In my early pool career I learned that I should not gamble for anything that I'm not prepared to lose. So I never gambled for money. It was always something fun like drinks or favors or table time. As I kept playing and got better, I started playing guys my own speed for a $1 or $2 per game. That progressed into races to 5 for $10 or $20, but at that time no more than that. I always thought that any more than that and it lost it's "friendly" feeling.
As my game improved, I started to join more local tournaments. Here is where I would be introduced to the foundation and under belly of pool. The serious gamblers. Gamblers that won't put their sticks together unless it's to play a tournament match or to gamble. They don't remember what it's like to play for fun. It has to be $100 a game or ridiculous sets.
This one particular time, I went to this pool hall and they were having a big state tournament. There were a lot of people there that I didn't know. I had shown up to play, but there were no open tables. As the night progressed they were able to confine the tournament to only about 20 tables, leaving the other 10 open for practice. That also left me out because I was not in the tournament. Well, this guy asked if I wanted to play and I told him that I only had about $100 on me. I didn't know this guy at all, and was pretty sure that knowing my skill level and the fact that he's playing in a state tournament, that I was probably going to be parting ways with my $100. He said that he had a lot of time before his next match and just wanted to practice seriously, so he said that we could play for $5 a game. I considered myself very lucky. Thinking that I was going to get valuable experience playing someone far better than me for only $5 a game. So I agree and we start playing. We trade the first few racks back and forth, but then I get warmed up and start winning more than I thought I would. I find myself up $50 on him and that's when he says let's play a race to 3 for $50. Being that I'm ahead and that I'm playing with his money, I extend him the courtesy to try to win his money back. I win the race and I'm up $100. He then says let's play double or nothing. Again, his money so okay. Now I'm up $200, do it again and I'm up $400. He pays me and asks me where I'm from and I tell him I live locally. He asks me if I play in any league and I tell him that I play in an APA league. He asks me my rating and I tell him that I'm a 5. He tells me he's from Des Moines, IA and that he's a 5 as well, but that I'm still better than him and asks for a "spot". Being that I have never done any real gambling, I ask him what a "spot" is. He then explains it to me and asks me to give him 2 games in a race to 5. Which I told him as politely as I could that he was out of his mind!! If he's truly a 5 like he says, and I'm a 5 then that means that neither one of us should be giving the other a "spot". He demands a spot and I refuse. I already have his money and if he wants any chance of winning it back, we had to play even. It wasn't like I was crushing him in those sets, in 2 of them we were tied 2-2. He says fine, but let's play another set, even up race to 10 for $400. So I tell him how about a race to 5 for $200. I didn't want to give him back all of his money in one go should he happen to win. He agrees and I'm now up another $200. This is where I made my first mistake. He asked to play a race to 10 for $400 now and I didn't ask for the $200 that I had just won. He had already paid me the original $400 that he lost and I had no reason to think that he would not be able to pay. So I agreed and now he owed me $600. So in all it would be $1000. My heart was racing, I thought I was walking out of there with $1000. My wife will be so happy! I was wrong. He tells me that he doesn't have the $600 that he owes me, but that he would let me have his playing cue for now. For now? I thought he meant that we would play again someday and that he would win his money back. That is NOT what he meant at all! So I tell him, that I don't know what his cue is worth, and he asks me if I'm beeing serious. He asks this guy at the table next to him if he thought his cue was worth $600 and the guy said that he would give him $600 right now for it. Here I am playing with a McDermott with the picture of the soldier laying down on it, and this guy has this real pretty cue, but to me it's just a cue. I'm not a big pool cue know it all. So I agree and take his cue.
He plays his match and he looses. He sees me on the way out and says that he would be back tomorrow and to hang on to his money because he's coming back for it tomorrow. I heard money, nothing about his cue. So here I am sitting around watching some of the pool action when the guy that said he would give him $600 cash right now for it, came by me and asked if I took his cue. I told him yes, and he said to hang on to it because it's worth a lot of money. This guy overhears the conversation and asked if I had taken Jack's cue. I told him yes. He told me he has been asking Jack to sell him that cue for years. He doesn't care for Jack at all and would like to know if I would consider selling it. He asked to look at it, so we went to an empty table, he put it together, hit a couple of balls, turns to me and says...I'll give you $2500 for it! After I came to, I asked him, did you say two thousand five hundred? He said yes, right now, in cash! Put the money on the table and the cue is yours! This guy lays out the cash and it's now his cue.
