Hustling Costumes or "Action Aids"

Here is a story i know off 2nd hand from a reliable source i posted in another thread---


Here is a great scotty townsend story that i heard from a reliable source and suppose only scotty can tell if it true. here go's

Scotty and his wife or girlfriend ( not sure the timeframe of this but at least 12 years ago) go to the pharmacy and by some gauze and bandages.
She tapes up scottys hands and bandages scottys face so that you cant see him and also his hands are covered but he can make an open bridge.
They do this because they are going to a local watering hole where scotty is known and they like to gamble on pool there but of course no one will play him.
They go in his wife or gf gets him in a 20 dollar 8 ball game. Scotty of course is still beating this guy but the guy starts to get suspcious. Now scotty is not talking either in risk of someone knowing its him by his voice. The guy is losing everygame and talking with his buddy and saying " damn that stroke looks familiar and this guys plays like scotty townsend" At this point scotty runs out again and goes to the guy and mumble " mmmuhhmm uuumhh " and the guys says " what do you say" and at that point his wife or gf says " he said bet 40" lol

Now is that sound like scotty or what lol ,
 
jay helfert said:
Puckett was very fond of his Sun Oil gas station attendants uniform. And Detroit Whitey actually would wear an Army Uniform which designated him as a First Sergeant. He would tell the suckers he ran the mess hall, and they believed him because he was fat.

Keith ran all over carrying a two piece house cue with no case, sometimes he put a rubber band around it. This was an unconscious hustle on his part. The best hustlers of the day were the "drunk" hustlers. Bill Mullen was number one, but Bunny Rogoff was not far behind. They looked and acted the part, and yet could still make the right balls to win on a bar table.

Dean Chance (the baseball player) tried to sneak Jimmy Moore in on Ronnie and Richie who had been robbing him at the Tropicana. So he took Jimmy to a Hollywood make-up artist and she gave him the full treatment. Hair, eyes, face, even a corset to pull in his waist a few inches. He walks into the Trop with Dean, and Ronnie takes one look at him and says "Jimmy, what happened to you?"
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Hey Jay -- Isn't Bunny Rogoff the guy who does the Charlie Chaplin routine every year at DCC? Interesting character. I've run into him in the coffee shop at the Exec West.
 
I originally posted this in another thread but its on topic here. The topic was "Honest John" a good hustler out of Gville florida:

... His speed really never exceeded shortstop level but he is one of the guys that consistently got himself into spots where the bet was high and he was matched up in a mortal lock. Like getting other shortstops to spot him the 6 out for $$$$. John also excelled at getting frat boys who wouldnt bet a nickel with the student players to bet $50 a game barbox eightball.

When I was in college at UF in the late 80s, Stevie Moore lived for a while in Gville and John ran all over the country with Stevie, or "junior" as John called him. John would make the game and Stevie benefited greatly from John's ability to stir it up.

If there is a Wikipedia image of "back woods mountain man hick" its Johns picture. He has a slow southern drawl and is pretty furry with a stocky build. He plays sorta standing up and jumps up off of most of his shots, but he has a good follow through and I have seen him run 2-3 racks pretty effortlessly. What really makes Honest John super strong at hustling though is his gift of gab...he can talk and talk and the whole time you begin to think..well damn this guy really did just fall of the turnip truck. Anyways, I give you this image of him so you can better understand this story.

John has been working this spot for a while. He comes in with work clothes on, all covered in grease and dirt and is basically talking shit about how good he is and how he can beat anyone. John keeps telling them he will play them soon as he gets this big check he has got coming. Finally after days of jawing to the locals, the house is pretty much worked up to a real lather wanting to get this loudmouth to the table. John shows up with a big fat wad of money and after some more woofing he says ok now im going to get my cue. He returns with a Budweiser cue with a dayglo vibrant fishing line wrap. He had a tip on his cue that is barely glued on.

