{"id":2003,"date":"2016-04-07T12:29:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T10:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.playing-pool.com\/en\/?p=2003"},"modified":"2016-04-07T12:33:17","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T10:33:17","slug":"if-you-think-these-6-things-about-pool-you-couldnt-be-more-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.playing-pool.com\/en\/if-you-think-these-6-things-about-pool-you-couldnt-be-more-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"If you think these 6 things about pool, you couldn’t be more wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh boy, what kind of stuff people have said about pool. Everytime I tell people that I’m a pool player, clich\u00e9s are starting to fly. Here are my top 6 \ud83d\ude42
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[Disclaimer: This applies mainly to my experience in Germany. It might be different where you live. Glad to hear from your perspective in the comments.]<\/p>\n

No.\u00a06:\u00a0You can impress the ladies with it<\/h2>\n

Well, who of us doesn’t have the wet dream of hustling the bad guy while the girls are admiring our pool skills? Well, I did. I’d be lying if I denied that my main motivation when I started playing pool at the age of 14 was to impress the ladies.<\/p>\n

I did get some attention from female spectators in my 20 years of playing – maybe every five years. At some point you might be a good player; but that doesn’t change the fact that average pool halls have a men ratio of maybe 90%. Sorry, my friend, if you’d like to impress the ladies, you should better become a yoga teacher or the house poet in a vegan coffeeshop in Williamsburg.<\/p>\n

No.\u00a05:\u00a0You hustle people<\/h2>\n

Of course everyone imagines that speakeasy where shady characters are\u00a0betting their shirt on a horse. “The Hustler” and “The Color of Money” are responsible for that, but probably also every boring TV show where you can see a pool table.<\/p>\n

The truth looks different: Of course there are\u00a0some\u00a0people gambling for money in Germany. Most of pool players, though, play pool in a club house, play in a team and at singles tournaments in the highly regulated sport system. There are no smoky speakeasies, but no smoking club\u00a0houses and pool halls where the players dress up in a fashion mix of prom night and golf wear with black suit pants and a polo shirt. Think more Steve Urkel than Tom Cruise.<\/p>\n

No.\u00a04: We’re always running around in black tie<\/h2>\n

That’s the opposite of the speakeasy clich\u00e9: We’re always wearing black tie. Ok, in snooker the vest is still mandatory. But you can already see the wildest haircuts, and in pool we’re wearing that already mentioned combination of black suit pants and a\u00a0more or less tasteful\u00a0polo shirt. You can think about it what you want \u2013 I do.<\/p>\n

No.\u00a03:\u00a0Bad players rip the cloth<\/h2>\n

Louis de Fun\u00e8s is to blame that thousands of beginners are s**t-scared of ruining the cloth. Fact is, professional players are dragging their break cues over the cloth that old Louis would turn blue in the face. Modern pool cloth is very durable, it can’t actually break. Unless it hasn’t been changed in ten years, and in this case the bar owner doesn’t deserve better.<\/p>\n

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