Of course I'm stunned and asked him why he would pay so much for that cue. What was it about that cue that he liked so much? He then went into a story about it and told me that it was a Richard Black cue and it was worth more than what he paid. He told me that I just learned a valuable lesson because that cue was worth around $4000. He asked me how much I took off of him in order for him to give me his cue, and I told him that he owed me $600. He said kid you just made a hell of a deal and that he couldn't wait to see the look on Jack's face the next day when he came back. I thought I understood what he meant, but again...I was wrong!!
So it's Sunday and the last day of the tournament and sure enough Jack comes up to me and says, I got $1000. I'll give you $600, you give me my cue back and we'll play for the other $400. I didn't know what to say, but the guy who bought the cue came up and said to Jack that I couldn't give him the cue back cause it wasn't mine anymore. So Jack is instantly pissed off and starts screaming at me, What did you do with my fu***ng cue? I may be a novice at gambling, but I'm not a novice at physical confrontation. So I tell him to calm down, and that I sold his cue to that guy. So he starts cussing that guy out, calling him Chris. So yes, he does know him. He's calling him a thieving mother f***er and all this stuff and then calms down a little and asks if I would return the money to Chris, Chris give the cue back to me, and if he could give me $600. Chris said f**k no! That was never going to happen. That was now his cue and the only time he would ever see it is when he was using it to kick his a$$! Jack tells me that he only gave me the cue as collateral until he got the money to get it back. I told him that he never said that. He only told me to hang on to the money because he was coming to get it back. As far as I was concerned the cue was mine to do with whatever I wanted. Had he told me of his intentions it would have been a totally different story. I would have never sold his cue and I would have given it back to him as soon as he gave me what he owed me. He called me a few choice names, made some idle threats, but in the end. I walked out with $2900. Sure I felt bad for the guy, but I was very new to the gambling scene and he wasn't specific enough. Hell, I was so new to it, that he had to explain what a "spot" was. I know I would have made sure that he knew what my intentions were if that was my cue.
Again sorry for the long thread. I'm bored. I've gotten to know this forum and some of it's members and thought I would share some of my stories. There's more to come!
As my game improved, I started to join more local tournaments. Here is where I would be introduced to the foundation and under belly of pool. The serious gamblers. Gamblers that won't put their sticks together unless it's to play a tournament match or to gamble. They don't remember what it's like to play for fun. It has to be $100 a game or ridiculous sets.
This one particular time, I went to this pool hall and they were having a big state tournament. There were a lot of people there that I didn't know. I had shown up to play, but there were no open tables. As the night progressed they were able to confine the tournament to only about 20 tables, leaving the other 10 open for practice. That also left me out because I was not in the tournament. Well, this guy asked if I wanted to play and I told him that I only had about $100 on me. I didn't know this guy at all, and was pretty sure that knowing my skill level and the fact that he's playing in a state tournament, that I was probably going to be parting ways with my $100. He said that he had a lot of time before his next match and just wanted to practice seriously, so he said that we could play for $5 a game. I considered myself very lucky. Thinking that I was going to get valuable experience playing someone far better than me for only $5 a game. So I agree and we start playing. We trade the first few racks back and forth, but then I get warmed up and start winning more than I thought I would. I find myself up $50 on him and that's when he says let's play a race to 3 for $50. Being that I'm ahead and that I'm playing with his money, I extend him the courtesy to try to win his money back. I win the race and I'm up $100. He then says let's play double or nothing. Again, his money so okay. Now I'm up $200, do it again and I'm up $400. He pays me and asks me where I'm from and I tell him I live locally. He asks me if I play in any league and I tell him that I play in an APA league. He asks me my rating and I tell him that I'm a 5. He tells me he's from Des Moines, IA and that he's a 5 as well, but that I'm still better than him and asks for a "spot". Being that I have never done any real gambling, I ask him what a "spot" is. He then explains it to me and asks me to give him 2 games in a race to 5. Which I told him as politely as I could that he was out of his mind!! If he's truly a 5 like he says, and I'm a 5 then that means that neither one of us should be giving the other a "spot". He demands a spot and I refuse. I already have his money and if he wants