I was 18 years old and just got old enough to be in the bars back in 1971.I met a pretty good player named george Brick. His mother owned a bar in Hallie wisconsin. George taught me to play straight pool. He was trying to win some money from me but soon realized that nobody knew me in the area. He soon had me playing all the guys that played at the poolhall one at a time at his mothers bar. I beat them all one at a time. The poolhall closed about the same time I turned 18. I was really disappointed.
My father would not let me go to the poolhall back then. Until I was 18 the only pool I shot was with my Dad in a little country pool league. When I was 16 they kicked me out of the league. Lost only one game all year.
The reason for my success at such a young age is the way I aimed. It is totally different from how anyone else did it. And yes this is where Perfect Aim originally started. When I was about 13 and first pick up a cue. It's just the way I did it.
I beat one of the locals out of $9,000 and all of a sudden I had a bankroll. One of those deals where we started playing for a dollar in the bar and ended up in my dads basement on his 8 foot wards table. We played the last 2 games of the early morning for $3,000 each. He went right to the bank after he got done work that morning and paid me in $100 bills. I slept while he went to work. He knocked on the door at 3:30 that afternoon. My mom let him in and he woke me up counting out the hundreds on my bed. I couldn't believe it!
Then I met a guy in Altoona that owned a bar. He used to be a cop and bought a bar.He was always selling football tickets and pull tabs plus he liked to play pool. I helped him sell a bunch of tickets every week. It was kind of fun. Each board I sold I made about 25 to 50 bucks.
Tom took a trip to Vegas and lost a whole lot of money and didn't have the money so the story goes. I mean lots of money.When he got back into town I stopped at his bar and he wanted to play me some pool for $100 a rack. He knew better than this and knew he couldn't win.
After he quit he told me he'd pay me tommorrow. After saying that he looked back at me and said , I better pay you tonight, I might not be around tommorrow. I think he knew what could happen.
They found him out at the Altoona dam someplace with a bullet hole in his chest with his arms folded on his chest. I don't know how the gun was positioned . They called it a suicide.
I didn't think it was suicide and I voiced my opinion wherever I went and asked alot of questions to everyone.
Then one night I was going to the Bar and I heard like a ping. It sounded like a 22 short. I know the sound from hunting squirrels. I hit the ground and crawled under a truck. I crawled to the back of the truck and took off running into the neighborhood yards and hid. About an hour later I went back and got my car very carefully.
I told my dad what had happened and he acted like he almost didn't believe me.
The next night 2 guys drove up to the house in a black cadalac wearing black suits. I saw them and told my dad i was going out the back door. He said no. Let's get this figured out right now. I thought they were going to kill us all. I was scared as hell.
They identified themselves as the equivelent of the wis. fbi. WBOI or something like that. They informed us that I needed to quit poking my nose around because they knew this whole thing was bad with Tom. They said they were afraid I might get hurt.
I took off the next day to go on my first road trip. My dad said he thought it would be a good idea if I took off for awhile.
I headed to Madison, Wi and made it to Jerry Brieseths Green room. I even got a lesson from Jerry on the stroke for $50. How lucky was that for me to run into one of the now great teachers of all time. The 30 minute lesson was invaluable.
I played a guy named Kenny Cross. I figured he played real good and he did. We played a game of straight pool for $200. He was kind of hustling me keeping it close going to 100. I used this to my advantage knowing that he was laying down . When the score was around 75 75 I ran out the game. Was he pissed.
He wanted to play for $400 the next game and I told him no. We played for $200 and this time I saw him play all out. He showed me that I didn't know much at all. Seeing I was outgunned I layed down and set the stage to beat somebody else. I was real done with this guy.
Then Kenny said he's back a guy named Ozzie at this bar down the road. The reason we went down there was he was going to stiff me if i won.
I won $900 and played alot better on that bar table than he thought i could. Kenny stepped up and said now you got to play me. I told him I don't have to do nothing except collect my money and then i can decide what or who I'll play.
Welcome to the world of hard knocks.
I continued my journy until I got to Racine,Wi. There was this great poolhall I had heard about owned be a guy named Sailor. I wanted to have him make me a cue and he did.
I tried to play a local guy there without much luck. His name was George. George Pawalski. Imagine that. George was on the top of his game at this time and shot all out with me for $50.00 a rack. I hardly got to shoot. $500 went pretty fast. But I did see things done on the pool table that I had never seen before. It was amazing.
After this I knew how i had to play if I wanted to win. I had to play good enough to beat this guy because I heard he could beat just about anyone.
I was totally inspired. What a first trip. I met one of the greatest pool teachers of all time and played one of the best players in the country at that time.
That was my first road trip. It lasted about 6 months.
A broke even on the trip. I played about 40 different players and got shooting better every week. That was an accomplishment in itself. But the knowledge I gained set the pool tone for the rest of my life.
