Confessions of a pool player, YOU!!

There was this guy I played a couple of times some cheap 9 ball for practice and both times he quit a couple of games ahead without warning. He never would play for more than an hour or so. He would never raise the bet, but we played about even.

I had bought a bar box big cue ball and was practicing on an eight footer one day. He comes in and we start the usual game, but he couldn't figure out why he can't draw his rock. :D
 
Sweet Marissa said:
Jay, you don't look old enough to have been playing pool, much less gambling, back then!!

Thanks Hon, I started gambling when I was in diapers. lol

When you live in poolrooms all your life, you get what is called a "poolroom suntan". Very fair skin. When your skin never tans, it also doesn't age much. So there is at least one benefit to hanging around the hall all day.

I would go months at a time back then barely seeing the light of day, playing pool all night and sleeping all day. I was on a backwards schedule, driving home many mornings when all the working stiffs were caught in traffic going to work. I kind of liked it. It appealed to my contrary nature. Which you sometimes see when I argue endlessly on here.

For your information Marissa, I can play the Senior Tour, if we only had one.
 
OK, guess I can't offer the kind of stories that the rest of you can. Most I've ever done was play a practical joke on somebody at the table.

My opponent went to the bathroom during a rack of nine ball and told me to keep shooting, so I did. After missing the four ball and selling out, I took the thirteen ball out of the ball tray and placed it next to the cue ball, snookering him. Sure enough, the fact that he was snookered behind the thirteen in a game of nine ball didn't seem strange to him and he simply played the kick, giving up ball in hand. I couldn't play it cool from that point on and, after spilling the beans, I forfeited the rack, but we had a good laugh.

Tony Robles pulled this one on me. After racking the balls, he broke to open a game of straight pool and left me a shot. I started to run the rack and got to the point that there was just one two ball cluster left. I ran into this cluster very softly but the balls didn't separate. A couple of shots later, I ran into them very softly again, and they still didn't separate. A few shots later, I hadn't solved the problem and the only two balls left on the table were the two balls in the cluster, one of which I decided to try to cut into the corner. when I hit the shot, the two balls still didn't separate, and according to Tony, the look on my face was priceless. As it turns out, Tony had two balls that were screwed together that he liked to use in exhibitions and he placed them in the middle of the rack. Talk about a waste of a thirteen ball run!
 
Jimmy Mataya has a set of those 2 balls, no, really...

sjm said:
[...]when I hit the shot, the two balls still didn't separate, and according to Tony, the look on my face was priceless. As it turns out, Tony had two balls that were screwed together that he liked to use in exhibitions and he placed them in the middle of the rack. Talk about a waste of a thirteen ball run!

Jimmy Mataya has a set of those 2 balls, no, really... I saw him execute a shot with 2 balls
frozen on the long rail, but with one almost in front of the side pocket. Of course you don't
know the 2 balls are attached, and he calls both balls in the side pocket. I hear him make the
call, and I'm thinking to myself, that shot is impossible. So he makes the shot, and looks
over at me. (He knew I was a player from something that happened just before the show). My
face is puzzled, as I'm trying to figure out how that shot could have possibly been made.
He enjoys my face for a while, sets them up, and makes the shot again! I'm still really puzzled
and looking at him. He says to the crowd, "That's a tough shot. You've gotta have balls to make
shot like that! You've gotta have balls like these!", and takes the balls out of the side pocket
and spins them, so you can see they were attached to each other.

I'll never forget that. And, I bet he'll never forget me, for what happened before the show, but
I'll save that for another story.
 
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Well unfortunately for myself I am as honest as they come and can't bring myself to cheat in any way, shape, or form. I'll even give up the table if you think I fouled and I know I didn't...unless your an asshole of course. Then I'll just tell you to get F'ed.

However I do have a minor quirk that bothers me but I still do it from time to time. If I am racking and just can't get the balls to stay frozen, I will blink really hard right when I lift the rack so that way I don't see the ball roll off and I don't feel guilty.:)
 
jay helfert said:
Worst thing I ever did to an opponent on the pool table. I once played a guy who would only bet $5 a game. He refused to raise the bet, but also would not quit until I did, or so he said. We played for nearly 40 hours and I finally busted him for $685. At $5 a game. You figure it out. And this was in 1969 or 70. So it was good money then. The time was over $50 at 90 cents an hour.

