Thanks for the bump on this. I hadn’t seen it before and found it interesting
surfer rod curry?
- Thread starter master_cueist
- Start date
A story I meant to post before on this thread.
There is a really good undercover player from Denver who exclusively hustles bars, We’ll call him Player A. One night he was hustling at Eck’s Saloon and was setting up a prop shot. CB on the end rail, center diamond. Object ball opposite end rail just off center diamond.
He was giving people odds they couldn’t cut it in the corner.
Surfer rod came out of the crowd anonymously, acting drunk, and said “that’s easy!”
He proceeds to bust Player A with his own shot.
As far as I know that was Rod’s first night in Denver.
There is a really good undercover player from Denver who exclusively hustles bars, We’ll call him Player A. One night he was hustling at Eck’s Saloon and was setting up a prop shot. CB on the end rail, center diamond. Object ball opposite end rail just off center diamond.
He was giving people odds they couldn’t cut it in the corner.
Surfer rod came out of the crowd anonymously, acting drunk, and said “that’s easy!”
He proceeds to bust Player A with his own shot.
As far as I know that was Rod’s first night in Denver.
Damn!! LOL that is crazy.
The "big cue ball" was the ball used on most bar tables back then. It was the size of a billiard ball, and you could do things with that ball that you couldn't with a regular cue ball. It was very hard to draw the big ball and only a few players could do it effectively, Rod being one of them.
Rod was a man of average height, maybe 5'10" or 5'11", and had a well muscled build. I have no idea how he got to be so strong but he was. I can't recall exactly what his job was after he retired from hustling pool, but I know he was extremely well paid. I think he worked for the government in some technical capacity. He was a very intelligent man. I never saw him fight anybody, but the word around the pool world was that he was no one to mess with.
Before magnetic separators a lot of bar boxes used the big ball. As Jay said you could do things like EXTREME cuts and crazy banks with the big agate. David Matlock raised it to an art form. In his prime he was a monster with it. He grew up playing 3c so he had a tremendous stroke and could make that thing talk.
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Biloxi Boy
Man With A Golden Arm
Folks who missed the big ball era will never understand how badly it, and the associated bar boxes, hurt the real game of pool. It was not a good thing and the posters who make it sound like it was are wrong. If it was a good thing, it would still be around. The big ball set pool back 30 years.
Found a local bar with the big rock right before everything got shut down.
BTW, the big rock didn't set pool back 30 years, im betting that guy can't draw a regular cueball
HUH????? I don't know what part of the country you're from but in the Midwest/South parts if it wasn't for barboxes there would have been no pool in a lot of places. Lots of bars/taverns and few poolrooms meant that if you wanted to play a bar table was it. Also, there was a TON of action on them. You don't consider leagues to be 'real' pool? I no longer play them but plenty do and enjoy it. Really easy to look back and play Monday morning quarterback. BTW, the big ball went away because regular size magnetic balls and separators made them obsolete.
I agree.
Is there any video out there of someone.........anyone doing this shot? I would love to see it done.
Big ball: I remember messing around on those some years ago. Follow and good angle management are your best friends!!!
Usually the shot is the other way around with the OB frozen and the CB off the cushion, or sometimes up on the rail. Of course if the OB is not the ball that's frozen, how far it is off the rail is critical. I guess the other question is whether it was a kick shot or a simple cut.
You'll have to jack-up, load it up with inside and go rail first. I don't see any one just cutting this shot in. They'd get some of my $$ if they did.
What if the OB is a diamond off the end rail? But I agree with you if the OB is just a ball or half a ball off the cushion -- rail first.
The op's post said 'just off'.
Funny you mention this. One night late at the 'hall a few guys were trying to make this shot. I was ripped on some killer bud and casually walked over, grabbed the guy's cue and made it. First try. Never tried it again. Been there, done that.I watched a great collegiate player, maybe Meardon , pull this shot off with the cueball resting on top of the Rail. He did it effortlessly
Biloxi Boy
Man With A Golden Arm
Whatever rationalizations are made, the real game of pool suffered because of bar boxes. If you were not involved in pool pre-bar box it may be harder to understand. Whoever said pool tables belonged in bars? Ever stop to think that without tables in bars, we might have more pool halls?
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Its called "MAKING MONEY". Bar/tavern owners do have that right, correct?? They were also a huge source of income for 'real pool players' as well. In fact in the late '70's thru mid-late 90's i'd venture a guess that WAAAAY more money changed hands on a bar-box than a 4.5x9. BTW, during the hey days of the PBT i don't recall anyone saying that barboxes were hurting pool. Only when the US got SMOKED a few times in the MC did i hear this " well, we play too much bar pool" whining start. Still haven't quite figured out what "real pool is". If i get $$$ playing it that's pretty damn real to me.