When Using the Term ‘Cheap Sets’ - How much $/Set Does That Mean?

[mikemosconi]

Cheap sets among two players who are not looking to hustle each other is just enough money passing hands to keep one playing their game with enough interest to not take crazy chances - to play a tight game defensively and a calculated risk game offensively.

Cheap sets where two unknowns match up and one is looking to hustle is just a way for the hustler to get into the other guys pocket in an innocent looking way, until the one being hustled realizes he is losing way more than winning.

The third cheap set scenario is where both players already know that one is much better than the other, but the better player wants to get " paid" to demonstrate skills and the weaker player knowingly pays for ' lessons".

The amounts wagered usually vary from $10 to $40 or so per set- usually shorter races to 5 or 7 for 8,9,10 ball. Time should be split evenly.

 

[Jimmorrison]

I greatly enjoy this game, but it’s been ten years now, and I still suck. As a 500 Fargo, betting big would just make me feel like a delusional poser

 

[JolietJames]

I greatly enjoy this game, but it’s been ten years now, and I still suck. As a 500 Fargo, betting big would just make me feel like a delusional poser

You should spend some time on AZPoolplayers. It's common for low level guys to match up for decent sums of money.
They post the matches using professional flyers like the ones the pros use to advertise their big money games.
Always advertised as "$ in the middle", and they are often streamed.

 

[kollegedave]

I’ve heard the term ‘cheap sets’ on here often between two prospective players who have never matched up and have no idea how the other plays. Just curious what most of you guys on here think that means as far as how much $ per set.

I assume it’s a relative term, meaning that for gamblers that are used to playing big $ sets, cheap sets could be considered $500 sets. For most posting on here, I assume it might mean $50 sets, $100 max. In our rural poolroom, when someone in here says cheap sets, it most likely means $10-$20 sets, maybe $50 sets with better players, unless it’s a road player, in which case you have no idea what they mean. Just curious if I’m correct in my assumptions?

I like Bob Jewett's response. When I was a kid, we sometimes played for the time...that was about as cheap as we went.

I would add that "cheap" for me, is not just relative to what is customary in a community, it is also relative to the amount of "barrels" and time a person has to play. To a person that has $1000.00 budgeted for "action money", cheap might be $20--$100, as that person has a fair number of "barrels". However, to a kid that has $50 to his name, $20 sets are expensive.

kollegedave

 

[SBC]

I greatly enjoy this game, but it’s been ten years now, and I still suck. As a 500 Fargo, betting big would just make me feel like a delusional poser

Just get the weight you need.
Plenty of weaker players get action.

 

[HelpMeScrubs0013]

Boy yall can bring some subjects up

 

[ChrisinNC]

Boy yall can bring some subjects up

Yeah, but we’ve got to keep this forum moving with new topics for discussion. If you can come up with something better to bring up, go for it!

 

[justadub]

In that case, the cost of beer is part of the game. But where are there 50-cent tables?

Our Eagles Club just went from .25 per game to .50 this year

 

[tim913]

Spent many hours at the hall playing Bobby McGrath 9 ball sets to seven for $20. Walked in once and Jeanette was playing Judex, I heard she lost to him on the bar boxes and came in to play him on the 9 footers but can’t confirm that.

 

[ShootingArts]

I prefer to not play friends or family for cash. Dates back to when I was the only pool player in my crowd. No handicap that didn't seem ridiculous was fair. I used to play no straight in shots for me, banks, kicks, combinations, before the jump cue era. Other than that standard eight or nine.

If a bet was insisted on I made the bet large enough to cover table time for both and a bit more and I covered the table, maybe a beer or three.

Cheap sets with a stranger, enough to cover the table and drinks and the winner covers the table time. Friends from the Net, I prefer not to bet until we know each other better. Generally prefer not to bet, regardless. I slipped a struggling player a few bucks only to find myself in a ring game against my own money less than an hour later. I couldn't help it, I found it an annoying and stupid situation to be playing against my own money.

Cheap sets wash out to where the winner comes out very little ahead. In my mind twenty a set, fifty a set in a pricey joint, might be cheap sets. If the race is long enough that cheap sets are a hundred or more then we need to shorten races or play by the game. There are always exceptions, if I and another young gun had marked the twenty and just passed that one twenty back and forth we would have worn it out! It was very hard to get decisively ahead of him, took the better part of a year. Definitely no loser, we honed steel on steel for all of that time and both of us came out the far end stronger players.

If cheap sets are more important than friends or family they aren't cheap sets anymore regardless of the dollars.

Hu

 

[Icon of Sin]

Races to 5 for 25...

Races to 7 for 50...

Anything higher isn't cheap... but not necessarily expensive either.

 

[SSP]

It depends on the game and who's playing.

A $20 game of 6 ball, some might think is cheap but??
The game lasts about 3 minutes.

$20 game of 1pocket is a different story. If you're talking time v money.

Of course there's the factor of who has money and who doesn't.
But don't forget there's the case where the guy with no money is the better player.

Then we just have 2 guys that don't care and just want to throw money on a game.
I think that's what we're talking about. 2 players that simply want to add a wager. FOR FUN

Then there's the case .........

