ELVIS!

Biloxi Boy

Biloxi Boy

Man With A Golden Arm
We all know that pool is cool, and that Elvis was the King of Cool, but what do we know about Elvis and the game of pool? We know he couldn't hang out downtown but certainly that did not stop him and his posse from playing all night fueled by what all Dr. Nick could supply (Hunter S, Thompson just thought he had a stash). What kind of table did he have? Cues? How good was his game?

See 5:54

 
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Biloxi Boy said:
We all know that pool is cool, and that Elvis was the King of Cool, but what do we know about Elvis and the game of pool? We know he couldn't hang out downtown but certainly that did not stop him and his posse from playing all night fueled by what all Dr. Nick could supply (Hunter S, Thompson just thought he had a stash). What kind of table did he have? Cues? How good was his game?

See 5:54

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I went through Graceland. The pool room was marginally big enough for an 8ft table and two people. It, like everything inside, was the height of tacky. It was all covered in red and orange curtain material, including the ceiling which had a pleated pinwheel of the fabric. The table was an amf-esque pos.
 
Long story…..

Elvis owned a house at 1001 Belair Road in Belair which he sold to Zsa Zsa Gabor sometime in the late 60’s I believe(not certain if the date)

Her husband Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt I knew from letting him and a production company film a movie scene at my place in Vegas. I wasn’t there during the production I happened to be in Germany.

Through Fredrick I met Marcus Prinz von Anhalt who I’m friends with to this day. We have been in contact often for almost 20 years now.

Anyways the house they shared on Belair road had a 9’ Bwick table in it which came with the purchase of the house. It looked like it had been in the room forever.

I don’t recall the model but it was old. I don’t have a pic of it handy, however I did take pics of it and the badge on the foot rail. We played many times on it.

The balls didn’t appear to be more than 10 years old. This happened in the early 2000’s when visiting Marcus usually before car runs which we used that house as a starting point for/ It was in an upstairs apartment which was more like a 2nd house/ I never met Zsa Zsa. Good times!

Best
Fatboy 😃
 
Fatboy, you’ve likely encountered more affluent homeowners and celebrities than the rest of us. Do most of them have a default pool room, much like those who own grand pianos yet can’t play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"? It seems to be a trend among the ultra-wealthy. What other features, like tennis courts, are considered must-haves for the rich and famous?
 
jason said:
Fatboy, you’ve likely encountered more affluent homeowners and celebrities than the rest of us. Do most of them have a default pool room, much like those who own grand pianos yet can’t play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"? It seems to be a trend among the ultra-wealthy. What other features, like tennis courts, are considered must-haves for the rich and famous?
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The short answer is yes. Big houses have tables.

I’ve been in many many homes for lots of Il different reasons and the majority of the houses over 5000sf have a table. And when you go over 10,000sf I’d guess 80% or more have a table.

This isn’t limited to just America, in Europe and the Middle East as well. This past month I’ve been in lots of 5K-15K sf villas in Dubai and still about 75% have had a table in them.

The tables are a variety of everything you can imagine. I’d guess less than 10% are properly installed 9’ tables with good cloth, balls and cues. I’ve seen more expensive tables with cheap fuzzy cloth and plastic balls than I can stand.

There was one table I saw in Dubai last week in a 9000sf house that had Andy cloth in it, that was a surprise. The table was a knockoff GC and the balls looked like cheap a aramith set, not plastic.

I haven’t been in any large homes in Asia so I can’t speak to that. However it seems where there is room there is a table. Rarely do they look like they have been played on much. I’ve been paying attention to this since the early 90’s when I started knowing people to gain access to such properties/ sometimes as business, as a buyer or socially.

Thinking about it a bit more beach houses and waterfront houses don’t have them as often. However those houses tend to run a bit smaller and it’s a different lifestyle than a golf course mansion.

Home theaters are very common as well. When a person has a huge house empty rooms are just weird, only so many bedrooms are necessary. A pool table or game room with pool & poker is a way to bring life into a room for a relatively low price. Theaters cost a lot more, pool tables used to be more common than theaters. Now theaters are more common by a hair or tied with pool tables. Which says a lot for the demand of pool vs theaters. Pretty cool

A couple years ago I was doing renovations on 5000-6000sf homes and therefore was looking at lots of them to pick off good ones to buy. And they mostly all had a table-75%. The bigger the house the more likely it has a table is a good rule of thumb

Your man on the scene
Fatboy😃☕️🧳
 
Fatboy said:
The tables are a variety of everything you can imagine. I’d guess less than 10% are properly installed 9’ tables with good cloth, balls and cues. I’ve seen more expensive tables with cheap fuzzy cloth and plastic balls than I can stand.
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As I suspected—and you already answered my next question—having money doesn’t make someone immune to foolishness. What I mean is, just because someone has money doesn’t automatically make them an expert in anything. I was watching an episode of American Greed recently, where an Asian man who had stolen millions, maybe even billions, was buying fine art. At one point, he looked at a Monet painting and asked if the artist was still alive. If I were the seller in that moment, the price of that painting would have skyrocketed!

