Biloxi Boy
Man With A Golden Arm
Are Vietnamese players like this, too? I ask this because they are, as a group, the most "hair on fire" competitors/gamblers I have ever known. To my regret, I have never played billiards with them.
Non-Gambling Pool Players
- Thread starter Biloxi Boy
- Start date
No.
They are the types to go to war. That's a great thing I think. Let the dog out. Let's go!
There are also many Viet's who won't compete. Depends on the individual more than the culture.
Biloxi Boy
Man With A Golden Arm
I have found the Vietnamese to be very polite and considerate in most things. In gambling, the knives come out, but their smiles only get bigger -- wonderful people and friends.
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It's a hard game. Especially if you're coming from pool.
Most players don't avg more than .5 points per inning.
In Houston it's standard rules to play for the time. unless you agree to split it before the game starts.
Most players don't avg more than .5 points per inning.
In Houston it's standard rules to play for the time. unless you agree to split it before the game starts.
I've never seen the knives come out. The Viet's have treated me wonderful over the years. But i treat the pool hall like it's their home. because it basically is.
Yes some do for sure. As a % of the player pool, probably not as many as in the past, but yes there’s action
most of the viets ive been around in the carom rooms are very nice and welcoming once your past the stranger phase, especially when they see you know the game to some degree
AmericanArchon
New member
I am almost 56 my father owned a couple of bars and the pool table was my baby sitter. By the time I was 12 I was playing 50 a match. When I was 18 I was having to give weight. I won a lot and probably lost twice as much. 8 ball paid for college. I give this as back story to the following.
The last night I ever bet my 3rd son was 2 weeks old and I and the wife went out. There was a guy hammering me about betting long story short I was up 3k and he wanted to go double or nothing I asked to see his money he didn't even have 1000 so I told him piss off lets just say we played for fun. I was just out celebrating. When the bar closed he met us in the parking lot and put a 45 in my face. Here is the lesson... you might be one of the best around so the game might not be as risky as many might think. The gamble is on your opponent. You dont know if his wife left or his dog got runover or they are in a desperate situation and you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I vowed I would never bet again but that is another long story.
The last night I ever bet my 3rd son was 2 weeks old and I and the wife went out. There was a guy hammering me about betting long story short I was up 3k and he wanted to go double or nothing I asked to see his money he didn't even have 1000 so I told him piss off lets just say we played for fun. I was just out celebrating. When the bar closed he met us in the parking lot and put a 45 in my face. Here is the lesson... you might be one of the best around so the game might not be as risky as many might think. The gamble is on your opponent. You dont know if his wife left or his dog got runover or they are in a desperate situation and you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I vowed I would never bet again but that is another long story.
Gambling with strangers in strange places/bars is risky enough. But when you add drinking to the mix it can become volatile. How I got out unscathed is another story, some I've told already. There are bodies strewn along this path.
AmericanArchon
New member
Is sharking really the same as gambling. The older guys who showed me the ropes certainly told the story of the game on both sides of the gambling coin so to speak. "Chopping up" leans to the seeder side of that pool historyI was in central ca and there were loads of 1-2 table bars everywhere. Nobody could play
I liked big table pool much better.
But when I needed $ I went into the bars and did the “play for a beer and $5” thing and always got the money. If I lost I can’t recall , I’m sure I must have here and there. I was super careful not to get in a bad game-was a stone locksmith as I didn’t have $ to lose if I was downgraded to bar pool. ATM pool on small town bars!! Is spot on right.
Joe Villapondo and I did that together as well, he played much better than me. So we took all action and we didn’t lose either. Joe taught me a lot. And nobody could ever put him and I together we’d enter the bar at separate times/ that was fun and profitable. Joe moved and played better than me. I learned a lot.
In Vegas it was a different story. Not all ATM pool. I ran around with John Morton and he could really play. In Vegas I wasn’t the lock I was in central Ca, in Vegas there was plenty of bar players who I couldn’t beat. None John couldn’t beat. So again that worked out very well for me/ I leaned joe to pick my spots
All that’s a lost art now. Learning how to find ATM games. Which the better you play there more there was. I played good enough to find them when I needed to. But not everywhere like John Morton or Joe could as they played much stronger (only when necessary of course)
I wasn’t the best player, but I did learn how to move good in the pool world. That’s the part of pool I miss. Playing just good enough to win and keeping the customers happy.
Best
Fatboy
AmericanArchon
New member
LOL amarillo slim told me and its going to be that way until we start playing pool in church
Gambling doesn't have to be at a high $$ amount but i'm a firm believer that losing outta hurt to some degree. Could just be lunch, the beer tab or cigars but pool with nothing riding on it is a waste of time to me. Gotta have that carrot dangling out front.
There used to be a Viet billiard joint in Tulsa and those cats bet with both hands. They don't tie their fkng shoes without action riding on it. 'Hair on fire' is a very apt description.
It's gone
Nobody roun hea got money to gamble on pool. Too many casinos close by. And don't forget the lottery.
St. Louis has gone the way of a lot of other blue collar union centered cities. When the major manufacturers pull up stakes, things go downhill fast. Guys making decent coin working for GM or McDonnell Douglas,(Boeing) or any of the many large corps not here anymore have to scrimp and find jobs paying half what they were making w no benefits. Or skimpy ones at best. So many companies adopted that less than 24 hours a week bullshit so they don't have to pay benefits. Part timers.
Nobody roun hea got money to gamble on pool. Too many casinos close by. And don't forget the lottery.
I had one of my most frightening experiences playing $3 a game Eight Ball in a bar in Gardena. I was literally chased out of the bar and down the street by a young black man wielding a long bladed knife. He had very bad intentions! I was a $12 winner at the time.
You have to read his book - "Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People"
Slim was a legendary gambler and poker player, who also dabbled in pool. One of the funniest and smartest men I ever met.
Guys like Slim, UJ Puckett, Fats and Puggy Pearson no longer exist, except in fairy tales. True old school rounders who made their living using only their wits and skills. Slim had a large ranch and several pieces of property around the Amarillo area. All from gambling!
The first time I noticed the face screen phenomenon was well over 20 years ago. Well When I was a teenager (long before cell phones) socializing with the opposite sex was a big part of every recreational endeavor. On one occasion at the pool room I was amazed at the lack of interaction between young and apparently single young people. If they weren't shooting they were seated and texting....always. Sheesh I would have been "Chatting them up". How times have changed.
InsertCleverNameHere
Well-known member
Yep. It’s not about the amount at all. It’s all relative.
Why does being a Gambler make you stand taler than a non gambler? IMHO it does not, IMHO there are only two kind of gamblers.
Losers, and Liars, as NO ONE WINS all the time.
Losers, and Liars, as NO ONE WINS all the time.