Tournaments or Gambling...Which makes you a stronger player?

jlrowe

jlrowe

Billiards,Boxing & Babes
Silver Member
Kind of been thinking about this. Do you think that Gambling or Tournaments make you a stronger player. Personally, I think that Gambling made me a stronger player than tournaments. I really never liked tournaments that well. I would rather gamble. I get in more table time and i can hit the gear that i rarely catch in a tournament. I dont like sitting around waiting. I think if i only played tournaments I would not have had the drive to put in the time to improve. I guess there are certain people that are wired different. I always had the mentality that hey ive only got 20 to say 100 bucks invested in this tournament so if i go out it is no big deal. But if i am playing for money it a whole other ball game. Seems like most of the greatest players were gamblers also or is that not true? Are there pro players that do not or have never gambled? If so, i bet it is a very small percentage like 10 percent or something. Are European players, UK snooker players big gamblers?
 
jlrowe said:
Kind of been thinking about this. Do you think that Gambling or Tournaments make you a stronger player. Personally, I think that Gambling made me a stronger player than tournaments. I really never liked tournaments that well. I would rather gamble. I get in more table time and i can hit the gear that i rarely catch in a tournament. I dont like sitting around waiting. I think if i only played tournaments I would not have had the drive to put in the time to improve. I guess there are certain people that are wired different. I always had the mentality that hey ive only got 20 to say 100 bucks invested in this tournament so if i go out it is no big deal. But if i am playing for money it a whole other ball game. Seems like most of the greatest players were gamblers also or is that not true? Are there pro players that do not or have never gambled? If so, i bet it is a very small percentage like 10 percent or something. Are European players, UK snooker players big gamblers?
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2 diff mindsets. I never had the self discipline required to play tournament pool. I'm too impatient. Major character flaw. Waiting is something I can only tolerate if I'm in a ring game with 5 others waiting for my chance at the table. That's about all I've got in the tank.😉
 
Mensabum said:
2 diff mindsets. I never had the self discipline required to play tournament pool. I'm too impatient. Major character flaw. Waiting is something I can only tolerate if I'm in a ring game with 5 others waiting for my chance at the table. That's about all I've got in the tank.😉
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I think it's two different kinds of pool. Tournament players have a more rigid, "legit" gig on the stand. Gamblers have much freedom to improvise as well as "all the time in the world."

Gamblers can often muster more usable firepower than the tourney guy accustomed to 2nd and 3rd gear. gamblers have the one more option too, of simply betting before, during, and after the event.

Just generalizing. I'm to old to GAF. I like the pool - and as good as it can be brung.
 
straightline said:
I think it's two different kinds of pool. Tournament players have a more rigid, "legit" gig on the stand. Gamblers have much freedom to improvise as well as "all the time in the world."

Gamblers can often muster more usable firepower than the tourney guy accustomed to 2nd and 3rd gear. gamblers have the one more option too, of simply betting before, during, and after the event.

Just generalizing. I'm to old to GAF. I like the pool - and as good as it can be brung.
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Well said and I agree wholeheartedly!!
 
It doesn’t matter. If it applies pressure to your game while playing it will make you better. Pressure no matter where it comes from will crack bad mechanics and help you learn. I don’t gamble and I beat plenty of gamblers in tournaments . There game isn’t better then mine simply because they gamble.The idea that you can be good at any sport game without gambling except pool is ridiculous. Personally I wish for the day that pro pool gets big enough that players don’t need it to add to there income and people like matchroom can ban you if your caught gambling like other sports do. That’s the big step you need to take to become truely legit.
 
Neither of them are the same both of them need to be approached differently. With tournaments you loose a few rounds and you are done. Cash games you can get beaten up for hours and end up winning at the end.

Now are there players that are better cash players and are some better tournament players? There sure are. There are some that are good at both too.

Also you need to think in the value of money too. Tournaments are low cash value high reward if you win.
 
To the OP.... depends on ones character, and how they were raised.
For me....
When my poor play has a cost, I learn much faster.
I go to the room later and work on what's needed.
Never bet too little or too much.
Bet has to interest me, but not di$tract me.
 
