Richie Ambrose... RIP???

SouthMeck

Registered
If this is right,I am sad to hear this too

i lost track of Richie over 15 years ago

Seems like last time I saw him ,he was living in a hippie van on the road
well past the fower of youth,but still playing and full of zest
I remember he caught Jack Cooney and Baltimore danny in a propositin bet.
Imagine catching those two in anything. I was in with Ritchie but when Jack bet the other way,I doubted.
I blinked,but I still boogied.

He must have been in his 70s now,
RIP Ritchie

Many people get him confused with Ritchie Forence from California,
the other great playing Ritchie.

It is kind of sad when a man leaves this world to the other of eternity
that all we remember is a passing moment.RIP is all we can say now

Who is Baltimore Danny?
 

mikemosconi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Probably just changed it himself informally to make it more American especially if he was a salesman at some point. I knew one moron who changed his name informally from Rutigliano to Rutiglan, a name that exists nowhere on earth. When I asked his gf if his real name was Rutigliano, she was shocked i could have ever figured that out-lol!!

Many Italians HAD to change their last names to get a job- NOT to SOUND more American - meaning it was NOT a question of appearing more acceptable it was a question of necessity. There was tremendous animosity towards Italians especially by the Irish when it came to jobs and promotions in the early part to the 20th century and that discrimination continued by some "old timers" even up to the 1980s - I know- I faced it myself in the early 1980s.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Who is toupee Jay? That you Jay?

No, I'm Baltimore Danny. :thumbup:

Yep, I got saddled with that name after I beat some guy who I had played once before and he didn't remember me due to my new toupee/wig. He kept telling me I looked familiar and I kept my mouth shut about playing him before. When it was over and I had won maybe fifty bucks, my friend Arizona Sean yelled out to him, "You just got beat by Toupee Jay!" Unfortunately a lot of people were in that room and from then on they started calling me Toupee Jay. I hated that name at first, but after awhile I got used to it. To this day, Keith, Johnny Archer and a couple of others still say "Hi Toupee" when they see me.
 

cambrose

Registered
Thanks everyone for your thoughts. My father passed on 8/3/20 and thank you for your comments and information on Richie. I'll pass along to family asking about him. Love listening to all your stories. Thanks again! Ambrose family
 

Dead Money

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thanks everyone for your thoughts. My father passed on 8/3/20 and thank you for your comments and information on Richie. I'll pass along to family asking about him. Love listening to all your stories. Thanks again! Ambrose family

Sorry for your loss.
 

Pensacola

New member
The first time I met Ritchie was 1964 in Pensacola Florida, when was playing Dick Hunziker. Next time 1971? in Weenie Beenie's Jack and Jill in Arlington Va. Then 1986 I was on a crap table in the Stardust, and heard a voice behind me, talking to a guy about caps. As i turned around I said, "You-uh Richie Ambrose! He had a distinctive voice!

From that point on, until 2019 every time i went to Vegas from Arizona (10+ times/year) we met up. I got to know him, and his problems well.
Unfortunately, he had a habit as bad as heroin addiction. Craps!

He promoted himself as a knowledgeable crap instructor, advertised on you tube, sold booklets, and gave instructions to novice visitors to Vegas.
He would approach people who never played craps, have them put up the money, and show them how to play, for 1/2 the winnings if there were any. Some would make appointments with him before coming to Vegas. This all worked well enough, until he was barred from all the strip Casinos.

For a while he had a backer, who thought there might be something to the whole thing with Richie, and gave him a motor coach to live in, that he wasn't using. Richie parked it in a park along Boulder Hwy. That lasted for about 5 years. For a while, before his van broke down, he lived out of it, and he a lifetime pass to those physical fitness exercise clubs....He had it rough, but brought it on himself!

Back in the day, he had the best 9 ball break I saw! He would "park" the cue ball dead center of the table (pop up in the air 18 inches and drop down in the middle of the table)...His biggest score came in Detroit cir 1971-72? when he was backed and got 1/3 of a $90,000 score when he
played one pocket where Richie had to go to 8, running 4 balls twice. run 4 then play safe off the 4th ball, the run 4 a second time.

