The Dutch Voice by: Pepijn de Wit

Being greedy is one of the stereotypical characteristics of ‘the Dutch’. They’re infamous for not giving tips and being notorious coupon hunters. As someone who studied cultural anthropology, I can’t generalize ‘the Dutch people’ like that, because there’s no such thing. There’s too much diversity among people and groups themselves. However, I can state that you won’t find much gambling among the pool players, which actually fits the stereotype.

The Dutch pool culture is not one of gambling, at least not of big money games. The bets, if there are any, are often just as small as my country is considered to be by the rest of the world. I can be in Belgium in 75 minutes by car. It seems that players don’t want to lose, or win, money just as fast as they can cross borders. There’s just a handful of players who’re willing to play big. You can imagine the dark, but charming hustling scene is therefore near to non-existing. A shortcoming if you ask me. After spending a week in Las Vegas to watch the Mosconi Cup and, as a genuine Poolhead, spending my nights in pool halls, I now start to miss the constant action. Playing $200 a rack one pocket for 7 hours straight to end up breaking even and lose $500 two days later to that same guy, won’t happen in the Netherlands. We also can’t watch someone getting all the breaks, ball in hand after the break, and the six to win in 9-ball for $900 a rack. They’re just too many people playing out of true love for the game. It’s beautiful.

Pepijn de Wit

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