Pool Hustlers, Tell us the Truth

[jackpot]

pool hustler or pool player

Pool hustlers....
I see a bunch of you like to paint with a broad brush.....

...I’ve played for money a lot of times...and sometimes even up when they needed weight.
Sometimes I’ve given weight when they needed a lot more.
....I’m a way ahead at prop bets over the years also.

But I don’t appreciate being lumped in with dumpers or those that’ll jar someone...
...or roll a restaurant or motel bill.
I feel I’m welcome back at any place I did business with.

I’ve seen a lot of pool players that think they have a right to a fair game when they’ve
Found they got the worst of it....but wouldn’t turn down a lock for themselves...
...the same people will have a straight flush at poker and try to fool everybody in the game...
...why is having the same advantage on a pool table unacceptable?

Prettty sure I’ve never won money from someone who wasn’t trying to take mine.

So if you guys want to paint with the broad brush.....I can get one too.

Pt is right. The "pool hustler" of today is not the same thing as the Pool Player
of years ago. What is being called a pool hustler is a bum now and was a
bum back then also. In the 60's there were a lot of people that made a living
playing pool. The Cotton Bowling Palace was full of full time POOL PLAYERS
and they weren't bums trying to trap some poor unsuspecting working man
and win his money to get a fix. That is all a bunch of TV and movie bulls---.
There were plenty of people that wanted to gamble. Billy Stroud, Alf Taylor
John Fisher, Jack Terry, San Jose Dick, and many many more. I trusted these
people more that most 9 to 5ers. Dumping the stake horse which so many on
here think that all the pool players do all the time is more bulls--. How do
these dump artists keep getting staked if it is such common knowledge.
Sure are lot of people on here that know all about it. The game is dying
and has been for long time, but there is no denying that when it was big
was when there were more Pool Hustlers,"Pool Players".
jack

 

[Grilled Cheese]

So is the player that keeps his Fargo score low so that he can play in BCA tournaments a bum or a Hustler? Or the APA player that slows down a little to keep is Skill Rating a little lower a bum or a Hustler?

This describes sandbaggers. Hustling is different, but it can encompass elements of sandbagging.

 

[Grilled Cheese]

Some of the people taking offense to this thread and coming out defensive ...these people are gamblers, not hustlers by what they describe. There's a difference.

A hustler is someone who uses deceit, fraud ..cheat or swindle people. Laying down, hiding their speed, trapping people - using all the sleazy tactics. All that good stuff. A hustler is NOT looking for a gamble, they are looking for a sure thing.

A gambler doesn't hide their speed, but they may make very favorable bets for themselves. That's not cheating anyone.

 

[ShootingArts]

never thought I was hustling

I never thought what I was doing was hustling until I came to the internet and now it is. Gas was cheap and I knew where every challenge table was in a wide radius. I would cruise spot to spot until I found action. Typical bet on most challenge tables was a beer or a drink and the table, I wasn't interested in that. The next level was three to five dollar games. Doesn't sound like much but minimum wage was a buck and a quarter and union construction paid nine and a nickel. I could make fifteen or twenty bucks an hour on a pool table and I loved to play. If I went out and made fifty bucks plus the beer I drank I was happy. Had to drink beer and look working class, I liked beer and I was working class so no problems.

Most nights I did a lot better though. My personal rule was I wouldn't raise the bet over five a game, barbox eight or nine ball. I preferred eight because everyone playing nine wanted to play six too and I never had a great six ball break. Anyway, some clever guy would start stalling while raising the bet. I would protest a bit and eventually go along. Usually I was playing on their money. When they got to twenty a game, sometimes fifty, rarely a hundred, I could see their demeanor change. They had got the bet where they wanted it and they were ready to let their ponies run! Most of the time I had a little more in reserve.

Some could say I was stalling, I figured I just wasn't working harder than I had to in able to win as much as I wanted to. When I worked a day job which I usually did, I put in a fair day's work but I didn't run wide open all day every day. The pool tables were my evening job and I didn't see any reason to run wide open every minute there either.

Most of the time pool was side money but in a good week or two I sometimes made enough to buy a new car if I wanted to. With the boom and bust of the petro-chem industry I was sometimes out of work through no fault of my own. The fun largely went out of pool then and it was a job. I paid the mortgage on my home and a commercial property and lived just the same as always during these times sometimes for four or five months.

