Some real reports
This is long. Read it like a feature length story or skip it.
Some real reports now. Bill talked about traveling, telling who you were, and playing another big hitter. Nothing hustling about that, a road warrior. Had to respect that, and those that step through the door and tell people they are road players, who wants to play? I remember a story of JoeyA's, UJ Puckett stepped into a hall full of seasoned gamblers and dropped fifteen large on the table. "Any or all of it!" Joey said something along the lines of you could have heard a mouse squeak.
Then there were people like Game who were sliding around under the radar. Back in the seventies and eighties you could make a pretty good living like that. I have seen those challenge tables with quarters stacked up knee deep. When I found one with a half-dozen challenges on it already I knew I was going to tote some cash out. I knew one old bar out in the piney woods that had a ratty nasty old table with rips and stains, probably had some life forms never seen in a lab growing on that cloth. The bet was three dollars, rarely changing, but you could stay in action twenty-four seven on that old table. Often my first stop leaving home with twenty bucks and a tank of gas.
Then we had the real hustlers, the guys that would come in with a fake name and a fake story why they were in town or in the bar. Might go so far as to wear a uniform or stained and dirty work clothes. It wasn't unheard of for me to wash up or shower and then put my work clothes covered with bondo dust or insulation dust back on. Never lied about my name, never lied about working for a living or playing pool but I did go a bit out of my way to not look like a gambler. My only thing was I hate my face dirty. I wash it before going out and often every couple of hours with a paper towel in the bathroom in a long match or session.
One place I have to disagree with Game, today's second level players are much better. There isn't much difference between the best of today and yesterday, but if you get those league players on a table you will find many can play a respectable game of pool. Better personal equipment, the tables are much more consistent and easier. The players are plain smarter. Knowledge was close held long ago. Quality books and video, youtube, the net, the information is everywhere today. One of the most knowledgeable, Joe Villalpando, laid it all on the table for 70 dollars. I bought the video's and couldn't decide whether to be mad or glad. Those videos would have taken years off of my learning curve, here the knowledge was handed to anyone willing to part with seventy dollars! His last package of videos is great too, basically three days of class with him edited and put on DVD.
Those that think you can't make money on the road due to the internet are plain wrong. I watched some straight shooting youngsters take down a room full of gamblers playing a tournament that paid between three and four thousand for first plus a nice calcutta that probably was more than the purse. Three youngsters, one won, one came second or third, one I think didn't cash or might have gotten a little taste well down. These youngsters had young eyes and physiques and an old man's smarts learned from video or a lot of personal coaching. With a room full of gamblers nobody knew who they were or if they knew they kept their mouths shut. The kids did OK on the side, one I noticed made hundreds, I wasn't watching too close. Twenty or thirty gamblers in the room, action was everywhere before the tournament and once a few rounds of the tournament had been played.
Thing is, the road is a hard life for most, even very good players. In lean times you will sleep in your car and eat light and cheap. Today's players say you can't make it on the road. What they mean is you can't sleep in a decent motel every night and eat three meals in a restaurant every day. Well, guess what, you never could!
When a road player stepped into a bar or hall that didn't have a big name regular he knew the odds were better than ten to one that he was the best in the place. However, now and then you bumped into the unknown that played just the ratty table(s) in the place and knew every inch of every table and every ball. Usually you can do little things to rattle the other player's confidence when you have them committed. This player doesn't rattle, he has twenty, thirty, forty, people cheering him on, everyone in the place except you! you could take this player five miles in any direction and beat him like a rented mule but the king in his kingdom is a combination you can't beat. If you realize it early you keep some cash. If you think you can break him down you leave busted and disgusted.
Gamblers remember the good times and forget the bad but few full timers on the road haven't felt the sting of defeat sometimes. A friend went bust in Houston. Fortunately he was on his bike. He walked down the sidewalk until he found a quarter. Stuck the quarter in a newspaper machine and took all the newspapers. Then he stood on a busy corner and hawked the papers. That petty theft gave him enough gas to get back to Louisiana. You won't read much about that side of the road in books!
Hu