I'm willing to bet
that you will not gamble (even game) with someone you do not feel you can beat.
that you will not gamble (even game) with someone you do not feel you can beat.
that you will not gamble (even game) with someone you do not feel you can beat.
i'm not a huge gambler by any means but ever since i started playing for table time i actually hate playing for anything less.
normally when i go into a room i'm looking to play 20 dollar sets. if i just got paid, or i really like the match, i'll play for a hundred or 2. i'll admit that's doesnt happen a lot but it does happen. i usually like to play for 10-50 and i get really irritated when i cant find a game that cheap. i'd understand if someone only wanted to bet more but these days people either seem to want to play for less or not at all
am i the only one that feels people should bet something, play someone, or go the f*ck home! i'm tired of walking in and seeing people that play drinking water so they can avoid buying a soda and sitting on the side lines doing nothing
No, you're not the only one who feels that way, but you are definitely in the minority. It's the league players and social players that pay a pool room's bills; not the gamblers. If you don't believe me, just go back to your favorite pool room and loudly demand that all the non-gamblers go home immediately. Then hold on tightly to your cue stick to make sure you don't drop it while the owner is chasing your butt out the door!
Roger
that you will not gamble (even game) with someone you do not feel you can beat.
Would you match up with Ortmann in 14.1?
i've seen people sit around in a pool room for 5+ hours and not spend a dime. they just keep drinking free water and complaining about this that or the other.
I learned that the old adage that the only folks who got rich during the gold boom were the ones who sold the picks and the shovels....
While I consider pool a game well suited for money play, I find no requirement to do so in order for someone to reap the enjoyment the game has to offer. In my youth it was my primary means of income (gambling, including pool) and even in young adulthood I enjoyed gambling on pool.
But somewhere along the line things changed. When I was younger money didn't mean that much since there were little if no responsibilities and there was always the next pay check to take care of the responsibilities I did have. But with age comes change. Marriage and kids means not only having responsibilities to others but for the future as well (college, retirement, yada yada).
At some point in time the utility of winning versus losing became inequitable. Say I went to Vegas and won $5 grand. Yes that would make me happy but it is not life changing money and the happiness I would get from it does not even come close to the bad vibes of losing even half that. So it just doesn't even out for me, and therefore is simply not worth it.
I still enjoy playing for money because it adds a certain element to the game that heightens the experience, but certainly it would be low stakes by many people's standards. Same as in Vegas. Yeah I gamble, but I look at it as strictly entertainment and bet accordingly.
I make a decent living so the stakes I would have to gamble for to feel like it really means something financially is way beyond being a risk I am willing to take.
I guess as I've gotten older I just have more appreciation for how difficult it is to come by money so I'm not as willing to gamble it away.
Friendly stakes suits me just right.
I play pretty frequently - and I always buys a couple of drinks and sometimes some food, depending on how long I'm there. However, I never gamble. Why? Because I don't feel like I'm ready for money games. There's a group of younger kids that play for 5 or 10 a rack and I could gamble with them, but the problem is they've all seen me shoot and I doubt they'd play with me. I'm no fancy shooter, but every time I've played for fun with any of them, they've never won. There's a few other guys that are regulars that I'd play some money games with, but because I know we're about even and it'd be a good match. Then there are the other guys that I would need some weight from - I could probably get it too, we're all friendly enough - but it just never comes up.
I will say though, that as I improve, the more open I am to the idea of playing for something on the side - sets only though. I don't really like the per-rack set-up.
How is that different from anytime in the last 50-60 years? Some people are just going to "sit around" in the pool room.
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
I dont gamble with anyone I don't know well, and even then i do it small (table time etc).
When i was 5 years old, my grandfathers friend died from a brain hemorrhage that was caused by having the butt of a pool cue jabbed into the back of his head. It was during a fight over payoffs where he and my grandfather used to play for money. My grandfather had a beautiful old Brunswick from the early 20s in his house, but he never played again. He let me shoot on it, and his friends played on it, but he refused to play. He would give me pointers verbally but that was it.
Something like that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I make enough money to live on just fine, and while I dont mind losing some of it, it isnt worth the aggravation of collecting OR the trouble some people will start if they are losing.
I play better for the green, but I get this fix playing in tournaments or occasionally playing someone for small cash that i know is much stronger than I am. I see it as paying for lessons.
I also dont mind playing with anyone who is respectful and loves the game. If they are after free advice and want to know what I was thinking on a shot, I LOVE to talk strategy with them. IMO not enough people are willing to be students of the game.
I just dropped a guy from a cash league team we had because he didn't like anyone giving him any advice and would blame me for a loss when I suggested a safety play. Never mind that he thought aggressively going for a 3 rail shot was the better option...
To each his own. life is short so live is the way you want. If someone isn't bothering you directly then leave them to live their life as they want - gambler or not.