best pool player in your pool room.

[JAM]

Those are great pictures. The pool scene in Maryland is surely not what it used to be, so many characters of the past are not around anymore and it's ashame. By the way one of the last times I saw Geese play was in the early 90's. He was playing one-handed jacked up race to 9 for 300 and he won on the hill.

Where did you play at? Greenies? Isn't that the place where you had to go down a flight of stairs? We always went to Bill and Billie's in Glen Burnie after midnight. That's when the action started. I saw Efren Reyes there on the road one time. :grin-square:

 

[Joey V]

Where did you play at? Greenies? Isn't that the place where you had to go down a flight of stairs? We always went to Bill and Billie's in Glen Burnie after midnight. That's when the action started. I saw Efren Reyes there on the road one time. :grin-square:

I hung at Gentlemen's Cue ( Benny's ) and Greenie's. Both pool rooms were about a mile apart. Benny's has been around for over 40 years and is still open while Greenie's opened up around 1991 and only stayed open for about 10 years, However it was a 24 hour joint and the first 2 years it was open there was always major action with plenty of well known road players and champions coming through. There was also plenty of action and tournaments at Benny's but they only stayed open until 2 a.m. Benny's was also a much smaller pool room. Both pool rooms required you to go down a flight of steps in order to enter but I believe your remembering Benny's. The match I mentioned with Geese took place at Greenie's. Hope I didn't confuse you too much.

 

[K Knight]

For me I only new him as Roy. It was at the Cue-N-You in Grayslake IL about 13 or 14 years ago. We'd play races to 7 for $50 and he'd give me the 5 out. I rarely won but the whole time he would tell me what he was doing and why for position and speed. I learned a ton from the guy over almost a year. In hindsight I had no chance and could have negotiated a much better spot and a cheaper game if I hadn't been 18 and had a pocket full of money from a youth spent in a questionable profession. I had to leave my cue with him as collateral a few times but I always got it back.

I would love to find the same game but on the other side. I don't even want to think how much I gave to him over the course of close to a year.

 

[fasteddief]

Players

All you guys forgot the great Champagne "Eddie Kelly" lived in Baltimore for about 5 or 6 years also Geece came in third at Johnson city Tournament. Also a player called the Bread Man on a Bar Box,3 finger Ronnie Cyphur Buddy Dennis one step below Eddie Kelly.I knew all of them Forgot One Pocket Nate Colbert perfect cue control and Monk from Highland town Gregg Riggie's father 25 times MD.Straight pool Champion the great Richard Riggie just remembered Larry Sapia a great player too.FastEddieF.signing off. P.S. The good old days

 

[Johnny9]

Endicott NY:

Lee Sibly
Jerry Fields
Bucky Souvanthong


San Francisco:

Billy Palmer
George Michaels
Dave Piona
Gene Venetura
Amar Kang
Tony Chohan
Michelle Rakin
Billy the Kid
Tobias Rogossnig (almost won (150-119) against this man in my greatest 14:1 to date!!)


Too many greats to name really :lol:


Seattle:

Dan Louie
JD
Harry Platis
Rich Guyler (cnat spell)
Stan "The Man" Tourangeau

Hey, Endicott, NY. Yes, I knew Jerry back then. I played alot at Nick's place, on Washington Ave. How about Bob Brundage? The best stick back there around 70's through the 80's. I got lucky once, and beat him right before I left NY. Never saw him again. But Jerry can play great straight, from what i remember

 

[richiebalto]

Where did you play at? Greenies? Isn't that the place where you had to go down a flight of stairs? We always went to Bill and Billie's in Glen Burnie after midnight. That's when the action started. I saw Efren Reyes there on the road one time. :grin-square:

oh bill and billies that was the gambling spot for some time,like you said Jam all the action was after the bars closed,i seen the most amazing thing in pool there in my life,leonardo andam was in town,he is spoting cigar tom the wild 7,race to 13 for a thou,tom is winning 9to2,andam asked tom if he wanted to double the bet,so the few people with tom agree to jack it up,well andam hit tom with all his mite,tom loses 13to9,vanover has never be right after that!

 

[JAM]

All you guys forgot the great Champagne "Eddie Kelly" lived in Baltimore for about 5 or 6 years also Geece came in third at Johnson city Tournament. Also a player called the Bread Man on a Bar Box,3 finger Ronnie Cyphur Buddy Dennis one step below Eddie Kelly.I knew all of them Forgot One Pocket Nate Colbert perfect cue control and Monk from Highland town Gregg Riggie's father 25 times MD.Straight pool Champion the great Richard Riggie just remembered Larry Sapia a great player too.FastEddieF.signing off. P.S. The good old days

Geese played Breadman. I forgot about him. He was an excellent bar player. We met up with him at some biker bar, a real hole-in-the-wall kind of joint. Both Breadman and Geese smoked filterless Lucky Strikes.