The locals cant wait to get down. "Lemme warm up a bit" he says and takes a few shots and then "bink!" the tip flies off his cue. "w'alll dayyyyum I cant play now...my lucky cue is broke". The railbirds are falling over themselves telling him oh dont worry use my Schon/Meucci/McDermott. "Nope I can't play without my luuuuckkky cue". The locals begin woofing at him about all the shit he was talking and John says...well y'allll are so terrible...iyall find someone here to play y'all right now. The locals look around and the room is practically empty with one group of folks playing bar pool and drinking pitchers. John walks over and grabs a guy who looks like he just got off work at the Shell gas station. "this guy right here will play yall" Honest John has just "found" David Grossman.

John had a number of outfits he wore that were really amusing. My personal favorites were these two tshirts he wore. One was pink with two teddy bears hugging each other with hearts coming off of them. Below the bears it was written "I'm good under pressure". The other was this dark grease stained tshirt from a transmission shop. It had a picture of an automatic transmission on it and below it was written. Im not good, im Automatic!". I think John just loved beating people in those two shirts and the message on them was the not so subtle message that would later sink in as he was separating you from your cheese.
 
i had what i thought was a brilliant idea....

I was in action 6 or 7 days a week in 88-89 all over n.ca playing easy games for small $$$ but it paid the bills. i had no problem finding games but OI thought I could make things better, so I made a cue case using paper and black electrictions tape for a sneeky pete. It looked great. i never seen my action get knocked like that case did. It was the single worst move I ever made in the gaff dept. i wont say what worked and still does, but there are somethings that still work.
 
I have seen a guy spray paint a cue all black and put duct tape on for a wrap. It looks hideous, but he plays real good with it. I never understood why he did it because the locals all know him. Maybe he travels the bar scene more than I realize
 
I bought a cue a Kmart..Straight as an arrow Canadian Maple with the wrap falling off..A little electrical tape on the wrap and the joint, a good tip and a crappy soft case the thing is the perfect hustling cue..Plain ugly

I leave in in the trunk of the car for those special occasions:D
 
9BallPaul said:
Hey Jay -- Isn't Bunny Rogoff the guy who does the Charlie Chaplin routine every year at DCC? Interesting character. I've run into him in the coffee shop at the Exec West.
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That's him. He probably hustled a few dinero in that outfit as well. I know he won the BCA Super Seniors only a few years back.
 
uwate said:
I originally posted this in another thread but its on topic here. The topic was "Honest John" a good hustler out of Gville florida:

... His speed really never exceeded shortstop level but he is one of the guys that consistently got himself into spots where the bet was high and he was matched up in a mortal lock. Like getting other shortstops to spot him the 6 out for $$$$. John also excelled at getting frat boys who wouldnt bet a nickel with the student players to bet $50 a game barbox eightball.

When I was in college at UF in the late 80s, Stevie Moore lived for a while in Gville and John ran all over the country with Stevie, or "junior" as John called him. John would make the game and Stevie benefited greatly from John's ability to stir it up.

If there is a Wikipedia image of "back woods mountain man hick" its Johns picture. He has a slow southern drawl and is pretty furry with a stocky build. He plays sorta standing up and jumps up off of most of his shots, but he has a good follow through and I have seen him run 2-3 racks pretty effortlessly. What really makes Honest John super strong at hustling though is his gift of gab...he can talk and talk and the whole time you begin to think..well damn this guy really did just fall of the turnip truck. Anyways, I give you this image of him so you can better understand this story.

John has been working this spot for a while. He comes in with work clothes on, all covered in grease and dirt and is basically talking shit about how good he is and how he can beat anyone. John keeps telling them he will play them soon as he gets this big check he has got coming. Finally after days of jawing to the locals, the house is pretty much worked up to a real lather wanting to get this loudmouth to the table. John shows up with a big fat wad of money and after some more woofing he says ok now im going to get my cue. He returns with a Budweiser cue with a dayglo vibrant fishing line wrap. He had a tip on his cue that is barely glued on.

