Hitting the road? How much?

[gpeezy]

What would a bank roll need to be to hit the road? I wonder how a player does on the road today? With the price of gas, food, hotel room. Could a guy make it playing just the local taverns? That would be the easiest game but it might take 3 nights to cover the expenses to get there. Its something I've always wanted to do. I think it would be one hell of an experience. Not that I'm going to. I'd probally go bust 30 miles out of town.

 

[CrownCityCorey]

What would a bank roll need to be to hit the road? I wonder how a player does on the road today? With the price of gas, food, hotel room. Could a guy make it playing just the local taverns? That would be the easiest game but it might take 3 nights to cover the expenses to get there. Its something I've always wanted to do. I think it would be one hell of an experience. Not that I'm going to. I'd probally go bust 30 miles out of town.

Depends on how good you play, match up and where you are traveling to. I think it mostly depends on how well you match up.

A few thousand is all you really need as long as you've got the line on some fishes.

 

[Snapshot9]

The road

is even harder than it use to be because:

1) Inflation - Need $50-60 a day expenses minimum. That is if you drink a coke or two, sleep in the cheapest motels available, eat no more than twice a day. Of course, sleeping in your car is an option, until you had to have a shower and change of clothes.
2) Lining up easy marks is not as easy. Bars are an option, but not a good one anymore. $1 to $5 action, but anything more is rare. Players in Pool rooms have more of awareness of 'hustlers' and 'road players'. Takes more time there to develop into something promising.
3) I would say you would need $2,000 to go on the road, and you may be back home within a week or two. Plan where you are going, and try to do research for the action places, and gamblers there.

<Smiling> ... I got done with my Saturday afternoon league years ago, and was trying to make some money afterwards with Challenge games. A kid started playing, and asked me if I wanted to match up. I said sure, and we started playing, small at first, then got bigger. When I was $400 or so up, he quit.

He came up to me, and said he was 16, and this was his first road trip up from Oklahoma City, and this was the first place they had stopped, and that I had busted him. He said there was nothing left to do, but get his 2 buddies and go back home. I have often thought that it might have been the best lesson he could have learned at that point in his life ... LOL

 

[iba7467]

Matching up

Depends on how good you play, match up and where you are traveling to. I think it mostly depends on how well you match up.

A few thousand is all you really need as long as you've got the line on some fishes.

Gpeezy, you know how bad I play, and I did it. My key was short trips ... return home to stay, but you tap out all the places you can go within a few months. You have to make your opponent "want" to win so badly that they try despite not being able to.

You don't have to play well, just match up great. Another tip, you can win plenty in the bars. No pool halls. I have seen, not won but seen, guys who couldn't run four balls dump $5000, $8000, $25000, and $75000. I can tell you right now if you come down I can put you on three games in bars that "could" bring you anywhere from $600 to $25000.

By the way, anyone interested can contact me about playing these games, I play D class pool and these guys won't even play me. But if they don't know you they will go off, all of it in one night.

 

[jay helfert]

If you play good and are ready to take on some good shortstop speed players and win, two to three thousand may be enough. If you don't play this good and have trouble beating the local hustlers, $10,000 isn't enough.

A strong (and smart) player can go on the road with a thousand or two and come back in a month with ten to fifteen K. It can be done today! And has been. Just ask Chris Bartram. Or Ronnie Wiseman.

 

[crawfish]

is even harder than it use to be because:

1) Inflation - Need $50-60 a day expenses minimum. That is if you drink a coke or two, sleep in the cheapest motels available, eat no more than twice a day. Of course, sleeping in your car is an option, until you had to have a shower and change of clothes.
2) Lining up easy marks is not as easy. Bars are an option, but not a good one anymore. $1 to $5 action, but anything more is rare. Players in Pool rooms have more of awareness of 'hustlers' and 'road players'. Takes more time there to develop into something promising.
3) I would say you would need $2,000 to go on the road, and you may be back home within a week or two. Plan where you are going, and try to do research for the action places, and gamblers there.

<Smiling> ... I got done with my Saturday afternoon league years ago, and was trying to make some money afterwards with Challenge games. A kid started playing, and asked me if I wanted to match up. I said sure, and we started playing, small at first, then got bigger. When I was $400 or so up, he quit.

He came up to me, and said he was 16, and this was his first road trip up from Oklahoma City, and this was the first place they had stopped, and that I had busted him. He said there was nothing left to do, but get his 2 buddies and go back home. I have often thought that it might have been the best lesson he could have learned at that point in his life ... LOL

With gas and hotel prices, figure #100-$125 a day. Better hitt'em good, too. Matching up is great, but they'll always send someone in on you. Finding the action is 75 percent of it. It's just not like it used to be. $5 dollar bar pool is even scarce right now. I don't think it's due to the lack of cash, it's just awareness. Noone wants to step out on a limb and take a shot at players. Best of luck.

 

[ShootingArts]

Need to be pretty fair and match up well

The surest way to make money on the road is to play pretty fair and match up well. Then you go to the action pool halls and you are sure of getting a chance to make money every day. Hitting the bars there will be days when you don't even get a sniff at action and the beer or two you have to buy at each bar to not look like you are there to hustle may cost more than you win.

Hu

 

[pooldawg1]

I have been on the road several times from 1999-2001 and I must say if it wasn't for my knowledge of playing CherryMasters I would come home broke everytime. It may be that I ran into a streak of bad luck or my road partner was a loser. DONT TRAVEL WITH "I THINK I AM BETTER THAN I AM" Ian Costello. Everywhere I traveled to they always phoned in a strong shortstop. The $5 and $10 hustling sucks.