He took his $30,000 and opened up a room in Detroit, said he took about $1000+ a week out of it for about 3 years, before selling out, and going back to Vegas.......Along the way, in Vegas, he ended up pawning his Original Balabushka for $1500 and could never retrieve it.

The craziest story of all; A undercover old pool player and a friend played the powerball on feb 29, 2012 PLAYED THE SAME NUMBERS SEVEN TIMES AND HIT FOR A TOTAL OF $14,000,000. Richie , and Jimmy Fusco were each given $10,000 as a gift, with more to come (Fusco asked for $25,000 to be able to remodel old family house. Richie hadn't had more than a couple of thousand for several years. He pays off some debts, gets a whore, takes her back to the Moter Coach, fall asleep, and she takes off and leaves LV with his last $5600
 

maha

from way back when
Silver Member
the reason he left the rack was after he won his 30 grand he found out he was supposed to pay 10% juice for the time. as that was the deal then.
he refused and left so couldn't come back.
he was a decent guy but lived his own way.
 

jazznpool

Superior Cues--Unchalked!
Gold Member
Silver Member
I'm wondering what was the name of the pool room he owned in the Detroit area?
 

Pensacola

New member
the reason he left the rack was after he won his 30 grand he found out he was supposed to pay 10% juice for the time. as that was the deal then.
he refused and left so couldn't come back.
he was a decent guy but lived his own way.
The only thing I know about the rack, was that Weenie Beanie dumped too "Jay" a jewel thief from Florida, in order to beat Phil Hubbard, who had been in on a beat of Beenie back in VA. Beanie was asking for his money back when he caught a Phil Hubbard backed card player holding out on him. He asked me for a decision. I asked if he was winning or losing at the time, Beanie was winning, I told him Hubbard didn't need to return any money, there was no proof he was holding out before. JUST WAIT AND PUT PHIL IN A TRAP IN THE FUTURE. It was about a year latter when it happened in Detroit, but I never got a count.

Hubbard was killed a couple years latter, because someone owed him money, and the guy was afraid that Phil would get violent over the money. The guy was wrong, and it cost him his life latter through a retaliation hit!
 

maha

from way back when
Silver Member
fool with the wrong people there and you get your just dessert.
beenie was a card sucker. and lost at it although claimed he made millions playing.

he did make a few million selling junk food in his restaurants.
 

Pensacola

New member
fool with the wrong people there and you get your just dessert.
beenie was a card sucker. and lost at it although claimed he made millions playing.

he did make a few million selling junk food in his restaurants.
Beenie came up with a holdout table around 71? and got nailed by two brothers he was playing heads up with. It was a crude table, with only a flimsy cloth covering the underneath.. He always carried Kem cards to play with. He asked my running mate to go somewhere for him, gave him his keys, not thinking, as a result, he now had a deck of marked Kem cards in his car, and he didn't know it!... That cost him a pretty penny. But Beenie was a credible gambler! One night I walked into Jack & Jills around 2 am, and he runs up to me asking if i had any money on me. A black player (Jerry?) from NJ had him broke, and Charlie DeVallier was out trying to round up more money. He took my $1,622 and played for it, won 9-10 games in a row and busted Jerry. Charlie came back, and didn't think i should recieve anything, I took all the small bills $340 +- at Beenie's request, which is what it would have been if I was betting 30-40 per game
 

maha

from way back when
Silver Member
i busted him at the oregon tournament in the70's at the resort near bend. inn of the gods or something like that. best gambling tournament ever.
richie florence was involved and bobby lambert.
winter time all the players went to congress billiards in miami. all broke and trying to beat each other. then off to the bar action which was good.
dont know of any black player from jersey named jerry. only one that could beat beenie. country might have been that guy but he rarely ever lost..
 
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