So what is your Sneaky Pete / Sleeper Cue?

HawaiianEye said:

I take whatever cue I'm using as my player at the time.

What you trying to hide?

Who you sneaking up on?

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In my area I've had moderate success with common bar drinker players. The type who shoot well enough to win somewhat consistently against other bar drinker players. Sometimes, the more they drink, the more their mouths write checks their pool skills can't cash. Sometimes they can be straight up thugs...

Mine is an older Dufferin two-piece, 4-pointer. Straight as an arrow, a highly underrated performer... It looks like any other bar cue. I take it to avoid using the ratty bar cues, but am afraid my regular player will "scare off" any action. Not to mention, my regular is too nice for some of these bars on these nights... I even intentionally keep the ferrule chalky like a bar cue. Haven't had anyone ask yet, or look at it funny.

mikemosconi said:

On a more serious note, looking at this game through the window that you are suggesting is EXACTLY why Golf first prizes are $million with national television exposure and billiards is non existent!

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Golfer gamblers hide their speed when it's advantageous. As much as pool players if not more so!

Off the Wall

I also played off the wall. As I walked to the rack in a strange place my eyes were scanning the tips. My main interest was in a good tip and a shaft section that wasn't so rough it put splinters in my hand. Almost always the best looking stick was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. If it was only bowed in one direction that didn't bother me a bit. I simply indexed the cue with the bowed side turned down.

I always had a BRAD tool and a little piece of scotch brite or sandpaper in my pocket. The old BRAD tool had finer grit than the new one I purchased about ten years ago. I tried to clean up the shaft and tip when nobody was paying much attention. With those tweaks and indexing the cue most were quite playable. I would swap out if a cue was cracked or had a loose weight in it so I would give it a shake as I picked it up. I might seek out the lightest cue in the place later but that was something I didn't want people to notice either.

I very rarely missed a night gambling on a pool table for about ten years. During those years my hinged cue stayed on or near my pool table at home. A one piece house cue, especially when talking about cues from the seventies and eighties, played better than probably 90-95% of jointed cues production or custom so playing with a house cue wasn't much of a handicap. Playing on many different tables and with many different cues made me much more adaptive than I am today. Today I want my own cue and a nice table and balls. My game suffers without them. I am a hothouse player and I know it.

The longest run I ever saw was just running out a rack of eight ball from the opponent's break then seven more racks. A miss midrack then another few racks strung before the opponents gave up. It was with a house cue without the tip and shaft being touched, not sure the stick was even chalked.

Sometimes I still leave out without my case full of cues and gadgets, just sticking the Brad tool and Scotch Brite in my pocket. Somehow I feel lighter and freer like that.

Hu

trob said:

at some point I decided I didn’t like the attention. I’m not trying to sneak up on anyone. Just don’t want to be noticed.

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Same here. I also do not like to travel with my favorite cues to new pool rooms until I know that they are safe from theft or being damaged. My cue that I take places where I don't know what to expect is a Meucci S/P from ~1991. It plays stiffer than you would expect from a Meucci. The ferrule at the base is 13.1 mm and the shaft is 13.5 mm at 6". I would be disappointed if it was stolen or damaged, but it would not be the same loss as it would be for one of my favorite cues.

JessEm said:

Golfer gamblers hide their speed when it's advantageous. As much as pool players if not more so!

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Yes I know that! and at one time all the best golf country clubs in America had billiard rooms. I would never pretend that gambling/hustling does and did not exist in golf. Point is that golf kept ADVANCING itself during the 20th century WAY beyond the gambling image to market itself to the masses and to corporate America- thus $million$ prizes and national TV every week! Billiards allowed its mindset to become mired in hustling/gambling mythology until it had no where and no way to turn back to the glory years of it being one of the MAJOR covered sports in America. People talking about sneaky pete's / grabbing people's $$/ making a score/ hooking "fish" - all these lame posts herein just demonstrate the dead end street mentality.

The ONLY reason I won't take one of my custom cues or cases into a smokey poolroom- esp. now that i am here in FL. is that so many of these places allow smoking and I will not allow my custom cues or cases to be exposed to the smoke. I do have a dedicated case and a McDermott Harley Davidson cue reserved for any visits to bars or smoke filled pool rooms. I can do anything on the table with that cue that I can do with a $2,000 custom anyhow.

9 Ball Fan said:

When you go out, and don't want to tip anyone off; what do you take with you?

I guess if you look like SVB, Earl Strickland, or Efren; it won't matter much.

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You a hustler, Amos?

I like “sleeper” cues. Not because I’m trying to sneak up on anyone though. I just like great playing cues that don’t draw much attention. I have a few that I’ll take into places that I’m not familiar with or don’t trust.

Top: Frey and Josey.
Bottom: Mike Betts jump/break. Probably the best playing cue of the three. And the lower joint is far enough down that the cue is still long enough to be used as a shorty cue in the tight spots you encounter in bars.

RiverCity said:

You mean to tell me this isnt Fantasy Island?!? :thumbup:

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"Eet's da troll, boss! Eet's da TROOLLLLLLLL!!!

logical said:

My Bud Light promotional cue and this of course:

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Sayyyyyyy.... I remember you! Atlanta, 82! I was stuck 2K and you said you had to go take a whiz...


I'M STILL WAITING!!!

pool is not golf

I don't have 10 years experience in this area but I do have a note to buy a Brad tool and Scotch Brite now

mikemosconi said:

Point is that golf kept ADVANCING itself during the 20th century WAY beyond the gambling image to market itself to the masses and to corporate America- thus $million$ prizes and national TV every week!

Billiards allowed its mindset to become mired in hustling/gambling mythology until it had no where and no way to turn back to the glory years of it being one of the MAJOR covered sports in America.

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It's not that simple. There are huge differences between golf and pool but that would be a different thread.

mikemosconi said:

People talking about sneaky pete's / grabbing people's $$/ making a score/ hooking "fish" - all these lame posts herein just demonstrate the dead end street mentality.

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That's just the biggest excuse in pool..

I'd make sure the place had some acceptable house cues.

Many, many years ago, a friend of mine would walk into a bar and check out the house cues. He would find one that was straight and played solid. He would have a few slip on tips in his pocket he made up with his tip of choice. He did well with that combo.

My sleeper!

Had this Duff thinned/tapered ...used original shaft. I can't turn my back on it in a pool room.

Cornerman said:

Let me ask Minnesota Fats if that’s a good idea...

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He ain't home, either!

9 Ball Fan said:

When you go out, and don't want to tip anyone off; what do you take with you?

I guess if you look like SVB, Earl Strickland, or Efren; it won't matter much.

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"Little Al" Romero sneaky. Very solid hitting cue! It looks so much like a house cue (except for brown joint rings and a small butt cap) I have to keep my eye on it to make sure other players don't pick it up and play with it!!!

I am not much of a gambler and never wander in somewhere hoping to fool anyone about my ability...but I bought this and some other novelty cues just as a home room house cue to fill up my rack and have something to keep visitors from using my players. Turned out it has a great feel, not a ton of deflection and a pretty good tip so I keep it in my vehicle so I never get stuck relying on a bar wall house cue if I go shoot a few casual games away from home. I wouldn't feel handicapped by it at all if a challenge or money came comes up.

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