pool culture... why is it the way it is?

R

robert wang

Registered
I live in Taiwan and play pool quite frequently. I've noticed that pool halls and pool players all over the world share some common qualities. For example, all but 2 pro players over here smoke and chew beetle nut (a nasty addictive chew that causes cancer,and turns the mouth blood red), and almost all gamble and have a lifestyle significantly different from other people. Pool is not taken seriously here as a sport; I believe because of the way most players are living. I am not too familiar with the pool scene in the United States, but I assume it is not too different. My question is, why is smoking so common with pool players, and why is pool associated with gambling, hustling, and low-life people? :confused:
 
robert wang said:
I live in Taiwan and play pool quite frequently. I've noticed that pool halls and pool players all over the world share some common qualities. For example, all but 2 pro players over here smoke and chew beetle nut (a nasty addictive chew that causes cancer,and turns the mouth blood red), and almost all gamble and have a lifestyle significantly different from other people. Pool is not taken seriously here as a sport; I believe because of the way most players are living. I am not too familiar with the pool scene in the United States, but I assume it is not too different. My question is, why is smoking so common with pool players, and why is pool associated with gambling, hustling, and low-life people? :confused:
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This may sound strange to you but: It takes every ounce of energy I have to not gamble, hustle, and be a low life pool hall bum. If it wasn't for high aspirations in life, I would live a life like that of the late great Jersey Red. Or inother words, I wanna be a pool hall bum, but my fiance won't let me.
Jordan
PS, I'll play a race to 3 in your game of choice for a pack of winstons!
 
prewarhero said:
This may sound strange to you but: It takes every ounce of energy I have to not gamble, hustle, and be a low life pool hall bum. If it wasn't for high aspirations in life, I would live a life like that of the late great Jersey Red. Or inother words, I wanna be a pool hall bum, but my fiance won't let me.
Jordan
PS, I'll play a race to 3 in your game of choice for a pack of winstons!
Click to expand...

pwh: lmao! :D Top post.
 
prewarhero said:
This may sound strange to you but: It takes every ounce of energy I have to not gamble, hustle, and be a low life pool hall bum. If it wasn't for high aspirations in life, I would live a life like that of the late great Jersey Red. Or inother words, I wanna be a pool hall bum, but my fiance won't let me.
Jordan
PS, I'll play a race to 3 in your game of choice for a pack of winstons!
Click to expand...

Short rack banks
And, make it a carton.
 
robert wang said:
My question is, why is smoking so common with pool players, and why is pool associated with gambling, hustling, and low-life people? :confused:
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If you're interested in the social mechanisms at work in the pool hall, you may want to read Ned Polsky's "Hustlers, Beats and Others," which looks at deviant behaviour from a sociologist's point of view. Bob Fancher's book covers some of the background motivation, but doesn't touch on the "seedy underbelly" aspect.
 
I like the pool culture the way it is.
I like the smoke
I like the booze
I like the gambling
I like the women
I like the BS
I like the woofing
If that's the lowlifes, then just call me low joe
 
robert wang said:
,,,,My question is, why is smoking so common with pool players, and why is pool associated with gambling, hustling, and low-life people? :confused:
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the situation where you live is better than the situation here in the states,but i think you're GENERALLY correct about the personailty of a pool player.

as for it's image,,,that goes waaayyyyy back, farther than you or i suspect. i was watching the ken burns ten part special on jazz, and he talks about some musicians at the turn of the 19/20 century who spent all their time gambling in pool halls in the worst parts of town. so this image, at least in the states, has been around for a long long time.

one MAJOR problem is the prevailing attitude that you can only get better by gambling and learning "in the streets". so you get school dropouts who start early with a false sense of priorities. there is no structure in place to cultivate pool talent in a better atmosphere.
 
I think the post I am replying to was super smart.

My game hasn't really picket up since I was 16 because I was always in school...hence the name. But I play jam-up for a f@!cking 16 year old. I played in those Junior National things and I never got a first in the qualifiers, but I got a second and a third.