In the past it was tournaments and a little gambling, now it’s mostly gambling but on some of my trips I’ve had some difficulty getting games so I’ve started to play more tournaments when I’m on the road. After all the years of playing pool, I can’t believe how nervous I get now playing tournaments, sometimes I wonder how I even make a ball. They are different, if you want to get better in one or the other devote more time to it. But like island drive said, you have to work on improving with practice time.
 
I tend to feel more pressure in tournaments. One "dumb shot" can cost you the match. I play dumb shots all the time when I'm gambling just to see if I can do it! I believe you improve most when you play under the most pressure, so whatever that is for you is the answer! I am one of the weirdos that wants the trophy and the title more than the cash...
 
Mensabum said:
2 diff mindsets
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Uh oh you got me mid step. So er uh yeah. Ed Zachery 😉.
I tried to balance my play back in the day.
Small ring games and 5 dollar tournaments were abundant in the Seattle Tacoma area. Sometimes the small ring games could lead to big scores. Kinda like fishin' Forrest Gump would say.
3 ball led to my biggest one night score of 11 to 12 hundred in one night. My largest tournament payout came in second and required 2bdays work. 🤔
Gotta know when to hold 'em..........
Gotta know when to RUN!!!
 
easy-e said:
I tend to feel more pressure in tournaments. One "dumb shot" can cost you the match. I play dumb shots all the time when I'm gambling just to see if I can do it! I believe you improve most when you play under the most pressure, so whatever that is for you is the answer! I am one of the weirdos that wants the trophy and the title more than the cash...
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Funny you should talk about trophy’s vs cash. I used to race mountain bikes, we only got trophies. One day at a pool tournament, one of the guys there was asking how much it cost to enter the MTB race's and how much money you win. I just laughed, $30 and it’s only trophy’s you win. He said screw that🤣 the only trophy I kept is the one at the end of the year when I won the race series in my category. I do prefer cash🤣🎱
 
Well the cold weather has me sitting in the easy chair, so much history behind this old fart. The fact is I made an average of 250 a week playing 5 dollar tournaments every night. When my weekly pay was double that. So an after work hobbyist that studied the game. Had the Dan Louie lessons local. Had Efren at the Reno Sands the first year he hit the USA. Cole was walking with phone to ear and booking bets at a thousand increments. I was seated behind Efren's handlers that had 2 brief cases of money.
I budgeted one day a week to go to the 211 in Seattle and get a cheap lesson in the 25 dollars range. As I was a Bar Box Banger.....most considered it a slur. I wore it with pride. 😉
Enjoyed a couple of name players grumbles after I won a big bar box tournament match. 🤷‍♂️
 
My best playing for money performance had me break and win (not always run 🤷‍♂️ ) At 9 ball, Had me doing 5 at 5 then 5 at 10 then 7 at 20, then he quit. He got to the table a few times but was in handcuffs each. 🤷‍♂️ I was Hittin Em Pretty Good, back then. 🤷‍♂️ 😉
 
For me, it's tournaments. Knowing that you could be out all that time with one bad shot adds pressure that gambling just doesn't. I've been a poker player for a long time, and do not have the same attachment to money that a lot of people do.
 
Tournament skills start with keeping the mind right.
Knowing that "the pressure " is self generated. Ahhhhh hummmmmm.
Forged in Fire is playing the little single game nightly tournaments. Heck one night I didn't get to shoot. Of course I dispensed a little of that myself. Even got the Mizerack that way in the 5 dollar 8 ball near the airport as he awaited a flight.
 
My best tournament performance requires preparation. TablenTime.
I recall Brady Golan saying, "you give me back to back matches on That table and we will see, How He Likes it." Well he got just that in the end coming back from the second chance side.
There is an auto pilot mode that allows the performance to flow. Like A Dance, some dances are quick and choppy. I prefer the smoothly flowing waltzing.
The delivery of the tip to ball is like a brush to the canvas for the master painter. Watching the cueball reaction provides data for adjustment should the shot go awry. Cloth and ball interaction is critical data. Give me a warm up ....well back in the day 😉 I figured to need an hour to get up to speed. Learning the equipment and conditions. By then I had seen enough of my opponent to know if I wanted to jack the bet. 🤷‍♂️ My budget was a C note to see if I wanted to continue. Not often was that a decision to be made though. 🤷‍♂️
 
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