Richie Ambrose... RIP???

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
On the Turning Stone stream Danny DiLiberto just said that Richie passed away last week. Anyone else hear this? I saw him play in early 80's and he could play.
 

deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
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
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Last time I saw him was in 2011. He was fine.

I’ll make a call and find out what’s up
 

measureman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Richie from the Bronx.
He used to come to Park Billiards in Neptune N.J. back in the early '60s.
I was about 16 then and he was older.
I would put him at about 76 or 77 now.
What a character.
If true RIp.
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Made the call, we tried to call Lou Banyon no answer, my friend will call Lou again. He will know 100000% for sure.

Thinking about it last I heard Richie was ok around a year ago.


On a side note. Archie the Greek has a brain aneurysm last week, he was talking to my friend yesterday. So there’s that news


I hope Richie is ok, I’ll post when we get Lou in the phone.

Fatboy
 

Island Drive

Otto/Dads College Roommate/Cleveland Browns
Silver Member
Thx....Richie and I go back from the Janscos period.... in Jonhston City Ill dazs/60's....I actually compare this\ink of this mans life.... in many ways to the way in which I lived my life, tho Not at his thinking in my youth. $$
 
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Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I still haven’t heard anything.

When I do I’ll make a post. I hope it’s just a rumor. I have some good Richie stories too! I’ve only known him since 91-92 ish. So I missed the good part!
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I still haven’t heard anything.

When I do I’ll make a post. I hope it’s just a rumor. I have some good Richie stories too! I’ve only known him since 91-92 ish. So I missed the good part!
I hope you're right. DiLiberto sounded pretty sure of what he was stating.
 

deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
archie has a brain anueryrsm, is that as bad as it sounds

that archie is some character.

he is one of a kind

why don't you tell us a few stories, i am sure everyone would love to
hear them

i barely knew the guy, visited a few times,could not agree on a game

surely he is the last of his kind
 

Island Drive

Otto/Dads College Roommate/Cleveland Browns
Silver Member
archie has a brain anueryrsm, is that as bad as it sounds

that archie is some character.

he is one of a kind

why don't you tell us a few stories, i am sure everyone would love to
hear them

i barely knew the guy, visited a few times,could not agree on a game

surely he is the last of his kind

He skirted all of the up/coming greats of the sixties/Rempe/Marino/Liscotti/Cole/Cook etc. He worked the edges of the action. Booked no losers was my take. He had one of those Smiles that you would trust....too quickly.
 
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Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
We got in touch with Lou, he hasn’t heard anything about Richie in a long long time.

I don’t know who else to call. Harry Platis knows him well, I’ll call Harry today.

Yeah he had that smile and could earn anyone’s “trust” fast. He was a great craps hustler in Vegas for many years. Then he would go to the Shoe and play what ever he hustled up that day. And do it all over again the next day.

I’ll call Harry and see what he knows.

Best
Fatboy
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
We got in touch with Lou, he hasn’t heard anything about Richie in a long long time.

I don’t know who else to call. Harry Platis knows him well, I’ll call Harry today.

Yeah he had that smile and could earn anyone’s “trust” fast. He was a great craps hustler in Vegas for many years. Then he would go to the Shoe and play what ever he hustled up that day. And do it all over again the next day.

I’ll call Harry and see what he knows.

Best
Fatboy
Someone on TS stream chat said today that it was a month or so ago. Tried to msg. DiLiberto but he's not around today.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Richie From The Bronx, 9-Ball Richie, Mr. Nine Ball. All of these nicknames he was gifted with. A few posts above are in error. Richie played everybody and barred no one! Let's set the record straight there. Nobody gave him a spot at 9-Ball! He was the one giving weight to other good players.

Richie Ambrose (correct last name is D'Ambrosia) was one of the premier 9-Ball players of his era, his prime years from the early 60's until the mid 80's. I would guess his age at close to 80. I saw him during the World Series of Poker last year. He was hustling Craps backers, extolling his "system" that he developed many years ago. This has been his "play" in Vegas for the last 15-20 years.

I could say a lot more about him but this will suffice for now.
 