Anyway, I am 24 now and since I was 16 I have constantly been setting pool behind my schooling, and consequently I think I will never realize my potential as a pool player but I will have a 401k. The way pool is now, many guys have to chose early whether to play or not to play.

kollegedave

bruin70 said:
the situation where you live is better than the situation here in the states,but i think you're GENERALLY correct about the personailty of a pool player.

as for it's image,,,that goes waaayyyyy back, farther than you or i suspect. i was watching the ken burns ten part special on jazz, and he talks about some musicians at the turn of the 19/20 century who spent all their time gambling in pool halls in the worst parts of town. so this image, at least in the states, has been around for a long long time.

one MAJOR problem is the prevailing attitude that you can only get better by gambling and learning "in the streets". so you get school dropouts who start early with a false sense of priorities. there is no structure in place to cultivate pool talent in a better atmosphere.
Click to expand...
 
robert wang said:
I live in Taiwan and play pool quite frequently. I've noticed that pool halls and pool players all over the world share some common qualities. For example, all but 2 pro players over here smoke and chew beetle nut (a nasty addictive chew that causes cancer,and turns the mouth blood red), and almost all gamble and have a lifestyle significantly different from other people. Pool is not taken seriously here as a sport; I believe because of the way most players are living. I am not too familiar with the pool scene in the United States, but I assume it is not too different. My question is, why is smoking so common with pool players, and why is pool associated with gambling, hustling, and low-life people? :confused:
Click to expand...

I've lived in Taiwan for 12 years, and I agree that the average pool player is similar wherever you go.

But pool is taken VERY seriously as a sport in Taiwan. Three sports channels (VL, Star, ESPN) carry matches live, sometimes for the entire run of a particular tournament. We have some of the best players in the world, and I can't think of another sport where Taiwanese athletes have performed as well in international competition. Perhaps little league baseball a few years ago.

Oh, and the top players are recognized and fawned over when they appear in public. What are the chances of Earl Strickland getting stopped on 5th avenue for an autograph? Zero.

The only other country more crazy about their pool and pool players is probably the Philipines. Pool isn't even on the map here in the States.

(where do you play out in Taiwan? Taipei?)

-Roger
 
kollegedave said:
I think the post I am replying to was super smart.

Anyway, I am 24 now and since I was 16 I have constantly been setting pool behind my schooling, and consequently I think I will never realize my potential as a pool player but I will have a 401k. The way pool is now, many guys have to chose early whether to play or not to play.
kollegedave
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You replied because you thought the post was super smart...I'm replying for the same reason plus one more. Bruin's post was right on the mark, but you were also super smart for making your choice and knowing what a 401k is and what to do with it. Once you start raking in the bucks, what's to stop you from getting your own table, practicing hard, getting back into strong competition, and seeing where it might take you within your time frame and terms without the sleaze aspect?
 
drivermaker said:
,,,,,,,, you were also super smart for making your choice and knowing what a 401k is,,,,,,
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since pool hustlers make money by gambling, they don't declare income on it. therefore it's money they have to spend and can't save.
 
bruin70 said:
since pool hustlers make money by gambling, they don't declare income on it. therefore it's money they have to spend and can't save.
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It's a good thing that the hordes of women who frequent this forum are the prim and proper ones and none are employed by the IRS. Whoooeeee....
Poor Mike might be getting a lotta subpoenas for real names linked to aliases.
Ya gotta report those gambling monies as income just like the regular jobs ;)
 
I would think it's an insignificant amout, considering losses and expenses can be deducted up to the amount won. The net result would be zero dollars reported even by the most honest gambler/player (whoever that may be... :)).

bruin70 said:
since pool hustlers make money by gambling, they don't declare income on it. therefore it's money they have to spend and can't save.
Click to expand...
 
Thank You drivermaker, and I will likely do what you suggested, but I don't think my game can become in the future what it was capable of becoming when I was 16...had I concentrated more on pool and less on education.

That doesn't mean I made the wrong decision, but I did want to point out in my post that the way pool currently exists many young players have to make the same decision I did. Pool loses a great deal of talent, because it fails to provide its players with a way to make a living other than gambling.

Kollegedave


drivermaker said:
You replied because you thought the post was super smart...I'm replying for the same reason plus one more. Bruin's post was right on the mark, but you were also super smart for making your choice and knowing what a 401k is and what to do with it. Once you start raking in the bucks, what's to stop you from getting your own table, practicing hard, getting back into strong competition, and seeing where it might take you within your time frame and terms without the sleaze aspect?
Click to expand...
 
The Way It Was

Back in the early ninteen hundreds, horse racing was very popular. Every city had para mutual betting halls called pool halls due to the para mutual pools. Someone decided to put a couple of pool tables in these establishments to give the bettors something to do in between horse races. That is why they are called pool halls today and are associated with gambling.
Purdman :cool:
 
robert wang said:
(where do you play out in Taiwan? Taipei?) -Roger[/QUOTE said:
yes i play in taipei :)
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I played at Tonlin, on the 9th floor (the one on the left hand side). The house pro is Yang Dong Yu, he has a big head with fairly little hair left.

Alot of us TAS kids used to hang out there, many probably still do.

Where do you play?

-Roger
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