Sort of brag thread. Let's hear about the biggest or most unconventional handicaps you've offerred or received, whether it's in tournaments, hustling/cash games, or just playing with friends who don't take pool as seriously and therefore aren't as good.

One I like to give against 2 friends who don't want to play cutthroat is US 8-ball and they play as a team but get 2 shots in a row per visit. On a bar table, I've given that plus all my shots are either left handed or one handed right handed. I have a decent stroke so all that handicap does is make me look better since extreme draw and force follow don't work as well on bar tables anyway.

Taught a friend of mine how to shoot one time. For all intents and purposes, it's the first time she touched a pool cue. Played US 8 ball and I had to shoot my suit in rotation. Great learning experience for me too since I had to get away from the pot first, pot next, pot later, pot again attitude and force myself to look at things more tactically.

I've never received any exotic handicaps. Just your standard four start in race to ten or the 7 and 8 balls as money balls.

I was offered 3 games in a race to 5, (choosing 8 ball or 9 ball) he would play one handed, I was an APA 7 at the time. I know I was dead if I took it, so I declined.

The guy was that good.

Anyone else read this as handjobs??

I was given the break and ball in hand once each rack in 9-ball. Yes, I'm very bad.

The break and ball in hand is pointless for a lower level player. If you can't break and run, then all you are doing is clearing a few balls off the table and making it easier for your opponent to run out.

I don't see why you think that extreme draw and force follow don't work as well on bar tables. The only factors could be: (a) the size/weight of the cue ball -- if it is bigger or heavier than a red circle, e.g., then drawing might be more difficult but force follow will be easier; and (b) the type of cloth -- but then the issue isn't really the size of the table. I've seen bar tables with Simonis 760, after all.

Should've specified tables in bars. Divey student bars.

I have played one pocket with an opponent who had to shoot one ball with the bridge. (When I chose)

Was offered 22-2 in one pocket but I had to bank my two balls cleanly. Never try this against a good player. Luckily I had seen it before and declined.

Just played at local tournament at Thailand. 10-ball race to 19 and i got 17 start (and lost). I am above average player here. That guy is just so f good.

When I was first learning, a guy offered to spot me 3 in a race to 5, and he had to shoot with a broom handle from the janitor's closet.

I lost obv.

Frank,

I like that 8-ball spot of having to shoot all your balls in rotation. This would almost always require a chess match on a bar table with clusters, and might slow the game down to a bar version of one-pocket, but if people think they can beat you. . .make a bet and prove them wrong lol.

I'm not that good, but I can handily beat my friends. When they start to lose interest, I offer this one: I rack up 9-ball, but tell them, "We'll play 8-ball. I'll be solids, you be stripes. And you break."

WHAT THEY SEE: 6 of their 7 balls are down already; a great chance to win on the break.

WHAT THEY DON'T SEE: They're not going to make one of their balls on the break; I'll step up with an easy run out, since their balls are out of my way; and if I can't run out, it's trivially easy to play safe when they have only ball to shoot at.

I don't know if I've ever lost this bet. I'm pretty proud of inventing it.

My other usual spot story: The Golden Cue in Lawrence, MA used to have a weekly 3-cushion tourney on Thursday nights, super cheap entry fee, winner advances, loser pays table time. Each player was assigned a handicap, and that number was how many points you needed to win the game. For example, I was a total novice, so I was assigned a 13, the lowest they'd go. Dick Reid was the East Coast Regionals champion, and he was a 41. If I played Dick Reid, I had to get to 13 before he got to 41 to advance. Most of the players were in the high teens or low-to-mid 20's. They usually drew about 8 players, it was single elimination.

(EDIT TO ADD: Your handicap went up 2 points if you won a tourney; 1 point for a second-place finish; and if you didn't finish in 1st or 2nd for four straight tourneys, your handicap went down one point--unless you were a 13, like me, that was the basement.)

I made the finals ONCE. I beat Dick Reid to get to the finals in a game that went right down to the wire. The match before that, I beat Larry "Boston Shorty" Johnson, the only other player with a handicap anywhere near Dick's, I think he was a 38 or so. That match also went down to the wire.

People coming in late were surprised to see a novice like me in the finals. I boasted to one of these, "I beat Dick and Shorty!"

Shorty heard me, and snarled, "Yeah, you beat me! I had to go to 107, you had to go to TWO! You beat me..."

That's pretty cool that you came up with this angle independently, it's a variant of a standard hustle that's been around ever since the beginning of 8-ball. I've never used it to hustle money, but it's fun to impress people with it.

Heh, I also came up with "When I get pocket aces, I either win small pots or lose big pots," before it became chic.