What Got You Interested In Pool?

T

tom mcgonagle

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What was the attraction that brought into the pool room and kept you coming back to the poolroom?

Was it the game itself?

The people in the room?

The element in the room? Gambling?

Or anything else for that matter?

Has your reason changed through the years?


________________________

www.tommcgonaglerightoncue
 
In my case, a retreat from adolesence and a place to go/something to do ALONE. Both occurred at the pluperfect time in my life and that's how I fell so hopelessly in love. GF
 
My addiction began with watching a Jack White exhibition, during my first year of college, in CO...many, many moons ago! Nothing's changed, except I may love pool even MORE today! :D I know there's a few more posters here, who got exposed to Jack White, and came away with a new "love"!
 
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What got me interested in pool?

Easy, the same thing that gets me interested in everything else...some chick.
 
Location, location, location. I moved half way across the country when I was 16 to a small town with very little to do.
 
Once upon a time...

My dad was in the Air Force, and one day when I was about 5 or 6, he took me with him to talk to somebody at the NCO club on the base where we lived. The guy we went to see happened to be in the pool room playing. I remember us going in there for just a few minutes. I could just barely see over the edge of the table. It was dark and quiet in the room, but the table light illuminating the pure colors of the balls, and the way they moved so silently across the surface of the table, and the unique sound they made when they would click together just fascinated me. And although I never really played the game until I was in college, I've loved those same things about the game ever since.
 
I was watching the 2003(?) International Challenge of Champions semifinals match between Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante (at the time, I didn't know who either of them were) on ESPN. Efren got out of line on one shot, and he had to draw the cue ball back 3 rails around the table to get good position. When he did it, I thought it was one of the coolest thing I had ever seen, and I became hooked. Before I saw that match, I had only played pool a couple of times in my life.

In short, the draw shot is what drew me to the game.
 
drew said:
what got me interested in pool?

Easy, the same thing that gets me interested in everything else...some chick.
Click to expand...

exactly....... Maybe i could have been a rocket scientist if a chick wasn't always finding new things for us to go out and do.
 
Back when I was a banger in my teens (the 60s) it was the fact that I was better than my buddies... and it was someplace to go to hang out for a while... and play odd ball, where I would always come out winner.

While in college it was a way to pass the time in the bars. Who wants to just sit and drink beer when you can play pool and drink beer?? And for a buck or two per game it was a way to drink for free... always a good deal on a limited budget.

For ~15 years of league play it was the competition and the desire to become a student of the game.

Now it's just the pure love of the game... the pursuit of perfection. And now that I finally have my own table I can play pool, drink beer, smoke cigars... and occasionally post on a pool forum while out in my garage smoking a cigar and hitting balls, which I am doing right now. :thumbup2:
 
one night at a bar.........

me and one of my friends were shit faced in a bar about 7 or 8 years ago and they were starting a league and needed some players.... the rest was history.... p.s. i still play as shitty now as i did then, but love it.
 
tom mcgonagle said:
What was the attraction that brought into the pool room and kept you coming back to the poolroom?

Was it the game itself?

The people in the room?

The element in the room? Gambling?

Or anything else for that matter?

Has your reason changed through the years?


________________________

www.tommcgonaglerightoncue
Click to expand...


It's funny that you made this thread because I was about to make this exact thread myself.

What got me is: When I was 16 I would go to family billiards alone when I was bored and slam balls around on an 8 footer. This big guy came up to me and told me I have a good eye and he told me I should start playing on the big tables (I could barely play) anyway then that guy tells me I need to play for money to get better, so my dumbass started playing him and other people for money... cheap hustlers lol.

What made me want to get better was the best guy in the place. His name is marco. I'd watch him play and it seemed like he'd put the cueball where ever he wanted and he had the smoothest stroke. So my dream was to play as good as he did. Then less than 2 years later I played him and beat him, and I have that on an old video tape... best pool feeling I've ever had.
 