any chance of winning it back, we had to play even. It wasn't like I was crushing him in those sets, in 2 of them we were tied 2-2. He says fine, but let's play another set, even up race to 10 for $400. So I tell him how about a race to 5 for $200. I didn't want to give him back all of his money in one go should he happen to win. He agrees and I'm now up another $200. This is where I made my first mistake. He asked to play a race to 10 for $400 now and I didn't ask for the $200 that I had just won. He had already paid me the original $400 that he lost and I had no reason to think that he would not be able to pay. So I agreed and now he owed me $600. So in all it would be $1000. My heart was racing, I thought I was walking out of there with $1000. My wife will be so happy! I was wrong. He tells me that he doesn't have the $600 that he owes me, but that he would let me have his playing cue for now. For now? I thought he meant that we would play again someday and that he would win his money back. That is NOT what he meant at all! So I tell him, that I don't know what his cue is worth, and he asks me if I'm beeing serious. He asks this guy at the table next to him if he thought his cue was worth $600 and the guy said that he would give him $600 right now for it. Here I am playing with a McDermott with the picture of the soldier laying down on it, and this guy has this real pretty cue, but to me it's just a cue. I'm not a big pool cue know it all. So I agree and take his cue.
He plays his match and he looses. He sees me on the way out and says that he would be back tomorrow and to hang on to his money because he's coming back for it tomorrow. I heard money, nothing about his cue. So here I am sitting around watching some of the pool action when the guy that said he would give him $600 cash right now for it, came by me and asked if I took his cue. I told him yes, and he said to hang on to it because it's worth a lot of money. This guy overhears the conversation and asked if I had taken Jack's cue. I told him yes. He told me he has been asking Jack to sell him that cue for years. He doesn't care for Jack at all and would like to know if I would consider selling it. He asked to look at it, so we went to an empty table, he put it together, hit a couple of balls, turns to me and says...I'll give you $2500 for it! After I came to, I asked him, did you say two thousand five hundred? He said yes, right now, in cash! Put the money on the table and the cue is yours! This guy lays out the cash and it's now his cue.
Of course I'm stunned and asked him why he would pay so much for that cue. What was it about that cue that he liked so much? He then went into a story about it and told me that it was a Richard Black cue and it was worth more than what he paid. He told me that I just learned a valuable lesson because that cue was worth around $4000. He asked me how much I took off of him in order for him to give me his cue, and I told him that he owed me $600. He said kid you just made a hell of a deal and that he couldn't wait to see the look on Jack's face the next day when he came back. I thought I understood what he meant, but again...I was wrong!!
So it's Sunday and the last day of the tournament and sure enough Jack comes up to me and says, I got $1000. I'll give you $600, you give me my cue back and we'll play for the other $400. I didn't know what to say, but the guy who bought the cue came up and said to Jack that I couldn't give him the cue back cause it wasn't mine anymore. So Jack is instantly pissed off and starts screaming at me, What did you do with my fu***ng cue? I may be a novice at gambling, but I'm not a novice at physical confrontation. So I tell him to calm down, and that I sold his cue to that guy. So he starts cussing that guy out, calling him Chris. So yes, he does know him. He's calling him a thieving mother f***er and all this stuff and then calms down a little and asks if I would return the money to Chris, Chris give the cue back to me, and if he could give me $600. Chris said f**k no! That was never going to happen. That was now his cue and the only time he would ever see it is when he was using it to kick his a$$! Jack tells me that he only gave me the cue as collateral until he got the money to get it back. I told him that he never said that. He only told me to hang on to the money because he was coming to get it back. As far as I was concerned the cue was mine to do with whatever I wanted. Had he told me of his intentions it would have been a totally different story. I would have never sold his cue and I would have given it back to him as soon as he gave me what he owed me. He called me a few choice names, made some idle threats, but in the end. I walked out with $2900. Sure I felt bad for the guy, but I was very new to the gambling scene and he wasn't specific enough. Hell, I was so new to it, that he had to explain what a "spot" was. I know I would have made sure that he knew what my intentions were if that was my cue.
Again sorry for the long thread. I'm bored. I've gotten to know this forum and some of it's members and thought I would share some of my stories. There's more to come!