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Dan Harriman

One of the best in 14.1
Silver Member
did not know him well

But have seen him play (bumps), as I remembered he banked well - I hope it's just a fake news rumor.
 

BillPorter

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Played him once and once was enough!

Richie and his then traveling buddy, Tommy Thompson (Titanic's son) came into the Times Square Cue Club (located in Dallas, TX) looking for some action. This was back in the early to mid-1960s. I didn't even know the name "Richie Ambrose" at the time but I figured he was a road player. I told him I'd try him a few games with the 8 ball. A couple of games later I told him he was clearly out of my league but I'd try a few more games with the 7 and 8. Didn't win a game as I recall.

Here's Richie at the Dayton Open back in the mid-1980s:

Ambrose1-s-X2.jpg
 

mbvl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Richie from the Bronx. One of a kind. Loved watching him play. Settled in Houston for a long time. Don't have any recent info.
 

measureman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Geez I just remembered something.
Richie came to Tony Cattucis Ballroom on route 9 in Toms River N.J. in about 1983 or so.
He had a black van and dressed in all black.
He was there to play a legendary go off sucker.
I know he won a bunch but I can't remember the details.
 

dardusm

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Richie From The Bronx, 9-Ball Richie, Mr. Nine Ball. All of these nicknames he was gifted with. A few posts above are in error. Richie played everybody and barred no one! Let's set the record straight there. Nobody gave him a spot at 9-Ball! He was the one giving weight to other good players.

Richie Ambrose (correct last name is D'Ambrosia) was one of the premier 9-Ball players of his era, his prime years from the early 60's until the mid 80's. I would guess his age at close to 80. I saw him during the World Series of Poker last year. He was hustling Craps backers, extolling his "system" that he developed many years ago. This has been his "play" in Vegas for the last 15-20 years.

I could say a lot more about him but this will suffice for now.

I met Richie in Vegas 15 years ago or so at the BCA tournament. I was playing low limit craps across the street from the Riviera at Circus Circus. Playing the pass line and making two come bets with double odds. This gentleman approached me to explain the fallacy of my action. I disagreed with him as I worked in the industry as supervisor and craps dealer for a dozen years. He explained his place bet system and I tried to explain the concept of house advantage. He was a peach. A few days later I see him matched up at the nationals and found out who he was. You can't hide a great stroke. I hope the rumors of his demise is overstated.
 

chemrvos1972

Registered
This guy had a crap's system on cocktail napkin's he was selling to my backer, so he could get the padlock of his room in Vegas the only time I met him. I heard he was a great roll out player, was very personable and got us to the front of a seafood buffet line at the Rio.
 

JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Interesting read about Richie Ambrose: Richie had grown up with pool. His father had once owned a room in New York. Like most top players, he was good almost from the moment he picked up a cue. He could run thirty straight balls after he’d been playing for three months. He was soon able to beat anyone who played at his father’s room and brashly began going across town to a room that was the home ground of Jersey Red, Boston Shorty, and other great hustlers of the day. When he could play them even and win, he began hustling around New York. He knew that if he was in a league with Red and Shorty and their peers he could beat anyone else in the world. In 1956, at nineteen, he won $5000 in twelve days. Scores like that inured him to his mother’s nagging that he was turning into a bum. Some bum, he thought. He knew he was making more at pool than his mother, father, and brother combined made at their jobs. He left home and went on the road.

“Pool is the hardest hustle there is,” he says now. “There’s driving. All that driving about kills you. Then you have to play all night long. Your back hurts, your feet hurt, and maybe you play eight or ten hours and lose. You had to give up too much weight. No money for all that time. Now you’ve really got to work. Lots of times I’ve been playing for fifty dollars and had two dollars in my pocket. Playing on nerve, you know what I mean? But it’s fun too. How else am I going to get to travel like that? Meet all the people I’ve met? And you know, take my mother. She worked all her life at some nothing job and what’s she got? A little apartment and a couple hundred bucks saved in the bank. Well, that’s what I’ve got. I’ve got a little apartment. I’ve got a couple hundred bucks in the bank. But I’ve never worked.”


Source: https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/minnesota-fats-where-are-you/
 

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