Numa sala perto de mim #100

The Hustler (1961)

Went out to play pool with G and L the other night. They were keen on it so I was just having fun watching them play. At some point G handed me the stick and said "come on, shoot some, we'll pair against L!" I gave him the (true) drill: only played a couple of times in my life and very poorly... I do see the shots in my head (or at least the way I would like them to be, given the position of the balls on the table) but I have no arm strength, nor a steady hand. I am fine just watching and you're better off playing alone. "Oh come on..." it took me a while to get comfortable again with positioning the hands. In the mean time, I gave them a few laughs in the several attempts at a shot when I just entirely missed the ball and lost balance. The problem boils down to coordination: when my left hand is steady my right arm is not strong enough to make the shot, and when it is, my left hand is not steady. Very ocasionaly things come out right and the shot is exactly the way it played in my head.

Not surprisingly, G and I lost by a few games, but I was pretty happy with some of my shots. The last play of the night did not pan out the way I planned. We were solids. The yellow (and of course the black) ball was still in play. The alignment of white and yellow with the corner pocket was pretty straighforward and no much strength was needed. So no big deal the yellow ball went in... but then, the white ball drifted to the left side of the table hitting the black ball which went straight into the other corner pocket... that one I did not see coming! That's when L seriously-jokingly called me a hustler.

A term used for unethical players who try to hide their true ability to bait someone of lesser ability into playing for money or more money

I had to see the movie... so much has changed since 1961: a young (black & white) Paul Newman plays brilliant pool, while smoking 90% of the time on camera. In the movie he wins the game and loses the girl. I lost the game, so...? :-)