s his problem and his loss not to be paying attention.

 

[ShootingArts]

This thread has been morphed into a question that is far from the situation I originally described. Basically I consider my playing with this opponent as more of a free lesson/learning opportunity for them, for the benefit of their game, not mine.

Under that scenario, my question was whether others here thought that was disrespectful for him to be preoccupied with their phone rather than observing and paying attention to the game - my thought process, decision making and shotmaking / positioning execution while I had the table?

As far as when I’m playing a tournament match or a gambling session, if my opponent chooses to be preoccupied with his phone while I’m shooting, that’s his problem and his loss not to be paying attention.

I think you need to edit your first post. The one that starts:

"Regardless of whether it's a tournament match, a gambling session, or just a set your playing with another player, curious as to your opinions as to whether it is disrespectful for them (or myself) to be on a cellphone texting, checking texts, etc. while your opponent is at the table shooting?"

After you do that maybe people responding will realize you aren't talking about in a tournament match or gambling session. One question remains, the person you think should be watching your every move and reading your mind, do they know they are supposed to be a student picking up crumbs from the master?

Hu

 

[ChrisinNC]

I think you need to edit your first post. The one that starts:

"Regardless of whether it's a tournament match, a gambling session, or just a set your playing with another player, curious as to your opinions as to whether it is disrespectful for them (or myself) to be on a cellphone texting, checking texts, etc. while your opponent is at the table shooting?"

After you do that maybe people responding will realize you aren't talking about in a tournament match or gambling session. One question remains, the person you think should be watching your every move and reading your mind, do they know they are supposed to be a student picking up crumbs from the master?

Hu

 

[ChrisinNC]

Understood, but it’s a little too late now to remove the first paragraph without someone jumping on me for editing it after this period of time has passed. In hindsight, yes, I didn’t need the first paragraph of my original post, as my main issue was regarding the situation explained in the second paragraph.

As far as your final point, perhaps I’m making assumptions, even though this young player has asked me on a number of occasions for advice / assistance on what he needs to do to improve his game. All I know is if I was playing an opponent who was so much better than me to be beating the crap out of me, I would hope I’d have the common sense to take advantage of the opportunity to be paying attention to try to learn something as opposed to having my head buried in my cell phone.

 

[samy1969]

I've played a couple of guys that are on their phone while I shoot and frankly, it doesn't bother me.

And really, if you're paying that much attention to the guy in the chair, you're paying attention to the wrong things. In fact, I kinda like it because it tells me the guy is not focused on the game and that is to my advantage.

Lou Figueroa

More on Lou’s point, I do it on purpose when I think it can be to my advantage. Once I sense my opponent doesn’t like it, I will do it more often, then it gets under his skin and I have an advantage mentally. I’m also still watching the game, but slyly. And sometimes I’ll pretend I didn’t see a foul, then walk up to table and wait for him to say something knowing that he thinks I’m clueless about BIH and I am actually testing him. If he says sometbing, he’s a standup guy. If he doesn’t, then I determine if I want to shoot anyway with current ball placement (meaning I’m not hooked or I can run out) or if ball is in bad position, I’ll then ask “was that a foul?”

So, if you’re one who gets bent out of shape because you want all eyes on you while shooting, let’s play some. I’ll be sure to rile you up nicely...and then win free beers and $50s all night...

 

[Bob Jewett]

... All I know is if I was playing an opponent who was so much better than me to be beating the crap out of me, I would hope I’d have the common sense to take advantage of the opportunity to be paying attention to try to learn something as opposed to having my head buried in my cell phone.

Lots of pool players have no interest in watching better players. I've related before an event where there were hundreds of eight ball league players at the venue and Efren was practicing alone on the arena table, trying to make his eight ball sharper, and none of the league players watched. I was the only one in the building who found Efren's practice methods interesting.

You see the same thing here repeatedly about getting larger audiences for events. "I'd never watch those guys. I play, not watch."

