Pool story/old school/no rules........

genomachino

genomachino

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It all started with my friend George Brick in Eau Claire, Wi. He told me about this tournament in Marshfield, Wi. It was partners. George was one of the better players in town and asked me to go play in it with him.

George is about 5'6'' and about 29 years old at the time. He's very uncoordinated but he could sure play pool. At one time when he was younger he was a golden gloves boxer for a short period of time. So he is no stranger to mixing it up a little.

Me on the other hand, I'm 18 years old and I don't like to mix it up even thought I had been in Karate classes for about 5 years. I'm only about 145 lbs and in really good shape but the last thing I would ever do is provoke a fight.

We get to the tournament and find out during the first game that there is no rules whatsoever. It is 8 ball last pocket, gentlemens rules.

Everything went fine until the team we were playing played a safe by pretending to go for their shot and leaving us kind of in a pickle. If I don't play safe we will lose the game so i played the safe and locked them up real good.

Things got real ugly real fast. They're calling us dirty players and that was the dirtiest pool they had ever seen. Pretty soon 15 guys were all around us calling us names and threatening to kick the crap out of us both.

Now a guy starts getting in Georges face and I'm thinking OH BOY. If that guy doesn't back off George is going to pop him and then we're probably both going to get beat up or worse.

George orders me to put my cue away but keep my butt out and he did the same. As we walked out the door I thought we were going to get killed especially after george told them all where they could go.

As we walked out the door all I could think about is when they all would come running out and jump on us. If I was by myself I would have just run. There were 15 of them. it was rediculous and some were drunk. But running was not an option. George couldn't run so if they did come out it was going to be just like the Alamo. I was just hoping I could get in a few good licks before they get the best of us. I just knew we were going to take a horrible beating.

It turns out their bark was worse than their bite. Nobody came out the door even though there was numerous threats.

I was only 18 at the time and had just met George about 2 months before this. We were best of friends until he died. He knew That I was not going to run and understood that i knew that he couldn't. I would never have taken off no matter what happened. That kind of bonded our friendship from then on and we took numerous pool trips together

This was back in 1972.

Is there alot of this still going on around the country or is everyone kind of up to date with pool rules everywhere?

Could you share your stories with everyone?
 
genomachino said:
It all started with my friend George Brick in Eau Claire, Wi. He told me about this tournament in Marshfield, Wi. It was partners. George was one of the better players in town and asked me to go play in it with him.

George is about 5'6'' and about 29 years old at the time. He's very uncoordinated but he could sure play pool. At one time when he was younger he was a golden gloves boxer for a short period of time. So he is no stranger to mixing it up a little.

Me on the other hand, I'm 18 years old and I don't like to mix it up even thought I had been in Karate classes for about 5 years. I'm only about 145 lbs and in really good shape but the last thing I would ever do is provoke a fight.

We get to the tournament and find out during the first game that there is no rules whatsoever. It is 8 ball last pocket, gentlemens rules.

Everything went fine until the team we were playing played a safe by pretending to go for their shot and leaving us kind of in a pickle. If I don't play safe we will lose the game so i played the safe and locked them up real good.

Things got real ugly real fast. They're calling us dirty players and that was the dirtiest pool they had ever seen. Pretty soon 15 guys were all around us calling us names and threatening to kick the crap out of us both.

Now a guy starts getting in Georges face and I'm thinking OH BOY. If that guy doesn't back off George is going to pop him and then we're probably both going to get beat up or worse.

George orders me to put my cue away but keep my butt out and he did the same. As we walked out the door I thought we were going to get killed especially after george told them all where they could go.

As we walked out the door all I could think about is when they all would come running out and jump on us. If I was by myself I would have just run. There were 15 of them. it was rediculous and some were drunk. But running was not an option. George couldn't run so if they did come out it was going to be just like the Alamo. I was just hoping I could get in a few good licks before they get the best of us. I just knew we were going to take a horrible beating.

It turns out their bark was worse than their bite. Nobody came out the door even though there was numerous threats.

I was only 18 at the time and had just met George about 2 months before this. We were best of friends until he died. He knew That I was not going to run and understood that i knew that he couldn't. I would never have taken off no matter what happened. That kind of bonded our friendship from then on and we took numerous pool trips together

This was back in 1972.

