30 Times Unaware People Challenged Someone that was an Actual Expert in that Suject Matter

[Johnny2X2X]

https://www.boredpanda.com/challenging-expert-of-something/

These lists are hilarious and relevant in today's climate of science denial.

I have one of my own stories. I can play pool, I'm not a pro, but I can hang with some pros if I've been playing a lot, and have won some amateur tourneys. Pool is like chess in that people can think they're really good because they win most of the time at their local bar or even their local pool hall, but they are unaware of what a world class player even looks like. I've been in pool halls where guys are playing the next table over who are pros and people don't even know they're there.

So I was on a business trip to Southern Illinois (Not Ames). And I go out for some drinks and my colleagues decide to head back to the hotel while I am making friendly with a nice girl. She decides to put a quarter up and asks if I'll be her partner in pool. Interesting that they're playing 9-Ball, which is rare for bars, but it's a free table, that actually looked like it was maintained well. There's 3 or 4 guys playing singles against each other, and they look pretty decent, they've brought their own sticks. Our turn comes up and they refuse to play 8 Ball doubles, they say this is a 9 Ball table (whatever that means) and it's singles only. So I offer to play them a game for the table and then I get to call game. The guy offers me the break, which in 9 Ball is a huge advantage. I snap the break hard making 2 balls, leaving myself a tough cut on the 1 which I make which then sets my up for an easy 2-9 combo to win the game which I sink. The guys aren't happy and make a stink, they won't play doubles, I have to play them for money now. The girl I was with says she doesn't mind. Well, I guess I just was on, playing with a crappy bent bar cue, I proceed to run that table for the next hour and half, I ran 6 racks in a row at one time (without missing a shot) which for me is about as good as I can shoot. It's 9 Ball, so of course you'll lose a game or 2, but I probably win 30 games and lose 2. By the end of it they weren't paying their bets and I didn't really even care, it was just fun shooting. I wasn't hustling these guys in the least, I was just playing all out from the start.

Bonus, before I broke the first game, the "lead" guy explained 9-Ball to me and I played along like I didn't know the rules, even when I got to the 2-9 combo to win the first rack I played dumb and asked him if it's legal to just "hit the 9 in right now." The look on his face was priceless because he knew right then that I could play.

When I got done they had all put their sticks away and the table sat empty for a time until people thought it was safe to go back in the water. I'm sure those guys thought that I was some pro afterwards, but I'm just a really good amateur who can play like a pro if he's feeling it.

[keithbvadu2]

1. I used to think I was a pretty good player because I made some lucky shots a bit regularly.

I used to think I was a pretty good player because I made some lucky shots a bit regularly.

A self analysis of beers won vs beers lost disproved that thinking.

[Lochloosa]

2. My Step-father was a hustler. He said the most important rule was to know when someone was better..

than you.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. That it is

And if you can know precisely how much better than you they are, you can still win money off from them if you get weight. Being great at pool and being great at gambling on pool are two different things.

I'm not much of a gambler, but I know people who are not as good at pool as I am but are so good at gambling that they can nearly make a living off gambling on pool.

Women's world Champion Jeanette Lee came to our town, and she was just taking money off from chumps who just wanted to be able to say they played her. She literally wouldn't play anyone who was good without getting a handicap. Her "handler" refused to make games with anyone who would beat her without ridiculous weight being given. We had several world class men's players that she refused to play. And why would she play someone good when she had suckers lined up to basically hand their money to her all day long. It was a business to her and she took the easy money, to me that made a bigger statement than if she would have played the best our town had to offer and gotten beat. Your ego must be set aside when it comes to money, having that discipline was impressive to me. She knew people would say that she refused to play anyone good, but didn't care because she was probably pocketing a few grand a day without having to even play well. She didn't have anything to prove.

To be fair, there were some highly ranked pros from our city, one guy was up to #17 in the world at the time.