Greg Stevens Stories Please

[PoolBum]

I only had an all-night session once.

Started playing in the early afternoon, played until closing around 1:00 am. The guy I was playing ran the pool room, so we kept playing after closing until they opened again, then we played into the late afternoon.

We probably played about 28 hours straight. That was quite a while ago, so it didn't phase me. I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

 

[Dan Harriman]

Q -Spot

I managed the same family (no alcohol) pool room he did in Tulsa, Ok on 31st and sheridan. Have heard many stories from his former employer and those who knew him and even traveled on the road with him, may write them down some day.

 

[Dan Harriman]

mhm

I'm pretty sure he came later but would you put James Walden in that same group of great Oklahoma players wrecking havoc?

Yes, James was and possibly still is an incredible shot maker - one of the purest I have ever seen. Some stories there as well for future lit. James played all games really well, in my opinion his best game was pay ball (snooker table). Nobody had to like that at one time.

 

[Thecoats]

Yes, James was and possibly still is an incredible shot maker - one of the purest I have ever seen. Some stories there as well for future lit. James played all games really well, in my opinion his best game was pay ball (snooker table). Nobody had to like that at one time.

Danny,

You are spot on about James being a monster at payball. I remember him taking down a nice score playing payball at Magoo's competing with several of the world's greatest players during a Camel Pro Tour event in the late 1990s. We were eating lunch with Johnny Archer and he said James was one of the straightest shooters he had ever seen.

Fun times....:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Take Care ad Stay Safe Danny
-don

 

[garczar]

Danny,

You are spot on about James being a monster at payball. I remember him taking down a nice score playing payball at Magoo's competing with several of the world's greatest players during a Camel Pro Tour event in the late 1990s. We were eating lunch with Johnny Archer and he said James was one of the straightest shooters he had ever seen.

Fun times....:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Take Care ad Stay Safe Danny
-don

Sad story. James has been completely off-the-air for a while now. Don't even know if he still plays. Shadow of his former self. He took down some HUGE scores in Louisiana playin' FlyBoy back in the day. Also saw him beat Alex P. at The Tulsa Billiard Palace. Maybe the best match ever at the Palace was when JW gave Coltrain the 8b playin' 10ahead for 10G's. Coltrane got to the hill THREE times but James refused to lose and got the cash. Walden knew how to grind it out.

 

[jayburger]

why do people take drugs/

why do people do things that everyone else can see but them?

Greg was not the only one to engage is this kind of behavoir.it was so common that I often had my players get a good night sleep after certain players had been u all night,but with chemical stimulus certain players could stay up 2 or 3 days.

We timed the period carefully,this was so common in pool circles that it got a name
"playing position"

yes,I know that playing position normally refers to getting shape with the cue ball,
But you can also get shape on a player by taking advantage of his psychological weaknesses

Greg was know tostay up for 3 days,and he tended to lose it all then. i never actuallysaw him play,
but I came close a few times

Pool itself can have a narcotic effect

Sometimes it was necessary to keep a certain high roller up past his bedtime. in spots like that it was astandard ploy to hire a :cooler"
someone to take a bad game ,knowing he was going to lose but playing slow and keeping the cost to a minimum while the clock cooled off the mark

Sorry if I didn't answered your question directly,or if I referred to things normally in 'Ned and the Primer"

sometimes I am suprised to find that the last two or 3 decades of grifters are not familiar with the basics of days gone by

Me too Dean,amazed when people”don,t” understand how and why people like greg go off the way they did...and just about how scores were made and how smart the people,like yourself,had to be to put in the time to know how and when to take off the money...bottom line is WE PUT IN THE WORK and PAID OUR DUES!!! Which is what you HAD to do if you wanted to learn in the good old days...no internet or youtube etc...to read about someone or clock their game etc...you simply had to play and clock the players true speed to know their weaknesses etc...so when you got them in a spot later,you know what has to be done to get the cheese....it was ssooo much more fun then than now....

 

[jayburger]

Earlier I posted about Hawaiian Brian playing for three days on the natural and I was up the entire time also. Well when we finally got to the motel neither one of us could get to sleep. That's a horrible feeling just being so tired that you can't sleep. Of course we drank some alcohol and that helped but only for a few hours. It took a full two days to get back to a normal sleep pattern only to start all over again. Of course when you are in your 20's long sessions are a lot easier to manage.

I have absolutely experienced that ,several times in fact...especially if we took off a good score and was kinda” money drunk” lol....

