JaktheAce

I think the writers just never recovered...

Don't forget killing people. That's our most important job!

But you guys don't have an awesome military to kill brown people with!

So....ummmm proof? Sorry, but anyone can come on here and say this stuff, and there are some weird people who get off on lying to others.

Hey, I'm a mod of /r/billiards, and I can answer your question.

Gambling is not even remotely frowned upon in the pool community. In fact it's celebrated as a central part of pool. People are constantly gambling in pool, both for fun and for profit. If you are near skill levels with someone else, you will often end up even or near even almost every time, so it is just a fun way to make the game more exciting.

I've talked to a number of pro's and Erin is the first I've ever heard say they don't gamble. As for her reasons, I couldn't even begin to speculate, it is often a decent bit of extra income for pros. Lower ranked pros especially because people are more willing to play them.

As for hustling, what that really is about is downplaying your skill to someone else in the hopes they will play you when you know that you will beat them. It can also mean intentionally missing shots or faking great defensive leaves to mislead them further. I would say the pool community is split on this. On the one hand, it could be seen as immoral to misrepresent your skill when entering a wager with someone else, but many people consider it a heritage of pool and lament the loss of the traditional pool hustler. I would say generally speaking, it is frowned upon.