 

[sizl]

I must say if it wasn't for my knowledge of playing CherryMasters I would come home broke everytime. .

Now I have never met anyone that had "knowledge" of playing CM, but I know several that can "beat" them. Please elaborate. Thanks

 

[ceebee]

Well, let's see Gpeezy.....

The poverty rate is about 9 an hour (before taxes). That is $18,700 income per year. But that's if you live in a shack. Cheap Motels get higher rates than shacks, so lets triple that. That's roughly $55,000

Now you are going to need a minimum of two square meals a day, with drink, @ $17.00 a day comes to $6205.

Gasoline can be an unlimited figure, so add $10,000 for starters.

So far that is $70205.

If you lose, that will be added to this list too. If you smoke or use drugs, the bottom line goes up (bottom goes up - must be an oxymoron).

If you have a sweet tooth or you are a drinker of spirits, poor manager of money and/or poor matcher upper, then raise the bottom line some more.

Now, you are a person that's living about $60K to $80K below the poverty level.

How can you honestly comtemplate living like this?

I'd say keep your day job, go to school at night, get yourself a degree as a doctor, become rich & then play anybody that comes into your upscale or Seedy Pool Room all they bring with them through the door. You will become famous & have a great life.

This is JMHO.... Good Luck.

 

[stevelomako]

I know lots of people that became Millionaires playing pool..................of course they all started out as MULTI-millionaires. True.

 

[Johnnyt]

Tough nut to crack now a days. I still think it can be done grinding it out in bars in a 50 square mile area at a time from where your staying. Still, with everyone having a gun now and the amount of hold-ups and muggings, I don't think I would try it in this era. I did it years ago and never got mugged for my bankroll but I did have to leave a few bucks on the pool table and go out the bathroom window from time to time when I suspected it was coming. Johnnyt

 

[jnav447]

Although my road trip experiences many years ago were pretty much unmitigated disasters, I would not do things differently if I could go back in time. Like the old chestnut advises: "Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all". I think if you treat it as an adventure of a young man, like a first trip to Vegas, and not as a money-making venture, you will reduce the anxiety of "making the nut" and likely disappointment at not returning with a boatload of cash. The road has always been tough, but it's brutal right now. As for how much $ to bring, I would say just bring what you can afford to lose, make having fun and creating memories your first priority, read "If" by Rudyard Kipling before you depart, and (critical) keep a journal of your experiences, so you can tell road stories with at least a grain of truth years from now. Go for it, and good luck.

 

[half fast bankr]

Whatever you take, adjust your gambling and expenses according to that, not the other way around. However, I wouldn't hit the road with less than 10K.

It also depends on 'how' you gamble. Are we hustling, or playing straight up?

 

[td873]

I'd probally go bust 30 miles out of town.

Start 35 miles out.

-td

 

[Johnnyt]

Start 35 miles out.

-td

Good one td. Johnnyt

 

[9ballprodigy]

honestly, you're better off playing poker. the better you get, the more people want to play you. you never have to spot, and the wins are huge. especially, if you settle in vegas.

 

[Scott Lee]

Scott...You must not have been out of Wichita in quite awhile! Your numbers are less than HALF of reality...unless you sleep in your car every night, and only eat fast food. I live on the road 8-10 months out of every year...and expenses are $1K a week, to live on a budget (that's $150/day for everything...food, hotel/motel, gas & oil, misc. expenses). That is a dead minimum (the CHEAPEST motel chains average $50-$70/night, + taxes). Add at least another $50/day (minimum) if you're traveling with your wife or girlfriend.

Scott Lee ~ on the road right now out in CA
www.poolknowledge.com

is even harder than it use to be because:

1) Inflation - Need $50-60 a day expenses minimum. That is if you drink a coke or two, sleep in the cheapest motels available, eat no more than twice a day. Of course, sleeping in your car is an option, until you had to have a shower and change of clothes.
2) Lining up easy marks is not as easy. Bars are an option, but not a good one anymore. $1 to $5 action, but anything more is rare. Players in Pool rooms have more of awareness of 'hustlers' and 'road players'. Takes more time there to develop into something promising.
3) I would say you would need $2,000 to go on the road, and you may be back home within a week or two. Plan where you are going, and try to do research for the action places, and gamblers there.

<Smiling> ... I got done with my Saturday afternoon league years ago, and was trying to make some money afterwards with Challenge games. A kid started playing, and asked me if I wanted to match up. I said sure, and we started playing, small at first, then got bigger. When I was $400 or so up, he quit.

He came up to me, and said he was 16, and this was his first road trip up from Oklahoma City, and this was the first place they had stopped, and that I had busted him. He said there was nothing left to do, but get his 2 buddies and go back home. I have often thought that it might have been the best lesson he could have learned at that point in his life ... LOL

 

[Rickw]

I would say at least $5,000. A few other things I would recommend:

If you can, use a motor home.
Don't bring a fancy cue in with you.
Make everyone your friend if at all possible.
Stay out of the pool halls and stick to the small bars.
Manage your money so that you divide it up into sessions, i.e., lets say you play once around noon and again later at night at say 9:00. That's two sessions. Split your money into sessions and once you lose that session money, stop playing until the next session.
Separate winnings and keep track of winnings and losses.

Good luck!

 

[DeepBanks]

Read the book . . .

What would a bank roll need to be to hit the road? I wonder how a player does on the road today? With the price of gas, food, hotel room. Could a guy make it playing just the local taverns? That would be the easiest game but it might take 3 nights to cover the expenses to get there. Its something I've always wanted to do. I think it would be one hell of an experience. Not that I'm going to. I'd probally go bust 30 miles out of town.

Life On The Rail . . . you can find it used on Amazon or e-Bay.