Whiny Pool Players - The Cueist Project

The Cueist shared with me once that he really doesn't like to compete against whiny pool players.  He shared an instance when he was playing a match against a guy named Oscar.  I don't live in the same town as him, but I immediately asked him, "Does he have a regular day job?"

He replies, laughing, "LOL, no. How did you know?"

The one thing I can say that I don't miss about playing pool anymore is the pool players who play pool for a living, who look to place in tournaments as their sole income.  I'm not talking about pros, I'm talking about the guys who have been only pool players their entire life, with no other source of income.  

Those players are THE TOUGHEST to play.  Not because they are good, everyone can play good, it's because when they start to lose, they cause a fuss, vent openly during a game, and/or bitch and whine, which of course can sharks us.

Most players look at tournaments as simply extra income. One friend of mine, every time she got an envelope, she would put it into a jar and at the end of the year she added how much she had and then went and bought herself something sweet!

Some players, when they finally maybe place in the top three and for the first time dip into a few hundred dollars, they might buy themselves something special with that extra cash.  When I won the Women's 9-Ball Singles at ACS Nationals, I took that $800 first-place-prize-money and went out and bought myself a tablet!

A majority of people use their winnings as extra money. Yes, we may use it to pay some bills, but we're not solely dependent on how we finish to pay the bills.

While I understand the frustration to need to pay your bills if pool playing is your sole income, but they take it out on us day-job-peeps if we start to beat them in a match or defeat them in a match.

I saw this in another way one time as well. I played scotch doubles in Vegas a long time ago with one of the local guys in San Antonio (where I lived at the time). He is a pretty even-keel guy, but he got onto me pretty badly when I made mistakes in our matches.  Of course back then I didn't even know what shape or patterns were, lol. Turns out he got mad at me because he was relying on us finishing well to pay his flight and hotel bills.  Damn that's a lot of pressure!  No wonder he got mad at me.

But, I just think it's unfair to us who play pool for fun or because we love the game, to have to play against players bitching, whining, cussing, slamming cues, whatever because they are losing. Yes, they are losing lunch money, bill money, etc. and so it is a pretty big loss when they depend on the win to pay their bills.  But, it's not our fault they decided to play pool for a living. But, they sure take it on us, huh?

Cueist said he got into it with Oscar.  "I got out of line when I lost my cool w/ him...but, I'm actually glad I stood up to him. I usually try and avoid conflict especially in the poolrooms b/c we see everyone so often. And plus, it's totally unnecessary. But at the same time, I felt like I needed to stop him and say something that a lot of guys wouldn't have said. "

Players Who Need Money Versus Players Who Have Fun

I have discovered, as I'm sure many of you have, that there are really only two types of players in the world. The players who aren't there to make money and enjoy just having fun, and the players who need to make money.

Obviously, this seems obvious. LOL.

You may think this isn't an issue - who cares, Melinda? Well, the problem is the reaction from players who need to make money from playing pool and/or how they treat others.

Let's face it, many of us who love this game get agitated sometimes and mouth off when we lose. But it's the players who needed that money who have more sting to their words. Or, players make certain decisions to play or not because of the need for money.

I have seen, heard, or experienced unfortunate situations because of these differences.

For instance, a friend of mine found a great new scotch doubles partner, and she was very excited because they made a great team. However, he doesn't want to play unless there is a Calcutta in the scotch doubles tournament. And unfortunately around here, the scotch doubles tournaments don't normally have a Calcutta associated with them.  It's really just a tournament to have fun all day on a Saturday and for a team to raise extra money to go to Vegas to play in Nationals.

Of course the top one or two teams make some money from the payout of the tournament, but there's no Calcutta money (which is normally where most of the cash-ola comes from). So, my friend lost a valuable partner because he didn't want to waste time on "just having fun." In his eyes, if there is a Calcutta, though, he would jump all-in to play!

Another example of the difference in the philosophy about playing pool for fun or money is during times players want to split the finals. Usually this is requested by the team/player from the one-loss side when the tournament is running late.  Or, because they want more money out of the situation.

I experienced this directly at a scotch doubles tournament in Dallas about 6 years ago.  It was getting really late in the night, spilling over into the morning hours, and the couple that would have to play us in the finals would have to double dip us.  The guy of the team wanted to split first and second. The guy even tried to strong-arm me to "just split." But, I was there to try to win that tournament with my boyfriend - I hadn't come close to winning that event before so it was exciting to be in the finals!

Sure, the team didn't want to stay any later, but the guy knew they were probably going to lose. Therefore, to get more money out of the situation, he just wanted to split. But the title meant more to me than that and so I told him no; he wasn't very happy with me.

This came up a few times for me and people would get upset when I never split. But from my point of view, I hadn't won many tournaments yet and I wanted to play and try to win first place, not just split.  One Friday night a guy called me a bitch because I didn't want to split the finals with his girlfriend.

Rough crowd, huh?

Another scenario is when a player needs money, and is dependent on their finish to make money, which of course comes with a lot of pressure. I was talked about behind my back once by a scotch doubles partner because I didn't play well. Turns out (I didn't know this at the time) that he was depending on a good finish from us to make money so he could afford the room he was paying for in Vegas. Well, then he should have got a better partner because at that time (about 20 years ago), I couldn't shoot straight with a protractor.  This guy actually told people I "stepped on my dick."  I was so upset he was talking about me like that!  Well, after I found out what that meant, haha, as I had no idea, lol.  (turns out that meant I played badly)

When I ran the Omega Tour, I never got chewed out by the players who had other jobs for income. But players who relied on their finish to pay their bills chewed me out the most (you know, because when a player loses it's always the Tournament Director's fault because of the handicap system *I* personally put in place, haha).

