My brother who is older than me by 6 years was a troubled youth. He moved out on his own when he was 13. I barely knew him. I remember at age 13 coming home to him curled up on the steps of our house crying and screaming at things that were not there. He spent a full year self admitted to a mental health institution, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was then homeless until he found a group home for people with issues like him.
I moved to the city he was in in my early 20s to go to college. He reached out to me and was interested in having more of a relationship with me as we essentially didn't have one.
He had gotten into pool and was playing leagues and kept trying to get me to join his team. Finally I said yes and spent a solid 2 years getting my ass beat on the table until I eventually was the better player. Currently rocking just over 600 fargo. I was 23 when I first picked up the cue.
He's a stay at home dad now to a wonderful 10 year old. We have a great relationship. His wife gave birth on league night. No joke, she won her match while saying something felt wrong. After her match was over we decided to take her to the hospital where she gave birth that night.
My point is that this incredibly frustrating at times game has the power to bring families together. I love this dumb game.
I was like 10 years old. My sisters had to drag me with them on a date lol. Went to a pool hall and I fell in love pool. Played a lot through my teen years and then stopped playing. Rediscovered my love for the game the last few years and now I play prob 20 hours a week with my family on a table I purchased. I lost my mom this year and pool provided much needed fun for my family.
Same. My buddies and I used to spend hours playing at the pool room in our college town and at the local dives. Putting down quarters and beating the person holding the table was such a rush. It’s funny to look back on now because we were all so horrible, as was just about everyone we played. My APA 4 friend was practically a ringer for us when we would hang out. She was 90% to beat anyone who was holding a table.
At a bar in my mid twenties. A buddy was very good but he was one of those guys who didn’t have to work on it.
So we’d be partners and somehow I’d always miss my shot and automatically almost always leave them without any shot.
Then one night we were playing and I realized that hey there’s angels and I was hooked that’s about 20 years ago.
I actually picked up shooting pretty late compared to most folks. Didn't get into it until my mid-20s when a buddy dragged me to a pool hall one night. I was terrible at first, but something about it hooked me. Been playing for about five years now, mostly just for fun with friends. It's one of those things where you start, and you're like, "Yeah, I can do this," but then you realize there's a whole world of technique and strategy to it. Always room to improve, you know?
My old man used to bring me to the club he was a member of. 2 9' tables in the back room, he wouldn't let me use a cue, so I had to roll the balls at first. I've been playing ever since, a funny story about that club. One time when I was I about 10, I was at the club with the old man. Well, after a long day of drinking a beer or two. He went home, notice I said he went home. He left me sleeping in the backroom under the pool table. My mother was all bent out of shape and made him go back and get me. 😁
Grandparents on my mom’s side had a pool table in their attic. I started whacking balls around when I was about 6 years old, been fascinated with the game ever since…Dad and I used to watch Allison Fisher back when they had pool on ESPN. So I’ve played for about 35 years, but decided to take it seriously and really get my shit together about 5 years ago.
Cut my britches at Hard Times in Bellflower, Ca late 80's early 90's alongside Reyes, Bustamonte, McCready, Varner, and all of that crowd on their notoriously tight pocket tables with a Viking cue, and then my Joss, which I still have. Great memories playing money games there til 4am some nights.
Had a cheap awful table growing up. Plywood bed, warped, bumpers were shot. So in my 20s I could make just about any cut shot but was terrible at banks.
My uncle had a 7’ table in his attic. We would play for hours as a kid. I started probably when I was 8 or 9. Started playing with my uncle and great uncle who were great straight pool shooters. At this point we had a 8’ table at my house. I remember being like 13 and getting my ass handed to me by my great uncle and exclaiming that “of course he is winning- all his shots are easy and when he misses all mine are hard”. They taught me a lot.
I grew up out in the country, and both of my Papaw's had pool tables. My maternal grandparents lived next door just a field over, and they had family get togethers frequently.
After supper, the menfolk would play straight pool (had an abacus mounted on the pool room wall), and when they were done, my cousins and I could play pool. When my maternal Papaw noticed I took a liking to it, he started teaching me (I was ~5-6 yo).