I went home and slept for 14 hours straight. But woke up with my pockets stuffed with cheese. haha
i remember that Jay then you went shopping for diapers for your new born Donovan.:D
 
the only dirty move I ever pulled was against was a solid A player, we got along fine but he wasnt a friend-I dont gamble with friends, like Jay Helfert I wouldnt bet more than $20 on anything with him and let him off or he would buy dinner If I won. But this guy wasnt a friend like that, I'd play a set or two with him and call a bad hit when it was close or if he feathered a ball I'd say he missed it just to piss him off, It worked like magic I would over a 2-3 hour session do it 3 times and he would be so pissed he would run the rack and miss a hanger on the 9 every time, I awalys beat him with this move. I watched another guy do it to him not intentionally and saw how he fell apart so I figured it was his achellies heal and made the move and magic it was. I awalys got paid, he would stay pissed for a day or two and with in a month we would match up and I'd do it again. He never figured it out, once in a while I would let him win a little, He played alot better than me, but couldnt move to save his a$$. Otherwise I have awalys been a square never cheated etc.

i had my spots I would stop and win the gas $$$ driving from northern ca to Southern ca, or Vegas in the whole triangle I had my spots, and never lost, I would pick my spots carefully, and push the balls around to give my customers their $$$'s worth and insure they would play when I was passing through again, I burned out one spot in Victor Ville, thiss was years ago, I wouldnt know where to go now days. There is nothing wrong with giving your customers a chance in their own minds-its been done to me. It took me years to be able to shift gears in the middle of a game, for the longest time If I stalled then I couldnt kick it into gear when I needed to, I can now even though I'm not playing my best, it comes with experience, Dave Knottingham helped me with that aspect of hustling,
 
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rackmsuckr said:
Knowing he didn't know anything about pool, I shoved right through it with english and pocketed the ball. Table run on TV, woo hoo! Only problem was, several pool players saw the show and gave me grief over it later. :p

lol... I'll have to tell this story to the regulars where I play pool... What pool players saw your show?
 
The worst thing I did was way back in college where we had a pool table in our dorm. The guy was lining up on the 8b, ready to shoot and then I asked, "what pocket." So the guy lifts his cue stick and points to the intended pocket. Of course he missed and I ended up winning the game.

Granted, we were d players playing around between classes.
 
I'd say the worst thing I've done was intentionally lose a match in my APA 8ball league.

What happend was, the team we were playing against had all 4's and 3's and one 7. Well I always try to play atleast one match against everyone in the league, and almost have in 2 yrs. Well thier team put up a girl, sl3, and i put myself up, figuring she shoots pretty well, so it should be a challenge.

Of course the sl7 and one of his butt buddies start in with the whole, well he might actually be able to win a match now, kinda crap. Well, in the first game, i broke, didnt make anything, and they were still keeping up with the stupid comments, So i fired the 8ball straight into the side pocket and racked the balls up.

Then, of course they went ballistic, and called up the LO, and was saying I was intentionally sandbagging, and this and that, Well, they get off the phone, and tell me that If i do it again, i wont be able to play in the league anymore. So me being me, I looked at them and said, DOES IT LOOK LIKE I GIVE A FUK!!!!! And fired at the 8ball again lol. And lost the match in 2 games.

The girl, who hates it when guys sandbag against her, got all pissed at me, and I turned to her and said, well ya know maybe if your fukking team mates wernt such dicks, I'd probably have actually wanted to play seriously against, you.

The girl turns around and starts to ***** out everyone on her team for a good 10mins lol.

But on the plus side, i dont play the apa anymore either WOOT!!!!!!! not because of this, but because I had to move outa town.
 
I put my voodoo magic on the corner pocket he was shooting into...
 
Ummagumma said:
lol... I'll have to tell this story to the regulars where I play pool... What pool players saw your show?

Ummmmm, I am taking the fifth on that one. Let's just say even our neighbors in Canada busted me for it, lol. :p

Oh, and I have it on tape. I will have to show it to you one day.
 
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Since we're also bringing up the worst things other people have done to us, I have a couple zingers.

I was gambling with this guy and I took a break to go to the washroom. I was up significantly. I can't remember why he was playing when I got back since I never take a break during a game, but only between games, but he was playing when I returned and I asked him what happened. He said he shot for me while I was gone and I missed, so now he was shooting! :eek: :p

Another time, when I was bearing down on a shot, he just THREW his stick down in front of me. He was a serious sharker!