As PT109 says, I never took anyone's money that wasn't trying to take mine. In truth I did twice when all my pool acquaintances said that is what pool players did. I was young, I wanted to be a real pool player. I hustled somebody as the aggressor, felt like a dirt bag. Did it again about six months later, felt like a dirt bag. I was still in my teens and no matter how badly I needed money that was the last time I hustled somebody that wasn't trying to hustle me. It is true that I sometimes baited a hook but nobody had to take the bait!

Hu

 

[pt109]

Hu....you say your six-ball break wasn’t very good.
...well, as far as I know, nobody could break the six balls nearly as good at nine-ball...
...all the big packs I’ve heard about on a bar box came from 8-ball or 9-ball...

 

[ShootingArts]

relative

Hu....you say your six-ball break wasn’t very good.
...well, as far as I know, nobody could break the six balls nearly as good at nine-ball...
...all the big packs I’ve heard about on a bar box came from 8-ball or 9-ball...

My barbox eightball break was very good, my nineball break usually pocketed balls but I might not have a shot. I never really studied where balls ended up and I just tried to avoid a scratch. Six ball, I was probably only about fifty-fifty on pocketing a ball.

Really annoyed me, playing nine and six. It seemed like we damned near wore out a five dollar bill passing it back and forth. I won a little more than I lost playing six ball but it was a great equalizer.

Hu

 

[Michael Andros]

Pt is right. The "pool hustler" of today is not the same thing as the Pool Player
of years ago. What is being called a pool hustler is a bum now and was a
bum back then also. In the 60's there were a lot of people that made a living
playing pool. The Cotton Bowling Palace was full of full time POOL PLAYERS
and they weren't bums trying to trap some poor unsuspecting working man
and win his money to get a fix. That is all a bunch of TV and movie bulls---.
There were plenty of people that wanted to gamble. Billy Stroud, Alf Taylor
John Fisher, Jack Terry, San Jose Dick, and many many more. I trusted these
people more that most 9 to 5ers. Dumping the stake horse which so many on
here think that all the pool players do all the time is more bulls--. How do
these dump artists keep getting staked if it is such common knowledge.
Sure are lot of people on here that know all about it. The game is dying
and has been for long time, but there is no denying that when it was big
was when there were more Pool Hustlers,"Pool Players".
jack

What Jack said... and PT and HE. And a lot of others who actually know something about pool but haven't said anything yet like Mr Helfert, Mr. Stroud, Mr. Jewett, etc, etc...

 

[mikemosconi]

Very easy way to stop the hustle- if I ever suspected that someone was hiding their speed and then they turned it on for the gamble, I just ended the game right there- making it clear that no money was changing hands at that point unless only one of us was walking out of the joint alive- and was willing to back that up-NEVER had anyone take me up on that - Hustler happy to go on to the next mark without the hassle. I consider that type of hustle the same as anyone else using deception to take my money- what kind of man would allow that to happen without being willing to put up a fight- not this one!

 

[JAM]

Good grief!

 

[maha]

everyone ive ever seen that mentioned the word hustler wasnt a gambler and didnt have a pot to piss in.

all gamblers do it in different ways to try to win. those that dont cheat which is most are just taking advantage of someone else who is willing to play.

 

[pvc lou]

So, if you lose or it looks like you're going to lose, then you quit mid-game and and threaten to fight to the death? You are bad action, señor.

Very easy way to stop the hustle- if I ever suspected that someone was hiding their speed and then they turned it on for the gamble, I just ended the game right there- making it clear that no money was changing hands at that point unless only one of us was walking out of the joint alive- and was willing to back that up-NEVER had anyone take me up on that - Hustler happy to go on to the next mark without the hassle. I consider that type of hustle the same as anyone else using deception to take my money- what kind of man would allow that to happen without being willing to put up a fight- not this one!

 

[bbb]

I love the game of pool and admire those that have it totally knocked, just like I did the guys that can shoot 65 on a golf course. it's a total skill level that they spend years on and they are the best. BUT, how do they get along with life? Where is the wife, house, medical insurance, retirement, and the other things most of us find valuable in life?

i havent read all the responses
but for people to get to that skill level it takes 100% commitment and therefore some of those things which are valuable to you have a lower level of priority to them.
try not to be judgmental thru your own values
jmho
icbw

 

[garczar]

Very easy way to stop the hustle- if I ever suspected that someone was hiding their speed and then they turned it on for the gamble, I just ended the game right there- making it clear that no money was changing hands at that point unless only one of us was walking out of the joint alive- and was willing to back that up-NEVER had anyone take me up on that - Hustler happy to go on to the next mark without the hassle. I consider that type of hustle the same as anyone else using deception to take my money- what kind of man would allow that to happen without being willing to put up a fight- not this one!

