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16 dollars is a lot of money
- Thread starter Ghosst
- Start date
That's not a fair comment IMO. No reason to think either party was gambling to get better at pool. I suspect this was a simple bar wager between people who were drinking, followed by a disagreement that got way out of hand. The story was well covered here last year when it happened.
Dave <-- in Saskatoon
I had a gun pulled on me because I beat a guy out of $0.27 one time. And it wasn't "today" it was in 1989 or so.
I think the odds of getting beat up over a small bet are actually smaller today than they used to be. Violent crime in all forms is down from the 80s and 90s.
Stupid violent people are common throughout human history and they don't seem to be going away. Our tolerance for it has declined though and we have also gotten better at catching them when they step out of line.
We're still not perfect, especially in places like Chicago where the stupid violent people are mostly killing each other and the 'system' doesn't really seem to give a crap.
Rick gave me a dirty look last night after I beat him 4 straight. Does that count?
For every one of these incidents at pool, there has dozens of them at restaurants....
...ya gonna stop dining out?
Out of curiosity, why 27 cents?
What do you think the odds were that cocaine was involved, or alcohol, or both?
KMRUNOUT
I went into a little bar in Chicago after work to play pool. It was about two blocks from my house. I didn't have a lot of cash on me, I think I had about $2.57 or so. Forgive me if I don't do the math first...I put my quarters up on the table and bought an old style draft for $.75.
Everybody wanted to play for a beer so I kept playing and ended up with a line of about 7 beers before nobody left in the bar would play me.
Oh, one small detail. Nobody else in the bar spoke english except the bartender who I think is probably the owner. An old greek guy who still works there by the way. And he was old then. He looks exactly the same.
So time passes and I'm drinking beers and giving a few away to guys I played and a tall thin black guy comes in and starts hitting the cueball around the table.
I told the guy that it was my table and if he wanted to play he had to play me, for a beer. He said $100. I told him I didn't have $100, play for the beer. He said he didn't drink.
He got pissed off and started swearing and complaining to the bartender about guys who think they can play and can't make a ball etc...He told the bartender "you know how it is, I get to the table once and these guys don't get another shot!."
I got tired of listening to him so I dug in my pocket and had a quarter and two pennies left. So I walked up to the bar and slammed the money on the counter in front of him and said "I got twenty seven cents that says I can kick your ass in a game of 8-ball."
He smiled at me and laughed and said "I like your style, you're on!"
So we played. I broke and didn't make anything. He ran out and missed the 8-ball. I ran out and left myself funny on the 8 ball and so I played a bar safe (had to make it look like I missed a shot) and put the 8 ball in the kitchen and the CB on the foot rail.
He just shot the CB straight into the pocket. 8-ball in the kitchen so I had to kick at it. I lined up the 3 railer and hit it and made the 8 ball in the pocket I called. The 8 ball was about a diamond out of the pocket, so it wasn't a hanger.
He went ballistic. He started yelling and screaming. I asked him for the money and he wouldn't pay. Kept saying it was bs and started yelling at the bartender. Some of the Mexican guys in there got involved and told him to leave. I told him to forget about the money but he was on tilt.
He went outside and I went outside to try and talk to him. He was carrying a duffle bag (bartender said he was an off-duty cop and the police station is less than a block away so he easily could have been).
As soon as I stepped outside he yelled "F****ing honkie!" and he pulled a pistol out of the duffle bag and pointed it at me.
I was closer to the corner than he was and as soon as I saw the gun I just took off running around the corner and then ducked into the alley halfway through the block and ran on home. I figured if that SOB was going to shoot me it was going to be in the back.
Shot never came. Luckily he didn't shoot anyone else either. Maybe they tackled him. Maybe the bartender called the cops and they came and talked down their buddy. Who knows. I'm sure the bartender knew several cops to call unofficially in that scenario.
I walk by that bar all the time now and I haven't been back inside since but every time I walk by I look through the window and see the same pool table and the same bartender still there and he looks the same even though it's been almost 30 years.
Now they have a "no guns" sign on the door.
That makes me smile every time.
