Your First Time

lfigueroa

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was reading something today and it alluded to how small, passing, seemingly insignificant moments early on change your life forever.

It made me think of the first time I held a pool cue, and when, later on, playing pool became an integral part of my life. I'll write up my personal details later but will pose the question now: when was the first time you held a pool cue and then when did it become a part of your life.

Lou Figueroa
 
First time I held a cue was when I was 5 or 6, on a mini snooker table my grandad had made for my dad and uncle. He was a technical engineer at a mining company (It was an old cue he sawed down to mini-size to fit some small spaces when we put it on the kitchen table). I started to play snooker after I was particularly poorly behaved as a teenager, and I had to live with my grandparents. My mum thought I needed to spend more time with my dad, so he took me to fetch the black ball out of the pockets for him twice a week from the age of 13. I got my first cue at 15.

I first held a real pool cue (outside of bars of course) about two years ago - Dec 22ish. I played with house cues at the hall I play at now for about 2/3 months, then picked up my own from a friend. After trying a billion different cues from friends, stores and re-sellers here. I came to my current set-up. I still like giving everything a try, and learning more about things (touch of the 'tism grips me), but will never part from the current set-up now. Hate all this consumer bullshit.

Pool had become a big part of my life after I had a messy break up, and the ex wouldn't leave my house. So, Instead of sitting around her dreary bulshit every evening, I went to the hall everyday for a while. Eventually got her to move out after around 6months, and here I am still going for an hour or two most days. More if I can. Achieved a lot in a short time, and am pretty content to have found something of a release from the day to day trivialities of living thousands of miles from home. These days I only play snooker once or twice a month. I've made many friends, and besides grumbling at my game when things don't go well from time to time. I'm very happy.
 
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Although I had watched my share of pool by then, my pool journey began in February 1969 at the age of 10 when my father bought his first house and put a Gold Crown 1 in the basement. He gave me an Abe Rich Mike Eufemia signature cue. I loved playing pool immediately, although I probably only played two hours a week from age 10 to 18. I don't remember playing anything but straight pool in those years.
 
lfigueroa said:
I was reading something today and it alluded to how small, passing, seemingly insignificant moments early on change your life forever.

It made me think of the first time I held a pool cue, and when, later on, playing pool became an integral part of my life. I'll write up my personal details later but will pose the question now: when was the first time you held a pool cue and then when did it become a part of your life.

Lou Figueroa
Click to expand...

Somewhere around 5th grade (1964); for both.
 
I first went to a poolroom in 1969 after skipping school with a friend. I knew it was something I liked and it didn't stop there. I bought a 2pc cue and vinyl case and school became a pastime and somewhere to go till the poolroom opened. I managed to watch/learn from the good players and kept it up till the year 2000 and quit till July 2024. I'm back at it and at 72 yrs old having fun and loving it
 
Interesting question. Pool has played a significant role in my life. I first held a cue about 6 or 7 years old. My across the street neighbor had what I can only remember was a GC 1 9’. I was friends with the son and we were allowed to play only under supervision.

From there, a pool table as a babysitter when I visited my father and stepmother at their condo.

Drinking age, Golden 8-Ball and Clicks in PHX, and Pinky’s in Tucson.

20 ish year break.

Now with a home table and a fantastic local room and AZB, I am back in the saddle again. Now with a Fargo rating!

Love poking balls with sticks!
 
grew up in a small farm town in central Illinois. The guy that ran the pool room had a son, Ronnie, a year older than me. Ronnie and I would knoc;k the balls around on the back....crappiest...table, not really playing any game, just taking turns shooting. We were 9 years old or so.

15 years later.....Ron was dead, killed in Vietnam, very much like the Colonel Blake character on MASH, in an aircraft crash as he was leaving country. He had done his year and was on his way home, couple weeks before Christmas, never made it. Ron was the only son in the family and it tore the family apart. Never the same

Our little town of 2000, had 4 boys killed in Vietnam, guys born from 1946 to 1950.
 
Senior year of high school. Found a Mosconi book and a house cue on the mostly unused pool table in the rec room and quickly sealed my own fate.

Played "carrom" at the local playground until I was about 11. We didn't finger-flick like some... we dart-stroked plain, thin sticks (like cue shafts without tips or butts). Oh, and we sucked.

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The Old Jaybird said:
grew up in a small farm town in central Illinois. The guy that ran the pool room had a son, Ronnie, a year older than me. Ronnie and I would knoc;k the balls around on the back....crappiest...table, not really playing any game, just taking turns shooting. We were 9 years old or so.