Another time, I warned him that I had to go to work in another hour, so we would be quitting then. (I would go visit Mike and play pool in between when I worked 2 - 16 hour shifts at the VA Hospital. My kids were at their dad's.) I would work 16 hours on Saturday and instead of going home and sleeping in between, I would go to the Casino Club and play, then work another 16 hour shift.

When it got to be the witching hour, I told him I was quitting and he said, "Hey, you can't keep quitting me winner!" and I replied, "I can't stay long enough for you to win!" :D

But the worst thing that ever happened to me (other than getting called for my hair grazing a ball at World's) was done by a chick who lost all my respect and good will toward her. :mad:

She made a bad hit and hit the 8 before the 5. There was plenty of room to cut the 5 in, so I had never called a ref. I was out of my chair calling the foul (which was aimed at the pocket near my chair, btw, so I got a good look at it) before the balls stopped rolling and the position of the balls bore out the foul. She asked, "How is that a bad hit?" and I said because she hit the 8 first.

She said vehemently that she didn't foul. So you know how when someone is that vehement, you start questioning if you actually saw what you saw? Well, I looked down the entire row of sweators and they were all nodding their heads and confirming the foul. So I said she certainly had.

She said, "FINE, take ball in hand then!" and flounced back to her chair. Now later, a mutual friend of ours told me that she was shooting on the table behind us and she never saw the shot, but she did hear this chick saying that and she told her opponent that she wished ________wouldn't just give up ball in hand when she didn't think she fouled.

So since she was being so snotty (there were 2 other incidents that happened in that match!), I said , "Fine, I will!" and I picked up the cueball. No sooner are the words out of my mouth, when she turns around and says, "What are you doing?" I said, "I am taking ball in hand." She says, "I NEVER SAID YOU COULD HAVE BALL IN HAND!" :eek: :eek: WTF!

So the ref/TD comes running over and asks what happened. I said, "She fouled, she said I could have ball in hand, so I took ball in hand." She says snottily, "I didn't foul, and I didn't say she could have ball in hand!" So the ref takes the ball out of MY hand and gives HER ball in hand! :eek:

Now our mutual friend had heard her telling me I could have BIH (as evidenced by her comment she made), as did everyone else. I have played in enough tournaments, pro and otherwise, to know to ask before picking up the cueball, but this one just flabbergasted me.

I had considered her to be a friend. She had emailed me pics of her new baby, dogs, husband, etc. and she just blew me away and I lost whatever respect I had for her. I bore down from there on out and finished the set without her winning another game. Un-fricking-believable! :eek:

I have absolutely no use for this lying sack of doo doo and will not speak to her to this day. :mad:
 
Well ....

I only confess my sins to God, as he would be the only one having a chance to understand them .... LOL

Besides, 'tell all' remarks strike too close to 'yellow journalism', especially when it could be detrimental to a person.
 
rackmsuckr said:
Since we're also bringing up the worst things other people have done to us, I have a couple zingers.

I was gambling with this guy and I took a break to go to the washroom. I was up significantly. I can't remember why he was playing when I got back since I never take a break during a game, but only between games, but he was playing when I returned and I asked him what happened. He said he shot for me while I was gone and I missed, so now he was shooting! :eek: :p

Another time, when I was bearing down on a shot, he just THREW his stick down in front of me. He was a serious sharker!

Another time, I warned him that I had to go to work in another hour, so we would be quitting then. (I would go visit Mike and play pool in between when I worked 2 - 16 hour shifts at the VA Hospital. My kids were at their dad's.) I would work 16 hours on Saturday and instead of going home and sleeping in between, I would go to the Casino Club and play, then work another 16 hour shift.

When it got to be the witching hour, I told him I was quitting and he said, "Hey, you can't keep quitting me winner!" and I replied, "I can't stay long enough for you to win!" :D

But the worst thing that ever happened to me (other than getting called for my hair grazing a ball at World's) was done by a chick who lost all my respect and good will toward her. :mad:

She made a bad hit and hit the 8 before the 5. There was plenty of room to cut the 5 in, so I had never called a ref. I was out of my chair calling the foul (which was aimed at the pocket near my chair, btw, so I got a good look at it) before the balls stopped rolling and the position of the balls bore out the foul. She asked, "How is that a bad hit?" and I said because she hit the 8 first.

She said vehemently that she didn't foul. So you know how when someone is that vehement, you start questioning if you actually saw what you saw? Well, I looked down the entire row of sweators and they were all nodding their heads and confirming the foul. So I said she certainly had.