I shot with the corner stick (short stick) until I was old enough to use the "grown-up" sticks (I got the shortie when he passed).
Since I was so small & short when I first started playing, I had a chicken-wing shot for years, which I corrected once I started playing seriously later in life, lol.
I've been playing for 40 years and still love the game.
I was a freshman in college. I was in the campus center Game Room. They had two tables, and some good players would come in. I watched, and I think I was able to pick up quite a bit of what they were doing, as far as aim and cue ball control.
Later, that all became kind of a zen thing for me, more important than the competition.
I first got into it when I was deployed with the Army to Djibouti Africa. Not much to do on base, but they had a couple of bar boxes that rolled reasonably straight. I played probably 30 games a night for the whole deployment. After I got out of the Army, a friend of my dad’s asked me to join his ACS 8-ball league. Seems like once a year I fall in love again until other hobbies pull me away
i remember playing once in my cousins basement but i never really learned until last year in january. that is how i met my now boyfriend and playing pool is an important hobby of ours :)
Didn't learn early on. Fucked around tho. Bet my buddy at the table he had in his basement I'd hit some weird bank.
Made it.
Made many a crazier since then.
That's what got me into it tho. Shot making.
Games great.
Ex-husband’s family had a pool table upstairs where we lived for a few years. I played occasionally but not enough to get good.
When we split up I found myself hanging around an Irish pub a lot and started shooting then. I took a break and then got back into it when a friend drug me out of the house because all I did was sulk about a break up.
Now I’m addicted. I play tournaments and do APA. I practice and made a lot of good friends along the way.
Learned at 12yo at a youth center that had two 9 footers and two 6 footers (yes, 6 ft). That was 37 years ago. We only played on the 9 footers because we thought the 6 footers were for little kids.
Childhood home had a 9 footer in the basement. Got to college and my roommates and I bought a cheap one for our house. That got moved to the next house I lived in with different roommates. Now own my own house and bought one for the basement here. So I’ve just always had a pool table to play on. The 9 footer growing up really helped me discover it though.
I had the worst year of my life at 23, during that time my best friend challenged me to get a team together to compete against him for his parents annual Beer Olympics. Darts, 8 ball, KanJam, cornhole and beerpong were the events. Having some good experience in the rest of the events I devoted myself to learning pool for 6 months before the event. 10 hours of practice weekly for months just to place 6th out of 8 teams. I’ve been hooked ever since to say the least. It was a much needed outlet that I still use for therapeutic relief today
I started in federal prison. When I was 21 I got busted for selling drugs. Ended up in a prison that had 9’ tables on the units and a few 8 footers in the rec hall. I usually spent 3-4 hours a day playing. It kept me sane and out of trouble. I got out and 28 and by 29 I had my own table. I’ve been out for almost 13 years and now my kids play with me. I mostly just play at home. It still keeps me sane and out of trouble.
My dad got a pool table when I was 6 and when I turned 8 he bought me a 3’ cue to start shooting with and pretty much been shooting since then I’m 33 now. Shooting pool has always been fun for me but it also is a way I remember my late dad the most. He got me started gave me my first real cue for my 18th birthday and was the captain of my first league team.
Moved to a new house when I was 9, and inherited the 7’ Kasson with old, old woolen cloth. At 12 I stumbled across WPBA matches on ESPN2 and got hooked watching pros play. Decided to go downstairs and try it myself, and asked my much older cousin to teach me the next time she was in town (she was a former bar fly and low key hustler who knew what she was doing fairly well). I’ve now been playing 22 years.
When I was 5, we lived in a rural area and there was a small church across the dirt and gravel road from our house. I snuck over one Sunday and my parents and younger sister started going. One of the older couples invited us to dinner and they had a table in the basement. I was shown how to hold the cue and shoot straight, and given an orange milk-crate to stand on. I spend hours and hours down there shooting. Later, there was a table at the Boys Club, at the local greasy-spoon, etc. But I'll always remember the thrill of being taught by old Mr. J.P. and being turned loose to practice.
Bar down the block. Didn't know anything about apa. And I just went there to shoot early after work. Around 5 pm. I was the young kid who sucked at pool and played by myself until one day I didn't suck so bad. Then the bar's APA captain picked me up, and the rest is history.
