So this guy i knew 15 years ago and never liked/never considered a friend, starts trying to hustle a buddy of mine the other day. My friend texts me and says this guys looking for action and he thought that i would be down for some, without knowing that i already know this guy from a long time ago. This kid starts demanding i give him the 7 and out in 9 ball in a short race and all kinds of crazy stuff. I tell him i'll play him straight up, 8/9/10 ball in a race to 7 for 100-500, his choice. He again heckles me about giving him weight blah blah blah. Keep in mind, i haven't played this guy in 15 years..
He ends up showing up to the little inhouse 8 ball tournament that i don't play in, primarily due to the fact that its not fair to the regulars that play in it, mostly C players/5s. I had been there all day practicing and decided i would play just to size this guy up that was asking to play me with heavy weight. I won my four matches to play him in the hotseat and here's a list of the things that went down.
Before playing him, i played this guys friend who starts off by saying, if you win, don't expect me to shake your hand. After i ran two racks on this guy, i break dry and he makes a few balls and then sh*ts a ball in 4 rails to get accidentally perfect on his next shot. I ask him if this tournament is slop or call shot? Not condescendly/in the middle of his shot or anything disrespectful/sharking in nature. He slaps the whole table and gives me the game. I run the next rack and he throws a hissy fit. Side note: during this whole match, the guy who wants to play me for money, the friend of my current opponent, is hassling me/sharking me and literally telling me to quit this match and play him a set for $100 right now on this table. So that sh*t show match ended, beat one more good respectful player and on to the the hotseat match with this dude who wants crazy weight against me.
-Said he doesn't want to play on that table because i had been there when he got there.
-Complained the table is faster than the ones he was playing on and its not fair.
-Wants to rack his own, makes 5 balls on the break with a soft break and leaves mea cluster of four stripes while he made 3 solides and 2 stripes.
-After messing up his four ball easy out on the game where he cheesed the rack and hanging the 8 ball, he proceeds to say loudly "can't do that against this guy, hes gonna run the whole table. That's an easy out for him as an open player" blah blah blah constant blabbering during my difficult out with a hanging 8 ball next to a cluster of four balls with one of them dead on the rail 6 inches from his 8 ball.
-Next rack, i let him rack his own again because i want to see all of his little tricks. Keep in mind, this is a race to 3 in a weird in house tourney that pays out maybe double-triple your money to first and i was already in the hot seat match guaranteed 3rd (my money back). Basically just wanted to get a feel for what level of shady i was dealing with before playing for any real cheese.
-After he misses yet another out after making three balls on the break, as i get to shoot he starts talking about this complete non-sense. He said he heard i beat this known local player out of $40,000, placed 3rd at turning stone beating Jayson Shaw and just complete outlandish non-sense. He was pretty much constantly talking and saying outlandish things for a reaction from me, i presume.
Backstory on me, i am primarily a tournament player who plays in a few leagues to win trips and play a few decent local players. Cash games are typically only available with sketchy people around here who are likely to not pay or have the money at the time, so i usually avoid them. That being said, this was probably my third or fourth time being sharked but i've never been sharked on this level in such a low level tourney before. I've had a guy complain about my fargo in a tourney mid shot on the 8 ball when i was on the hill in a 9 ball tourney. Had someone say it was 3-2, not 4-2 in a 5-4 race. Guy literally made us go to the cameras and watch me win 4 games against him in the hot seat match of a $1000 added, 34 player 8 ball tourney. I've had somebody literally bump into me walking by me (a guy on the team i was playing against) and stuff of that nature, but this was a whole new experience to me.
Anyway, how do you deal with sharking? What's the worst you have been sharked? A few good players told me to act like they aren't even talking or doing anything. To not even acknowledge it and get them to start thinking about how you don't even care that they are sharking you. Basically, to just be silent the whole match and not play into their tactics. Same guy told me that the only reason people shark you is because they know they can't beat you straight up, so use that as a sign of weakness.
