How my Pool career started story.........

genomachino

genomachino

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was 18 years old and just got old enough to be in the bars back in 1971.I met a pretty good player named george Brick. His mother owned a bar in Hallie wisconsin. George taught me to play straight pool. He was trying to win some money from me but soon realized that nobody knew me in the area. He soon had me playing all the guys that played at the poolhall one at a time at his mothers bar. I beat them all one at a time. The poolhall closed about the same time I turned 18. I was really disappointed.

My father would not let me go to the poolhall back then. Until I was 18 the only pool I shot was with my Dad in a little country pool league. When I was 16 they kicked me out of the league. Lost only one game all year.

The reason for my success at such a young age is the way I aimed. It is totally different from how anyone else did it. And yes this is where Perfect Aim originally started. When I was about 13 and first pick up a cue. It's just the way I did it.

I beat one of the locals out of $9,000 and all of a sudden I had a bankroll. One of those deals where we started playing for a dollar in the bar and ended up in my dads basement on his 8 foot wards table. We played the last 2 games of the early morning for $3,000 each. He went right to the bank after he got done work that morning and paid me in $100 bills. I slept while he went to work. He knocked on the door at 3:30 that afternoon. My mom let him in and he woke me up counting out the hundreds on my bed. I couldn't believe it!

Then I met a guy in Altoona that owned a bar. He used to be a cop and bought a bar.He was always selling football tickets and pull tabs plus he liked to play pool. I helped him sell a bunch of tickets every week. It was kind of fun. Each board I sold I made about 25 to 50 bucks.

Tom took a trip to Vegas and lost a whole lot of money and didn't have the money so the story goes. I mean lots of money.When he got back into town I stopped at his bar and he wanted to play me some pool for $100 a rack. He knew better than this and knew he couldn't win.

After he quit he told me he'd pay me tommorrow. After saying that he looked back at me and said , I better pay you tonight, I might not be around tommorrow. I think he knew what could happen.

They found him out at the Altoona dam someplace with a bullet hole in his chest with his arms folded on his chest. I don't know how the gun was positioned . They called it a suicide.

I didn't think it was suicide and I voiced my opinion wherever I went and asked alot of questions to everyone.

Then one night I was going to the Bar and I heard like a ping. It sounded like a 22 short. I know the sound from hunting squirrels. I hit the ground and crawled under a truck. I crawled to the back of the truck and took off running into the neighborhood yards and hid. About an hour later I went back and got my car very carefully.

I told my dad what had happened and he acted like he almost didn't believe me.

The next night 2 guys drove up to the house in a black cadalac wearing black suits. I saw them and told my dad i was going out the back door. He said no. Let's get this figured out right now. I thought they were going to kill us all. I was scared as hell.

They identified themselves as the equivelent of the wis. fbi. WBOI or something like that. They informed us that I needed to quit poking my nose around because they knew this whole thing was bad with Tom. They said they were afraid I might get hurt.

I took off the next day to go on my first road trip. My dad said he thought it would be a good idea if I took off for awhile.

I headed to Madison, Wi and made it to Jerry Brieseths Green room. I even got a lesson from Jerry on the stroke for $50. How lucky was that for me to run into one of the now great teachers of all time. The 30 minute lesson was invaluable.

I played a guy named Kenny Cross. I figured he played real good and he did. We played a game of straight pool for $200. He was kind of hustling me keeping it close going to 100. I used this to my advantage knowing that he was laying down . When the score was around 75 75 I ran out the game. Was he pissed.

He wanted to play for $400 the next game and I told him no. We played for $200 and this time I saw him play all out. He showed me that I didn't know much at all. Seeing I was outgunned I layed down and set the stage to beat somebody else. I was real done with this guy.

Then Kenny said he's back a guy named Ozzie at this bar down the road. The reason we went down there was he was going to stiff me if i won.

I won $900 and played alot better on that bar table than he thought i could. Kenny stepped up and said now you got to play me. I told him I don't have to do nothing except collect my money and then i can decide what or who I'll play.

Welcome to the world of hard knocks.