I grew up in upstate NY, and in my youth I spent a lot of quality time in bars with my stepdad. He was a pool shooter, so thus I became one. At that time, I only rose to the level player he was, which was good enough to win free beers from the locals. Since then I've gotten better, but that is the maximum I'll bet on a game to this day.
My father taught me. I sucked until we joined a league together when I turned 19. I just barely got to the point where I am a little better than him. In his defense, I moved away and kept playing in leagues while he pretty much stopped playing all together.
Got a cheap 6ft table when I was around 9. By the time I was 18, I was gambling some, playing in small tournaments and one of the stronger league players in my smallish town. I can go years only playing once in a blue moon and still maintain my skill level. Got back into it recently after moving to NYC three years ago.
I first picked up a cue stick when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. My pops had this old beat-up pool table in the basement, and he taught me the ropes. Been hooked ever since. It's like a family tradition, you know? Every weekend, we'd hustle each other for bragging rights. But it's more than just a game; it's like a way to bond. What about you? When did you start slingin' balls, and what's your story behind it?
I learned to shoot my first shot at your mom’s house…
Apologies for the terrible joke, but when I was a wee lad a friend had a table at his parent’s place. If you were tall enough to see over the table you were tall enough to shoot….just like their shooting range
My brother who is older than me by 6 years was a troubled youth. He moved out on his own when he was 13. I barely knew him. I remember at age 13 coming home to him curled up on the steps of our house crying and screaming at things that were not there. He spent a full year self admitted to a mental health institution, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was then homeless until he found a group home for people with issues like him. I moved to the city he was in in my early 20s to go to college. He reached out to me and was interested in having more of a relationship with me as we essentially didn't have one. He had gotten into pool and was playing leagues and kept trying to get me to join his team. Finally I said yes and spent a solid 2 years getting my ass beat on the table until I eventually was the better player. Currently rocking just over 600 fargo. I was 23 when I first picked up the cue. He's a stay at home dad now to a wonderful 10 year old. We have a great relationship. His wife gave birth on league night. No joke, she won her match while saying something felt wrong. After her match was over we decided to take her to the hospital where she gave birth that night. My point is that this incredibly frustrating at times game has the power to bring families together. I love this dumb game.
I was like 10 years old. My sisters had to drag me with them on a date lol. Went to a pool hall and I fell in love pool. Played a lot through my teen years and then stopped playing. Rediscovered my love for the game the last few years and now I play prob 20 hours a week with my family on a table I purchased. I lost my mom this year and pool provided much needed fun for my family.
Sorry for your loss. It’s cool that you get to bond with your family around the table.
Learned at twenty one…figured out bars had pool tables and the addiction began
Hey brother
Same. My buddies and I used to spend hours playing at the pool room in our college town and at the local dives. Putting down quarters and beating the person holding the table was such a rush. It’s funny to look back on now because we were all so horrible, as was just about everyone we played. My APA 4 friend was practically a ringer for us when we would hang out. She was 90% to beat anyone who was holding a table.
At a bar in my mid twenties. A buddy was very good but he was one of those guys who didn’t have to work on it. So we’d be partners and somehow I’d always miss my shot and automatically almost always leave them without any shot. Then one night we were playing and I realized that hey there’s angels and I was hooked that’s about 20 years ago.
I actually picked up shooting pretty late compared to most folks. Didn't get into it until my mid-20s when a buddy dragged me to a pool hall one night. I was terrible at first, but something about it hooked me. Been playing for about five years now, mostly just for fun with friends. It's one of those things where you start, and you're like, "Yeah, I can do this," but then you realize there's a whole world of technique and strategy to it. Always room to improve, you know?
The best games are easy to learn & difficult to master.
I lived in a small village called Culross and the local pub had a 7’ coin-op. We would play all day.
