Who is Baltimore Danny?
Richie Ambrose... RIP???
- Thread starter garczar
- Start date
Who is Baltimore Danny?
Bump..........maybe we can get your answer!
Many Italians HAD to change their last names to get a job- NOT to SOUND more American - meaning it was NOT a question of appearing more acceptable it was a question of necessity. There was tremendous animosity towards Italians especially by the Irish when it came to jobs and promotions in the early part to the 20th century and that discrimination continued by some "old timers" even up to the 1980s - I know- I faced it myself in the early 1980s.
No, I'm Baltimore Danny. :thumbup:
Yep, I got saddled with that name after I beat some guy who I had played once before and he didn't remember me due to my new toupee/wig. He kept telling me I looked familiar and I kept my mouth shut about playing him before. When it was over and I had won maybe fifty bucks, my friend Arizona Sean yelled out to him, "You just got beat by Toupee Jay!" Unfortunately a lot of people were in that room and from then on they started calling me Toupee Jay. I hated that name at first, but after awhile I got used to it. To this day, Keith, Johnny Archer and a couple of others still say "Hi Toupee" when they see me.
Sorry for your loss.
The first time I met Ritchie was 1964 in Pensacola Florida, when was playing Dick Hunziker. Next time 1971? in Weenie Beenie's Jack and Jill in Arlington Va. Then 1986 I was on a crap table in the Stardust, and heard a voice behind me, talking to a guy about caps. As i turned around I said, "You-uh Richie Ambrose! He had a distinctive voice!
From that point on, until 2019 every time i went to Vegas from Arizona (10+ times/year) we met up. I got to know him, and his problems well.
Unfortunately, he had a habit as bad as heroin addiction. Craps!
He promoted himself as a knowledgeable crap instructor, advertised on you tube, sold booklets, and gave instructions to novice visitors to Vegas.
He would approach people who never played craps, have them put up the money, and show them how to play, for 1/2 the winnings if there were any. Some would make appointments with him before coming to Vegas. This all worked well enough, until he was barred from all the strip Casinos.
For a while he had a backer, who thought there might be something to the whole thing with Richie, and gave him a motor coach to live in, that he wasn't using. Richie parked it in a park along Boulder Hwy. That lasted for about 5 years. For a while, before his van broke down, he lived out of it, and he a lifetime pass to those physical fitness exercise clubs....He had it rough, but brought it on himself!
Back in the day, he had the best 9 ball break I saw! He would "park" the cue ball dead center of the table (pop up in the air 18 inches and drop down in the middle of the table)...His biggest score came in Detroit cir 1971-72? when he was backed and got 1/3 of a $90,000 score when he
played one pocket where Richie had to go to 8, running 4 balls twice. run 4 then play safe off the 4th ball, the run 4 a second time.
He took his $30,000 and opened up a room in Detroit, said he took about $1000+ a week out of it for about 3 years, before selling out, and going back to Vegas.......Along the way, in Vegas, he ended up pawning his Original Balabushka for $1500 and could never retrieve it.
The craziest story of all; A undercover old pool player and a friend played the powerball on feb 29, 2012 PLAYED THE SAME NUMBERS SEVEN TIMES AND HIT FOR A TOTAL OF $14,000,000. Richie , and Jimmy Fusco were each given $10,000 as a gift, with more to come (Fusco asked for $25,000 to be able to remodel old family house. Richie hadn't had more than a couple of thousand for several years. He pays off some debts, gets a whore, takes her back to the Moter Coach, fall asleep, and she takes off and leaves LV with his last $5600
From that point on, until 2019 every time i went to Vegas from Arizona (10+ times/year) we met up. I got to know him, and his problems well.
Unfortunately, he had a habit as bad as heroin addiction. Craps!
He promoted himself as a knowledgeable crap instructor, advertised on you tube, sold booklets, and gave instructions to novice visitors to Vegas.
He would approach people who never played craps, have them put up the money, and show them how to play, for 1/2 the winnings if there were any. Some would make appointments with him before coming to Vegas. This all worked well enough, until he was barred from all the strip Casinos.
For a while he had a backer, who thought there might be something to the whole thing with Richie, and gave him a motor coach to live in, that he wasn't using. Richie parked it in a park along Boulder Hwy. That lasted for about 5 years. For a while, before his van broke down, he lived out of it, and he a lifetime pass to those physical fitness exercise clubs....He had it rough, but brought it on himself!
Back in the day, he had the best 9 ball break I saw! He would "park" the cue ball dead center of the table (pop up in the air 18 inches and drop down in the middle of the table)...His biggest score came in Detroit cir 1971-72? when he was backed and got 1/3 of a $90,000 score when he
played one pocket where Richie had to go to 8, running 4 balls twice. run 4 then play safe off the 4th ball, the run 4 a second time.
He took his $30,000 and opened up a room in Detroit, said he took about $1000+ a week out of it for about 3 years, before selling out, and going back to Vegas.......Along the way, in Vegas, he ended up pawning his Original Balabushka for $1500 and could never retrieve it.
The craziest story of all; A undercover old pool player and a friend played the powerball on feb 29, 2012 PLAYED THE SAME NUMBERS SEVEN TIMES AND HIT FOR A TOTAL OF $14,000,000. Richie , and Jimmy Fusco were each given $10,000 as a gift, with more to come (Fusco asked for $25,000 to be able to remodel old family house. Richie hadn't had more than a couple of thousand for several years. He pays off some debts, gets a whore, takes her back to the Moter Coach, fall asleep, and she takes off and leaves LV with his last $5600
Remember the place as Mr Nine Ball (Mr 9 ball)
Okay thanks--that was on the West Side. I played "Little Tommy" there a handful of times around 1979-1980. I didn't know the owner but I had heard about him.