I continued my journy until I got to Racine,Wi. There was this great poolhall I had heard about owned be a guy named Sailor. I wanted to have him make me a cue and he did.

I tried to play a local guy there without much luck. His name was George. George Pawalski. Imagine that. George was on the top of his game at this time and shot all out with me for $50.00 a rack. I hardly got to shoot. $500 went pretty fast. But I did see things done on the pool table that I had never seen before. It was amazing.

After this I knew how i had to play if I wanted to win. I had to play good enough to beat this guy because I heard he could beat just about anyone.

I was totally inspired. What a first trip. I met one of the greatest pool teachers of all time and played one of the best players in the country at that time.

That was my first road trip. It lasted about 6 months.

A broke even on the trip. I played about 40 different players and got shooting better every week. That was an accomplishment in itself. But the knowledge I gained set the pool tone for the rest of my life.

And what a great ride it has been and still is.

Just wanted to share this and thanks for reading.....

My name is Gene Albrecht. Now you know the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say.................
 
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Good story Gene, I am not sure if a guy could do what you did then, now. I suppose anything is possible if you hit the low spots instead of going to the rooms where all the players are. I think many of us started out in bars, I know I did, bar table 8 ball, great game. I hope your doing well and look forward to seeing you again. :smile:
 
I did mainly play in the bars..........

Fast Lenny said:
Good story Gene, I am not sure if a guy could do what you did then, now. I suppose anything is possible if you hit the low spots instead of going to the rooms where all the players are. I think many of us started out in bars, I know I did, bar table 8 ball, great game. I hope your doing well and look forward to seeing you again. :smile:
Click to expand...

I learned real fast that the money was on the bar table. Where I lived at the time there was only one 9 footer for 100 miles.

I would go into the poolhall and play someone cheap on the 9 footer. I didn't have to hustle because I never shot on them hardly. Maybe I layed down a little.

Soon I was like the pied Piper. They would be fighting over who would get to follow me to the bar. Play some on the bar table.

Plus the nice thing was I had a line on everyone. I could take my pick of the litter.

Once those big table players with those light cue balls got on that bar table with the heavy cue ball or big cue ball it was all over but the crying.

Money in the bank.

Most of the money won on the road back then was from players that didn't really play all that well. Like it is now many of the better players were always broke, didn't work and just kind of sat in one spot. Sitting in one spot for a pool player might be comfortable but you don't have anyone to play or win any money from.

The reason the other players didn't play so good is they worked for a living and had some money in the bank. Some of them played pretty good but usually couldn't get there.

After I was done with that one I would just go back and get another.

each player got a little tougher but they had to play awful good to win.

If they played too good I just quit. Went to another town.

I wasn't trying to be a hero. i was just trying to make some money.......

What a great time.

Today cell phone pictures and the internet kind of ruin the road playing.

A guy snaps your picture and has a line on you in ten minutes.

But even still today many players get a line on me and think I can only play on the bar table. So i let them hustle me into a big table game.

Works both ways. What fun. Good Action....................
 
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(One day 2 and a half years ago..)
Sal: Hey Dave, wanna go shoot some pool?
Me: Sure.

and that was the beginning of the end..
 
Thanks. I stand corrected...........

Scott Lee said:
Gene...Just wanted to clarify one detail. You went to Jerry's room in Madison, which was named Cuenique. He had that room for more than 30 yrs. The Green Room came many years later, after Jerry had sold Cuenique.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

I don't know how I forgot that name. Jerry ran a good ship for many years and churned out mant great players.

I think whoever bought it named it the Green Room. Or the Green Room might even have been another poolhall in Madison.

I never went there during the time it was the Green Room.

Can someone clarify this.

Thanks Scott.........
 
Geno ,

that was a great story about how the old days were, I enjoyed the read very much, I like playing bars, always did, hardly ever went to the poolrooms, like you say the best players hang out there, but are broke, all the good (action) guys with the money , weaker players were and are still today in certain bars, they are hard to find nowdays , but still remain.

thanks for sharing your story!


David Harcrow
 
GREAT STORY Gene! No wonder you play so well. Can't wait to get another pool lesson from YOU!

