# Pool poll: do you use the Ladies' Aid? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194 "2007-08-10T23:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/21 "2007-08-11T12:19:18Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] \ Is being a leftie an adantage for pool playing, then? I can shoot with my _right_ hand need be, but more than 90% of the time I use my left. \ [/QUOTE] I think it’s being ambidextrous that is the advantage. There’s often a shot that I can’t reach right-handed, but can reach left-handed. Or vice-versa, of course. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/22 "2007-08-11T13:04:44Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] \ Is being a leftie an adantage for pool playing, then? I can shoot with my _right_ hand need be, but more than 90% of the time I use my left. \ [/QUOTE] I’m lefty, but I think the advantage is that lefties have a tendency to be able to use either hand more often in any situation, because of necessity, something righties rarely have to do. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/23 "2007-08-12T00:56:10Z")
I used to play competitively, and not on the barroom circuit. All the pros use it whenever needed. Me too. When you play to win, you do the best you can on every shot. Stretching for it when the bridge could’ve helped is for people who like to lose. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/24 "2007-08-12T01:31:41Z")
There’s the rare shot when it’s best to use the bridge. If needed, I will use it. This has no correlation to my relative masculinity, although if someone were to persist in verbalizing any unseemly innuendo regarding my usage of a bridge, it would result in an emphatic reemphasis of my position that there is no correlation between bridge use and relative masculinity, and the verbalization of the unseemly innuendo would cease immediately. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/25 "2007-08-12T11:24:55Z")
I’ve come up through some rough pubs, and this is the first I’ve heard of it being seen as in any way effete. Of course, these pubs usually have only one _cue_, let alone a bridge, so I have learned to do without, but if it’s there, and I need it, I’ll use it. But are we differentiating between a true “bridge” (arch-shaped to cover another ball) and a “jigger” (X-shaped, for use on your off-side)? Jiggers seem more common here, and also harder to do without when it’s needed. I can usually get by when there’s no bridge to use, but if there’s no jigger, I might sometimes be up the creek. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/26 "2007-08-12T17:27:46Z")
[QUOTE=Leaper] I opened this thread thinking that the “pool” was a swimming pool, and that a “ladies’ aid” was something to keep a tampon in while swimming. I knew I was most likely wrong, but I just had to be sure… [/QUOTE] Hee. I also thought it was about a swimming pool and the “ladies aid” were those water jets in the side of the pool. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/27 "2007-08-13T04:16:01Z")
I’ve never heard anyone called girly for using a bridge, but some smartasses will use the opportunity to razz a short guy about his shortness. I have long arms, so I seldom need a bridge, but I have never made a shot I attempted with one. One day, I even practiced for an hour, using the bridge on every shot. Have you ever shot for an hour without sinking a ball? :smack: It’s depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/28 "2007-08-14T02:18:28Z")
Man, this macho bar nonsense ruins pool. _Of course_ you use the bridge when you need to. That’s what it’s there for. It’s part of the game. Using to learn it well takes skill and practice. I used to play competitive pool, and try to play the game at a fairly high level. As I learned more about pool, I learned just how much ‘bar rules’ suck. For the record: - A well played safety shot is a thing of beauty, not something to sneer at. Nor is it ‘dirty pool’ or in any way cowardly. Pool is a game of offense AND defense. Bar players who refuse to allow safety play are only playing half a game. The uninteresting half. - The bridge is an accepted part of the game. - Ball in hand rules are important. You can’t have a safety game without them. And without a safety game, pool is reduced to potting balls with a stick. - Call shot games mean calling the ball and the pocket. Not how many rails it touches, or whether it kisses another ball on the way to the pocket, or any of that nonsense. If you call the corner, and your ball goes in the corner, it’s a valid shot, even if it caromed off of five balls and three rails on the way there. Strict call-shot where you have to call all kisses and rails is for idiots who would rather stand around and argue over whether the ball slightly nicked another one rather than play pool. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/29 "2007-08-14T03:02:28Z")
Very rarely, and we always call it the granny. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/30 "2007-08-14T11:10:08Z")
Anyone in a league uses it. Pros use it. But, we still call it the bitch stick. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/31 "2007-08-14T11:28:15Z")
I’ve only seen them in movies and on TV. Dunnow if it’s because the bars where I see people play have all managed to lose it, or that the people playing don’t think about it. (I haven’t played in years, I love the game itself but not the macho crap that too often goes with it - in my home town one of the rules was “the guys team always wins” and that’s enough to drive me into a red rage). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/32 "2007-08-14T15:42:52Z")
Maybe the reason I see it so ofetn here is because Thais are so short. Especially the bargirls, who will kick your hiney if you play them a game. ---
**Author:** ![Typo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Typo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/33 "2007-08-14T22:01:26Z")
If it’s good enough for the pros making money at the game to use, then…why is there even a question about this? I do need to get better at it, though. It strikes me as rather odd that a tool used by a professional athlete would be treated so negatively at the amateur level. I’ve never heard anyone mock safety play or using the bridge, but I tend to play pool in actual pool halls rather than bars that happen to have a table. (Sam Stone is right - good safety play is a treat to watch.) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/34 "2007-08-15T00:16:24Z")
Not only do I use it, I carry [one](http://www.poolndarts.com/p-3941-Molded-Bridge-Head/), (OK [two](http://www.poolndarts.com/p-5728-Pro-Justa-Bridge/)) in my cue case. I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve regretted NOT reaching for the bridge stick! CMC fnord! > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Endiqua** > … I tend to play pool in actual pool halls rather than bars that happen to have a table. … If you put quarters in it, it’s NOT a pool table! ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/35 "2007-08-15T00:41:56Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] Man, this macho bar nonsense ruins pool. _Of course_ you use the bridge when you need to. That’s what it’s there for. It’s part of the game. Using to learn it well takes skill and practice. I used to play competitive pool, and try to play the game at a fairly high level. As I learned more about pool, I learned just how much ‘bar rules’ suck. For the record: - A well played safety shot is a thing of beauty, not something to sneer at. Nor is it ‘dirty pool’ or in any way cowardly. Pool is a game of offense AND defense. Bar players who refuse to allow safety play are only playing half a game. The uninteresting half. - The bridge is an accepted part of the game. - Ball in hand rules are important. You can’t have a safety game without them. And without a safety game, pool is reduced to potting balls with a stick. - Call shot games mean calling the ball and the pocket. Not how many rails it touches, or whether it kisses another ball on the way to the pocket, or any of that nonsense. If you call the corner, and your ball goes in the corner, it’s a valid shot, even if it caromed off of five balls and three rails on the way there. Strict call-shot where you have to call all kisses and rails is for idiots who would rather stand around and argue over whether the ball slightly nicked another one rather than play pool. [/QUOTE] Well, I never played at that level, but the reason it pops up on TV and the movies is that’s is a legal and smart move in many situations. You purists laught at an American Football team that has a punter? Same thing IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Typo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Typo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194/36 "2007-08-15T21:30:48Z")
[QUOTE=crowmanyclouds] If you put quarters in it, it’s NOT a pool table! [/QUOTE] You notice I didn’t say had they had a POOL table. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pool-poll-do-you-use-the-ladies-aid/415194.md?page=1)