How to identify a hustler.

J

JoeW

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Lots of talk and laughter about the kid who wouldn’t know a hustler is he saw one. But you know I have never seen a thread here on AZB that would indeed help the general pool playing public have some indication that they are being hustled.

I’ll kick it off with a one idea that might really be useful in the identification of some stranger who walks in with the intent to hustle a naïve pool player.

If he knows you will play for a few hours the hustler wants to know what will get you off your game. He can be identified by the variety of things he tries. He wants to know if, you can’t lose to a buddy, can’t stand chatter, can’t stand a fast pace, can’t take the pressure of a high bet. What gets to you, Mr. Macho, super sport, the guy who is always lucky? So you can spot a hustler by the variety of things he uses to find out what will get you off your game and play for higher stakes.
 
JoeW said:
Lots of talk and laughter about the kid who wouldn’t know a hustler is he saw one. But you know I have never seen a thread here on AZB that would indeed help the general pool playing public have some indication that they are being hustled.

I’ll kick it off with a one idea that might really be useful in the identification of some stranger who walks in with the intent to hustle a naïve pool player.

If he knows you will play for a few hours the hustler wants to know what will get you off your game. He can be identified by the variety of things he tries. He wants to know if, you can’t lose to a buddy, can’t stand chatter, can’t stand a fast pace, can’t take the pressure of a high bet. What gets to you, Mr. Macho, super sport, the guy who is always lucky? So you can spot a hustler by the variety of things he uses to find out what will get you off your game and play for higher stakes.
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If he or she is truely a good hustler most won't get it until it's too late or someone drops a dime on them...or whatever a phone call cost today. Johnnyt
 
I think the saying is something to the effect that you can’t cheat an honest man.

The hustler is looking for your greed, your weakness. Is it your pride, your need to look good in front of your buddies or are you made better by the heart to play in a high stakes game with everyone watching. Mr. Hustle is looking for your weakness and before you gamble you should know your weaknesses as one of the better ways to guard against the hustle.
 
Fool me once shame on you.

Fool me twice shame on me.

For some the loss of a large sum of money could hurt in many ways.
 
I think you you know you've been hustled when you thought YOU were hustling someone and then lost.

So the ONLY way to not get hustled is to not hustle:D.
 
I was present in the room when Earl Strickland hustled Alan Hopkins out of a tournament win. So we are all suscpetible to the hustle. Advice from those who have seen its many forms could be of use.
 
The kind of hustling I see around Roanoke is the three card monte crap. Just walking through the pool hall at night someone will grab your arm and all but beg you to steal his money playing card games.

IMO, people that lose their money that way deserve to lose it.
 
explain please?

JoeW said:
I was present in the room when Earl Strickland hustled Alan Hopkins out of a tournament win. So we are all suscpetible to the hustle. Advice from those who have seen its many forms could be of use.
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Joe,

When you use a tournament win as an example you don't really seem to be talking about hustling. Without going to the dictionary I'd define hustling as taking somebody's money by means involving deceit. In my days that folks on here would define me as hustling I never considered myself a hustler because I was a totally passive hustler. I never raised a bet and I never asked anyone else to gamble with me. Those that misjudged my speed because they didn't understand that a lot of my practice shots weren't fired with the intention of making a ball and then came over to lighten my wallet, well . . .

Hu
 
I was at the Akron Open around 1990 or so that used to be played at Starcher’s in Akron, Ohio. Hopkins had just been elected as the president of the men’s pro players association in whatever name it was going under at the time. Strickland and Hopkins were on the win side and pretty deep into the tournament. After the first game or two Strickland in his usual talk to the crowd manner started accusing Hopkins of unethical and unsportsmanlike like conduct. Strickland insinuated that Hopkins gave him a slug rack, moved a ball and other types of stupid things that Hopkins would never do and anyone who knew Hopkins knows it was just Earl acting the fool. But there were a lot of “fans” reporters and other types of people at the event. Those who knew Hopkins knew it, the others did not. It was kind of embarrassing to everyone who knew what was going on, but not to Earl – and he did win.

