Integrity Accusation

Last night I was at the pool room watching my boyfriend gamble.  He played a guy he hadn't played before, but we knew of him and several of our friends knew him.

I'll call the guy he played, "Rick James," because Eddie Murphy's song played on the jukebox last night and we all made fun of the actor trying to sing "Party All the Time," in collaboration with Rick James.  lol.

I hadn't seen Rick James in a while.  But I knew he played pretty decent but also traveled a lot for work.  He's also a man of God now, so he is pretty tame compared to his past.

On the fourth set, my boyfriend shoots a jump shot.  He jumps over the 7 ball and hits the 3 ball nicely, altho it doesn't fall, at least he made a good hit.

Up until this point, there have been no issues, no words, nothing - just pool playing.

Rick James asks my b/f if it was a good hit.

He replies, yes.

Rick James looks deflated, can't believe his ears.

"Really?  You think it was a good hit?  Well, why don't you ask your wife about the shot, she saw it."  Referring to me, since I was watching the match.

My boyfriend knows that's a conflict of interest, so instead of asking me, he asks the two guys next to me who are also watching.  One of the guys (I'll call him Greg), is already chomping in my ear behind me, "That was a good hit, what is Rick James talking about?"

So, Greg answers, "that was a good hit, man."

Rick James still can't believe it!

"Really?" he asks dumbfounded as he shakes his head in disbelief.

"Yes, he jumped over the 7ball cleanly."

The other guy sitting near us, Tanker, is a friend of both the players, and he doesn't want to answer.

Rick James asks me directly and I say the same thing, "Yea, I thought it was a good hit, also."

By now Rick James and my boyfriend are arguing about the shot and having some choice words.  Eventually, my boyfriend gets so upset with him because he's being accused of not telling the truth and doesn't want to deal with it anymore, he tells Rick James, "Just take ball in hand if you think it was a foul.  I didn't foul, but I'm tried of arguing and want to play pool."

Rick James tells him, "no, no, that's fine, whatever."

While they were exchanging words, Tanker says softly to Greg and I, "I didn't see the 7ball move, either.  I thought it was a good hit."

So, 4 people say it didn't move, but the guy truly believes the 7 moved.  Which is fine, that's not the issue.

Here is the issue:

Rick James walks over to Tanker after he misses and starts to ask him what he saw.  I don't know what the Tanker told him, but he tells him right in front of me that the 7ball moved.  I simply state to him, "it didn't move."

He then looks at me glaringly, "Of course you are going to say that.  He's your man."

Immediately, my blood boils.  Immediately. 

"What?"  I say loudly, "You say I'm cheating??"

"I didn't say that," he tried to explain. 

"Yes you did, you said I would say it was a good hit just because he's my b/f."

"Well, you would," he says, standing by his opinion.  Then he adds, "hey, you involved yourself, I'm having a conversation over here."

By now I'm really pissed.

I raise my voice even more, "Seriously dude?  You asked me my opinion!"

I continue, "and you obviously don't know anything about me, because if I thought it was a bad hit, I wouldn't even hesitate to tell the truth!"

Question MY integrity?  Really?

Who the hell does he think he is accusing me that I would LIE?!

I then spout off, "Even Tanker said it was a good hit."

He quickly tells me, "He said he didn't see it."

"Really??  Well, he just told us he DID see it and that it was a good hit."

As he walks away from us to shoot he mumbles, "This is why I don't play anymore."

WTFever gonna accuse me of something like that.  If it was a bad hit, I'd freaking say it.  In a heart beat!  I'm not here to try to win money by cheating.  I believe in being a good ambassador of the game foremost.

It puzzles me even MORE because his first instinct was to ask ME about the shot.  Then he tells me I wouldn't tell the truth anyway.  O M G!

Boy did he rile me up at lightning speed!

I can understand if he really thought it was a good hit, and he wanted to make his case.  But don't assume NOR tell me I would lie.

Oh and it also reminds me I never did share the integrity issues I ran into in April that deeply hurt me.  I will try and write about that soon.  Especially since I'm riled up again just typing this out!

