Pool Eras

[MattPoland]

Matt you write great posts. I try and read all of them, you know ur stuff

Thanks. I appreciate it. I think there’s something profoundly important about the history of pool. And in this case AI contributed something meaningful to me. But I do 100% get your sentiment where if someone’s only contribution is just what the “predictive text” offers with laziness then absolutely it’s eye-roll worthy.

 

[book collector]

I don’t want to read AI drivel,

I’d rather read bullshit written by a person

I'm your man! Especially with the onset dimentia

 

[Fatboy]

Thanks. I appreciate it. I think there’s something profoundly important about the history of pool. And in this case AI contributed something meaningful to me. But I do 100% get your sentiment where if someone’s only contribution is just what the “predictive text” offers with laziness then absolutely it’s eye-roll worthy.

Yes we agree.

 

[Fatboy]

I'm your man! Especially with the onset dimentia

I’ve noticed this past year my ability to recollect things from the recent past-less than a week is not like it was. Before I could recall everything. Oddly my long term memory is sharper than ever,

 

[Mensabum]

These are not "Hustler era" players, in my opinion, with the exception of Buddy Hall. Just saying. I could think of many, many other names that fit in that era much better.

And the Color of Money era, no mention Keith McCready? Kind of odd to not include him since he's most famous for that movie as Grady Seasons and still gets asked about it today in 2022 for a 1986 movie. [Edited: Thank you for the correction, Arnaldo]

Well, Keith belongs in both of those eras, in my opinion, and the the Hustler era should include players like Grady Mathews Buddy Hall (I agree), St. Louis Louie Roberts, Minnesota Fats (probably the biggest hustler of them all), Cliff Joyner, Billy Incardona, Larry Lisciotti, Cornbread Red, Jimmy Reid, and Ronnie Allen. Keith should be in there too because he was, most definitely, a road player and a hustler, much more so than the tournament soldiers and BCA "darlings" of that era.

These Who's the Best threads are based on age of the person who lists names and region of the country they live in, I think. Young people have no idea how players from the past played or who many of them are, as well as some people don't know how players from, say, New York played compared to players from, say, Texas. It's a regional thing that people know about and are not familiar with other regions.

Thank you Jen!!

 

[Mensabum]

Out of curiosity, what happened in the late 70s that caused the rise of nine ball?

Besides being the best game for broadcast TV, everyone was playing 9 ball. I saw the shift in all the places I visited sometime around 77. Road players brought that sweeping wind along on their heels.

 

[Mensabum]

I think the regional differences then (and now) are also interesting. For example, the popularity of 8 ball in certain areas compared to 14.1 (or nine ball today).

There's an entire generation of kids that learned this game by playing 14:1, considered the gold standard by which all games were measured in terms of skill and playability during those years. As you aged, one pocket knocked on the door.

 

[Mensabum]

I

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. BCA, tin cups, Wikipedia, and titles don't cover American pool in some eras—in my opinion, of course. If you think Keith McCready had nothing to do with the "Color of Money" era, that is fine. We can each have our opinions on what is noteworthy to remember. I will add that I grew up in this era so I have a little bit of knowledge to share.

Rather than take insinuating insults from other contributors on this thread directed at me and/or Keith (not you, Matt), I will bow out of the discussion. And you all can discuss it among yourselves and decide who to include in the era labels.

If you listened to what players across the country were saying back then, you heard Keith's name almost everywhere you went. Everybody knew him, or had a story about him and most had never met the man. That's respect you can't buy. Golden. And the same could be said for Louie.

 

[Mensabum]

How 'bout the 'Chemical Warfare' era??

Yeah. Getting the mix right was a bitch!!

 

[Mensabum]

R

When I started playing in the mid-60's in the DC area, the only two games anyone gambled on, at least on 9 ft. tables, were 9 ball and one pocket. Straight pool and 8 ball were completely off the radar. For whatever reason, the best local 9 ball players (like Gumphrey) were usually White, while the best local one pocket players (like Strawberry) were more often Black.

And the most serious money before Jack 'n' Jill arrived in 1968 was usually bet on one pocket. The most notorious drug dealer in Washington, Lawrence "Slippery" Jackson, once dropped $100,000 in cash in a one pocket match at the old Guys and Dolls, and then later returned and won back $30,000 of it.

Regional faves.

 

[Mensabum]

Maybe it's because we're both East-Coasters and lived through the great age of 14.1 that we think alike. I recall in '76 at the ACUI Nationals in Milwaukee, my roommate was from California, and she was talking about this game where they only use 9 balls and they play them in rotation. I remember saying to her that I doubt I'd ever play that kind of game. Then suddenly, there it was at the Q in NY one day shortly after. Flatlands Freddie was playing someone from out of town and the crowd was gathered around, side-betting. I thought, that must be that game my roommate was talking about. So I can back you up completely about 1976 being the start of the 9 ball - 14.1 fighting for center stage.

Make money faster. Short quick sets and you're outta there!!

 

[Mensabum]

I think it was road players who introduced 9 ball to the rest of the country. Before 9 ball tournaments where they played sets, they played by the game. $5 or $10 a game and it went fast and was great for side betting. Then it morphed into 'ahead' matches where the player had to be a certain number of games ahead before he could collect from his opponent. Sets came last when they started running 9 ball tournaments.

You said it. It's hard to have a 14:1 ring game!!

 

[maha]

you either talk about declines in tournaments, not pool room playing. in the 60's and early 70's pool rooms were full of people.

80,s slowed a little down, and then down from there as few pool rooms had owners running them and had some not caring minimum wage non player at the house. that killed rooms as people were not treated as valued customers just as a nuisance to the counter man. still if you go in a room few have the owner there.

one pocket had the action from the 60's up thru now.

14.1 wasnt played from the 70's on for games in most pool rooms.
9 ball gambling and playing died after it all went to ball in hand. as weak players got hooked all the time and never won any games and lost all interest in playing it.

non money players are bringing it back with leagues. mostly on smaller tables changing the game.