STRAIGHT POOL

I love pool. But especially this game. It's called Straight Pool. The game is to 125 and each ball is worth one point so it takes hours to play. This is why pool tables often have those wicker counters above the table. Sometimes they have plastic dial/counters in the table itself. This is also for Straight Pool. The idea is because you are calling all your shots. When you break you do it very gently. The idea is to make the corner ball into a pocket and then break them after you make it. I played this game a lot and I only was able do it one time. It's fucking hard. This is the game they play in the Paul Newman movie "The Hustler." They play games of this for like 24 hours. It's crazy. Even though you are calling all your shots, there is a certain type of freedom because in 8-Ball you have to always shoot at your own balls but in Straight Pool they're all open. 

I have to talk about how good they were in Thailand. Literally just about everybody shot pool. All the people were Pro Am level. There's a stick under each table, this is called the bridge. When the shot is out of your reach you use the bridge to create space for yourself. You end up using it kind of a lot. The thing is, in Thailand even though they had that stick like anywhere, no one used it. They fucking shot with one hand instead. I'm not kidding, there were girls on the phone talking and shooting pool with one hand beating you and saying, "Thank you". I fucking love Thailand. One time I saw a girl play and win a game with one arm. The other thing about that night, there was a huge soccer game. Chelsea was playing Manchester United. This is a huge rivalry, it's basically if The Yankees played The Cowboys. The bar was full of British sissies. A girl with a microphone said to me, "Who do you want to win?" and I said, "Thailand", she goes "That's why I love you."