15 years later.....Ron was dead, killed in Vietnam, very much like the Colonel Blake character on MASH, in an aircraft crash as he was leaving country. He had done his year and was on his way home, couple weeks before Christmas, never made it. Ron was the only son in the family and it tore the family apart. Never the same

Our little town of 2000, had 4 boys killed in Vietnam, guys born from 1946 to 1950.
Click to expand...
 
Best of my recollection, I was 13 or thereabouts.

We had to move from Gulfport, MS to (gawd-awful) Macon, GA. This was mid-60s. It was a small office Oil & Gas relocation with the same realtor handling the transactions. Even back then, she was a $1 MM+ salesperson. I can't imagine how looking back.

I remember we closed and went to her house for dinner. I'd never been in a place that nice. Remember the time reference. I remember this really thick, really white, shag carpet in front of a huge fireplace. I had to be sure not to do anything to mess that up. I think I was reminded a couple times to be perfect.

Later, after dinner, her kids and I went upstairs. They had a pool table. I had never seen one before. They gave me a cue and basically explained what to do. They told me to try it out and we would play a game. So I did. And we played 8 Ball. And I won. (Believe it or not.) And I fell in love for the first time.

What a game! All the balls and all the colors and it was pretty easy to shoot them in all the holes!

It would be a couple of years before we moved to Nashville. I found the community center and beat most regularly. A guy with some sort of cue called a "Palmer" came in, and we played pretty close. He taught me a lot, though.

Then, I got my driver's license and not long after a VW Bug. I found a basement pool hall with Gandy Big G tables with gold cloth. Learned a lot there.

I later found 21st Century Billiards (2nd Floor) and learned 3 cushion. I was just a kid in love. (But not like the champions who post here.)
 
Very early '60s. I was 6 or 7. My aunt and uncle, who lived down the street from us, got a pool table for Christmas and had it set up in their large den. At a party one night, their house was filled with relatives, and my uncles and older cousins, fueled with the appropriate spirits of the season, began playing pool for hours on end, having the riotous time of their lives. As a little kid, I watched with envy and promised myself that I had to be a part of anything so fun just as soon as I had a chance. Many of my younger cousins had the same fascination, and we became an enthusiastic rail. Without having ever had a cue in my hand, I was h-o-o-k-e-d. Eventually someone noticed us kids and decided it was time our education began, a stool was produced, and I began the journey which continues to this day. After New Years, the excitement died, and I spent many afternoons after school at my aunt and uncle's just knocking the balls around, unknowingly seeking to discover the many mysteries of our game.
 
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as a child I always liked pool but the adults wouldn’t let me play lol when I was 15 my best friends dad took us to the local pool hall. The ivory billiard room. He showed us the basics of holding a cue and English. At the time all my friend and I wanted to do is play chess.. that all changed that day. We bought a $50 sears wood 4x8 table and played that piece of $hit into the ground. 😂 I remember watching my diamond being set up and thinking about that old warped table and thinking man it’s been a journey with this game. That was about 35 years ago and will still play every day. He is lucky enough to financially afford to travel and play in matchroom events.. I’m not poor certainly but I don’t have it like that to fly to London on a whim and play in the uk open lol but we are still best friends and 90% of our texting is about pool. I’ll play until I’m dead or physically can’t play anymore.
 
First held a cue at 5 yrs old, my father’s Palmer. He had a GC 1 in the basement and the door was always locked. At 5 he introduced me to the room and let me see and hold his Palmer and told me when I got a little taller he’d let me play. He finally introduced me to the game at 8 yrs old and I was hooked and lived in the basement on that table every chance I got. At 12yrs old he took me out to the local hall on my birthday and bought me my first cue, an early block letter Joss, it was $300. One of the fondest memories of my father and my youth.
 
1964.
I was 13 and played pool in a bowling alley.
Then took public transportation to the poolrooms.
Bought a cue for probably 20 bucks but had to leave it at the poolroom at 19th & Cheltenham.
May have been a Viking, don't remember.
Couldn't bring it home as my parents disapproved.
Of course it got stolen and nobody knew nothing.
Bought a Willie Hoppe stick and it came with a Brunswick leather flip top hustler case.
The set up cost me 50 bucks.
When I left for college in 1971 I sold the set up for 50 bucks and really never played in college.
42 years later I got back in the game.
 
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