JoeyA
 
Gene...When Cuenique was sold, Jerry stayed out of the pool biz for a couple of years (although he did maintain ownership of the building). The new owner could not make a go of the poolroom, and Jerry ended up taking it back. He sold the equipment, and eventually the building too. Then he opened The Green Room. It was an upscale room, with a private teaching room that had 3 nine foot tables. Jerry had it for a few years and sold it to Ron Dobosenski, who proceeded to run it into the ground. To the best of my knowledge, Madison is without any kind of decent poolroom. UW Madison had a very old outdated gameroom with tables that were way past their prime. I'm glad to hear that they built a new student union, and also a new gameroom, with new Gold Crowns.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

genomachino said:
I don't know how I forgot that name. Jerry ran a good ship for many years and churned out mant great players.

I think whoever bought it named it the Green Room. Or the Green Room might even have been another poolhall in Madison.

I never went there during the time it was the Green Room.

Can someone clarify this.

Thanks Scott.........
Click to expand...
 
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Scott Lee said:
Gene...When Cuenique was sold, Jerry stayed out of the pool biz for a couple of years (although he did maintain ownership of the building). The new owner could not make a go of the poolroom, and Jerry ended up taking it back. He sold the equipment, and eventually the building too. Then he opened The Green Room. It was an upscale room, with a private teaching room that had 3 nine foot tables. Jerry had it for a few years and sold it to Ron Dobosenski, who proceeded to run it into the ground. To the best of my knowledge, Madison is without any kind of decent poolroom. UW Madison had a very old outdated gameroom with tables that were way past their prime. I'm glad to hear that they built a new student union, and also a new gameroom, with new Gold Crowns.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...






http://www.thebrassringmadison.com/BR Site (B).html
 
david...It looks like Madison does have a pool room. It's been a few years since I've been there, which is why I said 'to my knowledge'...which has now been updated. Thanks! :thumbup:

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Scott Lee said:
david...It looks like Madison does have a pool room. It's been a few years since I've been there, which is why I said 'to my knowledge'...which has now been updated. Thanks! :thumbup:

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

Great story Geno, I keep missing you in my travels.
I hope to meet you one day and take some lessons.
I never played very good but in the 60s and 70s you didn't have to play great to win in some bars.
The problem was usually getting out with the money.
I mostly traveled alone and never weighed over 150 so I got tested probably more than normal.
The last money I won I beat a guy brought in from Cleveland, I should have never had a chance against.
Even then the guy who lost, I am positive, was going to shoot me, I just got blessed to get a steel door between me and him.
 
genomachino said:
I was 18 years old and just got old enough to be in the bars back in 1971.I met a pretty good player named george Brick. His mother owned a bar in Hallie wisconsin. George taught me to play straight pool. He was trying to win some money from me but soon realized that nobody knew me in the area. He soon had me playing all the guys that played at the poolhall one at a time at his mothers bar. I beat them all one at a time. The poolhall closed about the same time I turned 18. I was really disappointed.

My father would not let me go to the poolhall back then. Until I was 18 the only pool I shot was with my Dad in a little country pool league. When I was 16 they kicked me out of the league. Lost only one game all year.

The reason for my success at such a young age is the way I aimed. It is totally different from how anyone else did it. And yes this is where Perfect Aim originally started. When I was about 13 and first pick up a cue. It's just the way I did it.

I beat one of the locals out of $9,000 and all of a sudden I had a bankroll. One of those deals where we started playing for a dollar in the bar and ended up in my dads basement on his 8 foot wards table. We played the last 2 games of the early morning for $3,000 each. He went right to the bank after he got done work that morning and paid me in $100 bills. I slept while he went to work. He knocked on the door at 3:30 that afternoon. My mom let him in and he woke me up counting out the hundreds on my bed. I couldn't believe it!

Then I met a guy in Altoona that owned a bar. He used to be a cop and bought a bar.He was always selling football tickets and pull tabs plus he liked to play pool. I helped him sell a bunch of tickets every week. It was kind of fun. Each board I sold I made about 25 to 50 bucks.

