Jack,
The ultimate move may have been made by Danny Janes.
We went to a new pool room in Glen Burnie, MD to see what was going on. We stayed for a while and watched the suckers playing. Danny said to me that a lot of people were miscuing. I had noticed it too.
We got some balls and started hitting them around. About the third shot Dan miscued. He picked up the chalk and examined it. We quit. We left and went to a nearby Billiard Supply. Dan bought a large box of Master chalk. We took it back to the pool room and Danny persuaded the owner to trade his box of chalk for the Master.
I didn't think much about it after that until Danny showed up with some Master chalk for me to try. After a few shots I miscued. Danny laughed and explained how he had taken the labels off both brands of chalk and reversed them.
Danny never played again for money without putting in the bogus chalk for his opponent to use. He kept his master in his pocket.
I never would use it in a game because I felt it was unfair.
It made better players of some of the people Dan played because they learned to use center ball.
You can not imagine how effective it was. I have seen a miscue on a straight in 3 foot 9 ball after the guy chalked up very carefully.
There is more to the story that I will save for another time.
Bill S.