Every time Breadman would lay down his cigarette on the side of the pool table to make a shot, it seemed as if Geese would pick it up, thinking it was his. I remember Breadman running out of cigarettes twice and said, "Man, I can see I'm going to need a whole carton to play you." :grin-square:

Geese ended up winning a couple dimes, but it was a long and drawn-out battle. Driving home during the daylight hours with scratchy eyes somehow didn't seem so bad back then with our pockets full of cheese. I don't think I'd want to sweat that hard for that kind of dough today. It would take me three of four days to recover.

 

[JAM]

I hung at Gentlemen's Cue ( Benny's ) and Greenie's. Both pool rooms were about a mile apart. Benny's has been around for over 40 years and is still open while Greenie's opened up around 1991 and only stayed open for about 10 years, However it was a 24 hour joint and the first 2 years it was open there was always major action with plenty of well known road players and champions coming through. There was also plenty of action and tournaments at Benny's but they only stayed open until 2 a.m. Benny's was also a much smaller pool room. Both pool rooms required you to go down a flight of steps in order to enter but I believe your remembering Benny's. The match I mentioned with Geese took place at Greenie's. Hope I didn't confuse you too much.

You're right. I do remember both places. Greenie's had all the action.

One year, Geese's mom and I accompanied him to the Maryland State Championship. It was, I think, 1984 or 1985. Geese had won it a few times, as had Cigar Tom. Cigar Tom's wife was there rooting for him. Geese's mom and I were there rooting for Geese.

One match, a player was beating Geese and was way out front in the score. As I'm sure you may know, Geese had trouble accepting defeat, I guess you could say.

Geese's opponent was getting ready to break, as Geese was racking the balls. You almost see steam coming out of his ears, and I recognized that look in his eyes. It was horrible to see. Geese slammed the balls in the rack with all his might. He just couldn't contain himself. The noise was so loud that everybody stopped shooting and looked over. He then picked up the 8-ball and proceeded to throw it across the pool room with all his might.

Cigar Tom's wife walked over to me and said, "If Tom ever did that, I'd take that cue stick and break it over his head." :grin-square:

Geese suffered from inner demons after he was robbed and beaten up severely down South, so bad that his brother had to come rescue him and bring him back home. He was never the same again after that experience.

As Fasteddief said, he did, indeed, come in third place at a Johnston City tournament. Oh, he was so proud of that. I can still hear him saying, "I was third in the world at Johnston City." That brought him such joy. Pool was literally his life. I miss Geese.

 

[strokerace]

Wow! Strokerace, I think you and I would have gotten along just fine! We both had that long hair thing going. :smilewinkgrin:

Reminds me of that song:

Give me head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama, everywhere daddy daddy

Hair -- hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Grow it, show it, long as God can grow it, my hair

Im sure we would have..and yes..i used to play and sing that wonderfull
song all the time..it was a great time to be youthfull...:thumbup:

 

[aldavis33]

In Columbus it was Kenny McCoy in the 70s and 80s.
Then it was Howard Vicory for a little of the 80s into the 90s.
Then it was Dee Adkins through the middle of the 90s until Corey showed up. During this period Chris B was right up there with all of them getting most of the action. NOw it has to be just Chris because Dee doesn't hardly play and I don't think anyone else has got to their speed.

 

[Island Drive]

In Columbus it was Kenny McCoy in the 70s and 80s.
Then it was Howard Vicory for a little of the 80s into the 90s.
Then it was Dee Adkins through the middle of the 90s until Corey showed up. During this period Chris B was right up there with all of them getting most of the action. NOw it has to be just Chris because Dee doesn't hardly play and I don't think anyone else has got to their speed.

Your post jogged my brain and up popped Steve Cook, first saw em at Johnson City late 60's, then next in Tampa at Jr. Golfs pool room, pool room had rubber tiles on the floor, ball would roll for ever off table, also Steve hung around with a guy named Clyde, he'd bet on anything, bird count on a telephone wire, how many blue cars would drive by in ten minutes, Clyde loved Hy Lia (spelling???), we won the daily double at the horse track and missed the Big Q on a photo finish, boy that $26,000 pot in 1968 would of been a nice score, daily paid $375.

 

[RobertR]

Fun thread....

Late 70's Eddie's Billiards, Oxnard California: Bill Houck, Dirty Harry

Mid 80's Hollywood Billiards, (Hollywood & Western): Keith, Freddie Guarino

Current: Table Steaks, Denver Colorado: Mark H, Tony P

I didn't get around as much and see the huge money matches, but from what I saw, Freddie G was the best player for the cash I've ever seen.

 

[3kushn]

Island Drive
Dennis Tex Gieske ?sp
Blackie Lesieur
Old Has Been

Runner ups
Bill Wade
Duquoin Doc

 

[8&snap]

I hung at Gentlemen's Cue ( Benny's ) and Greenie's. Both pool rooms were about a mile apart. Benny's has been around for over 40 years and is still open while Greenie's opened up around 1991 and only stayed open for about 10 years, However it was a 24 hour joint and the first 2 years it was open there was always major action with plenty of well known road players and champions coming through. There was also plenty of action and tournaments at Benny's but they only stayed open until 2 a.m. Benny's was also a much smaller pool room. Both pool rooms required you to go down a flight of steps in order to enter but I believe your remembering Benny's. The match I mentioned with Geese took place at Greenie's. Hope I didn't confuse you too much.