Tom took a trip to Vegas and lost a whole lot of money and didn't have the money so the story goes. I mean lots of money.When he got back into town I stopped at his bar and he wanted to play me some pool for $100 a rack. He knew better than this and knew he couldn't win.

After he quit he told me he'd pay me tommorrow. After saying that he looked back at me and said , I better pay you tonight, I might not be around tommorrow. I think he knew what could happen.

They found him out at the Altoona dam someplace with a bullet hole in his chest with his arms folded on his chest. I don't know how the gun was positioned . They called it a suicide.

I didn't think it was suicide and I voiced my opinion wherever I went and asked alot of questions to everyone.

Then one night I was going to the Bar and I heard like a ping. It sounded like a 22 short. I know the sound from hunting squirrels. I hit the ground and crawled under a truck. I crawled to the back of the truck and took off running into the neighborhood yards and hid. About an hour later I went back and got my car very carefully.

I told my dad what had happened and he acted like he almost didn't believe me.

The next night 2 guys drove up to the house in a black cadalac wearing black suits. I saw them and told my dad i was going out the back door. He said no. Let's get this figured out right now. I thought they were going to kill us all. I was scared as hell.

They identified themselves as the equivelent of the wis. fbi. WBOI or something like that. They informed us that I needed to quit poking my nose around because they knew this whole thing was bad with Tom. They said they were afraid I might get hurt.

I took off the next day to go on my first road trip. My dad said he thought it would be a good idea if I took off for awhile.

I headed to Madison, Wi and made it to Jerry Brieseths Green room. I even got a lesson from Jerry on the stroke for $50. How lucky was that for me to run into one of the now great teachers of all time. The 30 minute lesson was invaluable.

I played a guy named Kenny Cross. I figured he played real good and he did. We played a game of straight pool for $200. He was kind of hustling me keeping it close going to 100. I used this to my advantage knowing that he was laying down . When the score was around 75 75 I ran out the game. Was he pissed.

He wanted to play for $400 the next game and I told him no. We played for $200 and this time I saw him play all out. He showed me that I didn't know much at all. Seeing I was outgunned I layed down and set the stage to beat somebody else. I was real done with this guy.

Then Kenny said he's back a guy named Ozzie at this bar down the road. The reason we went down there was he was going to stiff me if i won.

I won $900 and played alot better on that bar table than he thought i could. Kenny stepped up and said now you got to play me. I told him I don't have to do nothing except collect my money and then i can decide what or who I'll play.

Welcome to the world of hard knocks.

I continued my journy until I got to Racine,Wi. There was this great poolhall I had heard about owned be a guy named Sailor. I wanted to have him make me a cue and he did.

I tried to play a local guy there without much luck. His name was George. George Pawalski. Imagine that. George was on the top of his game at this time and shot all out with me for $50.00 a rack. I hardly got to shoot. $500 went pretty fast. But I did see things done on the pool table that I had never seen before. It was amazing.

After this I knew how i had to play if I wanted to win. I had to play good enough to beat this guy because I heard he could beat just about anyone.

I was totally inspired. What a first trip. I met one of the greatest pool teachers of all time and played one of the best players in the country at that time.

That was my first road trip. It lasted about 6 months.

A broke even on the trip. I played about 40 different players and got shooting better every week. That was an accomplishment in itself. But the knowledge I gained set the pool tone for the rest of my life.

And what a great ride it has been and still is.

Just wanted to share this and thanks for reading.....

My name is Gene Albrecht. Now you know the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say.................
Click to expand...



Thanks very much for your memories and the history about yourself. I enjoyed reading this much more than I have reading books by others more well known at least to me. I appreciate your search, and once I was also on a mission similar to your's, however, I doubt that I was ever your speed.

I ended up going in the Army in 1977 and retired in 2003, and then I opened my own Pool Room. While it is small it is mine, and I am kinda reliving my past to some extent, but I certainly do not have the drive I had once long ago.