I currently live in a community where golf is not as popular as many other places. As a consequence, the courses are cheaper and not as well maintained. Some people complain, but I say the opposite. It is very nice to be able to get on the course almost anytime without a tee time and not paying $100 or more a round. Freedom to play without being rushed or slowed down is a blessing. So even though we have talked many times about pool players making millions, we are sometimes very lucky they aren't. We have access to the greatest players in the world and can even compete against them relatively cheaply. You, Jay and some others even get to host them and pick their brains. Not many other sports can you have such a tight access. Do you know what kind of set up Joe Rogan has ( Table, cues etc)? FYI tonight it the interview—it's going to be HUGE!
 
Biloxi Boy said:
We all know that pool is cool, and that Elvis was the King of Cool, but what do we know about Elvis and the game of pool? We know he couldn't hang out downtown but certainly that did not stop him and his posse from playing all night fueled by what all Dr. Nick could supply (Hunter S, Thompson just thought he had a stash). What kind of table did he have? Cues? How good was his game?

See 5:54

Click to expand...
How does one tear the cloth "attempting an unsuccessful trick shot", were they shooting with a sword instead of a cue????
 
Funny most photos of Elvis shooting pool are on a Bumper Table and not a pool table. Pool Table probably was use by His Memphis Mafia
 
jason said:
As I suspected—and you already answered my next question—having money doesn’t make someone immune to foolishness. What I mean is, just because someone has money doesn’t automatically make them an expert in anything. I was watching an episode of American Greed recently, where an Asian man who had stolen millions, maybe even billions, was buying fine art. At one point, he looked at a Monet painting and asked if the artist was still alive. If I were the seller in that moment, the price of that painting would have skyrocketed!

I currently live in a community where golf is not as popular as many other places. As a consequence, the courses are cheaper and not as well maintained. Some people complain, but I say the opposite. It is very nice to be able to get on the course almost anytime without a tee time and not paying $100 or more a round. Freedom to play without being rushed or slowed down is a blessing. So even though we have talked many times about pool players making millions, we are sometimes very lucky they aren't. We have access to the greatest players in the world and can even compete against them relatively cheaply. You, Jay and some others even get to host them and pick their brains. Not many other sports can you have such a tight access. Do you know what kind of set up Joe Rogan has ( Table, cues etc)? FYI tonight it the interview—it's going to be HUGE!
Click to expand...
I’ve met Joe and spoke with him several times. He knows who I am, Max was giving Joe lessons while Max lived with me back in 2011. At that time Joe played with a SW and had a Diamond table. He had a pretty good collection of cues-around 20. I saw that online, nobody told me.

I haven’t spoke to Joe in years, far as I know he’s still playing and I’m sure has good stuff still. I like Joe, the times we spoke were always good. I first met him at a UFC press conference, at the time I didn’t know he played pool.

Best
Fatboy 😃
 
Fatboy said:
I’ve met Joe and spoke with him several times. He knows who I am, Max was giving Joe lessons while Max lived with me back in 2011. At that time Joe played with a SW and had a Diamond table. He had a pretty good collection of cues-around 20. I saw that online, nobody told me.

I haven’t spoke to Joe in years, far as I know he’s still playing and I’m sure has good stuff still. I like Joe, the times we spoke were always good. I first met him at a UFC press conference, at the time I didn’t know he played pool.

Best
Fatboy 😃
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At the podcast office, they have two GC2's with 860HR. While my CEO was being interviewed we shot pool for two hours.
 
Bob Jewett said:
60-degree power masse shot? Or just a draw shot for some people.
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Is it really possible to actually tear the cloth on a draw shot? Most pool cues that I have seen are rather blunt at the tip although I will be the first to admit I have never put the tip of my cue in a pencil sharpener and tried to sharpen it.
 
fastone371 said:
Is it really possible to actually tear the cloth on a draw shot? Most pool cues that I have seen are rather blunt at the tip although I will be the first to admit I have never put the tip of my cue in a pencil sharpener and tried to sharpen it.
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Maybe with the tip worn down to almost nothing the ferrule edge could tear it?
Catch a bad nick in the felt?
 
fastone371 said:
Is it really possible to actually tear the cloth on a draw shot? Most pool cues that I have seen are rather blunt at the tip although I will be the first to admit I have never put the tip of my cue in a pencil sharpener and tried to sharpen it.
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Here's a scenario: The tip was almost gone so that there was no "side" left on it. The player was jacked up to 30 degrees because that's the only way you can get back spin. The chalk was still sitting on the bookshelf where it had been for the last two hours. The cloth was more like flannel than Simonis and loose enough that pushing on it caused ripples. That could do it. Good players with proper equipment, not likely.

On snooker cloth, I've seen miscues shear off the nap where the tip is deflected onto the cloth, and that's with fairly level cues and proper tips.
 
The chalked tip, being stroked hard, pinches the cloth against the slate, stretches the cloth to a point of failure, riiiiiiiiip.
 
It’s been several years, but on a trip to Memphis and the obligatory stop at Graceland and the gift shops, there was one that had the pool table from Elvis’s California home (iirc it was a gold crown).
They had a few pics of Elvis and different people playing on that table, the main pic I remember was Elvis and Ann Margaret playing on it, and for $100 you could play a game on the table with original Elvis owned cues. (I thought it was pretty cool)
 
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