Great Pool Room Stories

when i agreed to take a check unless it was from someone i knew was good i was at his bank when it opened next morning before he had a chance to cancel it.
writing a bad check with no funds to cover knowingly, is a felony in many states so you got that to hold over them. and it works.
always make them say for repayment of a loan on the bottom so he cant claim gambling debt which in many states is not enforceable.
 
maha said:
when i agreed to take a check unless it was from someone i knew was good i was at his bank when it opened next morning before he had a chance to cancel it.
writing a bad check with no funds to cover knowingly, is a felony in many states so you got that to hold over them. and it works.
always make them say for repayment of a loan on the bottom so he cant claim gambling debt which in many states is not enforceable.
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Most people know that Louisiana is the only state in the nation that based it's law on french law with all other states based on english law I believe. I don't know about current law but in the past gambling debts were debts of honor. The reason that mattered is not even bankruptcy removed a debt of honor! You might slide out from business debt and bad loans, gambling debts had to be paid.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
Most people know that Louisiana is the only state in the nation that based it's law on french law with all other states based on english law I believe. I don't know about current law but in the past gambling debts were debts of honor. The reason that mattered is not even bankruptcy removed a debt of honor! You might slide out from business debt and bad loans, gambling debts had to be paid.

Hu
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HU, I love the movie, "The Gambler from Natchez'!
 
mr3cushion said:
Throughout my gambling life, the Big Scores have I've made, even in Detroit, always came from letting the player 'Go on the wire'!

If you don't have the '411' on them, then you have to weigh them up from experience!

Jay, you know this, when you're stealing what difference does it make!
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I let a wholesale and retail distributor of recreational pharmaceuticals play on the wire, I was playing on a sales agreement myself so we both knew we wouldn't be getting paid that night. I had seen a huge stack of money on his kitchen table. After seeing stacks of a million and two million dollars I would guess it at a million or more. At the time I guesstimated it at three or four hundred thousand in the early eighties. Whatever, every six months he could cover our high five figure bet and he was only a few months from his twice yearly big deal. Three weeks later men in black suits, one of the federal agencies, did coordinated raids on his home and three or four other locations he was expected to be. They missed but I lost my money! Somebody warned him and he scooted. None of the local bikers or friends of his admitted ever hearing from him.

Can't blame him for getting out of Dodge, if convicted he was probably looking at twenty to natural life but that is still another grudge I have against the Fed's, they were responsible for my biggest score going up in smoke! Being a biker he would have paid if caught in front of other bikers with the cash. He couldn't look like a weasel. He asked to play, I spent about fifteen minutes weighing not only my chances of winning but my chances of getting paid if I did win before playing him. He lived a few doors down from somebody I was spending time with so I thought my chances of getting paid were good since I had good intel on him. Feds queered that deal though!

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
I let a wholesale and retail distributor of recreational pharmaceuticals play on the wire, I was playing on a sales agreement myself so we both knew we wouldn't be getting paid that night. I had seen a huge stack of money on his kitchen table. After seeing stacks of a million and two million dollars I would guess it at a million or more. At the time I guesstimated it at three or four hundred thousand in the early eighties. Whatever, every six months he could cover our high five figure bet and he was only a few months from his twice yearly big deal. Three weeks later men in black suits, one of the federal agencies, did coordinated raids on his home and three or four other locations he was expected to be. They missed but I lost my money! Somebody warned him and he scooted. None of the local bikers or friends of his admitted ever hearing from him.

Can't blame him for getting out of Dodge, if convicted he was probably looking at twenty to natural life but that is still another grudge I have against the Fed's, they were responsible for my biggest score going up in smoke! Being a biker he would have paid if caught in front of other bikers with the cash. He couldn't look like a weasel. He asked to play, I spent about fifteen minutes weighing not only my chances of winning but my chances of getting paid if I did win before playing him. He lived a few doors down from somebody I was spending time with so I thought my chances of getting paid were good since I had good intel on him. Feds queered that deal though!

Hu
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A Cautious Tale!
 
Rusty in Montana said:
Mr3c so you did meet Maggie Smitto ha ha I'm surprised she didn't want to play pool . she was part of a national championship team from Billings if I remember correctly . Sadly she made some bad choices after Paul passed away and I'm not to sure if she didn't loose the house but I knew them but never was invited to their house .

You're correct Paul's toupee looked like it was made in a wax museum ! He did have a couple high dollar pool cues I'd like to know what ever happened to them .

There was a fella named Johnny that played a lot of 3c at the Broadwater Corner Pocket , I've not seen him in ages !
Another road player was Lance Saunders and his big brother Billy who worked for George Frank from time to time and he made Lance and many other people Sneaky Pete cues out of Dufferin bar cues I've heard Lance still plays with his as I do from time to time with mine also I've not seen any other cues Billy made in ages !

Other than that I don't remember anyone else ever really playing 3 c at the Corner Pocket .
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I saw Lance about 2-3 years ago in southeast Iowa at a tournament. He was still using that cue that his brother made. It's probably a 65" cue, longest one I've ever seen. He shot good but I didn't get to watch him much as I had matches going on too.

I've not seen him in a few years but I heard he moved back out west.

I didn't know him that well but had good impressions of him the few times we talked. In the 90s he took one of my good friends under his wing when he was a teenager... my friend is still a dang good player, so I'm guessing Lance knew his stuff!
 
When Lance and I did meet up in a pool tournament it was always a center of attention since we both knew that if one of us missed it was game over so to speak . Even once practice table we kept the other honest .
Another road player was a old biker / hippy who I knew as George who looked like someone who just rolled out from under a bridge somewhere .
But he told me of playing some high stakes pool in Southern California and how he enjoyed playing in the college towns as so many college students had at times more money than brains or so he said .
Sadly I lost track of George also I'm sure he has passed away !
 
quite a few good players came thru billings in the years back. there was all kinds of weak action in the bars so didnt need the pool room often.
i always got spotted in pool rooms as thats how to make money as you can adjust. people seem to quit early when getting beat even.
the real good player that i couldnt beat or didnt want to play anything close i usually had a bag of gimmicks that they would go off at.
one was banking two rails into the side. there arent any common games played where you do that so even the best had little chance of winning when it was mandatory to win a game.
still few can, even the decent bankers. i learned that shot from fats. he hardly ever missed it.
it was funny as frank mcgown was there often then, and he would just watch and shake his head when i played. he knew the story. and was nice and wasnt a knocker at least for me. as i fished the same places he did.
 
maha said:
quite a few good players came thru billings in the years back. there was all kinds of weak action in the bars so didnt need the pool room often.
i always got spotted in pool rooms as thats how to make money as you can adjust. people seem to quit early when getting beat even.
the real good player that i couldnt beat or didnt want to play anything close i usually had a bag of gimmicks that they would go off at.
one was banking two rails into the side. there arent any common games played where you do that so even the best had little chance of winning when it was mandatory to win a game.
still few can, even the decent bankers. i learned that shot from fats. he hardly ever missed it.
it was funny as frank mcgown was there often then, and he would just watch and shake his head when i played. he knew the story. and was nice and wasnt a knocker at least for me. as i fished the same places he did.
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Frank McGowan and I were buddies , and we hunted and played pool together on many occasions ! I even had Christmas dinner at his house once .
I still miss him and his New York humor and fantastic pool stories !
 
pool was more than just a game back then. it encompassed so many facets of playing and life at the same time.

you couldn't play frank straight pool as he was as good as anyone alive. and played twice as slow as the slowest. if you gave him a shot you could go home and take a nap and come back and he would still be on 50 and shooting.
 
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