Gambling - what is it to you?

JB Cases

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
The theme of the International Cue Collectors Show this year is Gambler cues. Well as most of know the gambler cues are generally cues with cards and dice and sometimes horseshoes in them. I think probably Meucci and McDermott can be credited with creating the genre and I don't know who was first.

Anyway I wanted to do a case that featured pool and what gambling in pool means to me as well as what I feel gambling is in general. Basically to me there are professional gamblers who treat wagering like a job and there are fun gamblers who do it for the thrill. But the guy who might be a great professional pool gambler/hustler could also be a fun/sucker at cards and usually is.

Now none of this is new information. We have talked about it a hundred times but I figured I'd open the conversation one more time and plug the case we made for the ICCS. My friend Dino Copreros drew out my concept and we tooled it.

The name of the case is Spot the Sucker. The idea stems from the old gambling saying that goes, "if you can't spot the sucker in the room in five minutes then it's you".

And perhaps some of you will get the double meaning behind the case title....I know the hustlers and road players will.

So here you go. My video of the case - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LQDVQ_U6D4

spotthesucker-a-front.jpg

spotthesucker-b-back.jpg


Go to the cue gallery later to see detailed pix.

Just tell me what gambling means to you? Are you a pro or a thrill player?
 
:confused:
JB Cases said:
The theme of the International Cue Collectors Show this year is Gambler cues. Well as most of know the gambler cues are generally cues with cards and dice and sometimes horseshoes in them. I think probably Meucci and McDermott can be credited with creating the genre and I don't know who was first.

Anyway I wanted to do a case that featured pool and what gambling in pool means to me as well as what I feel gambling is in general. Basically to me there are professional gamblers who treat wagering like a job and there are fun gamblers who do it for the thrill. But the guy who might be a great professional pool gambler/hustler could also be a fun/sucker at cards and usually is.

Now none of this is new information. We have talked about it a hundred times but I figured I'd open the conversation one more time and plug the case we made for the ICCS. My friend Dino Copreros drew out my concept and we tooled it.

The name of the case is Spot the Sucker. The idea stems from the old gambling saying that goes, "if you can't spot the sucker in the room in five minutes then it's you".

And perhaps some of you will get the double meaning behind the case title....I know the hustlers and road players will.

So here you go. My video of the case - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LQDVQ_U6D4

spotthesucker-a-front.jpg

spotthesucker-b-back.jpg


Go to the cue gallery later to see detailed pix.

Just tell me what gambling means to you? Are you a pro or a thrill player?
Click to expand...

Nice case John.
 
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So last night I went to play a little at a new pool room by my house. Just 7 tables and no "players" in this place. I had been there several times just messing around. The kind of place where the players are ok and everyone wants to test themselves against the "foreigner".

Never gambled here before. But I had asked.

So last night I get the balls and start to mess around with Bonus Ball. Second rack in someone comes up and asks me if I want to play his friend for money. I have about $24 in cash on me (atm is downstairs) so I say SURE!

Well they want weight. They want to play 8 ball and they get to pick 3 balls off the table. I said we can do that if I pick or two balls if they pick. They agreed to 2 balls. We agree to play for $20 a game (100rmb/$18.75ish actually).

Now I really only have one barrel before I need to take a break and go get more money. But I managed to squeak out a win in the first game and through some back and forth over the next hour and going through several opponents I managed to come up 9 games winner.

But here is where this fits the thread.

The last opponent was the best one. She knew how to play and could handle her cueball pretty good. She should have been able to win most of her games with that spot where she was shooting. But in keeping with the theme of the thread and because I had been thinking about the subject I decided to forgo emotion, ego and thrill and simply bear down on the game and manage not only the table but to manage the player.

I realized she was under pressure to beat the stranger, was being backed and so this would throw her off already. I simply played my game running out my racks and let the pressure take over and do it's job. When she had opportunities I simply sat down and waited for the indecision to kick in on her side.

As weird as this sounds for the first time in 30 years of playing and gambling on pool this I really SAW how a player breaks down mentally. Oh of course I have seen it happen plenty of times but this was the first time I saw it happen like a slow motion movie where I am directing the action. And the moment she started dogging easy outs I knew it was over as long as I kept the pressure on.

