Are there any books about the "Life" in a pool room or about one of the great "Action" pool Rooms?

W

WobblyStroke

Well-known member
Pierre Shakes said:
It is the best literature pool will ever see. McGoory talking to Robert Byrne who polishes it up. My memory will be close enough:

“I woke at noon with a terrific hangover and looked at the stained ceiling of the flophouse. My aunts had kicked me out, like my mother had before them. I couldn’t keep a job and I drank too much. I thought to myself ‘McGoorty, what you’ve become is a drunken two-bit pool hustler.’ Hey listen: I was glad to have a trade."
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I need this book.
 
1

1sttbone

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
bebob would be your authority on the great detroit era of gambling stories..go to bebob publishing on the web.
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Pushout said:
"Billiards: Hustlers and Heroes, Legends and Lies, and the Search for Higher Truth on the Green Felt"
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John Grissim.

Here is a previous thread about the book.

Cool Book Cool Photographer

I reached for my copy of “Billiards” by John Grissim to look up something, and I started reading the cover jacket, and found something I missed! Check out who the photographer is!!😃🤩😍
forums.azbilliards.com
 
Black-Balled

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just remembered Gerald Huber's 'the green felt jungle'

Pretty good and I hope he is well...haven't seen posts from him in a while?
 
S

Stickman9

Active member
Bob Jewett said:
"Hustlers, Beats, and Others" by Ned Polsky is an interesting look at fringe people from the point of view of a sociologist. If you get it, the second edition has an update of the changes in the pool world. It is not a rip-roaring stories book, though.
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I have the 1985 edition and I found it very interesting. It's been a while since I read it, but I seem to remember that much of what he wrote in the 1960s is still true today. It's also worth noting that Polsky is a pool player, so he had a better understanding of the culture than most academics.
 
jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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Silver Member
There was an allure to pool that is mostly missing today. Very few "legendary" poolrooms are still around. In the 60's and 70's we all knew the Hi-Cue in New Jersey and the Golden Cue in Queens, NY. There was LeCue in Houston, the Sport Palace in New Orleans, Palace Billiards and Cochrans in SF, Trueloves in OKC, Forest Park billiards in Dayton, the Rack in Detroit, the Billiard Den in Hollywood, CA. And there were dozens more in every road players Black Book (yes they had one in some form). Grady told me my room (and me) was in every players black book. I was proud to hear that!

Players would share information as to the best "Spots" to go to, who would play, how much they would bet, what they liked to play and their "speed" in each game. It was customary to throw a gapper or some juice to a player who steered you to a good spot where you made a score. Yes, this is how we talked back then!

Every player had a " Home Room" where they preferred to hang out. That could last a week, a month or for years.

This is a primer for anyone wanting to read stories about this era in pool.
 
Biloxi Boy

Biloxi Boy

Man With A Golden Arm
And, so what if we have lost all of these dives. We now have all of the great tournaments. Pool is being freed from its sordid past. I can't wait to read all of the great books that will be coming out about this exciting new era of pool.
 
G

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Biloxi Boy said:
And, so what if we have lost all of these dives. We now have all of the great tournaments. Pool is being freed from its sordid past. I can't wait to read all of the great books that will be coming out about this exciting new era of pool.
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Modern pro pool is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Yeah they play good but the robotic nature of most players is kinda boring. A lot of the great old rooms were not dives and most of what went on was far from sordid. Enjoy your antiseptic, lily-white vision of pool. I'll pass.
 
jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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garczar said:
Modern pro pool is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Yeah they play good but the robotic nature of most players is kinda boring. A lot of the great old rooms were not dives and most of what went on was far from sordid. Enjoy your antiseptic, lily-white vision of pool. I'll pass.
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Thanks for that. To make a living at pool, you had to get down on the table and make those balls! You couldn't fake it at pool, and I loved that fact. Every score I made, I had to grind it out, one game at a time. One truism from TCOM was how sweet money won was. After a long night of playing and I got back to my room and counted the money, there was a feeling of elation over the extra 30 or 40 dollars. I had earned it with my skill on the table!
 
C

cjl0s

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Cornbread Red's book had a lot of stories about the Detroit scene back in the day. Grady's book was also fun to read. I could take or leave Rags to Rifleman. The best books IMHO are those written by actual writers. Playing Off the Rail by McCumber and McGoorty by Robert Byrne. I also liked Jay's Pool Wars a lot...
 
Black-Balled

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Biloxi Boy said:
And, so what if we have lost all of these dives. We now have all of the great tournaments. Pool is being freed from its sordid past. I can't wait to read all of the great books that will be coming out about this exciting new era of pool.
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It was like the wild West and today's scene- especially the pro tourney trail- is a completely different thing. Sanitized, corporate-ized and in bed early.

Neither all good nor all bad, but I sure did like walking into a 24 hr pool room and having a lineup of players to choose from.

Who's feeling froggy?!
 
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