A funny story from the place by the cathouse. I have told the story a few times but it has been years, about due again I reckon.
Most of the hustlers would just stall and jack the bet while seeming to be trying to play pool. One night though, a guy was extremely nasty, sneering and taunting. The room had a side door into the other business then another side door on the other side that had to be unlocked as a fire door. This gave me an idea.
There was a wall rack by the door to the outside and I always played off the wall. I stalled a little now and then when he wanted to jack the bet and I had taken over a hundred and a half from him without him letting me lose! Normally I would wait until the other player was ready to play and then pluck them but this guy was obnoxious enough I came up with another idea. Wouldn't make as much money but it would gall him more thinking a drunk had gotten away from him after he gave me several hundred dollars!
He raised the bet to fifty or a hundred before I saw the slight shift in body language that said he was ready to play. The head of the table was right by the side door so when he went to break everything was in perfect position.
I walked over and slapped a heavy hand on his shoulder like we were buddies, figured that would annoy him all by itself! "I have had too much to drink, you have had too much to drink,(despite he wasn't drinking) lets finish this another night!" I slapped the house cue in the wall rack and was out the door before he could figure out a response to me being too nice to be hustled!
I could have probably taken him for a few hundred dollars more but I have gotten thousands of dollars of laughs out of him thinking of the drunk slipping the hook!
Never a place with easier money or less gambling risk. It was a sad day when it closed down.
Hu