Romine's High Pockets, The Polish Prince

Will be praying for him

Fenwick said:

George, (The Polish Prince), Powalski needs some prayers. He's under the weather with some serious health issues right now and needs your support.

George is one of Wisconsin's all time best player bar none. He been mostly teaching for a long time but can still walk in and run 90 plus balls without 1practice shot. He ran 94 and 96 against me on a whim.

You'r in my prayers Mr. Powalski.

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Fenwick,
Thanks for letting us know and also, for requesting prayer on his behalf. That's the best thing a friend can do for somebody.
God bless you both.

George, you will never be forgotten by our generation of pool players. You were one of the legendary money players in the Midwest for years. Everyone who was anyone knew it was best to leave you (and George Brunt) alone. I would love to hear you come on here sometime and tell the world about some of the "name" players you tortured!

Wondering if you ever ran into Boston Joey or Toby Sweet or Chuck Morgan or Ervolino or Buddy or Cornbread or ???. These are some other players who devoured just about everyone in their path. What about Mataya, Marino, Reid and Rempe? You must have crossed paths with them sometime. I know you played Dallas in countless tournaments. He was another awesome player, at all games. As a gambler, so so.

Hang in there, I'm sure we crossed paths.
Bill
Wisconsin 53159

Island Drive said:

Hang in there, I'm sure we crossed paths.
Bill
Wisconsin 53159

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You wouldn't have forgotten George if you played him. He was a bankroll assassin!

First time I saw George was in the middle 70's at the 12/20 bowl in what was then East Gary, Indiana. He came in the pool room and played the best player in there straight pool to 150, but George had to score 50 or no count. Our guy did not like the end result. Saw George many times over the years in Indiana and Illinois. Don't remember but one time he lost that I got to see. It was at Freddie's joint, North Shore Billiards to a small Mexican guy playing 3 cushion. 32/33 years ago? Get well, George. I'll be pulling for you.

DRW said:

First time I saw George was in the middle 70's at the 12/20 bowl in what was then East Gary, Indiana. He came in the pool room and played the best player in there straight pool to 150, but George had to score 50 or no count. Our guy did not like the end result. Saw George many times over the years in Indiana and Illinois. Don't remember but one time he lost that I got to see. It was at Freddie's joint, North Shore Billiards to a small Mexican guy playing 3 cushion. 32/33 years ago? Get well, George. I'll be pulling for you.

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I hope George recovers quickly and totaly.
Around that same time frame George and I played 3 cushion, at the NorthShore club, I was giving him 17 on 50 for $1,500.00 a game, I won 2 games, he was being staked by a notorious tushog from Cicero named "Chico", to my delight Chico never said a word thoughout the match. George always had powerful and smooth stroke he loved to shoot 3 cushion trick shots. George was always a true gentleman at the table!

Get well soon George;
Bill Smith "Mr3Cushion"

P.S. The little Mexican player who beat George,was Luis Campos.

Luis Campos could play strong 9 ball, too. But nowhere near George's league. I was just talking to my friend, Gerry Kanov about him a few days ago and he had some impressive words about George's game. That's strong considering Gerry used to play on the Camel Tour.

I saw St. Louis Louie play Bernie Schwartz one night long ago at North Shore Billiards for 10 large a session, IIRC. Freddy? What a place that was!

Best,
Mike

mr3cushion said:

I hope George recovers quickly and totaly.
Around that same time frame George and I played 3 cushion, at the NorthShore club, I was giving him 17 on 50 for $1,500.00 a game, I won 2 games, he was being staked by a notorious tushog from Cicero named "Chico", to my delight Chico never said a word thoughout the match. George always had powerful and smooth stroke he loved to shoot 3 cushion trick shots. George was always a true gentleman at the table!

Get well soon George;
Bill Smith "Mr3Cushion"

P.S. The little Mexican player who beat George,was Luis Campos.

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Billy, you had to be the best Three Cushion money player East of the Mississippi back then. What I want to know is did you ever play Allen Gilbert for the cash? He was the best in the West for sure.

jay helfert said:

Billy, you had to be the best Three Cushion money player East of the Mississippi back then. What I want to know is did you ever play Allen Gilbert for the cash? He was the best in the West for sure.

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Jay; No, we never played for money, many times in tournaments. I'd have to say I was up a couple of games in tournys.
I'll tell you a funny story, It's 1988 and I'm manager of Hollywood Billiards, there's a BIG tournament in NY, I couldn't make it but, AL went. He calls me up and says Bill, there's a Korean here that wants to play me for $3,000.00 and lay me 3 to1 on the money, 100 pts. Do you want some, I said yeh I'll take 1k, I figure they're goin to play more than 1 game. Well, needless to say we all know who the Korean player was NOW, Sang Lee. Al got beat 100 to 65, no chance, there went my Gnote.

