Pool is a very small world.
Which is why I’m bewildered when people make up these wild claims about how good they are by telling you who’ve they’ve beaten, how many tournaments they’ve won, etc.
This might’ve worked back in the old days but now, with the internet, it’s so easy to fact check someone’s story. All you have to do is just make a post on a pool forum and someone, somewhere, will know something and eventually the “truth” is going to come out.
(And if you follow pool and the pool forum’s you’d probably heard of the whole “the Mary” fiasco. If not, you can read all about it here.)
The reason I bring this up is because there’s an up-and-coming player in the NY/NJ area that did a video interview for a local pool website. In this video the player claims to have won a couple of sets, getting the 8-ball as a spot, against a professional pool player. The player then claims to have gotten drunk and that’s why the player ended up losing to the pro. The player made it sound like “Well, if I didn’t get drunk I would’ve definitely won.” At least that’s the way it sounded to me anyway.
Great story, which is what it is – a story.
See I contacted the pro involved because it’s unfathomable that the pro would be down a few sets to this player even with giving up the 8 ball up as a spot.
And what I got was “I was never down. I won 3 sets for $100 giving up the 8 and the last set I won for $200 giving up the 7. The player is lying.”
Ah, that’s more like it.
(And, yes, I would tend to believe the pro more because 1) there’s no reason for the pro to lie and 2) as I indicated I didn’t think the player could beat the pro even with that spot. Not that the player plays poorly, just that the pro plays that much better.)
So why do people... “exaggerate” about their game? Are they trying to convince others? Or are they trying to convince themselves?
I have my thoughts on why - that'll be my next post.