Greenie lost that room pitching quarters,he was always a go-off, one of the best bailers of all time.He ask his mom to bail him out to save the room & she finally put her foot down.The only one i feel sorry for is my good friend Reggie,he just opened the deli inside the room.

 

[JAM]

Greenie lost that room pitching quarters,he was always a go-off, one of the best bailers of all time.He ask his mom to bail him out to save the room & she finally put her foot down.The only one i feel sorry for is my good friend Reggie,he just opened the deli inside the room.

Interesting. I heard from Geese that he lost the pool room in a poker game, but we all know how rumors and hearsay go. They do tend to get embellished along the way.

That is sad about the deli guy.

Baltimore, in case anyone doesn't know it, has *the* best coin tossers in the country, bar none. I have a few funny tales about them, but I'll save them for another time.

 

[richiebalto]

black henry is a coin hudini,the stuff he can do with a coin is just amazing,he can take 5 quarters shake em up and toss them all on the pool table at the same time,and he tells you to call heads or tails,well what ever you call thats what comes up everytime!you can say all heads or 2 heads and3tails it doesnt matter,he did it to me 7 times in a row ,thats all i wanted to see!luckly we knowen each other for some time and are friends,he gave me my money back,

 

[book collector]

Is that the guy they called the Truck-driver?

I gambled at a place called the Golden 8-ball?(i think)
Heard him and Vickery played about equal.
They were both out of town when I was there...
might have been a good thing...but I'm not sure for whom

Yes, Kenny was the truck driver. Howard never won playing Kenny, until Kenny was in his 80s. I always thought he should be giving Howard the 8 at least. If you played for 10 dollars a game , you were dead meat, for 200 a game , or against a known name player, even one he should have beaten, he was too worried about the money. {unless he knew he could beat you. } He was ridiculously tight with money, which really cost him imo. He could flat play some, no doubt, He beat Bill Stroud playing right before he started making cues. Kenny didn't travel to play any time I was around there, in fact one of the better players in town told me they took him on the road one time in the early 1960s and when he found out they planned on being gone over night he freaked out. He could have had backers, but he didn't like playing with one, I believe because once he saw he could win ,he wanted all the money, and it made him physically ill that he was sharing with someone, and when he did allow someone to back him , he played a couple balls worse than his normal game. He was being backed when he played Bartrum, Chris made him bet 200 a game , got him out of his comfort zone and crushed him. For 10 a game , he would have had no chance .
He was not "sharp", he could never have gone on the road by himself.

 

[jasonlaus]

There was 6 real good players around here all the time 20 years ago Denny Searcy and Tony Watson were the best for the cash in that order with Brady Norris a close third . With Cliff Joiner the best at one pocket, but played 9ball great also and Ron Parks and Jaybird (Jason Brown). There was a lot of others in action at Mothers and Passtime here in Charlotte that lived in NC like Earl, Archer, Hillbilly, Coltrain and the SC boys, Stevie Moore, Tony Elin, Grady and Fountain Inn Red Willis.--Leonard

I didn't get to Mother's till around 91ish, Ron and Brady were there, then at some point Ian Costello, I missed all the others

 

[VTEC John]

Endicott NY:

Lee Sibly
Jerry Fields
Bucky Souvanthong


San Francisco:

Billy Palmer
George Michaels
Dave Piona
Gene Venetura
Amar Kang
Tony Chohan
Michelle Rakin
Billy the Kid
Tobias Rogossnig (almost won (150-119) against this man in my greatest 14:1 to date!!)


Too many greats to name really :lol:


Seattle:

Dan Louie
JD
Harry Platis
Rich Guyler (cnat spell)
Stan "The Man" Tourangeau

Also Ronnie Allen (no relation to the great RA) was up there with Michaels and Aguero. Tobias Ragossnig came over from Austria for the sole purpose of playing top players and becoming an elite pro. Never got there but he had a great game. Nice guy, too.

 

[KAP1976]

Pittsburgh, early 1990s

Went to high school with a kid who was a year ahead of me but in one of my English classes. He missed school a lot or used school as a place to catch up on sleep. The reason, we later found out, he was skipping and sleeping because he was out playing pool every night. "Okay," I thought. "He goes out and plays with friends and stuff like that."

Fast forward a few months and I had started getting an interest in playing the game. Breaker's had handicapped 9-ball tournaments on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights with a $10 entry fee. I would go on Friday nights since it didn't interfere with school. I show up one night and the kid who used to sleep next to me in Mrs. Greene's journalism class is there.

It was Jerry Slivka.