I agree 100% with you,i go to play a friend a race to 3in 1pocket,iam the huge favorite, but i lose 3 to 0,i feel like iam trying,but it just isnt the same as when iam betting my money,for the money i would spot him 12 8 and i would get there,no bragging at all thats just the way it is.like u said money makes u do things different weather u notice it or not!
play for money? or just practice?
- Thread starter torgy2
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I agree 100% with you,i go to play a friend a race to 3in 1pocket,iam the huge favorite, but i lose 3 to 0,i feel like iam trying,but it just isnt the same as when iam betting my money,for the money i would spot him 12 8 and i would get there,no bragging at all thats just the way it is.like u said money makes u do things different weather u notice it or not!
Play for Money Definitely
No.1 You will help improve our economy.
Keep your money in circulation, and we all will benefit by it.
Seriously though, I started gambling in elementary school. We played marbles. You could play for fun, or for keeps. I'm sure some older guys can remember this.
In the late 60's I started playing pool. We played what was called Philly 9 ball for 25 cents a game. It was also called take off. If you made a ball on the break, you raked all the balls under it, and were shooting the next ball. If you came up dry on the break, you raked the 1,2,& 3, and the incoming player was shooting the 4. You could lose a lot of quarters pretty fast this way. If you were playing serious, the stakes were usually 50 cents a game.
My game started to improve right away. Unfortunately some other things came along that distracted me from playing pool. You know cars, girls, beer, that sort of thing. Now I am back to pool which has always held a life long infatuation for me. Maybe next year, after I retire, I might play a little "friendly poker". A lot of pool players seem to be poker players too, so I kinda know what to expect there too. Life just keeps getting better as you grow older. The secret seems to be to live long enough to get old.
Have a great day! SteveD
No.1 You will help improve our economy.
Keep your money in circulation, and we all will benefit by it.Seriously though, I started gambling in elementary school. We played marbles. You could play for fun, or for keeps. I'm sure some older guys can remember this.
In the late 60's I started playing pool. We played what was called Philly 9 ball for 25 cents a game. It was also called take off. If you made a ball on the break, you raked all the balls under it, and were shooting the next ball. If you came up dry on the break, you raked the 1,2,& 3, and the incoming player was shooting the 4. You could lose a lot of quarters pretty fast this way. If you were playing serious, the stakes were usually 50 cents a game.
My game started to improve right away. Unfortunately some other things came along that distracted me from playing pool. You know cars, girls, beer, that sort of thing. Now I am back to pool which has always held a life long infatuation for me. Maybe next year, after I retire, I might play a little "friendly poker". A lot of pool players seem to be poker players too, so I kinda know what to expect there too. Life just keeps getting better as you grow older. The secret seems to be to live long enough to get old.
Have a great day! SteveD
When I was a kid I would play good players for little money and there table time, they were guys with more skill than money. I may lose $10 bucks in 2 hours but the knowledge I gained was well worth it. Got to be smart enough to pay for a lesson not there rent!:thumbup:
This comment is not true for all poolplayers. I am one of them. It all depends on the mental make-up of each individual player. Myself, I like to win a game now and then, but it doesn't bother me in the least to lose. I play the game simply for the pure joy of the entertainment aspect of it. I'm basically indifferent to the win/lose part of the game. I consider myself ahead if I find myself at a table with some good competition. No need to win for me. No need to gamble. And yes, I tried it once just to see if it would make me concentrate/play harder. It did not. I am sure of all the millions of players in the world that I am not the only one that feels this way. So for the most part, the above quoted statements are not a given.
So I see in a later post that Torgy2 does play/focus better if something is on the line. Then Torgy2, I say to you that you probably would be better served playing your "practice" opponents for some cheap sets.
Make no mistake though (as Mullyman stated a few posts ago), improvement can be made without gambling. The amount of DESIRE to play better pool is what should motivate you. I've seen many persons show huge improvement without ever gambling (how's Ralf Souquet for one?).
Of course ultimately, the choice is yours. Find what works best for you and do it that way. It's not always the way someone says is best. Individual needs for individual persons.
Maniac
Thats the way to do it, right there.
This is a great post -- I agree on all counts. One thing I'd like to add, and I may get lambasted for this, but hey, it is what I've personally observed. And that is this: those folks that "need" a little sumthin'-sumthin' to be on the line so that they can "focus better," tend to be folks with short attention spans, or inability / lack-of-interest/care to focus on the task at hand. That's NOT a slam, it just seems to be the case.
Play some straight pool with a good player (nothing needs to be on the line) and watch what happens when you lose focus for even one shot. You'll sit in that chair for a while. We call it the "electric chair." You'll learn very quickly to not lose focus (or, worded differently, how to capture and maintain focus). Whereas missing a shot / missing a safety would be tolerable in those short-rack rotation games (because chances are decent that you'll get the table back in the next rack or a rack down the line due to the "break" itself or a like-minded "occasionally loses focus" opponent), doing so in 14.1 can be disastrous against a good opponent. It will do wonders for your consistency.
-Sean
I use to play for money daily at the Boys Club in Miami Florida this was for pocket change, I was only a kid at the time, and had no bills to play. Now I am living off Social Security, and money is PRECIOUS, so I play mostly for fun. Think it has been like two years ago I gave up on going to a Tourney Weekly, now it is only when a BLUE MOON is in the sky.
Great idea!
I think gambling is a personal choice. I've seen it lead to improvement because the participates are playing more pool with something on the line. But I don't think a person has to gamble to get better. It just depends on the player. The culture in the US and Philippines is to gamble but the European players have a league system and use deliberate practice to improve. I'm not sure how the Taiwanese and Chinese improve but they seem to be doing something right. As some suggested, a combination of league, tournaments, and gambling might be a good mix. Good luck!
Playing for pride can improve your game and cause you to focus as well. But many pool players don't seem to have any of that...