When did you know you were ready to gamble?

Honestly, only you will know.

My only advice is, avoid people who say they don't enjoy it unless there's something on the line. Those aren't pool players, they're gambling addicts who use pool as their outlet. Even playing one game with them. They'll never leave you alone again, especially if they think or know they can win.
 
macguy said:
When you train attack dogs the secret is they always win. You never destroy the dogs confidence. Entering a big tournament and being over matched and beat on is not too good in my opinion. Better off stay on the side lines and watch, you will learn a thing or two. Not sure what you learn getting pounded.
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Good advice here. You want to build confidence with winning, and continue to test yourself with stronger competition.
 
UPlayLucky said:
Good advice here. You want to build confidence with winning, and continue to test yourself with stronger competition.
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There is a flip side to that coin though.

For some, gettin their brains beat in or going broke enough times is just the exact motivation that will cause them to do whatever it takes to get better.
 
I have been betting on myself all of my life when it comes to pool. Even a tournament is betting on your self. What I like about so called gambling is me and my opponent decide what game we are going to play how much we are going to play for, what the handicap is and even what rules we will play by. Most of all I can play for a few hours straight where in tournaments you spend most of your time waiting to play. Pool tournaments are gambling, you are getting great odds on the money yet the odds are against winning the money if everyone played the same. I found I have an advantage when I do play in tournaments because of my background of playing for money. Mosconi said in his book and this is not an exact quote. He did not think anyone could become a champion unless they sharked bets in their youth. So far all the greats have been money players at one time or another.
 
macguy said:
I don't know, a guy blowing like $150.00 playing in a tournament he is certain to go 2 and out in, is that really worth it?
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There are cheaper tournaments. You don't have to enter the US Open to have fun and gain experience. There are many local tournaments in Louisiana that are $20, $30, and $40 entries. While the payouts aren't Chinese 8-ball money, there are some top level players to match up with.

In my lifetime, I've matched up with a few shortstops. Only one of them was a complete D-Bag and not willing to help me out. It shows character when you get stomped in the ground, walk up to your opponent, shake their hand, and ask if they give you any pointers. Unless the person hates life, they will probably enjoy a conversation with you.

No one gambles, loses their paycheck, and asks the guy for pointers.
 
DAVE_M said:
There are cheaper tournaments. You don't have to enter the US Open to have fun and gain experience. There are many local tournaments in Louisiana that are $20, $30, and $40 entries. While the payouts aren't Chinese 8-ball money, there are some top level players to match up with.

In my lifetime, I've matched up with a few shortstops. Only one of them was a complete D-Bag and not willing to help me out. It shows character when you get stomped in the ground, walk up to your opponent, shake their hand, and ask if they give you any pointers. Unless the person hates life, they will probably enjoy a conversation with you.

No one gambles, loses their paycheck, and asks the guy for pointers.
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I finally agree with you on something lol. I will be in a tournament this weekend with some very good players. 32 player field. Double elimination 9 ball on Diamond bar boxes (I play pretty much exclusively on 9 foot Gold Crowns). Buy in $55. Sometimes you just gotta take your temperature if you are serious about improving. I'll be going in with a positive attitude because even if I don't win I will learn something. I am back a year after a super long lay off and want to see where I stand.
 
BmoreMoney said:
There is a flip side to that coin though.

For some, gettin their brains beat in or going broke enough times is just the exact motivation that will cause them to do whatever it takes to get better.
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From years of being in pool rooms I can remember many who after taking a hard loss never come back in the pool room. For some they will actually say they are never playing again or they swear off playing for money for good.

Not everyone takes being beaten badly as a positive learning experience. Not to mention people in pool rooms are not always kind. They will just make him feel like a sucker or fool.

I think this is one of the biggest things that keeps players from playing for money. Not the money, but the idea of losing and being a sucker. The winners are not always gracious. The loser may even feel like he is being laughed at.

Gambling at pool is not like poker, betting on sports or going to the track.
When you lose at pool you have been personally beaten by the other player not his cards he was lucky enough to draw.
There is not a way to excuse or rationalize your way out of it.
It does take a bit of character to gamble on yourself. You can't live and die with every win or loss.
 
at 15 I played a "road player" for $5 a game -.by the next month I was betting $50

Floppage said:
NO!!! I'm not looking for people go gamble with right this minute. All the hustlers take one step back from your private message option.

I keep hearing that gambling is a good way to really put yourself in a pressure situation in pool and work on performing under that pressure. However, I seem to have some major aversion to it that I really can't explain.

I'm guessing a lot of it has to do with confidence.

When did you know you were ready to start playing for money? Did you start with just playing for drinks with friends or go all in? Did you try to find players close to your level, play better players and ask for a spot or just take your beatings for awhile?

