- dizzy
- crazy
- a pool playin' cat
- a pool dawg
- always learning
- steady and smooth
Dizzy Dean
The dizzy pool shooter is too busy drinking, wenching and smoking to notice whose turn it is or whether they are stripes or spots in Eight Ball.Weaknesses:
- lost
- ill
- exhausted
Strengths:
- too broke to gamble more
- always the life of the party, even if the party ended yesterday
- a big spender
Crazy Carol
Crazy pool people are perpetually obsessed with swing theories on how to improve their pool stroke. These aspiring Einsteins of the felt can be too busy twisting their arms 35 degrees toward magnetic north to play effectively at all. How can you get into a rhythm or fluidity of stroke? You also are so busy watching the motions of your stroking hand, you probably spend as much time looking backwards as along the shot line. One of the great paradoxes of what I call the classic pool stroke, taught here across many articles at About.com, is that the more you strive to create a perfectly straight stroke, the less you make one. You release, not manipulate, a laser straight stroke.Weaknesses:
- mentally disturbed
- wasting their lives when they could hold engineering doctorates instead
- too solitary by nature
Strengths:
- able to lecture for hours about rather small Pool details
- detail-oriented people
- quite amusing unless you are actually playing against them
Cat On The Roof
Cat players have the mindset to stalk their billiards mice patiently until the final strike. These are the folks who seem to miss all the early shots in Nine Ball until they pounce on the game winners when you least expect the strike.Weaknesses:
- a bit too cagey for their own good, what if the opponent completes the run before they make their big move?
- not much fun to play against
- sometimes too aggressive at the table, the pool player missing the high percentage play
Strengths:
- ready to spring upon unwary prey
- their pockets jingle with change
- everybody wants to be a cat
The Dirty Dog
Those who dog the ball disguise their ability and hustle the unwary by missing certain shots purposefully. Intentionally, they "duck" the shots to hide their skills. Unintentionally, the dog is someone who "chokes" and misses as possible victory looms.Weaknesses:
- no one wants to play them when they get wise to the hustle
- or everyone wants to play them when they figure they choke
- often penniless and desperate
Strengths:
- they can snatch your wallet by hustling or just plain getting lucky
- always good for a laugh as you watch, not play
- very popular in certain circles of society that accept a degenerate pool player
Ever-Learner
I respect the ever-learning player, the one who assesses after any miss and uses shots as a learning opportunities. The player who wills to learn will eventually improve.Weaknesses:
- so focused on assessing their personal ability, they often are unable to relax and perform at a high level
- mentally tired by the end of the playing session
- too hard on themselves at times
Strengths:
- can become an encyclopedia of Pocket Billiards facts and possibilities
- getting better at the game often
- respectful of others' opinions and asking good thought-provoking questions of their peers
Steady Eddie
It's Steady and not Fast Eddie who often triumphs at the game. By playing within themselves, balanced, smooth and neither rushing toward a shot nor over-analyzing the situation at hand, they deliver consistent, successful results. In the all-time classic pool flick, The Hustler, Jackie Gleason as "Minnesota Fats" cleans out Paul Newman as "Fast Eddie" by being the penultimate Steady Eddie and wearing his opponent's energy and patience thin.Weaknesses:
- not thrilling to watch
- emotionally distant if you play them, not the most fun to partner
- unpopular because they keep winning
Strengths:
- content with all pool has to offer
- likely a respected corporate or civic leader away from the tables
- pool trophies on the walls of their home
