Okay,this problably doesn’t have much interest, but I wanted to start this thread for some time now.
I have spent most my life in poolhalls,even owned a couple of 'em.
Questions?
Why the hell does everybody think you lose the game if you scratch while on the 8ball, if you don’t sink it?
You scratch on the 8,you lose.That is standard ,even playing bar rules.
How good are you? How good was the best non-pro that you played?
9 ball is a stupid game for real pool players isn’t it?
How many semi-mainstream pool games are there by list?
(I used to play every day for the last two years of high school. It was a tiny town and the pool hall was the only place to play and smoke. I wasn’t great by any standard but there were only a couple of people that could beat me consistently and those dollar bets were like gold to me at the time).
What’s the main vocabulary for shots (hitting it low, high, etc.)? I played for two years (an hour a day or so) when living in Japan and so never learned what things are called in English.
In Japan, 9 ball is the standard game that people play (and what you will see if you see any tournaments on TV.) To me, it never made much sense that this would be the default since most people really aren’t very good and 8 ball is a lot easier to play.
More questions…
Where I used to play, there were a couple of old guys who played what I believe to be Cushion Caroms (going by the Wikipedia description.) Can you play it?
In my experience playing, when you bounce the cue ball off the rail it doesn’t leave at the same angle as it hit. Instead it always seemed to come a few degrees (5 degrees or so) towards the perpendicular of the rail. Am I doing something wrong, or is that just the way it is (or were the tables I was playing on just messed up)?
Wish I could say I’m the best I know,but I know some damn good players.
The best non-pros I know are as good as, or better than, the pros I have met.
No.
Just off the top of my head
3 ball
7 ball
8 ball
9 ball
10 ball
Straight pool
Equal offense
Billiards
Bowliards
Rotation
Snooker
One pocket
Bank pool
Golf
Cut throat
Is requiring the 8 ball be banked a common rule? I played one place where the 8 ball had to be banked to win. The person who had the table would call one rail, two rails, or three rails.
Think it was just a way to prolong the game.
This is more of a business question. I’m often intrigued when I hear people say they owned such-and-such a business “for a while”. Owning a business seems like such a huge thing - a bigger deal than getting married.
So how do you become a business owner, and then not be one eventually? Do you get into the business and then find it’s not as good as you thought and get out of it? If so, how do you do it again (you said a couple of them)?
Seems like gambling with your life. I’d be interested in hearing the story.
Hitting high is normally called topspin,hitting low is either called backspin or draw.Hitting left or right of center on the cue ball is called english.
I have played that way,usually when I was playing my girlfriend(who wasn’t any good).It was, just as you say, a way to prolong the game.
I have played it a few times,but was never any count at it.Tough game.
I sorta just fell into it.
I hung out at the poolhall while in high school,begged and begged the manager for a job,said he didn’t hire locals,only college students.Finally, he let me sub in for the college students when they all went home for Xmas.When they got back from the holidays I would hang out at the room on Friday and Saturday night and volunteer to work for them, they usually accepted the offer.After awhile I was put on the schedule.Manager and I became close friends. I left after three years due to a career job.
>>>>>Fast forward 15 years >>>>
Manager calls me says he is moving out of state,poolhall is gonna shut down in a few months, and would I be willing to run it until the owner closes the doors.
I said “Sure!”
Owner calls me and says"Why don’t you buy it?"
I said “Sure!”(plus I bought his other one about a year later)
At the time, the rent on the building(I was in a strip mall) was $1000 a month,the building sold and the new owner of the building raised the rent from $1000 to $2400.I wasn’t getting rich at $1000 a month ,but was getting by.Once the rent raised,I was screwed,so I shut them down.
I know a grand don’t seem like much for rent,but it is a small town.
Are you a hustler? What’s the most you’ve ever won on a single game? What’s the most you’ve ever lost? Have you ever been outhustled by a superior hustler?
Never hustled all that much,I’ve goofed around in bars playing for beers,but generally play straight up. Never been hustled with any success AFAIK.
Single game, I’m not really sure…most I ever won in a series of sets was $1400(races to 7),most I lost in a series of sets was $600.
Standard, by bar rules, however:
“4.19 PLAYING THE 8-BALL
When the 8-ball is the legal object ball, a scratch or foul is not loss of game if the 8-ball is not pocketed or jumped from the table. Incoming player has cue ball in hand. Note: A combination shot can never be used to legally pocket the 8-ball, except when the 8-ball is the first ball contacted in the shot sequence.”
http://www.bca-pool.com/play/tournaments/rules/rls_8bl.shtml
So, at least the misconception is widespread, and not just in the circles I play in. 
My favorite game is snooker, though tables are not often seen in many pool hals here, only in clubs.
I am only a so-so player, but love pool in all forms.
3-ball is a favorite in a few beer joints here.
I’ve seen it done to offset skillsets in various match ups and in most pool halls were the table is rented by meter, it keeps the game interesting after getting the straight shots/ running the table out of your system and your just kicken back drinking and shootin the breeze.
Declan
It probably started with the coin op tables and migrated over to the meter tables where you can pull the ball and play ball in hand. But also I am thinking back to when I only played in bars , you wanted a speedy game to keep the flow of players coming . A game that took more than 3-5 minutes to play was heavily frowned upon. Having that little rule invented probably prevented any number of fights regarding a clean win or loss.
Declan