Why do top pool players play cards?

alstl

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was in a pool room a while back playing a guy who is a backer for one of the better players in the area. The player walked in and started telling his backer about how much money he had just lost at a local casino playing cards. This guy is a very good pool player, easily the best player in that room, and it made me wonder why he wants to waste his time at cards when he has such a big advantage at pool.

I recently watched the interview of fats on the home page of this website and he is talking about being the best card player around, listing all the top card players he beat. I didn't know the man, but I don't doubt he made a lot of money playing pool. I've heard that he lost most of it playing cards.

Becoming a top pool player is a skill that few people possess, cards is a different story. Maybe these guys just like to gamble and are bored with making money at pool?

I'm not passing judgment, it's just something that I've wondered about for awhile.
 
alstl said:
The player walked in and started telling his backer about how much money he had just lost at a local casino playing cards.
Click to expand...

Within your question lies the answer Grasshopper. Lots of money to be won as well as lost. Gambling is what they want.
 
alstl said:
I was in a pool room a while back playing a guy who is a backer for one of the better players in the area. The player walked in and started telling his backer about how much money he had just lost at a local casino playing cards. This guy is a very good pool player, easily the best player in that room, and it made me wonder why he wants to waste his time at cards when he has such a big advantage at pool.

I recently watched the interview of fats on the home page of this website and he is talking about being the best card player around, listing all the top card players he beat. I didn't know the man, but I don't doubt he made a lot of money playing pool. I've heard that he lost most of it playing cards.

Becoming a top pool player is a skill that few people possess, cards is a different story. Maybe these guys just like to gamble and are bored with making money at pool?

I'm not passing judgment, it's just something that I've wondered about for awhile.
Click to expand...

IMO.
Even if you're a top player, there really isn't much money in pool. Either you stay in your area and everybody knows you and wants a huge spot or you go on the road and have additional expenses.
Poker carries the illusion that anybody can be a good card player. It isn't true, but the illusion persists. Everybody has the mentality that they have the "right stuff". If you remember the movie/book, when a test pilot got killed they just said he didn't have the "right stuff" and they did. It is the same with cards, true gamblers want to believe they have the "right stuff", it is the other guy who is the sucker who will lose in the long run. In point of fact, very few have the "right stuff". The illusion gets reinforced everytime they hit a big pot or do well in a tournament, they conviently forget the loses.
As I said JMHO.
 
Well in pool the money is really limited. Tournament wise poker offers more bang for your buck. For $10 I can enter a 15K tournament. Its also righteous to beat a sucker in poker. Whereas in pool not so. You also can get up and walk away in poker winning where as in pool its bad form to quit winners.

A lot of top poker players are good pool players as well. Daniel Negraneu, Amarillo SLim, David Benyamine, John Hennigan, Doyle Brunson, and many more all played pool. Before the casinos the pool hall is where the action was. Now with online poker kids dont have to go anywhere to gamble.
 
Jay Helfert is a top pool player and a poker player. Maybe he can add his imput
 
My answer is...

It's the allure of easy money... the sirens beckon... come... come... come and get me... I'm beautiful... and I will satisfy your every wish... you'll be rich... free money... come and get it.



Either that... or it's just another job-avoidance technique. :rolleyes:
 
Because

they are always saying to theirselves, 'If I just get the right cards, I can win'.

In Pool, the equivalent would be, 'If I just get the right table layout, I could run the table'.

Need I say more ..... :rolleyes:
 
BazookaJoe said:
In order to eat on a somewhat regular basis
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I thought that's why they had girlfriends.

Old joke: What's a pro pool player without a girlfriend?
Answer: Homeless.

pj
chgo

(By the way, this joke works pretty much as-is for women pros too. Not that there's anything wrong with that...)
 
Smorgass Bored said:
I don't think that's a word.
Doug
Click to expand...