Seriously?? Are you a ex-SEAL or some other certified bad-ass? The reason i ask is if you'd tried to pull that "i'm pissed so i'm not payin" shit in 99.99999% rooms i played in you'd have gotten wailed on. Its simple, when you FINALLY figure out you've been had just pay off and quit. NOT paying is usually(more like always) a sure-fire way to have one's dental work re-arranged.

 

[Bobkitty]

i havent read all the responses
but for people to get to that skill level it takes 100% commitment and therefore some of those things which are valuable to you have a lower level of priority to them.
try not to be judgmental thru your own values
jmho
icbw

It's funny. When these dudes get into their 50's, 60's 70's, those things are big "priorities" to them also.

 

[knifemakermike]

I don’t understand why some of you are defending hustling. Gambling and hustling are completely different things, stop projecting. Hustling has never benefitted pool or a pool hall. Every person that enters a pool hall is one revenue stream for the pool hall. If a hustler hustles 10 people and they get discouraged and quit that is 10 less people that makes the pool hall money vs 1 hustler.

I also get tired of hearing about all these “stewards of the game”, you guys haven’t done shit because the game is almost dead. You know what happens in other sports if you hustle or dump? You get banned, sometimes for life. You need to attract people not actively find ways to push them out the poolhall.

 

[jackpot]

10% lost

I don’t understand why some of you are defending hustling. Gambling and hustling are completely different things, stop projecting. Hustling has never benefitted pool or a pool hall. Every person that enters a pool hall is one revenue stream for the pool hall. If a hustler hustles 10 people and they get discouraged and quit that is 10 less people that makes the pool hall money vs 1 hustler.

I also get tired of hearing about all these “stewards of the game”, you guys haven’t done shit because the game is almost dead. You know what happens in other sports if you hustle or dump? You get banned, sometimes for life. You need to attract people not actively find ways to push them out the poolhall.

Well that explains it. What if 10 hustlers all came in at once, ahustlin, there
could very well be people killed from the stampede to get out the door. That
is probably what happened to miniature golf . Maybe it's the same 10 hustlers.
jack

 

[Michael Andros]

Well that explains it. What if 10 hustlers all came in at once, ahustlin, there
could very well be people killed from the stampede to get out the door. That
is probably what happened to miniature golf . Maybe it's the same 10 hustlers.
jack

Thanks a lot, Jack. I just spit coffee all over my monitor. Of course my girlfriend tried to blame *me* for it until I patiently explained it was *you* who's to blame... now she doesn't like you.

 

[knifemakermike]

Again, I’ve yet to see a hustler benefit a pool hall. If your saying it helps pool for general public to get harassed, constantly annoyed and feeling uncomfortable than you don’t get it.

I ran a pool hall while in undergrad and I’ve been a player since I was 12 years old. I may suck at this game but I love it and sad to see what has happened to it. I live in one of the largest cities in the country and there is one pool hall left, you walk in and 10 guys standing around not spending a dollar start rail birding and scoping you out. The guy that runs it told me he has to watch them all and warn them that he will kick them out. Doesn’t exactly sound like a place most people want to hang out does it?

 

[Low500]

most pool hustlers are bums
some call themselves pro players
seldom do they make enough to support themself
or a family
seldom do they make money gambling
my guess is that if you took the stake horse out
of the equation the average pool player would nor survive long
i refer to the main source of income is from dumping games
not all,i do not want to imply that this is the source of income of all without exception
my guess it would be closer to only 50%,their other big source is borrowing with no
intention of paying back
over the years i have always enjoyed playing players with stakehorses
because they match up easier and lose more money
another favorite is betting against the player being staked
i hope that i haven't ruined your image of the hustler,i hate
to be the first to call him a bum still there is a lot of fun playing these guys who
are so smart in their own eyes

I've read a lot of your posts.
You've got the idea that you're pretty smart also.
Lots of guys out there who're smarter.
Next time Alex the Lion is getting staked in a heavy match....PM me and you can bet against the Lion. I'll go busted betting on him. (I'm able to travel cheap)
And you can enjoy one of your favorite things.

 

[jimmyco]

....

...That is probably what happened to miniature golf . Maybe it's the same 10 hustlers.
jack

I heard it was but one guy. Roamed the arcades of Texas with a vintage 1959 Ping putter.