Pool's image in the 90's? fresh prince?

J

jaime_lion

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So in 1991 I would have been 3 or such. That was when the first season of fresh prince of bell air aired. In episode 22 "Banks shot" Will gets hustled at a pool hall.

At the beginning of the episode will's aunt and uncle tell him they do not want him to go down to the pool hall.

When he goes down there he is told a table is open. The owner has to wake up a guy sleeping on the pool table.

When will's uncle comes to the pool hall to help him out. Uncle Phil threatens to sue them and take away there gaming license. They say they do not have one.

Of course will's uncle saves the day and wins back the money will lost and hustles the hustler.

So I guess my question is this the image pool had in the 90's? or was it really like this? Did they amp it up for a tv show?

Thanks
 
Pretty much anything you see on tv is fake.

There may have been dumps with pool tables, but that scene bears nearly 0 similarity to the rooms I experienced.
 
Black-Balled said:
Pretty much anything you see on tv is fake.

There may have been dumps with pool tables, but that scene bears nearly 0 similarity to the rooms I experienced.
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Well yeah I know that. But you guys talk about "pools image" So I was wondering how fake this was and such. Thanks for the input.
 
Black-Balled said:
Pretty much anything you see on tv is fake.

There may have been dumps with pool tables, but that scene bears nearly 0 similarity to the rooms I experienced.
Click to expand...

I haven't experienced much in life that resembles the Fresh Prince of Bel-aire.
 
HNTFSH said:
I haven't experienced much in life that resembles the Fresh Prince of Bel-aire.
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I do not think I was the shows target audence. I recall watching maybe one episode, saying so what? Never again.

TV shows are for entertainment, if your not entertained, switch to something else.
 
No it was nothing like that. Every TV episode that features a pool scene, or actual pool movie or, actual pool TV series is all made up. Just like every other topic on TV.

What is correct, at least in my experience, is its dog eat dog. Everyone is trying to get over on everyone else. Especially players in their late teens and early 20s. Oftentimes people will mellow out a bit as they get older. I know when I was in my late teens and 20's gambling all day every day at the pool hall all I could think about was how I can beat so and so. Now that I'm in my 40's, I don't even care about gambling anymore, and just enjoy a well played competitive set.
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
I do not think I was the shows target audence. I recall watching maybe one episode, saying so what? Never again.

TV shows are for entertainment, if your not entertained, switch to something else.
Click to expand...

So you don't think early 90's sitcoms where there's a comedic pool room scene set the stage for pool's debauchery?
 
jaime_lion said:
So in 1991 I would have been 3 or such. That was when the first season of fresh prince of bell air aired. In episode 22 "Banks shot" Will gets hustled at a pool hall.

At the beginning of the episode will's aunt and uncle tell him they do not want him to go down to the pool hall.

When he goes down there he is told a table is open. The owner has to wake up a guy sleeping on the pool table.

When will's uncle comes to the pool hall to help him out. Uncle Phil threatens to sue them and take away there gaming license. They say they do not have one.

Of course will's uncle saves the day and wins back the money will lost and hustles the hustler.

So I guess my question is this the image pool had in the 90's? or was it really like this? Did they amp it up for a tv show?

Thanks
Click to expand...

When I started playing in the 1970's, two of our action rooms had a "pool hall rat", someone who played for money and slept at the pool hall. Plus there were local road players. The hustle was always there, always possible. Usually it was for chump change, because that's all I had, but the self preservation trick was to not bet it up with people you don't know.

Once I got to the point where I could play a little, if I beat the guy once, that was the last time they would ask for a game. Gambling and watching gambling was what made pool fun for me. It was intriguing. Who could beat who, small side bets. I liked watching the top players gamble and often stayed up all night watching matches. Wish it was still like that. Always entertaining.
 
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TATE said:
When I started playing in the 1970's, two of our action rooms had a "pool hall rat", someone who played for money and slept at the pool hall. Plus there were local road players. The hustle was always there, always possible. Usually it was for chump change, because that's all I had, but the self preservation trick was to not bet it up with people you don't know.

Once I got to the point where I could play a little, if I beat the guy once, that was the last time they would ask for a game.

Gambling and watching gambling was what made pool fun for me. I liked watching the top players gamble and often stayed up all night watching matches. Wish it was still like that. Always entertaining.
Click to expand...
If only your powers could be used for good...
 
I was 14 in 1991 , The pool hall was still in operation and it was nothing like that , Far from it. I got to watch some really good players. Around that time I got the chance to go to watch one of the best pool players I had ever seen in this side of the Country, A old gas station in a little town that had maybe 1 stop light and gas station / grocery mart. In the back of the old run down gas station was a pool table. We get there and 2 guys with gun's strapped to their sides let us in , Me and a Friend of mine and his Dad . His Dad had the connection. This pool player was playing $ 10,000 a rack race to 5 . He beats this guy he was playing 3 in a row , for $ 30,000 Cash. the loser quits and says he cannot beat him. That was one of the coolest match's I had ever seen, really for a 14 year old it was like seeing a movie. I got the pleasure to see this young gun shot again a couple of years later playing a guy $ 2000 a rack race to 10 . He won that with ease to. He could work a cue ball like no other and I have yet to see someone that smooth to this day. last I heard he played in a tourney in a rough town and they threatened to break his hands because they thought he was hustling them. He was not , but he was that good. I do not believe he even plays anymore.
 
PoolFan101 said:
I was 14 in 1991 , The pool hall was still in operation and it was nothing like that , Far from it. I got to watch some really good players. Around that time I got the chance to go to watch one of the best pool players I had ever seen in this side of the Country, A old gas station in a little town that had maybe 1 stop light and gas station / grocery mart. In the back of the old run down gas station was a pool table. We get there and 2 guys with gun's strapped to their sides let us in , Me and a Friend of mine and his Dad . His Dad had the connection. This pool player was playing $ 10,000 a rack race to 5 . He beats this guy he was playing 3 in a row , for $ 30,000 Cash. the loser quits and says he cannot beat him. That was one of the coolest match's I had ever seen, really for a 14 year old it was like seeing a movie. I got the pleasure to see this young gun shot again a couple of years later playing a guy $ 2000 a rack race to 10 . He won that with ease to. He could work a cue ball like no other and I have yet to see someone that smooth to this day. last I heard he played in a tourney in a rough town and they threatened to break his hands because they thought he was hustling them. He was not , but he was that good. I do not believe he even plays anymore.
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$10 or $2,000 a rack race to 5 or 10 doesn’t make grammatical or mathematical sense.

And to hell with pool’s image....when I was growing up, any pool hall that didn’t have action
was boring......same as golf before it hit big sponsorship.
People that gambled made this game great.
 
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