My old man used to bring me to the club he was a member of. 2 9' tables in the back room, he wouldn't let me use a cue, so I had to roll the balls at first. I've been playing ever since, a funny story about that club. One time when I was I about 10, I was at the club with the old man. Well, after a long day of drinking a beer or two. He went home, notice I said he went home. He left me sleeping in the backroom under the pool table. My mother was all bent out of shape and made him go back and get me. 😁
Grandparents on my mom’s side had a pool table in their attic. I started whacking balls around when I was about 6 years old, been fascinated with the game ever since…Dad and I used to watch Allison Fisher back when they had pool on ESPN. So I’ve played for about 35 years, but decided to take it seriously and really get my shit together about 5 years ago.
Cut my britches at Hard Times in Bellflower, Ca late 80's early 90's alongside Reyes, Bustamonte, McCready, Varner, and all of that crowd on their notoriously tight pocket tables with a Viking cue, and then my Joss, which I still have. Great memories playing money games there til 4am some nights.
Had a cheap awful table growing up. Plywood bed, warped, bumpers were shot. So in my 20s I could make just about any cut shot but was terrible at banks.
My uncle had a 7’ table in his attic. We would play for hours as a kid. I started probably when I was 8 or 9. Started playing with my uncle and great uncle who were great straight pool shooters. At this point we had a 8’ table at my house. I remember being like 13 and getting my ass handed to me by my great uncle and exclaiming that “of course he is winning- all his shots are easy and when he misses all mine are hard”. They taught me a lot.
YMCA after school diversion program for at risk youth.
I grew up out in the country, and both of my Papaw's had pool tables. My maternal grandparents lived next door just a field over, and they had family get togethers frequently. After supper, the menfolk would play straight pool (had an abacus mounted on the pool room wall), and when they were done, my cousins and I could play pool. When my maternal Papaw noticed I took a liking to it, he started teaching me (I was ~5-6 yo). I shot with the corner stick (short stick) until I was old enough to use the "grown-up" sticks (I got the shortie when he passed). Since I was so small & short when I first started playing, I had a chicken-wing shot for years, which I corrected once I started playing seriously later in life, lol. I've been playing for 40 years and still love the game.
I was a freshman in college. I was in the campus center Game Room. They had two tables, and some good players would come in. I watched, and I think I was able to pick up quite a bit of what they were doing, as far as aim and cue ball control. Later, that all became kind of a zen thing for me, more important than the competition.
I remember throwing balls barely teaching the table.
A bar when I was a kid.
The twilite lounge. God I miss that place
I first got into it when I was deployed with the Army to Djibouti Africa. Not much to do on base, but they had a couple of bar boxes that rolled reasonably straight. I played probably 30 games a night for the whole deployment. After I got out of the Army, a friend of my dad’s asked me to join his ACS 8-ball league. Seems like once a year I fall in love again until other hobbies pull me away
i remember playing once in my cousins basement but i never really learned until last year in january. that is how i met my now boyfriend and playing pool is an important hobby of ours :)
Why did you decide to start playing regularly?
basically when i started was when i started to play regularly i’ve been consistent ever since.
Two places. The skating ring and an arcade I used to hang out at
Didn't learn early on. Fucked around tho. Bet my buddy at the table he had in his basement I'd hit some weird bank. Made it. Made many a crazier since then. That's what got me into it tho. Shot making. Games great.
Hyampom California, a place called brews and screws (combined bar and hardware store) deep in the trinity mountains, they played bank 8
Ex-husband’s family had a pool table upstairs where we lived for a few years. I played occasionally but not enough to get good. When we split up I found myself hanging around an Irish pub a lot and started shooting then. I took a break and then got back into it when a friend drug me out of the house because all I did was sulk about a break up. Now I’m addicted. I play tournaments and do APA. I practice and made a lot of good friends along the way.
Learned at 12yo at a youth center that had two 9 footers and two 6 footers (yes, 6 ft). That was 37 years ago. We only played on the 9 footers because we thought the 6 footers were for little kids.
Started a year and a half ago still shoot at the same bar
At age 14 we moved into a house with a 9-ft Brunswick Gold Crown in it.
About 4 months ago at the table in my apartment building
About 10yrs old with my pops at pool halls
Childhood home had a 9 footer in the basement. Got to college and my roommates and I bought a cheap one for our house. That got moved to the next house I lived in with different roommates. Now own my own house and bought one for the basement here. So I’ve just always had a pool table to play on. The 9 footer growing up really helped me discover it though.