Not many people really understood Al, I did, they would say He's cheap, arogant, bragadosia, not really. If he liked someone he would help them out, no questions. Al was a dear friend, and I was truley sad when he passed away, He was like a big brother to me.

Our two styles of play were completely different, he deffensive, I aggressive, we argued all the time on this subject, but in the end we'd goto Canter's or Jerry's deli to eat, that seemed to quiet us down for a while.

I miss him;
Bill Smith "Mr3Cushion

P.S. If Al had the RIGHT mixture, he was tough to beat!

Mikjary said:

Luis Campos could play strong 9 ball, too. But nowhere near George's league. I was just talking to my friend, Gerry Kanov about him a few days ago and he had some impressive words about George's game. That's strong considering Gerry used to play on the Camel Tour.

I saw St. Louis Louie play Bernie Schwartz one night long ago at North Shore Billiards for 10 large a session, IIRC. Freddy? What a place that was!

Best,
Mike

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George played a little on the Camel tour. I think he took 3rd place in the Camel World 8 Ball one year. Great player.

Sorry to hear that, I was just watching one of his matches earlier today. Hope he feels better.

mr3cushion said:

Jay; No, we never played for money, many times in tournaments. I'd have to say I was up a couple of games in tournys.
I'll tell you a funny story, It's 1988 and I'm manager of Hollywood Billiards, there's a BIG tournament in NY, I couldn't make it but, AL went. He calls me up and says Bill, there's a Korean here that wants to play me for $3,000.00 and lay me 3 to1 on the money, 100 pts. Do you want some, I said yeh I'll take 1k, I figure they're goin to play more than 1 game. Well, needless to say we all know who the Korean player was NOW, Sang Lee. Al got beat 100 to 65, no chance, there went my Gnote.

Not many people really understood Al, I did, they would say He's cheap, arogant, bragadosia, not really. If he liked someone he would help them out, no questions. Al was a dear friend, and I was truley sad when he passed away, He was like a big brother to me.

Our two styles of play were completely different, he deffensive, I aggressive, we argued all the time on this subject, but in the end we'd goto Canter's or Jerry's deli to eat, that seemed to quiet us down for a while.

I miss him;
Bill Smith "Mr3Cushion

P.S. If Al had the RIGHT mixture, he was tough to beat!

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So you were working for Seymour and Arnie. I started putting on regular tournaments there when Jeff Bey took over (about 1989 or 90). I also knew Al real well and we were buddies. If you didn't know him, he came off as aloof, but he was a great guy with his friends. He just didn't suffer fools well.

He was the one who convinced George Aronek to start making those great cases. I think Al had a little piece of that biz. George loved Al! Al had some excellent finishes in a few World Championships and could play on that high level, even though his average was barely 1.000. His defense was top notch as you said.

And he could play for the cash. Shorty woofed at him once in Vegas and Al lowered the boom on him, something like 30-15 or 16. I think they bet 500. Shorty played good, but not in Al's league.

Sto lat, sto lat,
Niech żyje, żyje nam

It's a polish birthday song which means:
100 years, 100 years
may he live for us....

Iirc?

Mikjary said:

Luis Campos could play strong 9 ball, too. But nowhere near George's league. I was just talking to my friend, Gerry Kanov about him a few days ago and he had some impressive words about George's game. That's strong considering Gerry used to play on the Camel Tour.

I saw St. Louis Louie play Bernie Schwartz one night long ago at North Shore Billiards for 10 large a session, IIRC. Freddy? What a place that was!

Best,
Mike

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Firstly, Get well soon, Georgie. You are a great pal and a great shooter. You need to get better so you can come back down to Chicago and buy me pizza again. This is the first I heard you werent feeling good, George. Sorry.

Georgie didn't play too good, he was only like a 300 ball runner with an absolutely ridiculous stroke. His bend the cueball, draw shots were something to behold. George could shoot all of Harold Worst's trick shots.

Beard

What does IIRC mean?

freddy the beard said:

What does IIRC mean?

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If I Recall Correctly = IIRC

Sorry to hear George. Good Luck with your health. I got a little story that you might enjoy reading.

It was back in 1977. There was a place in Eau Claire Wisconsin called Trader and Trapper. They had about 6 nine footer that were pay by the game. This place was mainly a real top shelf place to eat. Great food. They would hold a tournament about every month and alot of players would come from all over. At this point in my life I was stricktly a bar table player. I played a little on the nine footer but not enough to even get familiar on how the darn things played.

