pool effects on the mind

This is one of the best threads I've read here in a while. An interesting premise. Does the nature of the game shape people into a certain behavior or does it just attract people already with a certain behavior?

I kinda think a little of both.

Good thread.
 
a very good subject

There is much to be said on this subject but I am not going to say it.

I will say this: the psycological warfare that goes on in a pool room could cause ptsd:)
 
Personality Tests and Pool Players.

ShootingArts said:
Anti-social as a professional term doesn't mean quite what it seems to. I would say it means "not fitting with the rest of the herd and relating to them closely". I took the standard MMPI test awhile back, think I remember the initials right. After the first three sections that I answered pretty honestly I decided I was being a little too hardline and moderated my responses in the last section. As a result the report only said I was anti-social three times instead of four.

What it really meant wasn't that I was a danger to society but that I didn't look to others for an affirmation of my worth, I looked to myself. When a decision is to be made I weigh all the information available, listen to advice, but ultimately I make the decisions I have to live with not somebody else.

I'm not a herd animal. Sometimes the herd forms around me but I never seek a herd to join. I think that is true of almost all long term individual competitors in any activity. In pool you can't be wondering if the other player is going to be upset with you if you play a great safety or if some railbirds will think it is a low class move, the goal is to win inside the rules and inside your own ethics. Others can like it or not like it, I am most concerned with my own opinion of myself. I am self-centered, self governing, self reliant, and make no bones about it. That makes me anti-social according to the tests.

Hu
Click to expand...



What are you on the Meyers Briggs Hu?

I wonder how the personality types match up with pool players. I am an INTP according to the test. I wonder if that stands for "In the Pocket" ?
 
Neil said:
`Pool, when played "right", is a game of concentration. That lends itself quite well to introverts. They can enjoy the game, but don't have to socialize with others much, if at all. It's a perfect outlet for them. They can be around others, but not have to socialize.

Some extroverts always hamper their game by socializing too much. They tend to talk when they should be shutting up and concentrating, and then they get all upset when they play like garbage. The "smart" extroverts, know when to talk, and when not to.

Basically, pool gets a lot of both types of people.
Click to expand...

YUP.

Pool like any sport has both characters. Although for some reason pool seems, like poker, to attract more of the shady types of people then other games/sports.
 
no clue

dr9ball said:
What are you on the Meyers Briggs Hu?

I wonder how the personality types match up with pool players. I am an INTP according to the test. I wonder if that stands for "In the Pocket" ?
Click to expand...

No clue about the Meyers Briggs or if I have even taken one. This test I'm talking about was taken back in '95 before a major surgery. They said some very good things about me in the report so when I got a chance to read it when transporting my records I thought I might score a copy, could possibly be useful in a job search. They indeed said some very good things, then there was that little detail about being anti-social . . . I decided I wouldn't be spreading the results to potential employers that needed someone that worked and played well with others!

Hu
 
I played for a living for over 20yrs and can say a hustler is like a actor and has to play what ever part the situation calls for. It was called ruff hustling,mainly bar action at that time. I played my part while on the road but could dis-connect from the hustling/acting when I got home.Some I knew couldn't and would keep up the con/acting around everyone. They turned into that person. Its really sad to see a old hustler who has done it all his life,is over 70 who still never talks to anyone without thinking about how to beat them.To me the action spots where players gathered was always tuffer but always better than ruff hustling. Earl Kellum got me to start going to tournaments and i can say it was much better even though it seemed like giving your speed away in a match was stupid ,so i found it hard to try in tournaments,more or less layed down and tryed to match up with people to gamble. I think living a life like that will make most anti-social because it was a break from the part you had to play. Think about it a player on the road will meet more people in a year than most will in a life time. I hated to here of my old road partner passing but anyone who knew Earl i have a great hustle story we laid down in south Tx about 25 yrs ago if anyone wants to hear it.
 
A hustler makes himself anti social to survive. The more you let some know you the easier it is to get caught in lies. Doing something others would think is wrong will keep you quiet when it pays the bills. Its harder to keep the hustle going if your social because people all want to tell what they know. If you pretend to be something or somebody your not for long enough you have a good chance at becoming that person. Like an undercover cop who has been in deep cover to long.
 
road story

exoldschoolpro said:
I played for a living for over 20yrs and can say a hustler is like a actor and has to play what ever part the situation calls for. It was called ruff hustling,mainly bar action at that time. I played my part while on the road but could dis-connect from the hustling/acting when I got home.Some I knew couldn't and would keep up the con/acting around everyone. They turned into that person. Its really sad to see a old hustler who has done it all his life,is over 70 who still never talks to anyone without thinking about how to beat them.To me the action spots where players gathered was always tuffer but always better than ruff hustling. Earl Kellum got me to start going to tournaments and i can say it was much better even though it seemed like giving your speed away in a match was stupid ,so i found it hard to try in tournaments,more or less layed down and tryed to match up with people to gamble. I think living a life like that will make most anti-social because it was a break from the part you had to play. Think about it a player on the road will meet more people in a year than most will in a life time. I hated to here of my old road partner passing but anyone who knew Earl i have a great hustle story we laid down in south Tx about 25 yrs ago if anyone wants to hear it.
Click to expand...


