When did you start entering tournys?

When I was beating all of my friends I started looking for a higher lever of competition. Maybe six months to a year after I first picked up a cue. That was thirty years ago and within two years I started winning tournaments and eventually played for the University of Texas in the interscholastic championships. I probably won about a hundred tournaments going to bars during a twenty year period. I won maybe a dozen decent tournaments at pool rooms with better players.

Then I quit playing for years and started again about three years ago.

Now because of my job I can only play in about one tournement every other month and I have only made money twice, about fifty dollars one time and 357 dollars the other.

I don't know if you are looking for road stories or trying to determine when YOU should start playing tournaments. I say, get in every tournament you can afford and have a chance to win a few games. It will teach you alot. Don't expect to win the tournament at first. For the ten to twenty dollars it cost to get into a tournament and maybe playing a local hot shot, it is worth it to figure out your speed.

I will admit that I am making more money by playing people for cash and matching up right than I would make at tournaments right now.
 
Matching up directly is usually better money.

Think about it. I will play a race to 9 for $50 or $100 no problem. . . .or I could enter in a $10 - $20 tournament with a $100 1st place and play 10 races to 5 to win! I basically play in tournaments to pay minimal money to play people who want to win.
 
I was playing for a few years before the first one. Up here in nw Montana we dont get a lot of opportunities or at least I didn't know about them at the time. In 94 the Montana coin op tournament showed up at Columbia Falls just a few miles from Kalispell. [ It used to move from one Montana city to another]. You had to qualify from various bars in the area for the A or B bracket. I got into the B and placed 7th place for $100. It's been a love/hate relationship ever since. In fact I'm heading out this morning to play some 9ball in Ronan. Don
 
beerpressure said:
How far into your pool playing did you gain enough confidence to enter tourneys?
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I started playin at 14, and was entering weekly tournaments by 15. I would have to forfeit matches after 10pm (curfew), but I did not care - just wanted to compete so bad!

Finally won them at 18, because I could stay in the poolroom after 10p.
 
I'm still in the "new to the game phase" (about 18 months in) and I started playing in the small in-house tournaments that run in the evenings, probably after about 6 months.

We don't have many bigger tournaments around here, and the few that we do have are often on Saturdays (duh), and I have to work most Saturdays so there I am.

I'm trying to arrange my rare Saturdays off in conjunction for when there is such a tournament to enter. And then hope that no family obligations arise to derail that thought.

I feel I get better every time I play in any tournament, just from the experience. I wish we could have more evening tournaments in my part of the world...
 
I think this is kind of a funny story. Sorry it's a little long. I started playing pool at age 11 in 1970. I was pretty much obsessed with boxing, guns & pool. Guns at 6, pool at 11, boxing at 12 or so. Anyway, I got a "Minnesota Fats" Pacer model pool table. 8 ft and made largely of particle board. It was in my grandpaps cellar between two coal furnaces. Played there sometimes all night instead of sleeping. Get home from school, go to work, go to the gym and then home to the cellar. Many nights all night. Bus stop at 0705. Didn't always sleep! I soon became the best in my house. Then the best on my street. Then I was the best on my block. And then I was the best in the neighborhood. And I was the best in my school.

Fast forward to 1980, I got married and got a Gandy 9 ft real table! And man, did I ever think I was the stick! :D Everybody I played, I dominated.
But I never played in any tournaments because I had a full time job and two part-time jobs, plus a wife and then 2 kids so working 7 days a week was just how things were and had to be.

Flash forward one more time now for the funny part of this story. In 1997, I had finally gotten my Brunswick 9 fter. And I heard that a weekly 9 Ball tournament was held at a pool room in town.

I had never been to any tournament ever, I just played matches at my house vs friends or family. And man alive, I was "good"! (:D) I very seldom lost, almost never. So when I heard about this 9 ball tourney, I saw $ signs flashing. That and the fact that I was so sure I was going to not only win, but DOMINATE that I knew I had already won it before I started the car to get there.

I went 2 and out.

Went back again the following week. Accidently won one a match & then 2 & out.

What a reality check! These guys were GOOD! I got DOMINATED! :D I was regulated to mostly being a rack boy. I soon learned that there's much to pool I never really learned by playing other bangers. So I went home & started to really bear down and concentrate and PRACTICE instead of just "playing pool".

I ended up winning 6 tournaments before the pool hall closed up. Haven't played in any since. Was going to enter the 2009 Derby City Classic because I was turning 50 & was playing the best I ever played. But had that back fracture in Aug 2008, my 1st surgery in 2009, the infection, another surgery on my neck & that derailed all that. Have at least one more surgery to go in May and then, with any luck, I'll be able to start comepeting again. I have hope of getting to the DCC finally in 2012. If I'm not able to enter, I at least want to be there when Shannon Daulton gets inducted into the 1P & Banks H.O.F.

Funny memories. How we THINK we are isn't always HOW we are! I don't take anybody for granted after having my behind whopped like that!

But I'm STILL the best player in my neighborhood! :D
 
The first tournament I entered was a couple years after I retired. It was a handicapped 9 ball tournament and I'd never played 9 ball so my opponent had to explain the rules. The kicker to the story is they gave me a higher handicap than my opponent.
 
PocketPoint said:
Well I started playing in tournaments before I had any confidence at all.
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LOL - sounds familiar.

At 40 years old & just divorced I decided "I think I'll teach myself how to play pool" :eek: Little did I know. My ex made it look so easy as he played on the team for our local bar that we owned for a few years as a tax write-off.

I went to a small bar a few Saturday mornings to try my hand at it then a guy came up to me to offer his help. Within a couple of weeks he started taking me to the 5 local ball-in-hand tournaments to play. So here I am playing (read: losing) against the best players in town. The only women there were myself and another lady and we were always made very welcome & treated very well. I watched, asked Jimmie questions & learned.

I will always be grateful that Jimmie became my mentor very early in the learning process.
 
I think my first tournament was around 1963 and I had been playing a couple of years. I have lost track of how many I've entered or won. But I may be the only one on the forums that won a tournament in Viet Nam back during the war. 1968 to be exact. I have the trophy on my desk.
 
Hi there,

started to play league and tournaments from the beginning. You can learn a lot here what you ll never get during practicing.
 
I started playing pool late at 20 yrs old. At the time, USPPA was probably the best way for a beginner to start. Handicap tournaments keep everyone's hope alive to win a match, and keep you coming back. Over time, you won't be the one getting the handicap, you'll be giving it. And, you'll be able to gauge your progress.

Something else. If you want to be good, you have to gamble. I hardly ever any more, because I have other interests. But I believe that if you have something at stake every time you play an opponent, it will help you in the long run. Could be a coke, or a dollar a game, or 20.00.
 
I have been playing seriously for about 5 years and now I'm ranked as a AA (C-B-A-AA-AAA-Semi Pro-Pro) and I can hold my own against AAA's now but I started weekly lives tournaments about 3 hours after I decided to learn how to play.

It took me 6 months to decide to go play a sanctionned tournament.
 
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