> This story was relayed to me via several phone calls,and I have made every effort to make sure I have the facts straight. Since there is only one person involved in this story who's name is common here,I'll leave his name out. Someone from Caruthersville,Mo called my friend and protege Joe and told him they had a guy from St. Louis in the poolroom,and he was looking for a game. Joe makes the hour drive with his backer Jeremiah. He gets there,and proceeds to make a game,races to 7 for less than 100 bucks. My friend Larry is called to come sweat the game,so he makes an even longer drive. Larry walks in and recognizes Joe's opponent,who is a former DCC banks winner and most recently a 100 ball runner in 14.1. This is where it gets complicated. Everyone in the room is in on the fact that Joe is in a game he can't possibly win if it goes long enough,except Joe,his backer,and now Larry. Since Joe,Larry,Jeremiah,and myself have rolled to tournaments together several times,we all look for each other,or more to the point Larry and myself look after these other 2,they are prone to accidentally getting in bad spots/games. Larry is making it a point to inform Jeremiah that his money is tied up in an unwinnable game,due to this champion's well-hidden top gear. Joe had played fairly well,and the champion played bad on purpose,with Joe winning the first set just as Larry walked in. By the time Larry got a chance to talk to Jeremiah,they had already doubled the bet,and started a new set. The champion plays just good enough stay in the set,by this time the cat is on his way out of the bag,Larry simply will not let our friends stay stuck in an obvious trap,and makes his point known loud enough that the champion knows his cover is blown,admits to Joe who he is,and starts to show a little speed,and wins the second set,making him a 50 dollar winner. Jeremiah pulls up,but is not quite sure what to believe. An older guy that didn't appear to be in on the planning of the trap and pulls him off to the side to speak privately. It was made clear to Jeremiah that the owner of the poolroom was called at home,and told that a world-class pro was "just passing through" on his way to a qualifier of some kind,possibly IPT,in Georgia. The owner of the room comes up with an idea,"hey,we'll call Joe to come play this guy so we can watch Joe get drilled",or something to this effect. Whether it was the player that was responsible for giving a fake name,or whether the guys in the room,that all knew each other came up with it is unclear at this point. Either way,they told the pro that they could call someone that MIGHT play,if the pro was interested in making a "little" money. This is when the "hustle" was planned out from the way I understand it. The pro had a backer from Blytheville,AR,that was apparently flush,when the bet was paid they added the 50 profit they made off Joe to a stack that was said to have been in the 7-8k range. Larry came up to the pro,who is often present right here on AZB and asked him why the hell he wasn't in Nashville for the big tournament at JOB's. He played dumb,and asked what was going on in Nashville. Larry said "just the Music City Open,hell man everyone is there,I figured that is where you would be". The pro said something to the effect of "I never play in that tournament,I don't like bar tables". Larry's reply was "bull**** b***h,you played in it the last 2 years because I SAW you there,not to mention the fact you played in that bar table tournament in Memphis back in November,and I saw you there too!". The pro gave him a mean but non-threatening look,as if he was really mad about the fact that Larry had blown his cover. Here is my take on this situation,and the part that I would like the population of this forum to discuss. While I feel that 100% of the blame for the game happening in the first place is Joe and Jeremiah's fault for not KNOWING who this stone cold champion is by face recognition alone,I can't blame them at all for stepping up. If they had recognized him,and still played,I would have commended them both. I would have done the same,even knowing exactly who he his,in fact he's one of my favorite players. What I cannot comprehend is,why would someone go to such out of the way lengths to trap someone for 50 bucks? Joe,myself,and the rest of my crew have always been good friends with those guys,or so we thought because true friends don't trap friends,or stage games to see friends gets beat. The other thing I fail to understand is why the hell a world champion is playing along with a childish,nitty old man-style hustle,and for such a meaningless amount? I can understand this guy coming into a strange poolroom,announcing himself as a world class player,and them lining up to play 50 dollar sets as a "donation" for him coming in and helping business,much like a challenge-table like DCC. I would have participated in that myself,repeatedly in fact. I can see Joe challenging him to play cheap sets as a way to gauge his own speed,because I've always encouraged him to do so. But for a worldbeater like this guy to be playing totally outclassed opponents for a tank of free gas,without offering a spot to a player that obviously needs it is almost despicable,if this is in fact the way things went down. Was Larry wrong to have spilled the beans? By doing so,he not only got our boy out of a trap,but saved the backer from a sure trip to jail,it would have got real physical in there if he had been stuck by this move worse than he was,and exposed the pro to be exactly that,not to mention a lambkiller,insuring this would never happen again in that place with any of the participants there. When people call a so-called friend to come play a guy that he can't beat,knowing exactly who he is and playing ignorant about it,and a top-30 pro stoops to possibly helping a hustle along for mere gas/food money,what the hell comes next? Tommy D.