Killer Instinct Tips

Last week someone posed on AZBilliards.com forums a great question about the killer instinct.

"For those that weren't killers, how did you develop your Killer Instinct?"

I submitted the below tips and thought I should share them in my blog, too.  If any one of these helps one person, I'll be happy!  

This is a compilation of things that have helped me over the year.  I definitely did NOT have the killer instinct, and of course I still work on that aspect as I have my moments of letting up still.

1. Always keep learning. Read books and articles, listen to advice, watch videos, practice. Don't just read about pool, read about mental toughness, read some tennis books, listen to the golf announcers, etc.

2. Play in as many tournaments as you can. And the real tough ones, too. The more you play, the more experience you gain. Every single time you compete in a tournament, you learn something new. Every time! Whether you get more experience about pressure, or test your composure, or more experiences how to fight back when you're down, whatever.

3. Attitude about your opponents is key. I asked Liz Ford once about a comment she made in Billiards Digest. She shared with me that Winning Ugly by Brad Gilbert (a tennis player) helped her, and suggested I read it, too. After I read the book, I swear my I gained a killer instinct. I never had it before. I want to win more than ever after reading that book. And I reread it all the time. :)  I posted her longer response here in my blog. I found her comments very enlightening!

4. Again attitude is important. There are two women on the OB Cues Ladies Tour that exude major confidence during their matches, and they are extremely successful players on the tour. I recently interviewed them because I wanted to learn about their killer instinct and their attitude during competition. If I emulate them while competing, I play better. If I reread the blog entry before my tourneys, I play better. It's a great reminder for me to refresh myself about how mentally strong competitor think.

5. Fundamentals are KEY. Mental toughness is most of the part of competition, but fundamentals are the most important part of the physical game. At least, it has been for me.

Many other pool enthusiasts replied to his question, also.  Check out all the other suggestions here!

Private Pool Club in Switzerland

As I mentioned before, I visited Switzerland in Oct, shortly after my Mom passed, to help fellow pool player and friend Crisitna De La Garza move her and her 8-month old son there.

Her boyfriend, professional pool player Marco Tshudi, kept mentioning we would visit "the Pool Club."

I figured it was their pool hall, just called a "Pool Club."

Nope, I was wrong again, lol.

A private pool club is what the name implies:  a place that a certain number of people belong to for a monthly fee.

They are all across the country and they usually have no more than 25 members.  The fee varies, but because the pool rooms are very expensive to play by the hour, many private pool clubs are established for economical reasons.

Everything in Switzerland is expensive - it goes hand in hand with the minimum wage being so high.  Waiters and Waitresses have to study and get degrees, so tips are not the norm because they already get paid a lot to work.  Hence, the price to play pool and eat at a pool room establishment is also expensive.  So, the private clubs save the players a lot of money.

This particular private pool room club, that Marco is a member of and we visited, has their own little kitchen area with a fridge and pantry, a laptop with internet access, and even some cues (if you bring a friend and they don't have a cue to play with).

It had 6 good nine-foot tables with lots of space around them, some couches, a stereo system, and good lightning  Very nice, cozy, comfortable, and simple.  It is housed in an office building with other different types of companies, so it's basically a large room in the office building.  Every member has a key, so you can play there whenever you want, no matter what time of day. But it's not open to the public and it's not advertised. 

They have tournaments on the weekends, so that is pretty cool.

At this club, everyone's picture was on the wall and I was impressed with how many women were a member of the club. 

It's nice not to be bothered by the weekend warriors if you want to get some good practice time in or maybe get/give lessons.  Because members have access 24 hours a day, you get a lot of freedom when you want to play and it's normally not packed all the time.  And of course, the equipment is taken care of, which is another nice treat for those of us who are at the mercy of ball bangers who abuse the equipment at the pool rooms in the U.S.

Here are some pics.  I hope they encapsulate the atmosphere of the "private pool club."  I was impressed by the room, and the idea.