I think the term “con” as used here refers to the “confidence man” or the person who attempts to gain your confidence so that you will give him money under false pretenses. The methods used by the con man are usually considered to be illegal though they are based on the other person’s greed. I think one of the better examples is the con artist who gets a person to invest $100.00 to illegally earn 50% interest in one week. At the end of a week the sucker receives a $50.00 interest payment (actually his own money is returned) and then the sucker is asked if he wants to invest $1,000.00 to make $500.00 in interest. Eventually the confidence man gets the largest investment possible and leaves for parts unknown.
There are all sorts of variations in the pool room but the idea is the same. You think you have the nuts while you are actually getting ripped off.
Con as in ex-con or convict is another type of character who has served time in prison.
I suspect that I am not the only one who never really made much distinction between being conned and being sharked. Both terms imply underhanded, immoral or even illegal behavior. A shark, in my thinking, was a hustler who chose his moment to eat the fish.
Now I think that the shark is a type of person who sets out to use whatever underhanded methods are available to win a game, match or set while a hustler’s intent is to acquire money. I think that both types of characters do not want the sucker or the fish to know that they have been taken.
It is interesting that in our culture we have a type of respect or admiration for the con artist and the shark. Thus we tell young business associates that they need to be a hustler if they are to succeed in the business world. In this sense to be a hustler is a “good” thing. And the slope gets slippery when we use this business hustle as a reason to take advantage of anyone stupid enough to fall for it.
It has always seemed odd to me that by and large pool players have some sort of admiration for people who take on a confidence man’s mystique to make money playing pool. While I suspect that there are a few pool hustlers who have earned a good deal of money and even perhaps retired with substantial sums it seems to me that most of the people I have met who consider themselves pool hustlers are little more than small time near criminals who do not make substantial sums. More importantly the perception of one’s self as underhanded and a subtle cheat has to take its toll on most people at one point or another in their life.
I guess I just don’t understand the satisfaction that some people get in ripping off others.
Wow, getting deep here.
Hustling at pool is at best just allowing the other person to make assumptions which may not be true about the opponent's skill level relative to their own to at worst setting elaborate traps involving willful deception to trick the mark into thinking that they have the nuts.
Since gambling at pool is considered a contest of skill in most states and therefore legal then it is not illegal to hide your speed and identity from your opponent. Immoral? Yes. Illegal? No.
The satisfaction that people get from obtaining money through trickery is that they feel more powerful than the sucker. They feel that they were smarter and thus able to fleece the stupid without working too hard.
Fast Eddie put it succintly, "Money won is twice as sweet as money earned."
The Hustler as a romantic figure comes from the idea that we'd all like to be free to choose a life of making plenty of money off of the people who are "less intelligent". It's been a staple character in books and movies since Robin Hood. The hustler isn't seen as a leech on society but instead a sort of clever fox who is always outwitting the hunters. Or to put it another way the Hustler is the last Easy Rider - free to go where they want, beholden to none but themselves.
Societal acceptance also comes from the dramatization of pimps and drug dealers as hero figures who are just making a living on the mean streets. They are both said to be hustling to make it.
The best hustlers are supreme con artists and they ply their trade with all the skills of the highest paid movie stars. The best hustlers will win all your money and you will still take them to breakfast because you like the guy so much.
The use the term hustle in business does not necessarily connotate the idea that one should be the con-artist variety. Let's not forget that to hustle also means to get things done quickly. So in business I have always taken the words hustle and hustler to mean someone who gets off their ass (or off AZB) and gets out there and gets business moving. They are always working on something. I have never thought of them as the 'get ahead by trickery' type of hustler when applied to business.
I personally don't approve of hustling in pool - I have been hustled and I have hustled and I didn't like the feeling after both situations. I can say for me that hustling does in fact wear on my pysche - it feels rotten to try and maintain another persona, it's hard to lay down, and at least for me it really does feel like I am trying to steal the other person's money. I think that it takes something of a sociopath to hustle pool and not feel bad about it.
I will say this though, some of my best friends in pool are hustlers and very good ones. They are some of the best people to hang out with, always funny as hell, always have great road stories, and always willing to borrow my last $20.