His trick worked. It threw Hopkins off his game. Later when I thought about it I realized that Strickland had used Hopkins’ election as a major contributor to the game in Hopkins very professional style to get to Hopkins. Seems to me that Hopkins, at that time, and given the recent election, and all the publicity was particularly susceptible to these public insinuations that tarnished Hopkins and whatever the name of the Men’s Association was at that time.

I guess that for some people Strickland used a strategy to win. I thought that Hopkins got hustled using his pride in himself and his organization to defeat him

Like someone said, I don't think that Hopkins saw it coming.
 
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How did that work?

JoeW said:
I was present in the room when Earl Strickland hustled Alan Hopkins out of a tournament win. So we are all suscpetible to the hustle. Advice from those who have seen its many forms could be of use.
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Joe-

Can you relate any details? Or is the story better left untold?

Could it have involved real or feigned anger at real or imagined injustices at the table?

Thanks-either way
 
When I say the hustle worked, I noted that Hopkins started missing shots and position that he had not been missing earlier in the tournament. Not many, but then with Earl you don't have to miss many.
 
3RAILKICK said:
Joe-

Can you relate any details? Or is the story better left untold?

Could it have involved real or feigned anger at real or imagined injustices at the table?

Thanks-either way
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3RAILKICK:

You didn't wait long enough to reply. You have to wait until JoeW's done with the after-post editing, and then give it some more time to "stabilize," before answering the post. :D

(JoeW: I'm just aggressively ribbin' ya -- all in good-natured fun. Seriously, thanks for relaying the details of the match.)

-Sean
 
JoeW said:
When I say the hustle worked, I noted that Hopkins started missing shots and position that he had not been missing earlier in the tournament. Not many, but then with Earl you don't have to miss many.
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Imo, he got "sharked" not "hustled". Maybe we have differing definitions of the word.
 
seems like a shark

JoeW said:
When I say the hustle worked, I noted that Hopkins started missing shots and position that he had not been missing earlier in the tournament. Not many, but then with Earl you don't have to miss many.
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Joe,

This seems much more like a sharking move than a hustle. Getting into somebody's head in whatever manner to take them out the game seems to be sharking. Hustling is getting them into a bad game, or that is the way I see things.

Hu
 
Hustlers, especially pool hustlers, have been around since the dawn of time.
They generally travel alone, although on rare occasions will form what is known as a 'pack'. Their usual mode of transportation is either a white or pink '59 Cadillac.
Hustlers are a deceptive lot, and have been known to drop a dime on their own grandmother when cornered.
Should you ever encounter a hustler, call the local police or sheriffs department immediately, and for the sake of all that is good in this world, never try to apprehend one on you own.
Enclosed is a police sketch artist's rendering of a typical hustler. If you see one with a Justice case, consider him armed and dangerous.

View attachment 139917
 
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Johnnyt said:
If he or she is truely a good hustler most won't get it until it's too late or someone drops a dime on them...or whatever a phone call cost today. Johnnyt
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I agree with you in that if they are a good hustler you will never see it coming. The only way you could is if someone dropped a dime on them or you simply get that gut feeling they are holding back. Sure if you play and gamble enough you can pick up on some of the cliche tricks people talk about when hustling and spot the weaker ones, but in all reality those who are really good at doing so are hard to find. They make it a life dedication to not only playing pool but reading people like a book. They study people as well as shots.

In my opinion what strickland had done is simply sharking. Sharking is basically just affecting a guys mental game. It's not something someone should do but it does happen. That is not a hustle to me. The meaning of a hustle is as others stated....is sucking someone into a game that can't be won. It's a game that's all in favor of the hustler, and it usually means something in the back end such as money or items.......not a tournament win.
 
Under your guidance Sean I have been trying to avoid that edit button -- its difficult but I do try.

BTW I think, but am not sure, that they were playing for first place and that Earl probably had some time to come up with his "strategy."

To me the lesson has always been clear cut. A player needs to know his own weakneses and they many change from time to time. A good hustler knows to use the things we pride ourselves in. Our problem is knowing what they are and then dealing with those issues.
 
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