Pool shooters (Page 1/2)
fredtoast SEP 17, 04:48 PM
I used to shoot a lot of pool. Never got great, but I was pretty good. Thought it would be like riding a bike in that you never forget how.

Apparently it isn't. I recently tried to play on a full size table for the first time in years and could not hit anything. I bet the touch would come back pretty quickly if I started playing regularly again, but I shot several games and did not seem to get any better.
otakudude SEP 18, 09:46 AM
I hear ya. In my younger days I was pretty good and could do all sorts of trick shots successfully. It kind of felt good to hear my opponent mutter something like 'motherfuk...' after I won a game by making the ball jump or bouncing it off a few rails before sinking it.

Later, after a hiatus of 10yrs or so, I picked up a cue again to play with some friends and was lucky to get the ball anywhere near the pocket. Luckily we weren't playing for money otherwise I would have been cleaned out.

[This message has been edited by otakudude (edited 09-18-2023).]

RWDPLZ SEP 18, 09:51 AM
Used to play on my Grandfather's pool table when I was a kid, got pretty good. I'd go years without playing. (we'd go to visit just not play pool), and pick it right back up.
fredtoast SEP 18, 05:52 PM

quote
Originally posted by RWDPLZ:

Used to play on my Grandfather's pool table when I was a kid, got pretty good. I'd go years without playing. (we'd go to visit just not play pool), and pick it right back up.


I assume that if I started playing again it would come back quickly.

My daughter suggested that maybe I just was not as good as I remember. I laughed at first, but I have actually studied memory, and there is probably some truth in what she said. We remember the shots we made much better than the shots we missed. Our memories are not what really happened. They are our version of what happened.

That being said, I know I used to be a lot better than than what I shot that night.
Patrick SEP 18, 06:05 PM

I was never any good at pool, but I shudder when I think of some of the sleazy pool halls I occasionally visited as a mid to late teen 50 years ago. One in particular in the downtown core was no doubt a haven for all sorts of nefarious activities.
Valkrie9 SEP 18, 07:27 PM
Shane Van Boening vs Wu Kun Lin, '22

Shane misses the six.
What that means is, is that the very best in the world can fail to make the shot.
Six months of daily practice can rehabilitate a poker's stroke.
See, it's all in the stroke.
Smooth.
Best escape ever, on a 9 foot table.
Dude has a sure shot at the 8, plays a block instead on my last stripe.
Two banks onto a kick into the side pocket !
A thing of beauty, a cracking good shot !
He felt so bad, he pocketed the 8 with his hand, to deprive me of the coup de grace.
I told him ' I could have missed ', lol.
Blues bar in Vancouver, across the street from my Hotel, '97.
Ah.. glory days.

' Sure, I can century '
Jake_Dragon SEP 18, 07:32 PM
Use to play in a couple of leagues when I was stationed in SC. Got pretty good but the longer the night the more I won and the more I drank. Sure you can see where that is going.
Now my eyes are just not good enough. I'm still ok but no where as good as I use to be.

I have a couple of cues in the closet that could use some attention. Perhaps I should get them out.
Valkrie9 SEP 18, 07:33 PM
There was this dude who could pocket..
Smooth


That was no Fluke !, lol

[This message has been edited by Valkrie9 (edited 09-18-2023).]

Valkrie9 SEP 18, 08:37 PM


The ability to concentrate, daily practice for decades, mastering strategy.
World Champion.

Canadian Cliff Thorburn makes the Crucible's first 147, '83

The game can really mess with your head, and why one must practice constantly, to be a contender.
To self-test your ability to strike the cue-ball straight, place two balls on the end cushion, one diameter apart + 1/8", on the center-line.
Place two more on the opposite end, one diameter apart + 1/4", also on the center-line.
From the balk line center, strike the cue-ball smoothly between the cherries, attempting to pass between the balk end cherries.
A player will discover that it is, in fact, difficult to achieve on a twelve foot snooker table, a 21' 11" shot.



Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Luca Brecel in Shanghai, Sep 17, 2023, both sessions, 4 hours of snooker
Always intense.

[This message has been edited by Valkrie9 (edited 09-24-2023).]

ls3mach SEP 19, 07:22 AM

quote
Originally posted by fredtoast:

I assume that if I started playing again it would come back quickly.

My daughter suggested that maybe I just was not as good as I remember. I laughed at first, but I have actually studied memory, and there is probably some truth in what she said. We remember the shots we made much better than the shots we missed. Our memories are not what really happened. They are our version of what happened.

That being said, I know I used to be a lot better than than what I shot that night.



I'm not going to guess whether you were worth a damn, but I bet you weren't as good as you recall. I think the memory thing is correct. My uncle used to tell me all kinds of stories about how fast this car or that thing was. In reality the transmission wouldn't even carry him to the speed mathematically that the dash board said and speedometer read. Not to mention aerodynamics, weight, etc. I don't know how many things I misremember. Relationships, skills, ease, whatever.


On topic. I was a 5 BCS at my best. I've always thought it is weird girls start out at a 3 and men a 4. There is no physical advantage though except maybe general height. I still have my Lacoste cue, but rarely play. I'd guess a 3 BCS these days. It is fun, but great players spend hours a day practicing. I was never good enough to even hustle someone at a pool haul. I had an 8x4 table in my house for years and a bar table at our work. We played HOURS a week. Drunken mostly. No one that wasn't playing as much as a few of us could win, but I was never anything special. At a certain point, it just wasn't worth my time effort and stopped being fun. I could never go to the next level with it. Hope you had fun playing with your daughter. That's the real win.