She said, "FINE, take ball in hand then!" and flounced back to her chair. Now later, a mutual friend of ours told me that she was shooting on the table behind us and she never saw the shot, but she did hear this chick saying that and she told her opponent that she wished ________wouldn't just give up ball in hand when she didn't think she fouled.

So since she was being so snotty (there were 2 other incidents that happened in that match!), I said , "Fine, I will!" and I picked up the cueball. No sooner are the words out of my mouth, when she turns around and says, "What are you doing?" I said, "I am taking ball in hand." She says, "I NEVER SAID YOU COULD HAVE BALL IN HAND!" :eek: :eek: WTF!

So the ref/TD comes running over and asks what happened. I said, "She fouled, she said I could have ball in hand, so I took ball in hand." She says snottily, "I didn't foul, and I didn't say she could have ball in hand!" So the ref takes the ball out of MY hand and gives HER ball in hand! :eek:

Now our mutual friend had heard her telling me I could have BIH (as evidenced by her comment she made), as did everyone else. I have played in enough tournaments, pro and otherwise, to know to ask before picking up the cueball, but this one just flabbergasted me.

I had considered her to be a friend. She had emailed me pics of her new baby, dogs, husband, etc. and she just blew me away and I lost whatever respect I had for her. I bore down from there on out and finished the set without her winning another game. Un-fricking-believable! :eek:

I have absolutely no use for this lying sack of doo doo and will not speak to her to this day. :mad:

This is why BUSINESS and FRIENDSHIP will never co-exist.
 
I didn't orchestrate this, but I was involved, so I'm guilty.

Back when I was 13 and just starting to play, one of the most notorious characters who hung out in our poolroom, I'll call him Tony, came in with a drunk who, dressed in a suit and tie, was willing to back him up against anybody. Tony, figuring I didn't have any money to flash, slipped me his bankroll. We decided to play nine ball for a hundred a game. Tony, of course was going to dump. The problem was at the time I wasn't very good and, even though Tony was laying down, I had a hard time beating him. Finally, he'd maneuver the nine to where I couldn't possibly miss it. Thank God his backer was bombed or we never would've gotten away with it.

Am I ashamed? Nahhhh, the guy was a sucker and a drunk - a double whammy. :D
 
i think it was my 2nd bar tourney final that i ever played, they weren't playing ball in hand rules like usual it came down to me with 1 ball left he was on the 8, the 8 was lined up with my ball as a pretty dead combo a lil bit off the rail hooking me from bein able to hit my ball, instead of kicking at my ball i shot the 8 first made my ball and wanted to get him as close as i could to the 8 with the cue ball, ended up freezing him to the 8 and it wasn't pointing towards any hole, he shot an missed then i made it an won the tourney


another tourney final in a blind draw partners tourney my partner is shooting but no one is watching, most had left because it was almost closing time, the td was part of the other team and he was helping the bartender clean up or something and i don't remember what happened to the other person maybe they were in the bathroom, my partner gets to the table and shoots, misses then looks around sees no one is watching and proceeds to run out and we win the tourney
________
 
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The best move, which is guaranteed to destroy your opponent, is to break and run many racks on your opponent.

It would be even nicer if you run out a few very tough tables.

I have been working on this "sharking" move for a while now but have not been able to execute it yet.:D Somehow, I keep missing!:confused:

This little skinny Asian guy recently did exactly that in the Phillipines just a few days ago, his last name is Yang.:)
 
This weekend I was playing in the Indiana State Pool Tourney.

My opponent had missed, I went to the table, the shot I decided to take a shot that was a little tricky I was straight in however jacked up and only maybe a 1/2" from the object ball. I was working up to stroke the cue ball and prematurely hit the cue ball. Needless to say I hit the cueball which hit the object ball. I missed my shot and did not drive a ball to the rail. My opponent came back to the table I told him I missed, and that it's is turn. He looked at me and asked if I miss cued. I told him no and he preceded to shoot. We were shooting in a team event so when he was done shooting. I told him that I had fouled because I did not drive a ball to the rail. All he!! broke out. He and his team said that they would have never done that. This maybe true, however you never know untell the times comes. I know in my heart I would have called a foul on myself if it was a singles event (but it's my job to watch for fouls and his not turn his back at the table). This was a team event and there are 4 other guys that I need to answer too. It really did not matter we lost the match and when we were out of the tourney they were still in it. I guess what goes around comes around.
 
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