One night in walks these 2 guys. George and some other guy. It just so happened that a friend of mine, Dick Olson just happened to be there also. He has deep pockets. Likes to gamble and when these 2 guys say they wanted to bet $100 a rack he was all over it.

Now I had been traveling on the road hussling since I was 18. I was now 24. I was no sloutch. My m.o. was to go into a pool hall and play a little on the big table for $5 a game. I'd wear pants that were too short and a t-shirt that was too small. I was a geeky sight for sure. I also wore glasses that I needed for driving but I could get by on the bar table without them when I played.

I also had a Pizza hut outfit, Standard Oil outfit, and a few others that I would wear when I was out playing around the country so I would just look like a working stiff that just liked to gamble. When I went to a town I would take off some serious soft action money in the begginning. Back then it seemed like the guys that played real well didn't have much money. It was the players below the shortstops that had the money. They would bet some pretty healthy bets and they liked to play. After they could see they couldn't win is when they would back the better players.

So I was kind of seasoned and had been around the block a few times. When George came to town I had no clue who he was. I had never seen the things that he had done or heard about them. We were in our own little world just like the places that I would go to on the road. The only difference was the shoe was on the other foot. And I had no clue how far George could stick that shoe up someones ass before they realized how little chance they had unless they could run out and just keep him in the chair.

We played about 6 games on the nine footer and it was pretty obvious to me that I had no chance on this game.I never won a game. He got out from everywhere. His break was like thunder and the intimidation was complete. I told Dick to save his money. I had never seen anyone play like that before.

Now Dick knew that I had played on the road and we had made some real serious scores by taking players to the bar table after the big table so he suggested to George that we go to his house on the bar table and play some for $100 a rack. I told Dick I didn't think it was a good idea. Boy, was I right.

It was a dynamo table with big pockets. And George was plenty familiar with this table. It had one of those big cue balls on it. He was plenty familiar with that also.

I sat and watched George pretty much run about 12 racks. I got a shot here and there but I can guarantee that there was no shot that I could get anything going from. This guy put the term MONSTER in a whole new category. I was in awe. I had never seen anything like this. Plus it wasn't my money we were losing. I just wanted to see him play some more.

Dick finally said he had enough and I was kind of disappointed but not because I thought I could win so much as the fact that I wanted to see him play some more.

The good news is now I knew what a real pool player could do. Now I knew what I had to do if I wanted to play the best pool of my life. George had set the bar for me. And set it high.

I never forget what George had done that night and I worked real hard at the game. I was inspired by what I had seen. I now had a blueprint as to what I had to do if I wanted to dominate the outcome of a match or tournament.

About 6 years later I had been on the road for about 5 months. I was playing some real good bar table pool. I had won 4 tournaments in a row. The last 2 were in davenport and one in Matoon,Il. As I was going back up to Wisconsin I stumbled onto a tournament in Kenosha, Wi with all the best players there from Milwaukee and Chicago. It was a race to 7 bartable nine ball.

A good friend of mine was there that had come up to Wisconsin with road players to try and get me over the years, his name was Billy Gaines. He already knew I was playing good because I had beaten a couple of monsters that he had brought up the year before. One was Boston Joey and the other was Al Allou. They called him Allioop.

After I won this tournament Billy was running around trying to get me a game for the next day. He offered everyone the 7 ball on the bar table. I thought that was a little much and would have been hard pressed to bet my own money giving up the 7. But Billy knew pool and I thought to myself. Alot of the matches I played the players literally had no chance. I had totally dominated this tournament much like George had done to me about 6 years ago. You see i thought about the lesson George had given me alot over the years. I never forgot.

The good news was that nobody took the offer from Billy Gaines. The 7 ball. I wasn't looking forward to that because there were some awful good players there.

George wasn't at this tournament and I was kind of disappointed. I really wanted to talk to him.

Then I thought to myself. George will hear about this. I knew it would put a smile on his face.

At Ho Chunk casino there was a WBC tournament. Race to 7 nine ball and race to 4 8-ball one the 9 footers. George was there.

There was nothing but mutual respect. I hadn't seen George I don't think for 20 years.

As we talked we went over that little one sided battle in Eau Claire Wi so many years ago. It was a real treat. I remembered it like it happened yesterday.

I made it to the TV finals of the 9-ball losing 7-6 7-6 to Jeff carter. I beat a guy from London England in the 8-ball final 4-0.

Just being around George inspired me to play some of the best pool I had played in awhile. He's a class act and is still talking about how we can make this world of pool a better place for everyone. I never knew george had such a passion for not only the game but what's going on with it.

I alway knew how much I respected George Powalskis but I gained a whole new kind of respect for George after talking to him at Ho Chuck.

George, your a class act and Thank You for inspring me to play at a higher level.

Hang in there. Geno............