I only went on a few extended road trips like back and forth across the USA or up and down the West Coast. Most of the time it was short excursions to Vegas or Phoenix or somewhere else. Living in a city like Los Angeles, particularly in the 60's and 70's you never ran out of spots or games. Maybe a hundred or more pool rooms and a thousand bar spots.
Every one who traveled had a different M.O. You had to find what worked for you. I was usually on my own and occasionally with a girlfriend or another player. It's cheaper that way and you can make your own decisions about what to do and who to play. I preferred that. I made money with Jimmy Reid, Danny Medina, Louie, Ronnie, Cecil and Keith but there were always issues to deal with that I won't go into here.
I liked to go to a town, look in the phone book and pick out the biggest poolroom (the one with the biggest ad). I'd walk in, go to the counter and tell the houseman I was looking for a game. This way I never wasted time sitting around and I didn't have to stall either. The truth is I WANTED to play, not just sit on my ass. I had seen a lot of top players who sat around the poolroom all day waiting for a game. That wasn't me.
More often than not, the houseman found someone to play me, and I played THEIR game, whatever it was. Mostly 9-Ball, sometimes One Pocket and even Eight Ball occasionally. I can remember gambling at Snooker and Billiards as well. The way I looked at it (back then) if I was a better player than the other guy, I would eventually get the money. I had a lot of confidence in my ability to book winners. Remember I was in action like six or seven days a week. That helps you stay sharp. Many times after a winning game, someone who was watching would want to steer me to another spot for a piece of the action. I found a lot of good games that way.
The only time I drew the line was if the guy who they brought in was a known player. Back in those days, there may have been about 200 top players in the country. I felt like I knew most of them, so if the guy was a stranger to me I would play him. Sometimes guys would tell me to be careful, I might be getting hustled. The way I looked at it was that I played good enough to protect myself, meaning that if a guy stalled with me I was going to beat him. I got some pretty good players stuck who tried to do exactly that. Then they had a real problem getting even.
Only two guys ever actually hustled me successfully. Larry Lisciotti and Wade Crane (Billy Johnson). I lost about $300 to each of them. In the late 60's and early 70's I had a winning record like the Globetrotters. I used to go for months without losing. Of course I was playing a lot of suckers (and giving up weight), but like Geno said, a win's a win! I was into making money too. I liked having a bank account and money in my pocket. But I can remember a time when I carried my total net worth on me.
The bars were where the softest action was in those days. I preferred playing on big tables, but if I found a good bar spot, I would milk it. By 1972 I owned my first poolroom and after ten years exclusively as a pool gambler I became a businessman (and a pool gambler). But it was damn nice to have money coming in every day. :smile:
P.S. I was thinking about it. Back then all I wanted was a clean place to stay, a good car and some money in my pocket. Things haven't really changed that much for me
. Of course my cue stick was my most valuable possession, then and now. If all else fails, I can always go back to playing pool. Maybe I'm just arrogant but I still feel like there is only a handful of guys in L.A. I can't beat. And even those guys might be in trouble if they give me a little weight.
:boring2::frown:
