Lesson I learned at the state fair of texas 65 years ago

deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was 10 my uncle was 9 and we took the bus to the state fair

It was full of what the psychologist call circus grifters

This one seasoned pro sized my uncle Jack and me up pretty easily

He had a large milk bottle and some hoops,all you had to do was
hoop one over the milk bottle to win a huge prize

Everytime we paid a quarter he pretended to look the other way,
we would lean over the edge to within 6 inches and throw the ring

We stll lost but we thought we were moving on him

To keep us interested he would almost catch us and give us a warning

this only increased our appetite for stolen bread tasting sweeter

But what has this to do with pool

IEverything my son,patience is a virtue

As I got into serious pool hustling in high school and college
I adapted this to my own purposes

Once I was trying to get a complete lock artist interested in
playing me,i knew in advance he wouldn't lose a quarter
unless he felt he had the nuts or was stealing,then he would bet a bundle

a very large bundle

i spent a week establishing myself as a loser letting one guy after another
beat me,
including the pool room detective who immediately steered me into our
friend and even staked him


well the games were very cheap,about $20 pool so i lost about half the games
making mistakes like shhooting at the wrong pocket, forgetting his fouls, even
spotting his scratches from my side

every so often I would snooze to collect after winning

Our friend now felt like he was stealing, so i set the hook by betting $300 per
game on the sidewith a confederate, now our friend the theif saw all of his
possibilities going out the window

He had to bet high or risk letting me lose all my money to the rail, now here
was when I seemed to have had enough,complimented him on his game
and told him I
was not stoopid,I couldn't win and especially playing cheap

To sum up what may be a boring story to you,he now gave me a much bigger
spot and increase the game to $1000 pr

I won't tell you how long I kept snoozing,overlooking, miscounting and breaking

about even by winning when i had side bets up to another $1000 on his beak,not
winning on my break but on his when the side betters came in

this led to another adjustment of handicap,increase of the wager and a $20,000 set

the more i tried to shy away the more he chased me,i was fanning the flames of desire
with the cool breeze of withdrawal.his greed and avarice supplied the rest

thus was applied the lesson from so many years ago

it is always satisfying to play a pool detective nit knocker into
an unknowing assistant
 
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PoolBum

Ace in the side.
Silver Member
I had a similar thing happen to me at the state fair when I was a young'n. I told the guy to show me that the ball would actually fit into the jug, and he said "Get the f*ck out of here and grow up!"

I counted it as a good lesson learned.
 

HawaiianEye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A couple dozen years ago, the carnival set up about a block down the road from where I lived at the time here in Hawaii.

They had a booth with a badly worn bar box that was racked up for 6-ball and the object of the game was to run the six balls in any order without missing. You got the break and the first shot at the beginning, but no ball in hand and when you miss, or scratch, the game was over.

They had $1, $2, and $3 prizes. The more you put down for a chance, the bigger the stuffed animal you won, if you won.

The cues were shit, with shitty tips, and they had shitty chalk. The table was uneven and the rails were dead.

Long story short, I closed him down. I won every large prize he had and was winning all the rest, when he made me quit. I told him I was going to go see the manager of the carnival if he was going to discriminate against winners. He decided to close for the night.
 

jimmyco

NRA4Life
Silver Member
Never made it there. Got thrown out of the cab.

I hailed a taxi. Cabbie asks, "Where to?" I said "State fair." Hack replies "30 cents every 1/9 mile, now where to, pal?"
 

Ken_4fun

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A couple dozen years ago, the carnival set up about a block down the road from where I lived at the time here in Hawaii.

They had a booth with a badly worn bar box that was racked up for 6-ball and the object of the game was to run the six balls in any order without missing. You got the break and the first shot at the beginning, but no ball in hand and when you miss, or scratch, the game was over.

They had $1, $2, and $3 prizes. The more you put down for a chance, the bigger the stuffed animal you won, if you won.

The cues were shit, with shitty tips, and they had shitty chalk. The table was uneven and the rails were dead.

Long story short, I closed him down. I won every large prize he had and was winning all the rest, when he made me quit. I told him I was going to go see the manager of the carnival if he was going to discriminate against winners. He decided to close for the night.

The sad thing was you were paying $3 for a large prize that he paid $1 for. You won them all and he made money every time you won.

Vegas was built on "winners" like you.

Ken
 

HawaiianEye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The sad thing was you were paying $3 for a large prize that he paid $1 for. You won them all and he made money every time you won.

Vegas was built on "winners" like you.

Ken

He didn't win anything off of me.

I was using other people's money to win prizes for them because they wanted me to play.

Also, these were BIG animals...the ones that are almost too big to carry. I'm sure he paid more and a $1 for them.
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
I was 10 my uncle was 9 and we took the bus to the state fair

It was full of what the psychologist call circus grifters

This one seasoned pro sized my uncle Jack and me up pretty easily

He had a large milk bottle and some hoops,all you had to do was
hoop one over the milk bottle to win a huge prize

Everytime we paid a quarter he pretended to look the other way,
we would lean over the edge to within 6 inches and throw the ring

We stll lost but we thought we were moving on him

To keep us interested he would almost catch us and give us a warning

this only increased our appetite for stolen bread tasting sweeter

But what has this to do with pool

IEverything my son,patience is a virtue

As I got into serious pool hustling in high school and college
I adapted this to my own purposes

Once I was trying to get a complete lock artist interested in
playing me,i knew in advance he wouldn't lose a quarter
unless he felt he had the nuts or was stealing,then he would bet a bundle

a very large bundle

i spent a week establishing myself as a loser letting one guy after another
beat me,
including the pool room detective who immediately steered me into our
friend and even staked him


well the games were very cheap,about $20 pool so i lost about half the games
making mistakes like shhooting at the wrong pocket, forgetting his fouls, even
spotting his scratches from my side

every so often I would snooze to collect after winning

Our friend now felt like he was stealing, so i set the hook by betting $300 per
game on the sidewith a confederate, now our friend the theif saw all of his
possibilities going out the window

He had to bet high or risk letting me lose all my money to the rail, now here
was when I seemed to have had enough,complimented him on his game
and told him I
was not stoopid,I couldn't win and especially playing cheap

To sum up what may be a boring story to you,he now gave me a much bigger
spot and increase the game to $1000 pr

I won't tell you how long I kept snoozing,overlooking, miscounting and breaking

about even by winning when i had side bets up to another $1000 on his beak,not
winning on my break but on his when the side betters came in

this led to another adjustment of handicap,increase of the wager and a $20,000 set

the more i tried to shy away the more he chased me,i was fanning the flames of desire
with the cool breeze of withdrawal.his greed and avarice supplied the rest

thus was applied the lesson from so many years ago

it is always satisfying to play a pool detective nit knocker into
an unknowing assistant

Quote..............will comment later on...:)
 

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
the state fair educated me too

A grifter at the state fair got me for sixty bucks, a week and a half's pay. I came back later that night with vengeance in my heart but the whole rig was gone, game, tent and all! I learned from that though and never again bet with someone on their own game. No matter how ridiculous a bet somebody offers me the reply is always I believe you can. That sixty dollars left a sting but saved me a lot of money over the years.

Another year at the state fair, I could do no wrong. Throwing footballs through tiny tires, not a problem. Basketballs through tiny rims, ditto. I even threw a softball into the triangle in the barrel which is almost impossible from the outside of the booth. I did all this on the first or second attempt every night for the two weeks the fair was in town. No interest in plush toys I threw them to the crowd.

Great story on the pool Dean. I always tried to start midway of the pool ladder at a new hall, losing a little, winning more. In a week or two I had moved up the ladder and collected money from people all the way up. When somebody commented I was playing a lot better than when I came through the door the first time I just reminded them that I had told them when I came in that I hadn't been playing, I just got in stroke!

A minor score and a minor chuckle: I had strayed across the city to the rich side of town. Took one of the rich kids for enough to make him sore. He angrily said if I had the guts to hang around he would call someone that would beat me ragged! "Sure, call them." It was around eleven PM on a weeknight and the man on the other end had a day job. He wasn't too keen on coming out but the local told him I was easy pickings, I barely beat him. Besides which, I had busted him and he needed his money back.

It took almost an hour for the badassed cousin to show up. When he did we took one look at each other then I started laughing and he started cussing! I knew him well from the poor side of town and he didn't want any part of what I had to offer. It was funny to listen to him dress down his cousin for ten minutes for getting him out of bed to come play me.

I made a few dollars here and there back then and for the most part it was fun. No matter what they are doing, people seldom seem to be having fun these days.

Hu
 

deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thanks for the fun stories about grifters,fairs,and pool

all of us have had some fun one way or the other

I personally like playing the so called smarts the guys
who are out beating the working man,who i never play

When titanic was carrying me around he played a bunch of
the working guys but I saw it ruin their lifes coming home
with no paycheck

There was an insurance salesman in Dallas,a real nit,a pool detective

I would see fathers bring their boys in to learn the ropes,our
friend the detective would explain how the way to get great
was to play for money,lose at first,paying the price,we all do it

It made me sick

This same detective would knock games, strutted aroud passing
himself off as an expert,criticizing everyone who missed a shot
He was actually killing action because people became afraid to lose
not because they had no gamble but because they were afraid of criticism

Afraid of the raised eyebrow syndrome


So instead of actually gambling,people sat around identifying themselves
with the Mosconi cuppers or pro players or one of the 2 or 3 guys who still played

My solution was to play detectives,lose a little to them,let them brag
let them convince everyone in the room that I was an idiot,the fool
who still had the money but was soon to be separated from it

So when the detective bet against me,that was my seal of disapproval,
everyone bet against me. When everybody bet against me
this opened the avenue of commerce for personal advancement

Supply and demand,maket factors came into play,when everyone wants to play me

my opportunities increase i am offered better games,huge spots and when i finally
get to play Johnny Powerful,or Fred The Locksmith i bust the place

Such was my business philosophy,it dodn't hurt that I play bad,it actually helped,

Only in the pool world is a succesful businessman with a sportcoat and money considered a loser
by every broke down bum without a job

I also used to play carney grifters in a tent in the n middle of the other tent fronts
where the grifter took a break and gambled among themselves with a no cheating
honor system among family members of their gypsy clan

I have more stories like that than I did pool,I hope my insomnia induced sroriesi
are not too soporific

I am reninded an epert is someone who knows it allt,a bore is
a guy who tells it all

Good night
 
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Low500

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thanks for the fun stories about grifters,fairs,and pool
I also used to play carney grifters in a tent in the n middle of the other tent fronts
where the grifter took a break and gambled among themselves with a no cheating
honor system among family members of their gypsy clan
Good night
The carneys working those alibis and flat stores would never allow a rube like you, who wasn't with it, to come into that tent.
And if you had really been into that tent you would know it was called the "G Top".
Your story is just cutting up jackpots, in my opinion. Just bull.
 

measureman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
When I was in the Marine Corps a carnival set up in town. This was in the south in the '60s.Little to no big brother over sight. The good old days.
That day my entire unit was formed up and an officer informed us that all the games of chance were rigged and we could not win.

Good advice for some of the country bumkins but as a pool room kid I already knew that.

The only thing I paid for was to go in a tent and see naked girls.
I was happy to pay.:thumbup:
 

CocoboloCowboy

Cowboys are my hero's
Silver Member
Robert Redford & Paul Newman made a movie about stealing from greedy people, it was like life. People buy lottery ticket because of greed, chance to win, or they have gamblers hearts. If they win, most will be broke in a few years.

Redfords & Newmans movies was "THE STING", also George C. Scott did another move call "FLIM FLAM MAN" similar theme.

City, County, and State Fair midway game are rigged in the favor of the operator. If they were not College Basketball Player would clean out the basket ball games with BENT HOOPS. Go off to the side, they are bent smaller. YES a Perfectly thrown ball will pass the hoop.

Ask the (join operator) game attendant if it so easy to win, stand were I need to be, show me from that place how easy it is.
 

logical

Loose Rack
Silver Member
The carneys working those alibis and flat stores would never allow a rube like you, who wasn't with it, to come into that tent.

And if you had really been into that tent you would know it was called the "G Top".

Your story is just cutting up jackpots, in my opinion. Just bull.

If your goal is to be recognized on the forum as the resident expert on historically accurate Gypsy Carney tent etiquette you should be aware that there is a formal application process.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

alphadog

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If your goal is to be recognized on the forum as the resident expert on historically accurate Gypsy Carney tent etiquette you should be aware that there is a formal application process.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Well thats only logical:wink:
 

DecentShot

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Robert Redford & Paul Newman made a movie about stealing from greedy people, it was like life. People buy lottery ticket because of greed, chance to win, or they have gamblers hearts. If they win, most will be broke in a few years.

Redfords & Newmans movies was "THE STING", also George C. Scott did another move call "FLIM FLAM MAN" similar theme.

City, County, and State Fair midway game are rigged in the favor of the operator. If they were not College Basketball Player would clean out the basket ball games with BENT HOOPS. Go off to the side, they are bent smaller. YES a Perfectly thrown ball will pass the hoop.

Ask the (join operator) game attendant if it so easy to win, stand were I need to be, show me from that place how easy it is.

That college player would be rich! With chinese basketballs and blow up plastic hammers.
 

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
Where is Terry?

I can't recall Terry's handle at the moment. He used to ride motorcycles in the big drums at the fair. Last I knew he still had a wall of death at his house. He could give us the skinny if he was so inclined.

I do remember there was a word that meant it was time to go to war. If you hear somebody yell that at a carnival or fair it is time to get out by the most direct route, the hell with fences gates and minor details.

I worked with or hired a few guys that had been carnies over the years. They had stories to tell but most of them were very closed mouthed with little to say to anyone that hadn't been in the life too or wasn't still in the life.

Hu
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
I can't recall Terry's handle at the moment. He used to ride motorcycles in the big drums at the fair. Last I knew he still had a wall of death at his house. He could give us the skinny if he was so inclined.

(
I do remember there was a word that meant it was time to go to war. If you hear somebody yell that at a carnival or fair it is time to get out by the most direct route, the hell with fences gates and minor details. )

I worked with or hired a few guys that had been carnies over the years. They had stories to tell but most of them were very closed mouthed with little to say to anyone that hadn't been in the life too or wasn't still in the life.

Hu

The word, to my untrained English ears, sounds like “loss and gain”
Pretty sure it’s from the Rom, commonly known as Gypsy, and would’ve originated in the
Punjabi language.
Rough translation...”Stop what you’re doing,”

Very common phrase in many countries...black marketeers, pawn brokers, dealers in
hot goods, etc

If anybody knows how to spell, post up, please
 

gmillioni

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Grifters, tricksters,andcon artists

To sum up all those stories, I learned “never bet on another mans tricks”.
 
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