I practice with some older gentlemen from time to time when my schedule permits it. The are very big advocates of getting paid after every game and to be honest, I LOVE IT!
Here's why I like it. Say you are playing one pocket for $50/game. Well if all you are doing is moving a coin around the guy who is stuck doesn't feel it as much as he would if the money was already gone.
I also like that playing like this makes people quit. Some people get it stuck in their head that as long as they pay you most of the money it's cool. I know the traditional single air barell gets shot when you bust someone most of the time and that's just a part of pool. You would be sick though if you break even with a guy after having him stuck $400 when he only has a $100 in his pocket.
Wondering how others feel about it? I have already started doing this with some players but I think I am going to extend this policy to all players.
It depends. Generally I like to pay and be paid by the game. But if you are playing people you know and trust then you can play on the wire.
I have had it come back to bite me many times though when I get a guy stuck and he doesn't have the cash.
One of my friends, a known road player, was sweating me playing a guy in Ft. Collins Colorado $100 a game one pocket and I got the guy stuck five games and then gave them all back and he quit me even. My buddy said I should have made him pay each game because then he would have gone off instead of feeling no pressure due to just moving the coin. He also said that I would have respected the value of each game more had we paid by the game.
It's a damn good feeling to have the money in your pocket - it's YOURS at that moment and you want to fight to keep it.
When I was a kid we used to play $1 or $2 a game and I loved coming home at the end of the night with $20-$30 in my pocket in crumpled up dollar bills. I loved pulling these balls of money out my pocket with no idea how much I won and carefully smoothing them out.
I like going into a spot with a certain amount of cash and if I lose then that's it. Gives me a certain edge. I have to confess that ATMs and playing on the wire have caused me to go off for more than I wanted to several times in my life. At one time I raised my limits to $1500 a day just to be able to draw on enough to keep playing if I needed it. Walking in with $500 and no cards forces me to manage my bullets accordingly.
And what you say about busting a guy and him not having the money is so true. I have been aired a lot that way.
One time in Ft. Walton beach Florida someone from Starcade steered me to a bar down the street and I ended up playing a guy who was giving me the 7/8 in 9 ball for $50 a game. We were paying by the game and by the time the bar closed I had him stuck $400. He says we can go down the street to a nightclub and keep playing. The owner of the nightclub is there and says he will open up for us.
So we head down to the spot and in the car I give the steerman 25%. At the club we agree to play $100 a game even. I win the first game and am waiting to get paid and the guy looks at the owner and the owner says to mark that he will make sure I get paid.
So we start marking it and by the time I have to leave at 8am in the morning I am $1800 up and I am spotting him the 7/8. I tell them I have to go because I have borrowed my friend's truck and he needs to get to work. I go to the owner and ask him for the money and he says that he wasn't backing the guy just that he will make sure I get paid. He tells me to give him my address and he will send it to me.
Well you all can guess the end of the story. Of course the money never arrived.
When me and the steer man went outside I asked him what just happened and he said that he thought the owner was backing the guy too.
He said he would try to get the money and I called him a few times but as we already know this was fruitless.
So, yeah pay by the game and get the money unless you have a very good reason to do otherwise.
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One of my favorite stories in Cornbread Red's book is when he promised his wife to go and win enough to get a house. He plays Rosie giving up some ridiculous weight and they are playing for $1000 a game. Red has his bullets in $1000 rolls held together with rubber bands. Every time Rosie wins a game they toss him a wad. Rosie does the same and after a while Red's wife complains to him that some of Rosie's bullets are short. Red says don't say anything because he is confident that he is going to win all that Rosie will go off for. At the end if I remember right Red ended up around $18,000 ahead which was enough to put down on the house his wife had picked out.
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Another one that sticks out is the Buddy Hall story where he tells of stopping in a bar and playing a pimp for $20 and winning. Buddy beats that pimp and they go get another one who plays a little better and Buddy beats him and so on until they call in a player, Jim Brock, and Buddy busts him and the final total is $25,000 winner for Buddy and his backer. "All started by a pimp chasing a $20 bill" goes the line in the book.
