Circling the pool table awaiting the first kill, Bob Pallaria shoots and waits for the end result. With a stern face, nothing can break his concentration as the cue ball rushes to meet its match.

There are many people who take playing pool seriously and Pallaria is no different. Although playing pool means something different to everyone, Pallaria (senior-actuarial science) said the thrill for him is betting.

"I like the gambling aspect of the game," he said. "The action and adrenalin flow of shooting one in for the money."

Pallaria, choosing his words carefully, said the excitement is in the last intense moment.

"It's like when you are playing five and it is tied at 4-4 and you have the 9-ball in the right corner pocket," Pallaria said. "If you make the shot, it could mean $500 and if you miss it you lose $500. Your adrenalin is flowing."

Pallaria started playing pool five years ago with his father and prefers 9-ball, a genuine "hustler's" game.

"Eight-ball is a lousy non-player game. Nine-ball has much more skill involved. I think that all regionals should be changed to 9-ball," Pallaria said.

The game of billiards came to America around 1565 when the Spaniards brought a form of the game to St. Augustine, Fla., but it has changed a great deal. Even in the last 10 years, the pool hall scene has evolved. In the late '80s and early '90s, a pool revolution occurred in this country, Pallaria said.

"Ten years ago a typical pool room was full of old guys smoking cigars," he said. "Now it is a more family atmosphere. Back then, women were never heard of being in a pool hall."

Pool rooms were the center of a "subculture" -- the "all-male" subculture. Today things are different. Just ask Aileen Alas (senior-exercise and sport science).

She loves playing pool, but for reasons different from Pallaria. Alas plays for fun, not money. The closest to gambling she has gotten was betting a friend for dinner.

"I have fun beating guys, because when I watch guys play there is a big gap between the skills of the girls and the guys," Alas said.

There is a definite tension when playing against certain male pool players, she said.

"Guys don't seem to mind if they are getting beat or is beat by another guy, but it is completely different when it is a girl," Alas said, adding that in the competitions the men seem more skilled and they don't mind as much.

Pallaria and Alas competed in a regional tournament at Towson State University. In the collegiate program, 8-ball is played, but most of the players prefer 9-ball.

At the HUB, where Alas plays, most of the competitions are 9-ball because they are most popular, said Dave Grebos, assistant director of programs at the HUB, adding that the HUB's atmosphere draws in the serious pool players.

The HUB has tournament style tables, which are 9 feet long, Grebos said, adding that most pool halls have 7- and 8-foot tables. Nine-foot tables make it more difficult to attract the serious players.

"Since these are non-quarter tables, it allows you to remove the balls and the nature of the game is different," he said. "The games can be slower and more thought out."

Alas, who started playing when she was a freshman, plays at the HUB three or four times a week.

"It's fun playing pool at the HUB because it is a common thing that we all share," she said.

Grebos said there is a difference between the HUB and a pool hall.

"There is an awful lot of people who shoot pool all over, like at a frat or Campus Casino, but there is a certain attraction at the HUB," he said. "There is no beer available here. Pool with a beer in hand is a social game and a game without a beer in hand is a serious game."

But there seems to be a certain stereotype associated with serious pool players and "hustlers" --tough, ferocious people whose stare can make an opponent throw the game in order to avoid an unwanted face lift.

Although this may be true in some cases, Pallaria says he has never gotten into a physical fight.

"I have never got into a fist fight. Many verbal battles, but never a fist fight," he said. "But you are bound to have some sort of confrontation when there is money involved."