Sure it is:

Wickipedia:
The word that is used in the English language for several grammatical purposes:

to introduce a restrictive clause
as a demonstrative pronoun
as a complementizer
Click to expand...

Glad to provide expert imput any time,

pj
chgo
 
Patrick Johnson said:
I thought that's why they had girlfriends.

Old joke: What's a pro pool player without a girlfriend?
Answer: Homeless.

pj
chgo

(By the way, this joke works pretty much as-is for women pros too. Not that there's anything wrong with that...)
Click to expand...

Hahaha, I like the joke! As for the answer I think it's just the action. Great gamblers need action, on everything. I had a dear friend (and notorious gambler) who used to bet with his wife for who takes out the trash, does the dishes, etc. The racker/breaker bets etc....I think TRUE gamblers are happy with a 50/50 bet...they love the gamble.

Joe
 
Money. 'Nuff said.

Think of it this way. It takes $120-150 a day to be on the road. If a stranger wants to play some $50 dollar sets, do you ask for his resume'? Probably. $100 dollar sets? Pretty sure you ask. $200? Most people want his blood type.
 
I Don't Wear A Shower Cap

Patrick Johnson said:
Sure it is:

Wickipedia:
The word that is used in the English language for several grammatical purposes:

to introduce a restrictive clause
as a demonstrative pronoun
as a complementizer



Glad to provide expert imput any time,

pj
chgo
Click to expand...


I input imput into my Radio Shack electronic Spelling Ace and it changed imput to input.

Mirriam-Webster
Search "imput" in:
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Browse the Dictionary:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

imput
No entries found that match imput........... VIOLA !

Doug
 
They play cards because there's a lot more money in poker than in pool. The best poker players make a lot more than the best pool players. The action is also a lot less likely to dry up when you get known in poker than in pool. I don't really know how good or well-known Negreanu got, but for sure John Hennigan made the switch because his action was dead. But, I'm sure both of them aren't hurting for money - Negreanu is one of the best mixed-game cash players and no limit hold 'em tournament players, and Hennigan is one of the best seven card stud players in the world. Now that Chip Reese is gone, he actually might be the best.

Just to reiterate on the "action drying up," thing, from everything I've heard it seems like BIG scores in pool are becoming more and more rare, especially if you're somebody like Efren or Bustamante. Without giving up some ridiculous spot, it's probably really hard for these guys to find a game for $10k or more. But just about every night of the week you can find a mixed game at the Bellagio with $4,000-$8,000 limit games, and capped $50,000 and $100,000 no limit games. And if the big game isn't going on, it's no problem for Brunson, Negreanu, etc. to find some smaller game (maybe $1,000-$2,000) that they can absolutely crush.

Sorry to be all long-winded about it, it's just there's more money and more action in poker than in pool.

Edit - Damn, forgot this part too: The short-term luck in poker is much more significant than in pool. If I played 9-ball with Boening or any other top player even for a whole night, it would take some act of God for me to come out ahead. But on any given hand or night some awful amateur poker player could outdraw Brunson again and again and again, and make a big score. It's this short-term luck and the illusion of skill it can grant bad players that really keeps the poker action from drying up. But over the long-term, skill will trump luck in poker. If that bad player that outdrew Brunson all night played him every night for a year, he'd give up everything he won and a lot more.

(Gus Hansen is a great example of this.)
 
Last edited:
Smorgass Bored said:
I input imput into my Radio Shack electronic Spelling Ace and it changed imput to input.

Mirriam-Webster
Search "imput" in:
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Spanish/English
Medical Dictionary
Open Dictionary
Browse the Dictionary:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

imput
No entries found that match imput........... VIOLA !

Doug
Click to expand...

so if it changed imput to input, what does imput mean? I'm very confused ns klarification??
 
ironman said:
so if it changed imput to input, what does imput mean? I'm very confused ns klarification??
Click to expand...


I think it's a combination of impasse and put, and it's a situation in golf where neither player is able to put. :D
 
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