People who are so Eager to quit?

[matthew]

Sometimes you're just not playing well, why should you continue to lose money when you know you're not playing your best. As far as quiting when you're ahead, what does it matter? It's your money now, not the other guys. Why should you continue to play him, just because he wants what he lost.

On a side note, this post is not exactly my best either. I've typed better arguements after coming home from the bar.

 

[wayne]

It is kind of funny to read all the posts about quitting as a winner. Although it is the winners choice when he quits I would guess only about 10 people have ever quit on me winners with no advance warning. I don't think I have ever quit winners without some advance warning of a time I had to quit or an announcement of a certain number more games or sets. Since I have played a few thousand sessions I would say the odds with me and my opponent are about 250 to 1 that neither of us are going to quit winners without some advance warning.

There is a chance I would never play someone again who suddenly quit winners (there are a number of exceptions I make because I am very accommodating).

Of course, there are a lot of "players" with very, very little or no heart and they panic themselves with the prospect of losing.

Wayne

 

[Dhakala]

Now to my question! Why is it people are so eager to quit after they've lost 2 or 3 sets?

W. C. Fields: "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. Then quit. No sense being a damned fool about it."

I like guys who keep betting while they keep getting beaten. I like 'em so much, I sired one of them!

My 15 year-old son, Tony "Mosconi" Hakala, knows that I'm an old man who starts to tire and get sloppy after about 3-4 hours, so his strategy is to hang in there past my nap time.

Today, I took every dollar that he had - nineteen of them, one at a time. Then I gave nine bucks back to him.

"All I really wanted was that ten you bet on Joe yesterday," I explained to Tony. Imagine - a kid betting against his own father!

Well, Tony made the right call on that particular game. I ran seven balls, then woofed a slight cut on the 8 that a blind drunk could have made. But I wasn't going to let him keep that traitorous money!

So, having escaped utter destitution only by the magnanimous grace of the parent he betrayed yesterday, who had just beaten him like a redheaded stepchild, what did my beloved Honors Student do?

Yep. He bumped the bet up to two dollars. Then four.

Tony actually jumped $18 ahead of me before I whittled him down to even again (not counting the ten I kept from the first set). Funny how that last game ended at the stroke of 7:00 p.m., the time we had set for leaving more than six hours ago.

Age and treachery will beat youth and talent most of the time.

 

[cuetechasaurus]

IMO, there is no sin in quitting when you're winning. A few years ago I played a guy in Memphis $200 sets of 9 ball getting the 8. When that didn't work out for him, we evened it up for $500 a set. After about 2 sets I noticed it was getting close to the time when I had to leave. So I quit. This guy says, "Oh... so now you're gonna quit winners?"

My response was, "WTF am I supposed to do? Wait around here until you start winning?" What sense does that make? "I can leave whenever I want, and there is nothing you can do about it, so pay the money and shut up." Now I understood he was $1500+ in the hole with his backer, but that was his problem, not mine.

Nobody is out there to give money away. I was out there to win it. If I'm up on you and you bring it back even I have every right to quit when its even. I can quit when I am still ahead $200 and so what? That is the risk you take when you put cash on the line.

You are right there is no sin in quitting winners, but it certainly does have a tendency to kill your action. Note for anyone here who plays cheap sets just for practice- don't just suddenly quit your opponents when you are up a few sets. Announce a time you have to be done by, or say you are only good for a certain number of more sets then you have to stop, unless of course you never want to play any of these people again.

 

[MrLucky]

As a guy who does not gamble money on pool games, maybe you've won all the money they had to lose. Maybe a few sets was all they wanted to play. Who knows.

I agree with you Greg!.......

It sounds like he is just too great a player for his local competition!

Perhaps you should go out on the road where the real payers are and see how long you stay on the table when losing?

 

[MrLucky]

Hey BlackJack how is everything going?....

You are right there is no sin in quitting winners, but it certainly does have a tendency to kill your action. Note for anyone here who plays cheap sets just for practice- don't just suddenly quit your opponents when you are up a few sets. Announce a time you have to be done by, or say you are only good for a certain number of more sets then you have to stop, unless of course you never want to play any of these people again.

It sounds more like he really is bragging while complaining ! If you know what I mean!

 

[Blackjack]

I'm doing well, Phil. If you get a chance PM me your new number I need to pass on some information to you. I hope all is well with you and your family.

 

[Blackjack]

You are right there is no sin in quitting winners, but it certainly does have a tendency to kill your action. Note for anyone here who plays cheap sets just for practice- don't just suddenly quit your opponents when you are up a few sets. Announce a time you have to be done by, or say you are only good for a certain number of more sets then you have to stop, unless of course you never want to play any of these people again.

The fact is that I told the guy that I was only good for a few hours. He dug the hole and wanted me to change my plans so that he could crawl out of it. I have no responsibility to give him that opportunity and I couldn't have cared less what he or anybody else thought about me as I walked out the door.

 

[Perk]

I have a hard time thinking that $20 and $25 sets can put you into the notion that you must play till the loser quits/runs out of money. If I am playing cheap sets, basically I am playing to play and the money is a side bar. I will quit at any time, since I play pool for fun/hobby. If my opponent in a cheap sets quits whether up or down, so be it. Move on to the next cheap set player.

Winning or losing small amounts is just variance. The match up should be close enough that by rights it should go either way.

To prevent someone quitting you ahead while playing cheap sets, just win and dont try to 'hook' your fish. And if you do 'lure' your guy in, dont be pissed when he has something else to do, or figures he is done.

It can be frustrating playing for long periods of time, having your opponent quit once he got even, and you pay a crapload for table time. You were playing, and got good practice, so pay the bill.

If your goal is to win money using your pool stick, your gonna have to raise the stakes. Look at playing Freezouts as others mentioned, or playing 7 or 10 ahead matches for a lump sum, so someone gets the cash. Notice this is when it becomes gambling.

 

[Kevin]

Because big losses are foolish

Having watched billiards threads over the last 12years, I have to say this is refreshing, because many sides of the prism have been represented well and without rancor.

Grady Mathews video, "Secrets of Money Pool" bears mentioning here. As he points out for the winners, why stop now? Go for the cash, the cue stick, the car, the jewelry, the house.... You have a willing player losing now, take him for all he will (willingly) give. But if you are losing, there is probably a good reason... you suck, either made a bad game, or it is just today... better to quit, face reality, and learn from the loss then try again than go broke chasing uhhhm madness. Make a budget, allocate for losses, live and learn from it. "Be willing to earn more than you lose" in the parlance. No big secret, right?

As a better player once told me when gambling (and he was up one set) you have 3 choices: quit now, play the same game again, or offer to up the stakes. End of every agreed match, those choices remain the same, for both players. Every time. Quitting winner, loser, or even is just a momentary state, not any sort of implied contract to continue forever until the loser overcomes the winner... at which point former loser quits...