And what a great ride it has been and still is.
Just wanted to share this and thanks for reading.....
My name is Gene Albrecht. Now you know the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say.................
My father would not let me go to the poolhall back then. Until I was 18 the only pool I shot was with my Dad in a little country pool league. When I was 16 they kicked me out of the league. Lost only one game all year.
The reason for my success at such a young age is the way I aimed. It is totally different from how anyone else did it. And yes this is where Perfect Aim originally started. When I was about 13 and first pick up a cue. It's just the way I did it.
I beat one of the locals out of $9,000 and all of a sudden I had a bankroll. One of those deals where we started playing for a dollar in the bar and ended up in my dads basement on his 8 foot wards table. We played the last 2 games of the early morning for $3,000 each. He went right to the bank after he got done work that morning and paid me in $100 bills. I slept while he went to work. He knocked on the door at 3:30 that afternoon. My mom let him in and he woke me up counting out the hundreds on my bed. I couldn't believe it!
Then I met a guy in Altoona that owned a bar. He used to be a cop and bought a bar.He was always selling football tickets and pull tabs plus he liked to play pool. I helped him sell a bunch of tickets every week. It was kind of fun. Each board I sold I made about 25 to 50 bucks.
Tom took a trip to Vegas and lost a whole lot of money and didn't have the money so the story goes. I mean lots of money.When he got back into town I stopped at his bar and he wanted to play me some pool for $100 a rack. He knew better than this and knew he couldn't win.
After he quit he told me he'd pay me tommorrow. After saying that he looked back at me and said , I better pay you tonight, I might not be around tommorrow. I think he knew what could happen.
They found him out at the Altoona dam someplace with a bullet hole in his chest with his arms folded on his chest. I don't know how the gun was positioned . They called it a suicide.
I didn't think it was suicide and I voiced my opinion wherever I went and asked alot of questions to everyone.
Then one night I was going to the Bar and I heard like a ping. It sounded like a 22 short. I know the sound from hunting squirrels. I hit the ground and crawled under a truck. I crawled to the back of the truck and took off running into the neighborhood yards and hid. About an hour later I went back and got my car very carefully.
I told my dad what had happened and he acted like he almost didn't believe me.
The next night 2 guys drove up to the house in a black cadalac wearing black suits. I saw them and told my dad i was going out the back door. He said no. Let's get this figured out right now. I thought they were going to kill us all. I was scared as hell.
They identified themselves as the equivelent of the wis. fbi. WBOI or something like that. They informed us that I needed to quit poking my nose around because they knew this whole thing was bad with Tom. They said they were afraid I might get hurt.
I took off the next day to go on my first road trip. My dad said he thought it would be a good idea if I took off for awhile.
I headed to Madison, Wi and made it to Jerry Brieseths Green room. I even got a lesson from Jerry on the stroke for $50. How lucky was that for me to run into one of the now great teachers of all time. The 30 minute lesson was invaluable.
I played a guy named Kenny Cross. I figured he played real good and he did. We played a game of straight pool for $200. He was kind of hustling me keeping it close going to 100. I used this to my advantage knowing that he was laying down . When the score was around 75 75 I ran out the game. Was he pissed.
He wanted to play for $400 the next game and I told him no. We played for $200 and this time I saw him play all out. He showed me that I didn't know much at all. Seeing I was outgunned I layed down and set the stage to beat somebody else. I was real done with this guy.
Then Kenny said he's back a guy named Ozzie at this bar down the road. The reason we went down there was he was going to stiff me if i won.
I won $900 and played alot better on that bar table than he thought i could. Kenny stepped up and said now you got to play me. I told him I don't have to do nothing except collect my money and then i can decide what or who I'll play.
Welcome to the world of hard knocks.
I continued my journy until I got to Racine,Wi. There was this great poolhall I had heard about owned be a guy named Sailor. I wanted to have him make me a cue and he did.
I tried to play a local guy there without much luck. His name was George. George Pawalski. Imagine that. George was on the top of his game at this time and shot all out with me for $50.00 a rack. I hardly got to shoot. $500 went pretty fast. But I did see things done on the pool table that I had never seen before. It was amazing.
After this I knew how i had to play if I wanted to win. I had to play good enough to beat this guy because I heard he could beat just about anyone.
I was totally inspired. What a first trip. I met one of the greatest pool teachers of all time and played one of the best players in the country at that time.
That was my first road trip. It lasted about 6 months.
A broke even on the trip. I played about 40 different players and got shooting better every week. That was an accomplishment in itself. But the knowledge I gained set the pool tone for the rest of my life.
And what a great ride it has been and still is.
Just wanted to share this and thanks for reading.....
My name is Gene Albrecht. Now you know the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say.................
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