I didn't hustle anyone, I played pretty good and actually did run a lot of balls on a relatively soft table. But I had a good feeling of control like I owned the room.

So for a fleeting moment I think I felt like the hustler/road player feels when they know no one in the room can touch them. But on the other hand, as I said I had been in that room several times playing as good as I can play so they already knew I could play. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for them to bring a real player in and snap me off with me giving up a spot to a complete stranger. And they still might because they want me to come back tonight.

But last night I got the cash!
 
Hehe, you always gotta "spot the sucker" a big handicap to make them think they are gonna win the match as you finish out the lock. :)
 
Scott Lee said:
John...Did you make the backer pay up after every game...so you could "hold" the cash?

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

I sure did, the hundreds were coming out like kleenex and you could see the pain with each one he took out.

The funny part was I was stuffing the bills in my pocket. I didn't even know how much I won until they quit and I had left. This took me all the way back 30 years to the game room where I used to play for a dollar a game and stuff the bills in my jeans. I'd come home with pockets bulging like a chipmunk's cheeks and spend ten minutes uncrumpling bills to find out I had won about $30.
 
nice

John
thanks for the read its stories like this that make az such a cool wbsite to spend time :smile:
 
can't resist it !

Ok JB,
I just gotta ask,.......................

did you have your "players" cue ? (you know, the one with the great "playability?"),.........or was it just any old cue ?? :grin-square:

Great feeling that of an untouchable roadie,............ (Last time I felt that was ,................ 19 _ _ :rolleyes: )
 
Dunnn51 said:
Ok JB,
I just gotta ask,.......................

did you have your "players" cue ? (you know, the one with the great "playability?"),.........or was it just any old cue ?? :grin-square:

Great feeling that of an untouchable roadie,............ (Last time I felt that was ,................ 19 _ _ :rolleyes: )
Click to expand...

I had my Jensen. But over here all the house cues are two piece cues with pro tapers. So you just find one with a good balance and a good tip and you can play pretty well off the wall.

But I probably would not have done as well off the wall. I just love my Jensen, to the point that I have refused several offers to sell it despite having about 15 cues to choose from. I play more or less the same with all my cues but I love the Jensen best right now.
 
Dunnn51 said:
Ok JB,
I just gotta ask,.......................

did you have your "players" cue ? (you know, the one with the great "playability?"),.........or was it just any old cue ?? :grin-square:

Great feeling that of an untouchable roadie,............ (Last time I felt that was ,................ 19 _ _ :rolleyes: )
Click to expand...

Haha, great question!


Also, this case is badass, I wish I could splurge on it but I wouldn't ever use it and it deserves to be used imo, as do all things nice.
 
Well tonight I was the sucker and they brought a ringer in. I fired back 500rmb at them to see how he played and as I thought he plays real sporty. They offered to play for 2000 and I said you brought a friend so let me call my friend our friends can play each other for 10,000 (about 1800). They didn't want any part of that.

Maybe I can trap them with some Bonus Ball action ;-)
 
JB Cases said:
Well tonight I was the sucker and they brought a ringer in. I fired back 500rmb at them to see how he played and as I thought he plays real sporty. They offered to play for 2000 and I said you brought a friend so let me call my friend our friends can play each other for 10,000 (about 1800). They didn't want any part of that.

Maybe I can trap them with some Bonus Ball action ;-)
Click to expand...

Ask for a little weight and play your best. Hard to find people with gamble, but when you do it can be a beautiful thing. Be careful, a lot of crooks and sore losers as you know.
 
gambled at all sorts of things all my life. if it wasn't plus ev i either stopped or didn't start playing. it served me well and enabled me to become a very wealthy man. so as far as gambling goes if you are the shark in the pool its great.
if you cant tell before you start or after a very short time whether you have the best of it, you are not going to be a winning gambler.
and if you see you dont and continue you are a complete sucker.
 
...after a closer look thinking they were a solid and a stripe ball ...what kind and such? yep, brings back memoirs.
as far as the case, it will be looking back wondering where all the old farts went.
The gambling - what does it mean; just dollars, a few quarters at a time - a marker of accomplishment,
then there is the qwest to do the Big Stage Match ups, unlike todays current gigs is what's for me.
 
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