 

[jay helfert]

I once fell asleep on my feet with my eyes open. It was at the Bend, Oregon tournament in 1976 and I had been gambling all night and refereeing all day, match after match. It was late in the day and Rempe was playing Sigel an important match to determine 5th-6th place or continue on in the tournament. I was dead tired but was out there ref'ing the match anyway.

Rempe had a tough shot on an object ball that was going to be a close hit. He kept studying the shot and I just wanted him to shoot since I was so weary. Finally he got down and took the shot. It was a close hit and right away there was a disagreement about was it good or not. They looked at me for an answer, but I had fallen into a standing slumber and literally saw nothing. I didn't know what to say since I had no idea if he made a hit or not. Just then Billy Cardone yelled out, "Jay's betting on Rempe," and I wanted to crawl into a shell. It was true. I had a piece of Jimmy's action in the tournament but I never let that allow me to make the wrong call.

Finally it got resolved (Jimmy ended up losing the match) and I vowed to never again be a referee when I was too tired to stay awake. One of my most embarrassing moments in the pool world.

 

[maha]

most of those guys that played long hours and or used drugs to stay awake were always dead broke. except for short periods of time.
and most are dead now as well.
yet many still idolize them. i laugh at them.

 

[jay helfert]

most of those guys that played long hours and or used drugs to stay awake were always dead broke. except for short periods of time.
and most are dead now as well.
yet many still idolize them. i laugh at them.

Live fast, die young! :smile:

 

[Ken_4fun]

Even when I was just starting to play some 30 years ago, I knew mostly just the guys I saw on TV.

The exception was two players.

Walden and McCready "California Keith".

I had never seen either of them play, but I had heard the stories about them.

So it appears neither were hustlers, more like gunslingers.

Ken

 

[garczar]

most of those guys that played long hours and or used drugs to stay awake were always dead broke. except for short periods of time.
and most are dead now as well.
yet many still idolize them. i laugh at them.

You ever play for a living? To eat or have a place to sleep that night? Its a tough life to say the least.Must be nice to be perched up on your high moral mountain.

 

[maha]

they were not playing for a living, they were living to play.
the long hours and drugs made sure they would get broke.
and lead to a shorter life.

no high horse here just stating the facts.

 

[garczar]

they were not playing for a living, they were living to play.
the long hours and drugs made sure they would get broke.
and lead to a shorter life.

no high horse here just stating the facts.

You have no idea what you're talking about. Just a little FYI, i know more than a couple players that are highly regarded on this forum that used go-fast back in the day. They are still alive and doing ok, in fact one is in the HOF. Look, a LOT of players in 70's-80's who DID play to pay bills used go-fast when it got late. The subject of this thread led a VERY successful career as a room owner after his playing days. Bet he made more than you do. You know little-to-nothing about pool back then apparently.

 

[garczar]

Even when I was just starting to play some 30 years ago, I knew mostly just the guys I saw on TV.

The exception was two players.

Walden and McCready "California Keith".

I had never seen either of them play, but I had heard the stories about them.

So it appears neither were hustlers, more like gunslingers.

Ken

As for James you'd be correct. James went for the big scores and gave up the weight needed to get the ball rolling. One of the toughest grinders i've ever seen. Seemed to always make that one big shot that won the $$.

 

[jay helfert]

You have no idea what you're talking about. Just a little FYI, i know more than a couple players that are highly regarded on this forum that used go-fast back in the day. They are still alive and doing ok, in fact one is in the HOF. Look, a LOT of players in 70's-80's who DID play to pay bills used go-fast when it got late. The subject of this thread led a VERY successful career as a room owner after his playing days. Bet he made more than you do. You know little-to-nothing about pool back then apparently.

Correct. The dream of many pool players back then was to own our own room. And many of us did go on to have successful careers as poolroom owners. Let's see - Dallas West, Nick Varner, Steve Mizerak, Allen Hopkins, Jimmy Marino, Larry Lisciotti, Lou Butera, Jean Balukas, Toby Sweet, Gary Nolan, Mike Gulyassy, Grady Mathews, myself and I'm sure there are many more I could think of given the time.

 

[Duane Remick]

Even when I was just starting to play some 30 years ago, I knew mostly just the guys I saw on TV.

The exception was two players.

Walden and McCready "California Keith".

I had never seen either of them play, but I had heard the stories about them.

So it appears neither were hustlers, more like gunslingers.

Ken

Both of those Men were WELL KNOWN PLAYERS ALL OVER THE STATES"
Both could really play Great for the CASH TOO !