Yes we love to hear gambling/road stories.The older the better.
 
exoldschoolpro said:
I played for a living for over 20yrs and can say a hustler is like a actor and has to play what ever part the situation calls for. It was called ruff hustling,mainly bar action at that time. I played my part while on the road but could dis-connect from the hustling/acting when I got home.Some I knew couldn't and would keep up the con/acting around everyone. They turned into that person. Its really sad to see a old hustler who has done it all his life,is over 70 who still never talks to anyone without thinking about how to beat them.To me the action spots where players gathered was always tuffer but always better than ruff hustling. Earl Kellum got me to start going to tournaments and i can say it was much better even though it seemed like giving your speed away in a match was stupid ,so i found it hard to try in tournaments,more or less layed down and tryed to match up with people to gamble. I think living a life like that will make most anti-social because it was a break from the part you had to play. Think about it a player on the road will meet more people in a year than most will in a life time. I hated to here of my old road partner passing but anyone who knew Earl i have a great hustle story we laid down in south Tx about 25 yrs ago if anyone wants to hear it.
Click to expand...
I want to hear it.
 
exoldschoolpro said:
I played for a living for over 20yrs and can say a hustler is like a actor and has to play what ever part the situation calls for. It was called ruff hustling,mainly bar action at that time. I played my part while on the road but could dis-connect from the hustling/acting when I got home.Some I knew couldn't and would keep up the con/acting around everyone. They turned into that person. Its really sad to see a old hustler who has done it all his life,is over 70 who still never talks to anyone without thinking about how to beat them.To me the action spots where players gathered was always tuffer but always better than ruff hustling. Earl Kellum got me to start going to tournaments and i can say it was much better even though it seemed like giving your speed away in a match was stupid ,so i found it hard to try in tournaments,more or less layed down and tryed to match up with people to gamble. I think living a life like that will make most anti-social because it was a break from the part you had to play. Think about it a player on the road will meet more people in a year than most will in a life time. I hated to here of my old road partner passing but anyone who knew Earl i have a great hustle story we laid down in south Tx about 25 yrs ago if anyone wants to hear it.
Click to expand...

Good take on it I like the reasoning we agree than it can have a negative or a positive effect. I think I have went through both...lol

Im all ears for the story go ahead.
 
"T" said:
This is one of the best threads I've read here in a while. An interesting premise. Does the nature of the game shape people into a certain behavior or does it just attract people already with a certain behavior?

I kinda think a little of both.

Good thread.
Click to expand...

I think both can be said. Im not sure that a person WILL be shaped a certain way from it. I am thinking more like they could if they overdo it.
 
Long ago i used to stop in at a little town called Beeville in south Tex and play the local hero they called Pecos Pete. I had beat the man seven or eight times and several would load up on the side everytime.Well,the last time i was there and beat him this nut/tush hog told me he had a player i was going to play and i had no choice in the matter,he had lost 3,000 betting on him. I asked how long would it take to get him there and he said tomorrow night, but you will play him at a bar/poolroom in some little town about 30 miles from there. I over heard him tell one of his buddies he couldn't make it but he would drop off the money with the owner of the place and tell him what was going on. I said ok i'll play him ,he told me the time, and first thing the next morning i went to have a look at the place,it was a 100% mexican town and then I got to see why he wanted me to play there,it had 4 1/2x9's. I didn't play big tables near the speed i could play the barboxes and figured he had a very strong big table player from Mexico. I started to leave town when i remembered Earl was living in Waco. I called him up and told him the score.He could play the big table the 8 better than i could at the time. So,he was going to be Billy. I had to make a fast trip to pick him up as his car was in the shop. We get back just on time,walk in, he says I'm Billy and the owner said there's your player practicing. Earl hits one rack of balls and they got started for the 200.00 a game.I've never seen Earl play like he did that night,and a good thing because the kid never missed either. Well,we're 4,400.00 up when the stakehorse walks in,i see him and say oh shi$$. He see's me and asked the bar owner if he had already beat me and who was he playing now,the owner said he's playing the guy named Billy and he pointed at me and screamed thats Billy and all hell broke loose. We made it to the car with a few licks to the head and they chased us for 20 miles.Earl told me later he was going to let me take off all the ruff hustling from then on!
 
I find myself to be antisocial most of the time. I have my friends in the pool room that I talk to here and there. I like to be antisocial, at tournaments especially. It keeps my head clear. Practicing really brings out my antisocial behaviors. I practice alone with headphones on, usually in hopes people will leave me alone. I think its worse as a girl, because the bar crowd isn't used to seeing girls play and everyone wants a free game. Pool is a very artistic and intellectual game. If you think of a lot of the artistic and intellectual people you know, they are usually the antisocial type. I think its the way our brains are different and you see more of a trending pattern with this behavior in pool players. Maybe we just have too many crazy things running through our brains to be chatting it up all the time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top