Is there alot of this still going on around the country or is everyone kind of up to date with pool rules everywhere?

Could you share your stories with everyone?
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Enjoyed your story Geno , i bet there are many here that can relate to it . Almost all bars have regulars , and if you new your the odd man out . A good bar/poolroom doesn't have regulars , just customers . Can't tell you how many times i've been asked to shoot for a beer or 5 dollars or so , when i ask what rules do you want to play by the answer is bar table rules . I always asked which bar.
 
Thanks Geno. I liked your story. My first trip to Bakersfield in about 1970, I get steered to a bar where I'm told there is lots of action, down by the old traffic circle downtown.
I go down there and sure enough the quarters are on the table and they are gambling, $2-5 a game. I get in and pretty soon I've got the table and winning game after game.

Finally it comes to me and one other guy, playing for ten a game. I win three or four more games and some big redneck threatens me. In fact I'm surrounded by rednecks and none of them like me much right then. This guy tells me I better not win this game, and I've only got a couple of balls left.

The bartender, who isn't much bigger than me, comes out from behind the bar and walks right over to this big guy. He tells him to shut up and let me shoot, and if anyone wants to start any trouble he is ready right now. WOW! I'm getting rescued by this guy I don't even know. Whoever this guy is, no one wants to mess with him. I win that game and a couple more and the guy quits. I've won maybe $70 or $80.

Now the bartender introduces himself to me. His name is Johnny Ingram and I find out he has been betting twenty a game on me. He has won a couple of hundred. We became friends that day and remained friends ever since. Yes, Johnny was a bad actor, tough as nails and a gunslinger to boot. He went on to own a couple of topless bars in Bakersfield in the 70's when I had my poolroom there. Don't know where he is today.
 
This brings back some very bad memories,around 1990 i was with two friends,one a very tough mfer ,one of the toughest,fightness guys in baltimore at the time,his name was ronnie smuck,so me ronnie and another friend go to a poolroom in laurel md,usa billiards,there was plenty of action at the time,this was a all night room,so nobody looked out of place,no matter how strange someone appeared,the night before ronnie was staking me against an asian men,i had beaten him but it end in a arguement,so everything going normal action players are starting to come in,and then all a sudden a gang of 5or6 young koreons come in,an i knew right away this wasnt any good,they all had the same jean jackets on with decals and writing,so after about an hour the biggest one goes up to ronnie and starts talking about fighting,now we never seen none of these guys before,but for some reason they know ronnie likes to fight,before you know it the koreaon guy break a pool stick over ronnie chest,ronnie grabs the guy and says come on were going outside to finish this,before you know it the koreaon guy breaks loose runs behide the counter and grabs a hand full of knifes,plus a meat cleaver,iam standing their stuned,20 feet from this mad man,and ronnie and our friend are 20 feet the other way,so he throws the meat cleaver and sticks it and ronnies leg,and turns arounds and looks at me and says weres that other faggot,i never ran so fast in my life out the back door,while ronnie and friend get out the front door,just in time,when we meet up at the hospital,ronnie was telling me how the koreaon guy jump in the back of ronnies pickup,still trying to get to ronnie,this guy was out to kill!i fealt bad for running out the back door while ronnie and friend was at the front door,but i was so scared thats all i knew to do,ronnie said he wasnt mad at me i did the right thing he said there was nothing we could do!
 
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I had moved up north for a few years and then came back home to Texas. I told my brother I was going to a local bar to play some pool and he told me he was waiting for a few friends to show up at our house and he would join me. When I get there they are gambling for a couple of dollars a game and I am winning some on the bar table. Then this guy shows up with his own cue and when his quarter is next he tells me he wants to play for $10/game six ball. OK, so we start off and I win the first game and when he puts his ten on the table he tells me that I should not go very far with that ten because it will be going back to him real soon. The other people in the place are going to let us gamble and I notice that most of the people in the place are friends of his. I figured it out later but they were all on his side and wanted him to show me a lesson. So, I play down for about five games and we are still about even. Then my brother shows up with John and Ernie who are all big guys and I turn it on. The guy loses five games and quits. That is when me, my brother and his friends leave.

About a month later I won the tournament at this place and when I was walking out the door some guy sneaks up behind me and kicks me in the back of the leg. He must have had steel toe boots because my leg was black and blue for about a month.
 
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