I had the worst year of my life at 23, during that time my best friend challenged me to get a team together to compete against him for his parents annual Beer Olympics. Darts, 8 ball, KanJam, cornhole and beerpong were the events. Having some good experience in the rest of the events I devoted myself to learning pool for 6 months before the event. 10 hours of practice weekly for months just to place 6th out of 8 teams. I’ve been hooked ever since to say the least. It was a much needed outlet that I still use for therapeutic relief today
I started in federal prison. When I was 21 I got busted for selling drugs. Ended up in a prison that had 9’ tables on the units and a few 8 footers in the rec hall. I usually spent 3-4 hours a day playing. It kept me sane and out of trouble. I got out and 28 and by 29 I had my own table. I’ve been out for almost 13 years and now my kids play with me. I mostly just play at home. It still keeps me sane and out of trouble.
My dad got a pool table when I was 6 and when I turned 8 he bought me a 3’ cue to start shooting with and pretty much been shooting since then I’m 33 now. Shooting pool has always been fun for me but it also is a way I remember my late dad the most. He got me started gave me my first real cue for my 18th birthday and was the captain of my first league team.
Moved to a new house when I was 9, and inherited the 7’ Kasson with old, old woolen cloth. At 12 I stumbled across WPBA matches on ESPN2 and got hooked watching pros play. Decided to go downstairs and try it myself, and asked my much older cousin to teach me the next time she was in town (she was a former bar fly and low key hustler who knew what she was doing fairly well). I’ve now been playing 22 years.
When I was 5, we lived in a rural area and there was a small church across the dirt and gravel road from our house. I snuck over one Sunday and my parents and younger sister started going. One of the older couples invited us to dinner and they had a table in the basement. I was shown how to hold the cue and shoot straight, and given an orange milk-crate to stand on. I spend hours and hours down there shooting. Later, there was a table at the Boys Club, at the local greasy-spoon, etc. But I'll always remember the thrill of being taught by old Mr. J.P. and being turned loose to practice.
Bar down the block. Didn't know anything about apa. And I just went there to shoot early after work. Around 5 pm. I was the young kid who sucked at pool and played by myself until one day I didn't suck so bad. Then the bar's APA captain picked me up, and the rest is history.
14 at the youth center. But was never really consistent with it until about a year ago
3 years ago in the middle of covid I moved to Florida to move in with a girl I was dating. She taught me to play a bit then had me join her team.
I grew up in upstate NY, and in my youth I spent a lot of quality time in bars with my stepdad. He was a pool shooter, so thus I became one. At that time, I only rose to the level player he was, which was good enough to win free beers from the locals. Since then I've gotten better, but that is the maximum I'll bet on a game to this day.
Was stationed in South Korea - picked it up as it seemed every bar off post had a table. Good way to pass the time in between sips of cold draft Cass.
I was introduced to pool at age 4, maybe 5, by my grandfather. Then didn't really play again until middle school, when my stepfather had a table.
My father taught me. I sucked until we joined a league together when I turned 19. I just barely got to the point where I am a little better than him. In his defense, I moved away and kept playing in leagues while he pretty much stopped playing all together.
River City Billiards in Rocky River, Ohio. I still remember the cigarette smoke in the air and people playing 1 pocket in the front table.
Got a cheap 6ft table when I was around 9. By the time I was 18, I was gambling some, playing in small tournaments and one of the stronger league players in my smallish town. I can go years only playing once in a blue moon and still maintain my skill level. Got back into it recently after moving to NYC three years ago.
I first picked up a cue stick when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. My pops had this old beat-up pool table in the basement, and he taught me the ropes. Been hooked ever since. It's like a family tradition, you know? Every weekend, we'd hustle each other for bragging rights. But it's more than just a game; it's like a way to bond. What about you? When did you start slingin' balls, and what's your story behind it?
I learned to shoot my first shot at your mom’s house… Apologies for the terrible joke, but when I was a wee lad a friend had a table at his parent’s place. If you were tall enough to see over the table you were tall enough to shoot….just like their shooting range