Hello guys hope all of you are doing good.
Today, I wanted you guys to know a small part of my life surrounding pool.
It was introduced to it by my brother. I often used to see him get out of the house or not returning at all till 3pm after school. One day he suddenly wanted me to join him in his outing.
I got ready quickly and head out. It was summer and it was a harsh one. The sun’s rays were heating up my skin. We reached shortly. I am not revealing the location but it was located beside a saloon. This was 6 years ago. The place had only 2 pool table and a bunch of cues and some were worn out. I was silent the entire time as it was my first time visiting the place. I saw the people who ran the place smoke in the corner. That gave me a somewhat bad vibe.
The room was illuminated with the sunlight that refracted from the glass door. My brother’s friend was already present there. My brother called for an 8 ball game. The usual focus lights above the table were not lit. My eyes shifted from the guy and the triangle he used to organize the balls, he did it with such elegance that I stared at the whole process of him setting the balls in the right way. He set it and with one smooth push forwards the balls were in place for the break.
My brother asked me to get a cue and stand beside. I chose one which turned out to be the breaker. He showed me how to hold a cue and how to shoot it. The trick was to hit at the center of the white ball. I was given the opportunity to break. His friend stood on the other side, observing the game. I made the shot and the balls were scattered. None of which fell in the pockets. He positioned himself with the white ball and shot it. A solid fell in the corner pocket. He went over and hit another one, it didn’t drop. He used the blue chalk and asked me to do the same. I used it and proceeded to the other side. The dealer was also crossing from the same side. I hit his eyebrow hard. I apologized to him profoundly. My brother and his friend cracked off and said to the man that I was new to the thing.
I continued towards the ball and was hitting off target, sometimes from the ball that I wanted to hit and sometimes I couldn’t even hit the white ball which just went to the side from the poke of the cue. The match ended quickly afterwards with my brother winning of course. But I saw how he held his cue, how his eyes and target was set and how he struck the ball with the range. I then faced his friend and also lost. I saw how to hit a back spin shot. Then, my mind went blown and I started to think about more spins, left spin, right spin, forward run and the stop. The stop is basically the ball stopping in its place after hitting the ball.
I played against my brother once again and this time I was left with only 4 balls. By then it was close to maghrib time and the manager or owner, I didn’t know his position in the place, turned the spotlights were turned on. 3 games took over an hour and each round of game costed TK 25. My brother then asked me to return home and they would continue their game.
I felt great, the new experience, the rush, and the skill needed to play this game made me want to play more. I wanted to be better at the game. The only downside was the cost. I didn’t have much money nor the freedom of leaving the house. A great idea popped, I would head out before my coaching started and would play it. But who do I play it with, I asked my brother but he didn’t want to play it anytime soon. Then a brilliant idea of calling my friend over for it, that would’ve helped me tame the game cost and the transport cost.
I managed to invite him over but the place I had went was closed. I looked for a different one and found it near the place. As it turned out, there were many pool places near this place. I am also keeping the location private.
Our first game took about an hour and we couldn’t even finish the game XD. But an important had happened. My friend couldn’t also didn’t know how to hold a cue properly when moving so he also hit a nearby player who was in the middle of taking his shot. We asked the place owner to take it off and paid our sum. We took a rickshaw and went out quickly as we were running late by 8 minutes.
More time had passed, we continued our game. I saved money from the tiffin cash I received from my dad. My friend also loved the game and bought the hand glove for more smoothness of the cue, he had rough skin which prevented him from playing it better. His game improved and so did mine. I didn’t need the glove. I learned more new moves through visualization that I had developed before.
More friends joined us and they saw me as this expert player. I then realized how far I had come. I then used to save my tiffin taka like my brother had done, I also went straight to the pool place after school and came at around 40-50 minutes after. We played about 6-8 games straight with no interest to leave the place. We also saved enough money for buying cold coffee during our games thanks to our method of conserving money, through each other.
Then came a time when I challenged my brother’s friends who were actual experts at the game. We played 9 ball which was basically we had to drop all the balls serially and the one who would drop the 9th ball wins and the one before the winner had to pay. I was saved each time. I then challenged 2 of my brother’s friend to an 8 ball match and lost most of the time. I gained experience through it, the rush was breath taking. How elegantly he put all the balls serially in the pockets. The other friend didn’t want to play as there was no money on the table as a prize. He didn’t play for less than a 100, I only had a 100 lol and this was the friend who taught my brother how to play.
I played a lot of challenge matches with strangers during my prime. 2v2 in 8 ball with the friend I always played it with. 1v1 with strangers. I won most of the time in 1v1 but not 2v2 as they were unpredictable with respect to the turn of the player, but there was one such guy who got to me. He informed me about the rolling foul, the ball that would roll behind the intended target without falling into the pocket itself but straying in a different path. This rolling together was called a rolling foul according to them, I couldn’t grasp the concept as for me, the white ball didn’t roll into the pocket so why they call it a foul😅. There was another match I played with an Ethiopian dude who was built like a palm tree. My friend lost to him and I observed it. The second match I challenged and got the win. It was a losers pay and I walked out of there with having to paying a dime.
A new friend joined me for it along with his other friend. His other friend knew how to play. This was 2 years ago, before COVID-19. I taught him how to play. He commended my for having the patience of teaching how to play pool as his friend didn’t have it and gave him sweets scars about playing valorant when he was learning. He also made the same mistake as me, he poked the person that ran the tables in the eyebrow. I laughed hard and then understood how my brother and his friend felt. I told the guy that this was his friend game. This thing must’ve been a trend, beginners hitting the owners of the place! XD
The last time I had played pool with my friend was about 3 years ago during the beginning of my a levels. Due to corona, almost all the pool places are now closed. We are busy with our different lives and didn’t even knew that it would be our last game even though we are only a phone call away for each other. I do miss the time I spent before but I also sort of want all the money I had spent then as looking back, it must be at-least TK 2-3 thousand. I do wish to hit the remaining pool place with my friend later. One of the attributes of the pool areas is that it is a den for chain smokers, I never liked smoking. That did hinder me from going to the place but I became used to it. My clothes reeked of cigarette and my mom did’t ask much about it that time.
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Thank you, guys, for coming this far with me. I do wish to share more.