The angles of the game, combined with my love for math and a Dad who supported me

For me, as a young boy I was always enthralled (and had a knack for) math, physics, and geometry. The first time my police patrolman Dad took me into the "blue ghetto hangout" (read: the neighborhood bar) and seeing a pool table for the first time, I *knew* this was my game.

My complete story (hopefully inspiring to others) is documented here:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=1461890&postcount=66

-Sean
 
tom mcgonagle said:
?

Was it the game itself?

The people in the room?

The element in the room? Gambling?
Click to expand...





All of the above and then some.

I can drink while i play pool :thumbup: (i drink way tooo much)

partly cause of a chick also. :angry: (she left and I couldnt stand to be @ home alone)

The history and the characters of the sport.

and some of the romanticism of it also- ala the hustler
 
Freshman year in college, I was a bit anti-social and maniac depressive. Shooting pool gave me an outlet to focus on, clear my head, and gave me something to look forward to. As a result, I found shooting pool therapeutic. I developed many friendships through billiards where those friends I still talk to and visit on a regular basis even to this day. I don't think the reason has changed, but has become broader as I develop more friendships and continue to look forward to some quality table time.
 
My Dad had been a road player for a few years before he met my Mom. He was truthful about the bad parts of being on the road along with the road stories he sometimes shared. I only heard the good parts of the stories. The bad parts never were given a thought by me. Anyhow, I figured playing pool on the road couldn't be that bad as he gave up boxing for it. I found out later from guys he grew up with that the mob retired him for not taking a dive for them.

When I became 12 yo he started letting me help him deliver ice with him. Thats when I saw and got to play on my first real pool table at a firehouse we were delivering to. It was a 10' Brunswick, and it was love at first ball pocketed. After going to the firehouse with him a few more times he saw how much I enjoyed playing pool and bought a table for our celler on Long Island, NY. I think I wore an inch of cement out of the floor around that table. Johnnyt
 
The Hustler, movie and book, both. It was something I could do alone, with just me responsible as to whether I won or lost. It takes thinking but is not a team game. {sorry, league players, but it aint} About thirteen years after seeing the movie/reading the book, I walked into The Pocket Billiard Lounge in Binghamton, New York, and knew I was home. That was my opportunity to take up the game seriously. The first night I was there, I heard two locals woofing at each other, always loved the atmosphere.
 
My buddy invited me out with some other friends to bang 'em around on the quarter tables.

I found I had a bit of a knack for it.

I approach everything methodically and immediately go out and research things I'm interested in. 12 years ago I got a book, but if it had happened today I'd have immediately hopped on Google. So I got 99 critical shots and that really expanded my awareness of what was possible in pool and helped me fall in love with it.

Also useful is an ability to intensely focus on whatever my current hobby is, almost to the point of being sorta Asperger's/OCD about it. Often I will drop it completely after a while but luckily that hasn't happened with pool.
 
When I was young, I would watch all the pro baseball, football and basketball players make a bunch of money. I figured when I was older, I would go pro in pool and get all those sponsorships and endorsements and become a millionaire!

Just kidding... I remember playing bumper pool real early as well as carom games in a Vietnamese billiard room. In college I played a bit more and around my early twenties I found a great room, Wilt's Billiards, and made great friends. I had a lot of fun playing and everyone was better than me, so I strived to become better. For me, then and now, it has always been about meeting people and making friends.
 
tom mcgonagle said:
What was the attraction that brought into the pool room and kept you coming back to the poolroom?

Was it the game itself?
As a boy I was always amaze at the game and wanted to learn how to play.

The people in the room?
They didn't matter as much to me.

The element in the room? Gambling?
I like the idea of it though I don't gamble myself.

Or anything else for that matter?
Well My buddy use to beat me really bad all the time and made me feel bad about myself because of it. So 7 years ago I started taking learning to play seriously. Even took lessons with Tom (good instructor)...

Has your reason changed through the years?
Now that I can beat my friend with ease, I realise I want to be a good player. So the work contiunes...

Pete
Click to expand...
 
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