I'm curious how other players got into it and what their initial experiences were like as well as any advice on what not to do.

Thanks in advance.
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It's no coincidence that the greatest player all have gambling backgrounds. Earl, Efren and I all got our start playing as many money matches as possible.
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I started gambling for small stakes at my local pool room, then at 15 I played a "road player" for $5 a game.....by the next month I was betting $50 a game in Quincy Illinois.

There used to be a lot of gambling in the country when everyone was playing 'Two Foul" rules, then when 'One Foul' became the "TV Game" the gambling dried up. Gamblers want the mental challenge and the strategic elements......'One Foul' doesn't offer these components, it's mostly a "run out, ducking, or kicking" game.

I'd recommend you start playing straight pool, and some type of carom game by yourself, and gamble for low stakes (5-10 a game) playing 8-Ball, and 9-Ball - these days you can gamble with players my speed for low stakes.....better take advantage of the opportunity.

There's also usually $10 tournaments once a week in the bigger towns/cities. I play a lot of these to try to stay sharp, however, there's nothing like gambling to reach the highest levels of performance.......especially playing 10 hour+ sessions. imho
 
CJ Wiley said:
It's no coincidence that the greatest player all have gambling backgrounds. Earl, Efren and I all got our start playing as many money matches as possible.
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Don't even try to compare yourself to Earl and Efren... :killingme:
 
macguy said:
From years of being in pool rooms I can remember many who after taking a hard loss never come back in the pool room. For some they will actually say they are never playing again or they swear off playing for money for good.

Not everyone takes being beaten badly as a positive learning experience. Not to mention people in pool rooms are not always kind. They will just make him feel like a sucker or fool.

I think this is one of the biggest things that keeps players from playing for money. Not the money, but the idea of losing and being a sucker. The winners are not always gracious. The loser may even feel like he is being laughed at.

Gambling at pool is not like poker, betting on sports or going to the track.
When you lose at pool you have been personally beaten by the other player not his cards he was lucky enough to draw.
There is not a way to excuse or rationalize your way out of it.
It does take a bit of character to gamble on yourself. You can't live and die with every win or loss.
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Well yes there are those type of people for sure. But imo they are the ones with no heart whatsoever and prob wouldn't have made it very far gambling anyway. What I've seen way more often is someone get drilled and go off and swear off pool - NEVER PLAYING AGAIN ! - and they are gone for a couple weeks or a month then right back in the thick of things.

Also, there were always the guys that did that AND take it out on their sticks. Such as the guy that would go outside and through his $1k sticks in the roof before leaving. Or the guy that would stomp out of the pool room and throw his cue into the ocean! Sorry guys no names lol but they know who they are.

One last thing. If we are honest with ourselves, were we all suckers the first time in the pool room to some degree or another? How one evolves is the real question. I've always thought of the pool room as a Darwinian environment.
 
One more last thing

While this is only my thought and experience, I do believe that there are prob many others that feel the same.

When I started out and got my brains beat in while getting the 6, 7 or whatever then gradually over time I improved and began beating those same guys with the 6, then 7 then 8 then even, and ended even spotting some of them it was the most satisfying and unbelievable feeling!

Problem is once I got to where I could start beating some of these people they pretty much instantly turned into nits that wouldn't bet waters wet! Lol seriously, everyone knows people like this.

Imo, people like this are what's killing pool; at least the action side of it.
 
I just want to take a minute and thank everyone for the input on this topic. I have been reading it the whole time and both the experiences and dialog back and forth between players has been beneficial.

I am not totally sure how this will play out for me yet but I have a lot of insights now on this topic that I didn't have before.
 
Day 1

I had no choice in the matter. The " kid " teaching me at Flynn's Poolroom said " we'll start off with 9 ball 50 cents a game , I 'll break " . This was in the 60's and it was taken for granted everyone gambles. If you just wanted to practice the least you could play for was the table time. When I came back to Pool in the 90's it was different some gambled and some would not even play for the table time.
 
My saying is "I don't want to book any losers!"

I will play people I am better than in a race to 5 for $20 or $2 ~ $5 a game. If I loose the race, then apparently they are better than me, so I don't play them again. I play a lot of $20 and lower tournaments and many times after the tourneys the people I beat ask me to play. I never ask anyone to play for money, they have to ask me. That way, if I do win and they are pissed, I say "Hey, your the one that wanted to play for money".

I have heard the old saying that "You will be a great player once you lose enough money to put a down payment on an aircraft carrier", but I never wanted to lose that much cash. I am cheap and a sore loser, so gambling and me don't mix well.
 
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