So I started repairing and build cues to keep myself busy while running Pool Room during the day. I have always loved Pool and it's history along with the artistry craftsmanship that go's into building a good pool cue. This is something I am beginning to get a handle on, and my work has improved a great deal over the last 10 years. Part of this is due to the fact that I have a decent idea what a player expects from a cue, and part is due to my previous experience working with wood and other materials. While I will never be famously known as a cue maker, my creations are enjoyed by my customers and they will be used for their intended purpose long after I am in the ground.

Thanks again for starting this thread, I truly have enjoyed the memories it has invoked in myself it really brightened my evening.
 
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I'll never forget the first .................

manwon said:
Thanks very much for your memories and the history about yourself. I enjoyed reading this much more than I have reading books by others more well known at least to me. I appreciate your search, and once I was also on a mission similar to your's, however, I doubt that I was ever your speed.

I ended up going in the Army in 1977 and retired in 2003, and then I opened my own Pool Room. While it is small it is mine, and I am kinda reliving my past to some extent, but I certainly do not have the drive I had once long ago.

So I started repairing and build cues to keep myself busy while running Pool Room during the day. I have always loved Pool and it's history along with the artistry craftsmanship that go's into building a good pool cue. This is something I am beginning to get a handle on, and my work has improved a great deal over the last 10 years. Part of this is due to the fact that I have a decent idea what a player expects from a cue, and part is due to my previous experience working with wood and other materials. While I will never be famously known as a cue maker, my creations are enjoyed by my customers and they will be used for their intended purpose long after I am in the ground.

Thanks again for starting this thread, I truly have enjoyed the memories it has invoked in myself it really brightened my evening.
Click to expand...

I'll never forget the first motel I stayed in. It was about $20.00 a night outside of Madison and had wood floors that looked as if you would get slivers in your feet if you went barefoot. It also stunk pretty mad from smoke. I smoked back then but that room smelled like a big ashtray.

As I was going to bed I looked around and said to myself. This ain't so cool. This ain't even exciting. In fact it's kind of lonely.

Then I said to myself, Well you might as well get used to it if this is what you want to do. And I did........

After I took a few friends with me on the road I got to liking lonely alot better. Some of them got me in trouble with their big mouths and some of them ruined action. But they always seemed to think they knew how to get the action.

One guy I remember named Rich almost got me killed. That was another trip later in life...........
 
Scott Lee said:
Gene...Just wanted to clarify one detail. You went to Jerry's room in Madison, which was named Cuenique. He had that room for more than 30 yrs. The Green Room came many years later, after Jerry had sold Cuenique.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

just wanted to clarify one detail. Jerry owned both rooms( cuenique, green room) at the same time for about 3-4 years.
 
Scott Lee said:
Gene...When Cuenique was sold, Jerry stayed out of the pool biz for a couple of years (although he did maintain ownership of the building). The new owner could not make a go of the poolroom, and Jerry ended up taking it back. He sold the equipment, and eventually the building too. Then he opened The Green Room. It was an upscale room, with a private teaching room that had 3 nine foot tables. Jerry had it for a few years and sold it to Ron Dobosenski, who proceeded to run it into the ground. To the best of my knowledge, Madison is without any kind of decent poolroom. UW Madison had a very old outdated gameroom with tables that were way past their prime. I'm glad to hear that they built a new student union, and also a new gameroom, with new Gold Crowns.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

just wanted to clarify your end of the story. Jerry sold que-nique to Larry Walsh and Matt Mcabe (they were the managers of q-nique). The new owners put alot of money into it and it made B&D top 10 poolrooms in the US. they did very well for themselves, until Larry wanted out. Once he left the business went to shit. Larry opened the brass ring and still owns it. The bank foreclosed on the room and auctioned off everything. Jerry never took it back, he had already sold the building before the business went south. A couple years later Jerry sold the green room to Ron Dobosenski. Ron was asked by the owner of the building if he wanted to build a new room in middleton,WI (the blue chalk club). there wasn't a smoking ban in middleton, but there was in madison. They built the new room and Ron ran that one into the ground. Still owing Jerry a bunch of money.
 
Hey Geno.

Tell us the story about selling the "bomb-a-deer"(spelling) out of the truck of your car.

Thanks
randyg
 
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