Two Photos: Cole Dickson and Keith Thompson

i knew cole as well as anyone. and have many great cole stories i wont tell here.
and knew charley devalliere well and he was the biggest p.o.s. i even seen. and would steal your wooden leg if he could.
fell into the same class as billy ray sudan. who was actually a really great bar player. used the strong hustle on people.
not fun to be near.
 
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Lucky Loser said:
Yep, that's Cole. I first met his in 1987, well after this pic was taken. He was escorting and stake horsing Efren Reyes. They stopped into California Billiards seeking money games, no surprise. That's when it was on Steven's Creek Blvd. in San Jose, CA. Harry Sims was the house pro there at the time, and I was just a punk 19yo kid.
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i used to go to sacramento and gamble with eddie clark. he was about the best around there at the time. he was great as most times when trapped he became a thru ticket.

cal billiards was a great place there. big room. tons of action and places to hang out. lots of bad players who gambled as well. that's where you make your money not being mr. big and knocking off the best players playing even.

thats where, poker paul who got the pok name because of his stroke. great guy, and played almost full shortstop. batted about 99 percent when he played. and never knocked me any place we ran into each other. that's strong from a pool player.
 
gregcantrall said:
Thanks for sharing. The picture of Cole brings back memories. Some incredible and some Mellon collie.
Hard to think but My favorite is the straight back bank where he hopped the cueball so the object ball passed underneath and knocked the back off the pocket. He was playing Harry for $1000 a game with 9-8 and 9-7 the spot.
Allen Hopkins had played Harry with 10-6 or 10-5 and gave Harry $10,000. Cole then swooped in and scooped $25,000 on the weekend all niter.
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Did you really say "mellon collie?" Is that a breed of dog?
 
straightline said:
I heard that limo story about Richie Florence. He would show up at the room with 10 bucks play money. :D Got to meet and watch him - no funny stuff.
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Played Cole many times in my poolroom. 9-7 One Pocket and seven ball in 9-Ball. I never won with that game, but did win with 9-6. What a difference one ball makes. Also broke even with seven, eight and nine, all wild.

He had the most powerful stroke and made everything! Played Keith's speed!
 
AtLarge said:
According to this thread (https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/cole-dickson-my-friend-for-eternity.325771/) started by Jimmy Reid, Cole was born on Nov. 20, 1950. So your 18 or 19 look good, or he could even have been 17 when you saw him if it was before his birthday in 1968.
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Like Keith, Cole was robbing everybody while still a teen. The only 18 year old who would hop a plane alone and fly back East to play someone. He got the money too! Cole was bold and daring. I loved him. And I know he liked me back.

He was a card sucker though. Played with him a few times. His reckless style did not translate well to poker.
 
maha said:
i knew cole as well as anyone. and have many great cole stories i wont tell here.
and knew charley devalliere well and he was the biggest p.o.s. i even seen. and would steal your wooden leg if he could.
fell into the same class as billy ray sudan. who was actually a really great bar player. used the strong hustle on people.
not fun to be near.
Click to expand...
I beat Billy Ray in my room and he took the heat. It was time for me to work our busy night shift and he wanted to play another Race to Eleven. I said no, not now and he went off on me. Too bad, so sad.
 
maha said:
i used to go to sacramento and gamble with eddie clark. he was about the best around there at the time. he was great as most times when trapped he became a thru ticket.

cal billiards was a great place there. big room. tons of action and places to hang out. lots of bad players who gambled as well. that's where you make your money not being mr. big and knocking off the best players playing even.

thats where, poker paul who got the pok name because of his stroke. great guy, and played almost full shortstop. batted about 99 percent when he played. and never knocked me any place we ran into each other. that's strong from a pool player.
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Poker Paul was everywhere a big game was happening. He got around good and always got a bet down.
 
jay helfert said:
He was a card sucker though
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Well he told me of taking down a bacarat game at a casino. It was an inside job and he sat at the table and one of the 6 decks in the shoe was theirs. BETTING THE LIMIT He Hit the game two nights in avrow and it was shut down the third. He also spoke of palming aces at the blackjack table. One time he tiped his stool back on the back legs and when he lost his balance,(too much Stolies)he raised his arms to regain balance and in so doing showed two palmed aces to the camera. His statement to me was that there wasn't a casino in Nevada that he hadn't been chased out of or run out of.
Yeah in an honest game he was a better pool player. 🤷‍♂️
 
gregcantrall said:
Well he told me of taking down a bacarat game at a casino. It was an inside job and he sat at the table and one of the 6 decks in the shoe was theirs. BETTING THE LIMIT He Hit the game two nights in avrow and it was shut down the third. He also spoke of palming aces at the blackjack table. One time he tiped his stool back on the back legs and when he lost his balance,(too much Stolies)he raised his arms to regain balance and in so doing showed two palmed aces to the camera. His statement to me was that there wasn't a casino in Nevada that he hadn't been chased out of or run out of.
Yeah in an honest game he was a better pool player. 🤷‍♂️
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Cole had large hands. Got banned from all the Reno casinos for cheating. Maybe Vegas too. He did play poker in L.A
 
jay helfert said:
Cole had large hands. Got banned from all the Reno casinos for cheating. Maybe Vegas too. He did play poker in L.A
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His taxi cab confessions he said "the whole state". His prosecution came when his phone call return was late and prosecution couldn't be stopped. 🤷‍♂️
 
In watching Cole play Harry one pocket the #1 noticed was that his game never changed when he was on his last barrel or flush. He showed up to play Harry with one barrel or less. One trip he got busted trying to get to the minimum bet with Harry. His weakness for Stolies was his undoing. His confession to me was, I just need one to take the edge off. The problem was he couldn't stop at 1.
 
coles move which he wasnt the one who invented it and just joined with another and a small crew. switched one card with the guy next to him
when he needed it, that was the move. only played on like weekends when things were crowded. after they got caught a few times he got in the book and was barred from every where, but after getting arrested it was over for him. and one of his friends which only played, a small part rolled over on him to make things stick.
cole was good at making money, not good at keeping it.
 
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