I think your possible protege has little real interest in the game or he does not believe that maybe he can learn something from you. Or maybe he's just addicted to his thumb exerciser.

 

[ShootingArts]

Understood, but it’s a little too late now to remove the first paragraph without someone jumping on me for editing it after this period of time has passed. In hindsight, yes, I didn’t need the first paragraph of my original post, as my main issue was regarding the situation explained in the second paragraph.

As far as your final point, perhaps I’m making assumptions, even though this young player has asked me on a number of occasions for advice / assistance on what he needs to do to improve his game. All I know is if I was playing an opponent who was so much better than me to be beating the crap out of me, I would hope I’d have the common sense to take advantage of the opportunity to be paying attention to try to learn something as opposed to having my head buried in my cell phone.

It was hard to find a way to ask without sounding snarky so I finally said the hell with it and left my original wording but it was a serious question. Nobody can read your mind so if you aren't coaching as you go they aren't going to know what your thought process is. I spent seven or eight years of nightly action proving people couldn't tell what you were doing on the table either. Bearing in mind I was in a pretty small pond, I heard a couple times a week that I was either the best or the luckiest guy the player had ever seen. As long as I could keep them guessing if it was skill or luck I was a happy camper.

A sneaky old road player watched me three nights in a row, then decided to talk instead of playing. He said nobody in the world gets that lucky three nights in a row. One of the few that busted me. Once I accepted it for what it was, me and the mud ball were buddies. I came to like that big heavy thing!

Hu

 

[Bob Jewett]

... I heard a couple times a week that I was either the best or the luckiest guy the player had ever seen. As long as I could keep them guessing if it was skill or luck I was a happy camper. ...

I remember the table I was playing on when I first realized, "Good Lord! Al is actually leaving the cue ball where he's going to have an easy shot!" I also noticed that he only did it towards the end of the rack. I played a little more and then paid Al what I owed him. There's lots to learn if you pay attention. Another of Al's skills was on the break. If the nine was moving towards the corner pocket everyone's attention was on that ball except for someone who was watching Al guide the three ball into the head pocket with his stick so as not to have a dry break.

 

[ShootingArts]

I remember the table I was playing on when I first realized, "Good Lord! Al is actually leaving the cue ball where he's going to have an easy shot!" I also noticed that he only did it towards the end of the rack. I played a little more and then paid Al what I owed him. There's lots to learn if you pay attention. Another of Al's skills was on the break. If the nine was moving towards the corner pocket everyone's attention was on that ball except for someone who was watching Al guide the three ball into the head pocket with his stick so as not to have a dry break.

I had to really laugh out loud about Al and the three balls up high. When I caught someone blatantly cheating I got the left hand in action. A quick flick of a wrist and a ball went down. Sometimes I made as many balls left handed as right! I could do a lot of damage just straightening up from the table.

All I can say about cheating is that I never cheated ... first!

Hu

 

[pt109]

Disrespect....I was a money player...I wore out a few vehicles looking for players and side bettors that disrespected me.
...how well you play comes from within...adulation won’t make you a better player.

 

[eg9327]

I have a friend with whom I play one pocket frequently. I'm a fairly quick shooter. Often too quick. He takes at least a minute on simple shots, and on difficult positions he will typically take five minutes to shoot. We've had games last 3 hours. I just shrug and read emails on my phone. Perhaps we are both being rude. I hadn't really thought about it. We've got time, so I didn't see the point of messing with his head.

 

[eg9327]

If your playing for fun who cares

If your playing in a league, tournament or for money and he’s talking on the phone yes it’s rude.

Texting I couldn’t care less. I will say I generally don’t call fouls on myself but if your talking or texting and not paying attention to the game I’m ABSOLUTELY NOT calling a foul on myself.

Lastly Ive playing competitively for the last 30 years so it wouldn’t throw me off in anyway (Cause me to miss etc) I just thing it’s rude.

You are apparently like me. I am usually oblivious to what my opponent is doing while I am shooting.