Which player are you?  Has fun and elated when you cash?  Or relies on a decent finish to pay bills? (hopefully if you rely on pool tournaments for income you are still sweet to the people around you :)

Tip Tournament Director?

The other day I read a comment from someone on social media that suggested when you win a tournament, "Don't forget to tip your Tournament Director," or something like that.

Hmmm...

Well, if there's anything I've read on Facebook that I didn't agree with, this is something I definitely don't agree with.

Although there are a few exceptions, most everyone who runs a tournament is getting something already. I admit they aren't getting a lot, but they are getting something - whether it's free drinks during a weekly tournament or a free entry into a that weekly tournament, or even getting paid somehow during monthly tournaments or running a tour.

I whole heartedly admit that even if someone is getting paid to run a tournament or makes money from running tournaments, it's NOT a lot at all.

But, my personal belief is: it's already tough enough to make money at pool, so I say: "Congrat's on the win! (and keep that money in your pocket!)"

As a Tournament Director, I would rather receive instead is a sincere thank you in person or maybe a post on Facebook after the event expressing how much you appreciated how well the tournament was run.

I mean, sure, anytime $20 or $50 bucks thrown my way is a nice gesture, but I would rather the pool player keep that money.

I know, I know, some players are just super thoughtful or it's in their dna to want to give a little tip to the Tournament Director. I'm not saying to go against your personal beliefs, folks.

But I feel pool players shouldn't ever feel obligated to pay the Tournament Director. Sure, if you win 1,000G's you can remember me in your will, but otherwise don't ever feel obligated to tip a Tournament Director.

Looking At Other Options - The Danielson Series

I know that Danielson doesn't do well in a tournament when I have to ask him how it went.  Otherwise, he reaches out to me right away with excitement to share how he did in the tournament.  

This time, I had to reach out to him, so I already knew it probably wasn't going to be a "happy report."

I want to share something that many pool players go through.  Sometimes when we have a really good year, and yet still don't see that we can be one of the very top players of a tour (for example), we get discouraged.  Hear me out.  Basically, if we have several years of no success, you'd think that would make one want to quit.  Well, sometimes that does happen, but more so, the lack of success makes people WANT to play more and keep fighting.

Using me as an example, until I was successful in my mind and with my goals, then it was the right time to step away.  It was surprising to myself I was successful as I had become, but I was also realistic - I'm not pro material and my day job pays my bills anyway.  So, while other people questioned my decision to not compete anymore on regional tours, it made perfect sense to me.  Had I not had those few successful years, I know I'd still be competing to try to win that coveted title or be more successful in my game.  But because I had been successful, I was able to easily step away.  Further, it felt like a natural time to do so.

Danielson is at this crossroad.  After his latest tournament, I had to pry out of him what was going on so I could write this blog post.  You know, it's all about this blog lol.  And the Danielson fans needed an update on how he was doing!  And what he finally confided was he was glad he scratched hill-hill his last match so he could go home, and not come back on Sunday.  This was two-fold.  One because it was past 1am and it would be a short turn around and the other was he is not excited right now about playing.

Sure, he had a very successful last year, but he's also thinking realistically right now (or, he just had a bad tournament experience and is venting lol).  He shared in his grumpy message, "I'm wasting money.  And even with the success I had last year, it's evident it's not near enough to be in the top 10.  With the money it cost me this weekend, I could have played in that 10-ball event in Austin.  If I'm buying an experience, I could be getting more for my time and money."  

He continued to vent, "It's a lot of time to and from the tournament location and an average of $200 to go play these tournaments... and at my skill level I have little chance of getting half of that money back.  Even the top 6 at every stop last year the average Fargo was 640...I might be wasting my time."  

(Danielson's Fargo is around 565). 

I asked him about the cost, to break it down for us.  Here is how he figures around $200-$250 cost a stop:

• $50 entry fee
• 1/2 Calcutta ($20-$60)
• Eating twice ($20)
• Twice raffle tickets ($40)
• Gas ($20)
• Drinks ($50)

And that's if he doesn't buy anyone in the Calcutta but himself.

So, he's starting to recognize that playing on a tour may not be the best for him right now. 

However, he's STILL very much so eyeing other tournaments and events, and still enjoying the new team he's on.  So, he's not considering quitting competing at all, it's adjusting his options of where he wants to play that would be more advantageous either money-wise, experience-wise, or distance close to home.

I had to pry this information from Danielson, and the reason why is honestly because we feel kind of sad/embarrassed/ashamed of these thoughts.  But let me shout out to you now, IT's NORMAL!

So, if you are feeling the need to step away from a tour, or league, or "expected" event - realize that these are normal, natural feelings.  You aren't going far, though, rest assured.  Just maybe taking a different path to your next pool table.  :)

League is Costing Me Money

I'm one of those people that does not like to waste time.

So, I always find things to do with my time;  I am never just sitting around doing nothing.

So, on Tuesdays and Thursday when I get off of work at 6pm, I have to kill about an hour an a half before league starts at 7:30pm.

That leaves me about an hour or so to find something to do.  (because it takes about 30 minutes to get to league).

So, what does a female do?  Yep - she shops or eats!

Therefore, league is costing me MONEY!  More money than just the $6-a-night fee.  Sometimes much more.  Just last night I ventured into Walmart and then Ross to kill time.  $89 later, I finally show up at league.  :-/

If I'm not shopping, do you think I'm grabbing a bite to eat at a fast food place?  Heck no - I'm going to Olive Garden for the soup and salad, or Carrabbas for their juicy sirloin steak or maybe even On The Border to get my tex-mex fix.  Either way, I'm spending my time spending money before I even set foot into the pool room that night for little 'ole league, lol.