What got you interested in pool in the beginning?

[Firecracker]

I had occasssionally banged balls prior to then in high school & college, but had no idea how the game could be played. I started really playing when I moved out on my own for the first time. There was a little bar down the street with 7 small tables where I met some guys who played decent. From there, I just kept meeting better players, which made me want to keep improving my game to keep up with them.

 

[poolchic]

Got a dwi (2years) and the closest thing i could walk to was the poolroom. It is history from there.

 

[Snapshot9]

It was

THE BALLS, the darn balls, just watching them, the angles, the rail shots.
I was always real good in mathematics and mechanically minded. I swear they hynotized me, for 45 years now, .....LOL

Plus, it was an individual sport, and since I was small growing up, that appealed to me.

And then, when I was 14, I got to see Jimmy Caras, perform an exhibition, and that did it for me.

 

[SUPERSTAR]

My friends and myself were all home from college for the summer, and we decided to go drinking downtown.

Since we were still underage, we decided to go hit up the place we used to get served at in high school in center city.
We got kicked out after 1 pitcher. So we didn't really feel like going home, so the girls we were with wanted to hit up the arcade around the corner since there was nothing else to do before we headed out. After we got bored with those video games, we overheard that an arcade up the street had some cooler new games (i know i know), and us being the videots that we were, we decided to go check it out.
It was no big deal, some new games to play, but there was a room off to the side, that had a curtain of beads hanging in the entrance that sectioned it off from the main room. So i was kind of peeking at the room in between the beads, and it had all sorts of shady characters. Guys looking all cool, and girls dressed very provocatively and the room all dark. My type of place.

I only saw one shot, and i was hooked pretty hard. This guy made the only ball on the table straight in the side and tons of guys tossed wads of money on the table. I then watched as the guy picked up the money, and went over to these two smoking, super hot, unbelievably pretty girls, and gave them the money to hold on to.

I remember saying to myself. "that looked pretty easy, i can do that" and then i watched them all play for about a half hour before i went and joined my friends.

I thought to myself. If i can do what he's was doing, people will be tossing money at me, and I'll get all the smoking hot girls on top of it.
How could i go wrong!
It was a win win situation if you asked me. Now all i had to do was learn how to play.

and that was it.
The journey had begun.

 

[Big Perm]

Color of Money came out when I was like 11.....that was it....the allure was the skill, the street smarts, and the money......never got any of those, but I still play

 

[matcase]

The tables, the colors of the balls, the sounds, the sight
of a slow rolling cue ball taking english off a rail, the difficulty. Simply, it is in my opinion, the most beautiful of all the pass times. I had to try it.

 

[Rasta]

Just after I turned four years old, my family moved into a new house that came with a pool table in the basement. I started out being allowed to try to push object balls into the pockets by hand, then raking a ball or two into the pockets with a cue and finally actually shooting as the rules dictated.

Seeing that the AC didn't work in that house for many years after we moved into it, we spent a lot of time in that cool basement, playing often. I was eighteen before I didn't have my own pool table.

By the time I was old enough to get into bars, I found that with only enough quarters to pay for one or two games on a bar box, I could stay on a challenge table for a few hours.

I was in my mid twenties before I ever gambled on my first game.

Good Rolls,
Rasta

 

[Slider]

I then watched as the guy picked up the money, and went over to these two smoking, super hot, unbelievably pretty girls, and gave them the money to hold on to.

I remember saying to myself. "that looked pretty easy, i can do that"

It is pretty easy, and that's the plateau I always get stuck at, no matter what else is going on in my life.

Pick up the money, hand it to a pretty girl, pick up more money, hand it to a pretty girl...

 

[cubswin]

I used to play with a buddy of mine at this arcade(s). Mike was his name, great guy to hang out with. I went off to college and really got interested there, mostly I was a railbird. After I drank my way out of school I started hanging out at the local pool hall and gambling at pool and cards. Stopped playing for about 6 years after I stopped drinking, and took it up when I went back to college and haven't stopped yet. Been about 13 years now straight.

wish Mike was still alive to hang out with, but as they say that is all water under the bridge.

 

[desert1pocket]

It was about 6 years ago, and I was drinking at a local blue collar bar, and watching the college basketball game. My friend and I were asked to fill in for two league players who hadn't shown up for the first match of the season. I had never picked up a cue in my life, and somehow managed to win 4 of my 5 games that night. We were then asked if we would consider playing full time on the leauge team, and we agreed. After two years of getting drunk with friends and banging balls around once a week, I decided I wanted to improve my game, so I went to the local pool hall. I started playing the regulars some cheap 9-ball, and watched a lot of the 1-pocket matches between better players. As I started to understand what was going on in a one-pocket game, I became seriously hooked.

