What is the most money you have seen bet on one set/game/match?

HitHrdNDraw

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
im sure someone out there has got something outrageous... even if its relative like you saw jimmy moore playing luther lassiter for 10k in 1965... thats hella action ... that would be like playing for 100k now... bet it up
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
HitHrdNDraw said:
im sure someone out there has got something outrageous... even if its relative like you saw jimmy moore playing luther lassiter for 10k in 1965... thats hella action ... that would be like playing for 100k now... bet it up

The rumors change the story, but 100 large bags of sand at the DCC for the two players that the upstairs action room is now named. Was it 50 each? Or 100 each? Who knows, but the stories get better as the years go on.

Fred
 

JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Everything's funny when you're winning big money!

Rosey from Detroit versus Keith McCready. 360,000 jellybeans or 360 bags of sand, as they say in forum-ese!:p

JAM
 

DUOBIS

I think I am in love.
Silver Member
Holy Crap!! When Was This Jam? Who Won? What Was The Game? Etc.
Thanks
 

hemicudas

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
JAM said:
Rosey from Detroit versus Keith McCready. 360,000 jellybeans or 360 bags of sand, as they say in forum-ese!:p

JAM

I wouldn't have been able to name the two players, JAM, but I knew it had to be in Detroit and probably in winter. No higher rolling pool town on earth.
 

Andrew Manning

Aspiring know-it-all
Silver Member
I played a $10 race to five once. Also, once I played a ring game, $1 each on the 5, 7, and 9, game ends when someone gets 10 money balls.

My high-dollar gambling is almost as impressive as my high runs in straight pool.

-Andrew
 

pillage6

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Saw the 5-day one pocket match between Jack Cooney and Toby Fleharty (sp?) which was supposed to be for about $30k. There was a lot of side betting going on so who knows what the real numbers were either on the side or the match. All I know is it is the longest, most grueling match I have ever seen and for the highest amount personally.
 
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td873

C is for Cookie
Silver Member
I've seen a number of $1,000+ sets round here. I get nervous when the bet gets above 10G's -> thugs come out which means the backers tend to pack heat. I don't like to be around gambling when there's guns.

Maybe it's just me, but I'll watch the $500 sets it safety...

-td
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
I've shared this story before.

I'd rather not name names, but those who regularly frequented the Golden Q in Elmhurst, NY in the early 1980's will already know this story.

A fairly well-off Chinese fellow who owned a nice little restaurant in Chinatown gambled for about thirteen hours against one of the regular action players there in what I seem to recall was 1982. It started out for 1,000 a set, but the stakes got higher and higher, and before long the game was race to seven 9-ball for 10,000 a set. By sunrise, the Chinese fellow was stuck over 60,000 and was nearly out of money. He wasn't giving up yet, however, and asked for a double or nothing game. Not too surprisingly, his opponent protested that he had nothing left to bet with. The Chinese fellow said "How about if I put up my restaurant in Chinatown?" Sure enough, the wager was accepted, and sure enough the fellow lost his restaurant! It was quite painful to watch. By the end of the night, the fellow had lost 60,000 and a restaurant worth the same.

In short, the highest stake I've ever seen played for is "one Chinese restaurant."
 

hemicudas

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Smorgass Bored said:
SJM broke my heart with:
In short, the highest stake I've ever seen played for is "one Chinese restaurant."


For the love of God...what happened to the BUFFET ?

Those NYers know nothing about BUFFETS, Smorg. All Ala carte' and you better bring more than a few bags of jellybeans. I so miss Pancho's in NOLA.
 

12squared

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
JAM said:
Rosey from Detroit versus Keith McCready. 360,000 jellybeans or 360 bags of sand, as they say in forum-ese!:p

JAM

I grew up in the Detroit area and was lucky enough to get into this private poolroom once in a while where this took place, although not during this match. However, on my very first visit, there were two of the "regulars" playing one-pocket on the snooker table for 10,000 j-beans a game. To me it looked like it took longer to count the wager than it took to play the game. I have seen many higher sets played but that really stood out in my mind. One of those 1-hole players lost $250,000 j-beans in a two day match about a year later. Holy sh#t! :eek: :eek: :eek:
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
hemicudas said:
Those NYers know nothing about BUFFETS, Smorg. All Ala carte' and you better bring more than a few bags of jellybeans. I so miss Pancho's in NOLA.

