What makes pool so great?

JamisonNeu

JamisonNeu

Mr. Masse
Silver Member
I think pool is the best game in the world. I was just wondering how many of you all agree with that and why. I am going to write down a few of my reasons to start us off.

Pool is the only game you can see a once in a lifetime shot every day

Pool can be played by almost anyone of any age

And my personal favorite reason.

I have never seen a broken back that was the result of pool. But, I have seen it in HIGHSCHOOL football, poor kids don't know it's forever.
Jamison
 
It's great because...

One of the reasons it's great is when it is played well, it is simply beautiful, especially when YOU are the one who is playing and making a perfectly executed run. What other game can you defeat your opponent without them even getting a chance to play???
 
Honestly, those facts are true BUT

(sorry guys) why should we put that only for pool? I know a lot of players that doesn't play pool but snooker or some other variant of billiard games. So why not just say that playing billiards is both fun and good for your health.
 
pete-biker said:
Honestly, those facts are true BUT

(sorry guys) why should we put that only for pool? I know a lot of players that doesn't play pool but snooker or some other variant of billiard games. So why not just say that playing billiards is both fun and good for your health.
Click to expand...
Your right I should have wrote Cue Sports or Billiards. I just like the shorter word pool when I type...
Jamison
 
It's one of the few games that there's always something new to learn no matter who you are or what you know.

There's hardly any shot that can't be made. It's comes down to knowledge and skill and no human has ever had it all.

And no human ever will.
 
I like to learn new things and with pool the learning seems endless.

Also I like a challenge and this also seems endless with pool.

And then I like to understand how things work - why something happens when you do this or that. Plenty of stuff to understand about this game and the equipment.

Skill. Using your knowledge and attempting to do what is possible.

Thinking/strategy.

Also "depth". With tic-tac-toe, there is not much to it - get's boring fast. With pool, at first I had fun just pocketing balls. Then I worked on making balls frozen to a rail. Then worked on draw and follow - you can make the cue ball do things after it hits the object ball! Then learned about position play. This suddenly makes it a whole new game. Pocketing a ball *and* getting the cue ball to go to a certain location after the shot. Or a "shot safety". Attempting to pocket a ball (difficult shot) and at the same time leaving the cue ball in a nasty spot for your opponent but a good spot for you should you pocket the ball - doing two things at the same time.

Also the human personality thing. You can tell quite a bit about a person by the way they play pool. Are they impatient? A perfectionist? Hate to lose? Don't try very hard? Nasty? Nice person who shares or will give others a chance to win? A cheater? And on and on.
 
It is one of the only sports where anyone can be the best some time in there life because if you dont miss then even if your playing the best in the world you could win
 
1. Pool is one of the few sports where you have perfect control when you are on the table. If you don't miss you win the game, don't matter who you're playing. When your opponent stays on the chair he can't influences the game is like when you practice alone. So if you miss you blame just you , your opponent has nothing to do with it. So when I lose a game I consider that just my mistakes are the only causes of it, and my opponent has no merit.
2. Pool is the only sport that combines the best qualities like precision, imagination, intelligence, nerve etc.
 
please dont include lack of contact as a reason pool is so great. all sports are exhilerating in there own way!
 
and that is wrong also because i have played flawless sets and lost because of the break or alternate break. there is no such thing as absolute control
 
j_kronz79 said:
and that is wrong also because i have played flawless sets and lost because of the break or alternate break. there is no such thing as absolute control
Click to expand...

I agree, that there is no such thing as absolute control, but I also feel that phrase "bad roll" is the most abused statement in the game.
 
I think it's because no to game I've played are exactly the same...out of the tens of thousands games I've played none made me think that I've seen that before...
________
 
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JamisonNeu said:
I think pool is the best game in the world. I was just wondering how many of you all agree with that and why. I am going to write down a few of my reasons to start us off.

Pool is the only game you can see a once in a lifetime shot every day

Pool can be played by almost anyone of any age

And my personal favorite reason.

I have never seen a broken back that was the result of pool. But, I have seen it in HIGHSCHOOL football, poor kids don't know it's forever.
Jamison
Click to expand...

I love pool, but to me it isn't the greatest sport to play. I'll take a physical action game anytime, where there is a physical struggle of skill and endurance between two people. That is why every spring and fall my pool game deteriorates because I'm so tired from my Sunday soccer match. I wouldn't trade the thrill of a team sport with man to man tests for any improvement in my pool game. Though one of these days I won't be able to find an age appropriate team (I'm in an over 60 league now) and I won't have soccer anymore, but I'll still have pool.
As to why I love pool, I don't know really, I think it is just the satisfaction I feel when the object ball drops in the intended pocket and the cue ball stops where I want it to. That condition doesn't happen as often as I would like, but it is just plain thrilling when it does.
 
3kushn said:
It's one of the few games that there's always something new to learn no matter who you are or what you know.

There's hardly any shot that can't be made. It comes down to knowledge and skill and no human has ever had it all.

And no human ever will.
Click to expand...

Extremely well put. I was going to try to put into words why I think pool (to include snooker and billiards) is so great, but I'll just second this instead. You can learn the games from age 5 to 100, and still be learning new things the whole time.

-Andrew
 
FRUSTRATION! Evidently I thrive on it. I lose interest in things very quickly if it is easy and it doesn't take much longer than that if it is just difficult. But when I run across something that is frustratingly monstrous, I'm hooked.

Two other monstrously frustrating activities I've been into are playing golf and playing piano. For a long time now I've been saying that golf is the most frustrating thing I've ever done. Now I'd have to say it is a toss up. I think at this point in my piano playing I'm really not striving to get better, just enjoying what I can do. Way back when I was playing classical music it was extremely frustrating at times. As far as golf is concerned, I can't play that anymore because of my back. I think I'm now finally at the point in my pool playing that I can see that it is just as frustrating as golf was.
 
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