Friendly game??
Whats a cheap priced cue?
Are there cheap priced worth owning and playing with?
I think so.

My fishing partner and I have a standing $1 bet on who catches the biggest fish.
We've been trading that exact same dollar bill for around 20 years.
That My Friend is a Cheap Bet!! And believe me... We cherish the trophy stashed in our wallet, and look forward to the next match.

My buddy will bet on anything and everything under the sun and usually has an angle, he has 2 $1 bills with my name on them and wouldn't give them up for $100 a piece, pulls them out every so often just to rub it in that he has them

 

[u12armresl]

I’ve heard the term ‘cheap sets’ on here often between two prospective players who have never matched up and have no idea how the other plays. Just curious what most of you guys on here think that means as far as how much $ per set.

I assume it’s a relative term, meaning that for gamblers that are used to playing big $ sets, cheap sets could be considered $500 sets. For most posting on here, I assume it might mean $50 sets, $100 max. In our rural poolroom, when someone in here says cheap sets, it most likely means $10-$20 sets, maybe $50 sets with better players, unless it’s a road player, in which case you have no idea what they mean. Just curious if I’m correct in my assumptions?

"Cheap sets" have so many different meanings.
There is the "asshole" cheap set, where someone throws out a number like $2500 races to 3 9 ball.

There is the "I'm being staked by someone else and showing off to the room" cheap set. Similar to the asshole cheap set.
There is the "practice" cheap set, where you play a nice race to like 9 or 11 for something cheap, but it also covers time, some food, and maybe a few drinks.
There is the "make it easy on yourself" set where you are feeling out the other person for a good amount.

There are more, but this a start.

 

[SSP]

It's been my experience that people you don't know who want to play you for money are not gamblers, they are hustlers, they have been watching you practice, it's no gamble for them, they don't want to "gamble" with the best player in the room, they want to make you feel like you have a chance to win and they were just lucky that "last game", that's why I don't gamble, If I want to play for money I will play a tournament, I have a set amount of money I would lose and still not get hustled, I know what I'm getting myself into, When I am asked to play for money unless it's with friends for a dollar or two, I always let them know about the up coming Joss tours, none of those guys want to gamble on themselves in those kind of tournaments.

 

[King T]

I’ve heard the term ‘cheap sets’ on here often between two prospective players who have never matched up and have no idea how the other plays. Just curious what most of you guys on here think that means as far as how much $ per set.

I assume it’s a relative term, meaning that for gamblers that are used to playing big $ sets, cheap sets could be considered $500 sets. For most posting on here, I assume it might mean $50 sets, $100 max. In our rural poolroom, when someone in here says cheap sets, it most likely means $10-$20 sets, maybe $50 sets with better players, unless it’s a road player, in which case you have no idea what they mean. Just curious if I’m correct in my assumptions?

How much is the Pool time? if the Pool time is $13-$15 an hour then we're going to play for more, if the time is $5.00 an hour then $50 to five works.

 

[Cornerman]

$20

 

[MitchAlsup]

In that case, the cost of beer is part of the game. But where are there 50-cent tables?

Deep Eddy Cabaret, Lake Austin Blvd, Austin Texas.

Where a ½ pitcher (32 oz) of beer is $7.00, and a full pitcher (64 oz) is $9.00

 

[ShootingArts]

It's been my experience that people you don't know who want to play you for money are not gamblers, they are hustlers, they have been watching you practice, it's no gamble for them, they don't want to "gamble" with the best player in the room, they want to make you feel like you have a chance to win and they were just lucky that "last game", that's why I don't gamble, If I want to play for money I will play a tournament, I have a set amount of money I would lose and still not get hustled, I know what I'm getting myself into, When I am asked to play for money unless it's with friends for a dollar or two, I always let them know about the up coming Joss tours, none of those guys want to gamble on themselves in those kind of tournaments.

Pretty much spot on but of course you can lure these would be hustlers too. If you are watching me practicing by myself you are going to see a lot of points hit!

I had to laugh at myself awhile back. I was checking out a new hall and the counter guy comes to play me a few games. Wasn't long that three or four older railbirds come to watch. I had already found the table banked so short as to be ridiculous but made a quick decision, no adjustments with people watching! No more than I gamble now it didn't really matter, just old habits dying hard. Too, never know when a live one will come along.

Hu

 

[3kushn]

My buddy will bet on anything and everything under the sun and usually has an angle, he has 2 $1 bills with my name on them and wouldn't give them up for $100 a piece, pulls them out every so often just to rub it in that he has them

Yes of course.
That's the fun and cheap as well.

 

[SSP]

A few years back my buddy was at a construction site and 2 guys were attempting pick up a 55 gallon trash can full of concrete on to a truck, he said I'll bet you a hundred I can pick up that can with one hand and throw it on that truck, the answer was no way, so the bet was made, so he kicked over the can with concrete, emptied it on the ground, picked up the can with one hand and threw it on the truck, the guy who made the bet said I bet you couldn't pick up the can with concrete in it, my buddy said I didn't bet you on that, I bet you that I could pick up that can with one hand and throw it on the truck and I did it, gimme my hundred, true story, needless to say anytime we make a bet there are lawyers involved, still working on getting those dollar bills with my name on them, he always has an angle.