Hemi, Smorgie:

You're right,of course. For the most part, the only buffets I've been to are the ones in Vegas. Here in NYC, you don't even get a free soda refill. Now that's a crying shame!
 

JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
sjm said:
Hemi, Smorgie:

You're right,of course. For the most part, the only buffets I've been to are the ones in Vegas. Here in NYC, you don't even get a free soda refill. Now that's a crying shame!

Ain't it the truth! On a recent road trip up north, I ordered a cup of coffee, and it came in a very thick coffee cup that held about five swallows of joe. I consumed it within minutes and asked the waitress if I could get a refill, and she looked at me like I was a Kling-on on the Starship Enterprise.

There's a fellow named "Greenie" who used to own a pool room up Baltimore way which used to host MANY pool tournaments, to include the Maryland State Championships. Greenie loved to gamble, whether it was pool, poker, or pitching coins. BTW, Baltimore has the BEST coin throwers in the country, bar none. Many a coin thrower has left Baltimore with empty pockets. Greenie put up his pool room one day in a poker game and lost it. Last time I saw Greenie, he was tossing coins up at Hot Shots in Baltimore (LOL).

Down South, you not only get FREE refills on beverages, to include coffee and sodas, but you don't even have to ask for it. The Southern hospitality is second to none, always service with a smile, and the cuisine is pretty darn good, too, most times at a very AFFORDABLE price, IMHO. :p

JAM
 
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DawgAndy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've held the stake for several 5k matches that a friend of mine played in the early and mid 90s. The same friend and I were in Pittsburgh at this time when a road player from Indy showed us paper grocery bags in his trunk that were full of loot. Man I don't know how much was there but it was a bunch.

Andy
Holds no more stake:mad:
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Biggest Game

Personally the most I've ever played for is 1K a game One Pocket with Harry a couple of times. Wasn't all bad either.
Biggest games I've been involved in include the 100K match between James Walden and Jack Cooney two year ago in Louisville. Yes, they (or the backers) put up 50K each. I had a small piece of Jack and he did eventually win after three days.
Keith (with Harry as a partner) did beat Rosey (with Grady for a partner) for 440K about ten years ago in Vegas. They played partners One Pocket.
And it all got paid! In cash the next day at Binions.
I know that the games at The Rack in Detroit regularly were for six figure scores in the 70's. A lot of pool players got rich there and opened pool rooms and the like. Cornbread seemed to be in on everything.
Maybe the biggest game otherwise was in the 60's at the Stardust, when Larry Perkins (Jack's cousin) played "St. Louis Suts". Sutton was a building contractor with big bucks. They played One Pocket and Suts would pull a bundle out of his pocket before each game and that was the bet. Maybe there was 8,400 in the bundle and before the game they would write down how much each person was betting, until the whole 8,400 was covered. Larry would bet so much, Jack would cover so much, Nicky Vach. would take this amount and so on until the whole wad was covered. This may take several minutes and then the game was played. Following the game they would pay off the same way. So much here, so much there until all bets were paid. Of course if Suts won, his partner Vernon would walk around collecting from everyone. Suts ended up losing over 100K in two days. That was a fortune in the 60's, maybe like losing a million today.
One score I was in on that was interesting was when Keith played Lebron in the finals of the B.C. Open in 1985. Mike was the U.S. Open Champion that year so he could play a little. This was a huge tournament back then with a first prize of 25K and 10K for second. Lebron came to Keith before the match and wanted to save 5K, making it 20 for first and 15 for second. Keith came to me and told me about this offer (I was Keith's backer).
I asked him what he wanted to do. His reply was pure Keith, "I'd like to play him for the whole thing". Meaning all 35K. I told him to go back and tell this to Mike. He did so and Mike nearly had a fit. Totally psyched him out and Keith bombed him something like 11-3 in the Finals.
 

JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
jay helfert said:
...One score I was in on that was interesting was when Keith played Lebron in the finals of the B.C. Open in 1985. Mike was the U.S. Open Champion that year so he could play a little. This was a huge tournament back then with a first prize of 25K and 10K for second. Lebron came to Keith before the match and wanted to save 5K, making it 20 for first and 15 for second. Keith came to me and told me about this offer (I was Keith's backer). I asked him what he wanted to do. His reply was pure Keith, "I'd like to play him for the whole thing". Meaning all 35K. I told him to go back and tell this to Mike. He did so and Mike nearly had a fit. Totally psyched him out and Keith bombed him something like 11-3 in the Finals.

I'm familiar with this tourney, and what always puzzled me was how in the world the tournament promoters came up with cutting up the monies like this, i.e., $25,000 for first place and only $10,000 for second place. That seems odd to me.

Keith said that at that time, this was the BIGGEST payout not only in his pool-playing career, but he thought it was the largest tournament payout in existence, at least in the States. I did ask Spanish Mike about the 1985 BC Open, and he was quick to tell me that the reason he lost is because he miscued against Keith, and he is very emphatic about this being the real reason he lost. Gotta give Spanish Mike his kudos though for winning the U.S. Open at the age of 54. Look at Efren and Jose Parica, both now in their fifties, and they're still going strong.

After the big win for Keith, he told everybody in the house that the drinks were on him, and he followed through and paid a $1,200-plus bar tab, before they all flew off into the wild blue yonder to Vegas. There were some celebrities at the BC Open who enjoyed the festivities, too, some prominent golfers and entertainers.

JAM
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Biggest Score

The biggest score I ever heard of at pool was when Archie "the Greek" started his big run in Vegas. The legendary one where he ran up a score over 30 Million.
It all began with a pool game between Archie and Bobby Baldwin, the President of the Mirage Hotel back then. They started out playing 9-Ball on a bar table for 100 a game. It quickly escalated to 1000 and finally 10,000 a game. On the second day they played for 20K a game, 9-Ball on a bar table! Now that's fast action.
In the end Archie got him for about one mil. at pool. Then they played heads-up poker and Archie won another mil. From there Archie moved to the dice table and the rest is history.
I doubt whether there has ever been a bigger pool game than that one, even in Detroit.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
JAM said:
I'm familiar with this tourney, and what always puzzled me was how in the world the tournament promoters came up with cutting up the monies like this, i.e., $25,000 for first place and only $10,000 for second place. That seems odd to me.

Keith said that at that time, this was the BIGGEST payout not only in his pool-playing career, but he thought it was the largest tournament payout in existence, at least in the States. I did ask Spanish Mike about the 1985 BC Open, and he was quick to tell me that the reason he lost is because he miscued against Keith, and he is very emphatic about this being the real reason he lost. Gotta give Spanish Mike his kudos though for winning the U.S. Open at the age of 54. Look at Efren and Jose Parica, both now in their fifties, and they're still going strong.

After the big win for Keith, he told everybody in the house that the drinks were on him, and he followed through and paid a $1,200-plus bar tab, before they all flew off into the wild blue yonder to Vegas. There were some celebrities at the BC Open who enjoyed the festivities, too, some prominent golfers and entertainers.

JAM


Believe me Jam (and you can ask your little buddy) that match was over before it started. The biggest miscue was in the conversation prior to the match! As far as the prize breakdown, it was not that unusual back then. The World Series of Tavern Pool had the same payouts in both divisions, 25 for first and 10 for second.
In Richies big tournaments at Caesars, the breakdowns were similar. At Tahoe, Earl won 33K plus a car valued at 10K. Miz got 15 for second. At Caesars Palace the next year Earl won 25 and Terry Bell got 10 for second.
At Resorts one year, Rempe beat Efren in the finals. The difference was huge, something like 40K for first and 15K for second. Jimmy would remember I'm sure.
 
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