The only thing I know about the rack, was that Weenie Beanie dumped too "Jay" a jewel thief from Florida, in order to beat Phil Hubbard, who had been in on a beat of Beenie back in VA. Beanie was asking for his money back when he caught a Phil Hubbard backed card player holding out on him. He asked me for a decision. I asked if he was winning or losing at the time, Beanie was winning, I told him Hubbard didn't need to return any money, there was no proof he was holding out before. JUST WAIT AND PUT PHIL IN A TRAP IN THE FUTURE. It was about a year latter when it happened in Detroit, but I never got a count.
Hubbard was killed a couple years latter, because someone owed him money, and the guy was afraid that Phil would get violent over the money. The guy was wrong, and it cost him his life latter through a retaliation hit!
Beenie came up with a holdout table around 71? and got nailed by two brothers he was playing heads up with. It was a crude table, with only a flimsy cloth covering the underneath.. He always carried Kem cards to play with. He asked my running mate to go somewhere for him, gave him his keys, not thinking, as a result, he now had a deck of marked Kem cards in his car, and he didn't know it!... That cost him a pretty penny. But Beenie was a credible gambler! One night I walked into Jack & Jills around 2 am, and he runs up to me asking if i had any money on me. A black player (Jerry?) from NJ had him broke, and Charlie DeVallier was out trying to round up more money. He took my $1,622 and played for it, won 9-10 games in a row and busted Jerry. Charlie came back, and didn't think i should recieve anything, I took all the small bills $340 +- at Beenie's request, which is what it would have been if I was betting 30-40 per game
i busted him at the oregon tournament in the70's at the resort near bend. inn of the gods or something like that. best gambling tournament ever.
richie florence was involved and bobby lambert.
winter time all the players went to congress billiards in miami. all broke and trying to beat each other. then off to the bar action which was good.
dont know of any black player from jersey named jerry. only one that could beat beenie. country might have been that guy but he rarely ever lost..
richie florence was involved and bobby lambert.
winter time all the players went to congress billiards in miami. all broke and trying to beat each other. then off to the bar action which was good.
dont know of any black player from jersey named jerry. only one that could beat beenie. country might have been that guy but he rarely ever lost..
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I was on the road back in the seventies and ended up in Richie's pool room in Detroit. I just got done playing one of his customers and he asked me if I wanted to play some straight pool. He told me he would go to 120 and I would have to go to 100. The match didn't last long, probably less than 10 innings. I ended up winning 100 to 80 and he said I played like Mosconi. We weren't playing for a lot of money. The match ended late in the evening and when we were done I asked him where the bus stop was. He laughed and said the buses don't run this late so he gave me a ride to where I was staying. Years later he moved to Vegas where I was living and we ended up playing in the leagues together. I'm sorry to hear about his passing. I just googled him today and found out about it.
old thread brought back to life when we had r0ad players , gamblers and fun pool players from the past around here.
most are all gone from whatever.
i knew richie. we called him spin the ball richie back in new york as he was good at that trick of spinning and betting on kicking in balls.
lots we also good at it. some thought was because he was so good with english.
he had a pickup camper way back. and so did i at a time. and he was going around in it and headed for vegas or someplace in the desert. i told him when big winds come up he needed to pull off the road and face into the wind. he didnt and toppled it. didnt get hurt though.
richie was a good guy and as jay had said played as good as anyone. i saw him running around vegas trying to hustle people into staking him at craps as many broke hustlers would try to get someone to fall for that.
lots believed they had a system to beat craps but none exists. only one i know won over a longer period of time was archie and he cheated for a good part of it and ran up to 40 some million before he got broke and was borrowing money . i saw archies 40 million. told him to put a few million away and could live off the interest well forever. he laughed. wanted to bet it and said he would win the casino. he didnt. died broke.
richie has been gone a long time now but memories of him and his accomplishments and pitfalls live on.
most are all gone from whatever.
i knew richie. we called him spin the ball richie back in new york as he was good at that trick of spinning and betting on kicking in balls.
lots we also good at it. some thought was because he was so good with english.
he had a pickup camper way back. and so did i at a time. and he was going around in it and headed for vegas or someplace in the desert. i told him when big winds come up he needed to pull off the road and face into the wind. he didnt and toppled it. didnt get hurt though.
richie was a good guy and as jay had said played as good as anyone. i saw him running around vegas trying to hustle people into staking him at craps as many broke hustlers would try to get someone to fall for that.
lots believed they had a system to beat craps but none exists. only one i know won over a longer period of time was archie and he cheated for a good part of it and ran up to 40 some million before he got broke and was borrowing money . i saw archies 40 million. told him to put a few million away and could live off the interest well forever. he laughed. wanted to bet it and said he would win the casino. he didnt. died broke.
richie has been gone a long time now but memories of him and his accomplishments and pitfalls live on.
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I'm pretty sure this might be Danny Wolford from Rockville, MD. Folks not from this area seem to associate Marylanders with Baltimore; thus, the nickname. At one time most of the pool action actually was in Baltimore. When the bars closed, the action spot was Bill and Billie's in Glen Burnie, MD, which later became Jack and Jill's.
The only other Danny I know from Maryland area who is Danny Green, who passed away a while back. Danny was also from my neck of the woods. Grew up in Potomac, MD, and passed away when he was living in Kensington, MD. Danny Green traveled the country and knew how to match up. He started the Planet Pool tour in Maryland and later gave the reins to a couple other pool peeps to keep it going.
Danny Wolford was a strong player who could play all games. He definitely liked to fly under the radar. Whenever a stranger was in town, we'd call Danny Wolford to come challenge. Danny was a beast on the bar table. He ended going on the road and lived in Texas for a while with a lady friend of Ronnie Allen's, but that's a story for another time.
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