What/When/How Did You Get Hooked On Pool?

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DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
just curious how each of you guys got hooked on this fascinating game? anything quickly come to mind?

i used to love to play in my younger days, but never had access to a table. then when i built my own place i was serious considering getting a table, but hadnt made up my mind.

what i credit for starting my love for this game was when i watched the Challenge of the Champions on ESPN back in 1998. it was Oliver Ortmann against Kung Fang Lee. during one of the early racks the announcer, Lon McEachren, made this comment:
"Lee has solved the riddle of this rack"
that stuck with me, and at that point i began to think more and more seriously about getting a table. shortly after that i did.

first table was a Brunswick entry level 7' table from Orners in Indy - Sept '98.
2-3 months later an 8' Steepleton from Louie's Billiards in Vincennes - Nov '98.
almost 2 years later an 9' E. A. Burgin table once again from Louie - Jul '00.
then my prize possession, the 9' Brunswick Gold Crown IV from Orners in Indy - January 2003.

regards,
DCP
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
just curious how each of you guys got hooked on this fascinating game? anything quickly come to mind?
DCP
Click to expand...


When I was about 5 years old, my parents bought a miniature folding pool table for me that had a metal frame, two cues, and mini balls with a ball return. It was probably about 3-4 feet in length. I was fascinated and hooked immediately. In a short period of time, my father or nobody could beat me on that table. When I was around 14, I was able to get into the local pool hall and start playing on regulation size tables and get involved with small time gambling with my buddies that escalated as the years went by and I got better. It was 10 cents a rack to play back then and a rackman went back and forth between the tables racking the balls for whatever game was being played and collected the money. That was some of the most memorable and happy times of my teen years as well as a learning experience in many more ways than just making balls.
 
For me it wasn't a lifelong destiny type deal. I started playing every now and then when I was about 12. I'd go up to sports bars with my mom, who also played. That's where I learned a little. I didn't play for a few years after that. It turned into playing once or twice every couple months. When I was almost 19 a friend of mine asked me if I could fill in on her APA league team for one night. I did, and haven't stopped since. Many of the higher ranked players told me I was a natural. I just picked it up fast...and I was addicted! Now I play 2 nights of league, and just about every other night I practice. I have everything down, except english. I knw what english to use, I just haven't mastered compensation on the object ball...but it will come with time!
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
just curious how each of you guys got hooked on this fascinating game? anything quickly come to mind?DCP
Click to expand...

I've loved pool since my teens, but family obligations and monetary constraints restricted me to getting out to play may 2 or 3 times a year. About 4 years ago (in my 50's), with the last of my kids about to graduate HS and 2 done with college, I got a 3600 dollar bonus in work (about 2400 after taxes, grrrrr!!!!). I used it to by a 9' foot table and have spent most of my free time since playing pool. I now play in 3 leagues and my game is infinitely better than it was 4 years ago. I'm still at best just a c/c+, but I was clearly a recreational player 4 years ago.
Because of my age I know I'll never turn into a world beater, but that doesn't stop me from getting as good as I can and enjoying the hell out of the process.
 
when i started playing i was 8 years old back in 1968. my cousin, champion of new jersey state, taught me on a 4 and a half x 9 regulation victor table. by the time i was 8 and a half, i won my first game against someone in my family who was in their late 20's. i was so, taken with winning my first game, i ran upstairs, screaming "I WON, I WON!" my mother and father, aunt and uncle, saying "yeah?" in disbelief. they were thinking "come on a young 8-year old, beatimg someone in their late 20's?" that turned me on, and well, here i am today. since then i've won and lost games, and i figured it out, winning is sweeter! DUH!
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
just curious how each of you guys got hooked on this fascinating game? anything quickly come to mind?

i used to love to play in my younger days, but never had access to a table. then when i built my own place i was serious considering getting a table, but hadnt made up my mind.

what i credit for starting my love for this game was when i watched the Challenge of the Champions on ESPN back in 1998. it was Oliver Ortmann against Kung Fang Lee. during one of the early racks the announcer, Lon McEachren, made this comment:
"Lee has solved the riddle of this rack"
that stuck with me, and at that point i began to think more and more seriously about getting a table. shortly after that i did.

first table was a Brunswick entry level 7' table from Orners in Indy - Sept '98.
2-3 months later an 8' Steepleton from Louie's Billiards in Vincennes - Nov '98.
almost 2 years later an 9' E. A. Burgin table once again from Louie - Jul '00.
then my prize possession, the 9' Brunswick Gold Crown IV from Orners in Indy - January 2003.

regards,
DCP
Click to expand...
I started playing pool after seeing the movie "The color of money". Me and a buddy of mine, David B., went down to Varsity Billiards in Norwalk, Ca. just to see what this game was all about. We couldn't make a ball to save our lives, until, we got asked to play for money. Thats when it hit me, "Damn, I can make money at this?" 2 months later I'm playing all of the regulars there and all of the weekly tournaments. Soon after, Chuck and Mike Markulis opened up Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower and my game shot up in no time at all. I was like a sponge, watching Keith, Efren, Kim Davenport, Morro, Ernesto, Ron Rosas, and whoever else stepped into the tournament room to play. I asked questions and practiced as much as I could. I took a lot of whuppins before I started winning. In 2 years I was playing with all of those guys in tournaments, and winning. My first road trip was with Jose Parica and Hawaiian Jimmy, to Florida. Whatta disaster that was. They took my cue away from me after a bad loss in a bar in Texas. I didn't get to play again until we got to Florida and it wasn't much better there either. No practice and too much "fun" was my excuse and I'm stickin' to it. The best part about the trip, I had $2,500 waiting for me when I got home from a $50 Super Bowl pool I had entered before leaving, and San Francisco beat Denver 55-10 and my number was 5-0.
 
Well. . the simple version of the story. . . ha. . like there is one. . anyway, my best friend growing up, her grandfather had a table in his basement and we'd whack balls around. Then when I was 15, I met this guy who was a player/gambler. Basically, I was enamoured by him and ended up dating him for 3 years. This is were I'll make the long story short: When he and I split right around when I was 18, I had some kind of void in me. . something was taken away. I decided for revenge that I'd learn to play and I'd beat him. Well, it happened, and when it finally did, the love for the game was so deeply ingrained in my being that I continued playing. . . now, here I am. . 10 years since it all began.

Sonja
 
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