Your (or a friends) introduction to gambling at pool

hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
At some point you must have realized, "Hey, those guys are playing for money!, what's up with that?".

Remember when that happened? Or maybe you brought a friend to a pool hall and they were staring at the $1,000 that was handed over in some match next table over?

I don't remember my first money game, but I do remember when my son saw one.

I was playing some 3 ball for maybe $1 a game and won the pot. As the guys were handing me money, my son who was playing on a table or two over from us and was maybe 9 at the time, comes up to me and asks in this amazed whisper "Dad... why are they giving you money?" LOL He is still a good kid though, I think his first money game was playing some friends doubles with me for $10 a man a few years ago when he was 15 or 16 and he has never been the type to ask everyone he sees to "play for something".
 
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For me, I was 19. (around 1980)

I wasnt raised by my dad, but I reconnected with him at age 19, and turns out we both had a love for pool. (I was a banger, and he was an experienced player and gambler).

Guys walks into the bar and wants to play me for $5 a game. I am happy to "donate" because I want the experience of gambling at pool....my dad must be against donating because he knew I would lose and demanded that I dont gamble.....

I had already started a game of 8 ball with the other guy, and as soon as he heard no money was going to exchange hands, he slammed the 8 ball into the corner pocket (early) and walked out of the bar........Guess I was the nit that day........

No matter how broke my dad was (and he was always broke), he always had a $100 bill hidden in his wallet....I asked him why (in 1980) and he said "just in case someone wants to play me 7-ahead for $100".........didnt know the full meaning of that phrase at the time....:wink:
 
I found out the hard way that 15balls lined up on the headstring wasn't as easy as it looked to make in either corner pocket WITH BALL IN HAND EVERY SHOT.

Would love to have a do over now
 
$5 bucks a man playing doubles. I was prob 17 or 18. I think we won like 40 bucks and I was hooked. Couldn't wait for my next match. To be young and dumb, I would change a lot of things if I was able to go back and do it all over again.
 
I was 17....working at a pro shop....guy talked me into going to a pool hall....
...I figured "Why not?"....guy couldn't beat me at golf, chess, scrabble, or any card game...
....lost over a week's pay playing poker pool on a 6x12....
....but I was hooked to all things billiards.

....within a week I would've robbed him....but he wouldn't give me a rematch....:mad:
 
Always fascinated by the game...

When I was young, Wide World of Sports on ABC used to show pool. I had to watch it, if I was near a table (not very often) I had to watch.

I turned 21, basically dropped every friend I had and went to the bar to play pool. I literally had held a cue 3 or 4 times before that.

It was a crowded place (The Schooner in Lakewood, Wa.)

Of course lost, then there was 30 quarters up before me again!!!

I noticed the back table had the same 4 guys playing with people waiting, but the people who where playing never had to sit out. Ring game!!!

I was in there 6+ nights a week after work with my $20, giving it away...but I did not have to wait hours when I lost.

Oh yeah, I was out in about 20 minutes for a long time, slowly got to the point of playing all night. Eventually came out ahead once in a while.

Now if there isn't something on the line I find it hard to bear down.
 
My cousins had a pool table. Even before I was old enough to play we'd "play-bet" on this or that. As unfashionable as it is to say, my 1st explosure to Pool included an awareness of the game's close association of gambling.

My 1st real experience with gambling at pool was when I was in 8th grade. It was during Easter break, my parents had taken my sister and I to Disney World in Florida. The hotel gameroom had a bar size Pool table in it. I was playing "Stripes & Solids" with my sister when this drunken teenager came in. I knew he wasn't in any shape to play so when he asked me if I wanted to play, I proposed we make it intersting. I beat him 2 in a row before he quit. At the high stakes of .50¢ per game, I walked away with a whole dollar, plus not having to have paid for the games. More than the money, it was the reward of a victory and the thrill of having spotted an easy opponant and taking him down. Not the side of my nature I'm most proud of, but I'm not going to lie about it either ;). -Z-
 
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My first experience was a game against an old guy they called Peeps.
A stinky old man, who wore a flannel shirt that had the sleeves cut off.

When "Peeps" got serious he would put on his second pair of glasses.
Not just a different pair of specks, but a second pair over the first pair.
He looked silly, his shirt smelled of BO, but he played well with 6 eyes.

.
 
Where I grew up we bet on cards, pitching coins, flipping cards, stickball, stoopball, handball, street racing and just about anything else...so to gamble on pool was just a normal thing to do. Those were the days.Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Where I grew up we bet on cards, pitching coins, flipping cards, stickball, stoopball, handball, street racing and just about anything else...so to gamble on pool was just a normal thing to do. Those were the days.Johnnyt
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You must have grown up in a large northeast city with stickball and stoopball. Ever play wireball?
 
Johnnyt said:
New York, Long Island, few miles from Queens. I don't believe Iknow what wire ball. Johnnyt
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Telephone wires. Threw a ball up and if you hit the wire it was a single. If the buddy you were playing with caught the ball, it was an out. Remember pimple balls? All sorts of ball games in the streets.
 
philly said:
Telephone wires. Threw a ball up and if you hit the wire it was a single. If the buddy you were playing with caught the ball, it was an out. Remember pimple balls? All sorts of ball games in the streets.
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Yes, I've seen it played, but never have myself. Street hockey was very big in my area. Johnnyt
 
My first real experience gambling was against a strong local shortstop. He had taken down a few champions in his day, but he was in his fading years and had lost the sight in one of his eyes. Still, he was/is a strong player. I was still a kid then, and it was his birthday. He had a few drinks, and was goading at me to get me to play him. He wanted to play 9 ball, race to 5 for 50. I didn't want to play, but he wouldn't let up on me until I got in the box. He gave me the 7, 8, and the breaks. I got up 2-0 on him, when he played a lockdown safe. I took one look, and immediately took the foul and tied some balls up so he couldn't get out. The look on his face when I did that was priceless. I could literally see him realize at that point that he wasn't going to win. He looked at me, cracked a smile, and said "You're learning". I beat him 5-1. My heart was racing the entire time. I was hooked from that point on.
 
philly said:
Telephone wires. Threw a ball up and if you hit the wire it was a single. If the buddy you were playing with caught the ball, it was an out. Remember pimple balls? All sorts of ball games in the streets.
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OMG, I remember doing that when I lived in Brooklyn in the early 80s when my parents moved to the US from Lithuana. Lived there from 8yr old to about 11 or 12. But I think we played you had to go OVER them not hit them. And played stick ball and handball and some basketball on the NY playgrounds. Remember one time a group of kids tried to steal my baskeball when I had to go home but their friends made them give it back.
 
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