The first time I realized I was a strong player was one league night in 1977. It's happened quiet a few times since then, but I always sober up the next morning and realize I still suck.
Me too.It's all relative..... The bangers think I'm a pro. The pros think I'm a banger.
Hasn't happened yetI remember I felt something when I broke and ran 10-ball on a 9’ with 4” pockets for the first time. But I still felt like I sucked cause I lost sets all the time.
Few years later I ended up at an after hours pool room and stumbled on two players I admired ( I considered them monsters at the time ). They were setting up a set for 500 and omg they were arguing over every tiny thing. One wants Texas express, the other cb fouls only, etc. I’m just excited to watch the action but feels like it’s never gonna happen. Then I say I’ll play if you want. They both turn to me and say “what kind of weight are you gonna give me?”. I was so shocked to hear that, I laughed it off. A week later I played one of them even and won 15-9, I still remember the score. I think that’s the first time I thought to myself maybe I’m decent at this thing.
I also recall practicing solo one day thinking this game is just too hard, feeling down. Some random approaches and wants to talk about his revo. He asks to play a few. We do. He then asks “how did you get so good”. He wanted tips. It was so funny to me, I’m over here thinking I’m garbage and he wants to shoot like me lol.
Pretty solid reply.When I started bench pressing more than my body weight.
I was fairly strong 20 years ago. I stopped playing for 18 years and I am no longer remotely close to a strong player. My old self could likely give my current self 5 games in a race to 9 and not be all to stressed over it. My guess is I am somewhere in the range of 200 Fargo points lower than I was. At least I have APA where I can still be better than almost anyone I play. Not that it means I will win.Perhaps a better title for this thread would be - What was the first time you realized you were NOT a strong pool player?
I was fairly strong 20 years ago. I stopped playing for 18 years and I am no longer remotely close to a strong player. My old self could likely give my current self 5 games in a race to 9 and not be all to stressed over it. My guess is I am somewhere in the range of 200 Fargo points lower than I was. At least I have APA where I can still be better than almost anyone I play. Not that it means I will win.
That’s the thing - older players often say they’re still playing at 85% to 90% of their best game, as if that’s pretty good. Problem is it still means they are coming up 10% to 15% short anymore against players they used to play even with - which means most likely they are losing virtually all of those matchups.When I came back to pool I planned to start gambling when I hit 85% of my best game. I never started gambling again!
Hu
Not really Chris....''adjust''.
Care to share?....................winning my first pro event in 89.
CJ, you are one player on here that certainly has earned the right to respond to this thread, but one question - wouldn’t running 5 racks in a row twice in a row be the same as running 10 racks in a row?When I was 15 in Columbia Missouri I gave a pretty solid player the 6 Ball on a bar table. We were playing in a friend's basement and I hit a gear running 5 racks in a row, twice in a row. The man I was playing (Keith) said he would never play me again.....that was a great feeling, and led to many more!
The Game is the Teacher