 

[dogginda9]

Since I was always at this one particular bar, drunk, and couldn't throw darts to save my life, I figured why not give pool a try. Doesn't look that hard and everybody seems to be having a good time. And the rest as they say, is history.

 

[asmith74]

Something to do while drinking

Since I was always at this one particular bar, drunk, and couldn't throw darts to save my life, I figured why not give pool a try. Doesn't look that hard and everybody seems to be having a good time. And the rest as they say, is history.

Me too...I started getting good so whenever a group of friends of mine wanted to get a table it was my job to put quarters up and take over the table. ahhh good times!!

 

[Stones]

When I was 12, the bowling alley near my house had a seperate room with 4 pool tables in it. You had to be 16 or have a parent with you to play. I use to stand outside the room and watch by the hour until my parents came to pick me up. Anytime I asked my parents if I could play, it was a big NO.

One time, my uncle came to visit and just he and I went to bowl a few games. After we were done bowling and were walking by the pool room, I made my move and he bit. To say the least, I was in heaven.

I told him the problem that my parents would not let me play. He said it would be our secret and for the next two weeks, he took me to play almost every day. It was a dark day when he left.

The next time I went bowling, the house man asked if I was going to play pool and I about dropped my rocks. Apparently, my uncle had bribed the house man before he left to let me play. WOO,WOO!

And the love affair has been on ever since.

 

[StormHotRod300]

Well I started to play when i was about 6 or 7yrs old. My grandparents had a 7ft table in thier basement, so anytime I was over there I was shooting pool or atleast trying lol. Well, when I was about 10 my dad bought me my OWN cue! a Curly Cue and I was in love. Cuz now I had my own cue WOOT.

But I always had the problem of my cue falling to the floor cuz i would lean it against the table or wall, and the tip would pop off cuz it was a cement floor So sometimes it would be a month or two before I got to use my cue again.

Then, I went a few yrs without even touching the cue, and my grandma died, and the family sold off the house with the table And I thought my cue went with the house cuz my dad couldnt find it, back in 1994, and finally found it in 2000.

Well, right before my dad found the cue, I had met this girl and she's like yea i like too shoot pool, and I told her I did too, and that I played pretty good, or SO I THOUGHT! lol needless to say, SHE WHIPPED my ASS badly. I felt pretty embarassed lol, and sought out revenge, so I practice and practiced.

And the big thing that got me going was Ewa Laurance came into town and did a show. And I got to play her too! I ran the first couple of balls and missed and she ran out. But I was totally hooked, cuz she played flawlessly, and only lost one challenge match the whole nite.

Well for the next 2 or 3 months, I played every chance i could get and ran into a old HS friend who played too, so we played almost everyday after he was done with work.

But then I ended up not playing for a long time, but would pick up my cues every blue moon to shoot some. Well one day while at work, a guy came in, with his cue case in hand, and I made small talk about the pool cue, and we ended up shooting some stick and he killed me.

And i sought revenge again and got it lol. And havent looked back since then( 2003 ) I was seriously hooked on playing tournaments and practicing and learning. would practice hours on end, and always was asking the owner for advise and he would give me a couple of shots to work on. And I would practice it till, I got them down.

And thats how its been for the past 4 years lol. Over the years it seemed to be lil things that would build up, that got my fire going. But now its the drive to keep on getting better that fuels my fire. I like the fact that no matter what you do in this game, your always learning and you can never perfect this game.

 

[chilli66]

From there, I just kept meeting better players, which made me want to keep improving my game to keep up with them.

Is there any better incentive to keep you playing than that? That's one of the things that keeps me coming back, if I lose to someone I know I can work at it & return the favour someday!

Now this bit is hard to explain, and I doubt anyone who doesn't play pool would understand it, but last night when I went to my local pool hall it just hit me all over again, even though I'd spent much of the previous day playing. As soon as I open the door to walk in I can smell the chalk, the smoke, hear music & the sound of balls being hit. It almost stopped me in my tracks. For a second I'm thinking "I'm home!" It just feels like my kind of place, like I belong there.

It doesn't matter where you play, which hall or even which country, that atmosphere can wake up all those memories from when you first got bitten by the bug!

I know you can never tell what the future has in store for you but after being away from the game for so many years I'm damned sure I'm not going to miss out on any more. I'm back to stay!

 

[ajrack]

Bowling

I was a bowler in High school. When beginning college I hurt my knee, and since there were many pool tables at the bowling alley...I started playing for a while until my knee was better...knee did not get much better and just began to play more pool.