The locals cant wait to get down. "Lemme warm up a bit" he says and takes a few shots and then "bink!" the tip flies off his cue. "w'alll dayyyyum I cant play now...my lucky cue is broke". The railbirds are falling over themselves telling him oh dont worry use my Schon/Meucci/McDermott. "Nope I can't play without my luuuuckkky cue". The locals begin woofing at him about all the shit he was talking and John says...well y'allll are so terrible...iyall find someone here to play y'all right now. The locals look around and the room is practically empty with one group of folks playing bar pool and drinking pitchers. John walks over and grabs a guy who looks like he just got off work at the Shell gas station. "this guy right here will play yall" Honest John has just "found" David Grossman.

John had a number of outfits he wore that were really amusing. My personal favorites were these two tshirts he wore. One was pink with two teddy bears hugging each other with hearts coming off of them. Below the bears it was written "I'm good under pressure". The other was this dark grease stained tshirt from a transmission shop. It had a picture of an automatic transmission on it and below it was written. Im not good, im Automatic!". I think John just loved beating people in those two shirts and the message on them was the not so subtle message that would later sink in as he was separating you from your cheese.
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I've know John since he was a skinny kid. I would call him an "Okie" smart hick. That drawl of his could be adjusted at will. He had the gift of gab then, and knew just how to pick the right marks. He's been known to trap some squirrels on the golf course as well.
 
One of the local cuemakers, Jeff Hicks, would take those giveaway Budweiser cues and rework them with a good shaft & linen wrap. He sold them in the original cheap Budweiser cases & called them "Action Getters."

I nice touch for road players is to wear a T-Shirt from a local landmark or college.
 
Here are a few I've seen.
Stevie Moore has dyed his hair bleach blond, grown a goatee, and shaved his head before heading out on the road. He also used to have a shit green dyed Gulyassy that he had specially made for him while on the road.

While we were in Mobile a few years back, we took Bruce Berrong and tried to get some action. He put on a toboggin and went in the pool room. After beating a guy named Brim Cat they called in the big gun. In walks John Schmidt wearing athletic shorts and an old tee shirt carrying a camouflage single cue soft case, lol. Bruce knew him though so it was all good. For the record, we never got any action on that trip but booked a $10,000 loser in Biloxi.
 
Cuaba said:
One of the local cuemakers, Jeff Hicks, would take those giveaway Budweiser cues and rework them with a good shaft & linen wrap. He sold them in the original cheap Budweiser cases & called them "Action Getters."

I nice touch for road players is to wear a T-Shirt from a local landmark or college.
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In Fat's book, he talks about Al Sunshine, who hustled all over New York in the 30's in an NYU sweatshirt. Believe it or not I have my own Al Sunshine story from the 60's, going into my book. He took me a short road trip. :)
 
BPG24 said:
I have seen a guy spray paint a cue all black and put duct tape on for a wrap. It looks hideous, but he plays real good with it. I never understood why he did it because the locals all know him. Maybe he travels the bar scene more than I realize
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I have seen some thing like that myself just recently. I know alot of people who can play in my area and although I can do a little damage myself I am not able to just play for $$ without knowing where I stand. So I went into a room and began to watch and chat with people. This guy must have either been the biggest dumbass alive or a real player or performing the worst hustle I have ever seen. He began by asking if I played, then telling me how he hadn't played in years but wanted to play for a little $$. (Ok I am begining to smell the hustle but i am still willing to give it a shot) He pulled out a cue that looked like he had made the thing himself and it was painted orange. When I say painted I mean with a brush and using semi gloss that you may use on a wall. It had the brush marks dried on it, I decided that I could lose $100 to find out race to 7 or something. He wants to play $100 a rack! I backed out saying I didn't realize the time. I never saw him before or again and to this day don't know if i would have taken him for 10K or if he would now be owning my house. The cue was priceless though.
 
bfdlad said:
I have seen some thing like that myself just recently. I know alot of people who can play in my area and although I can do a little damage myself I am not able to just play for $$ without knowing where I stand. So I went into a room and began to watch and chat with people. This guy must have either been the biggest dumbass alive or a real player or performing the worst hustle I have ever seen. He began by asking if I played, then telling me how he hadn't played in years but wanted to play for a little $$. (Ok I am begining to smell the hustle but i am still willing to give it a shot) He pulled out a cue that looked like he had made the thing himself and it was painted orange. When I say painted I mean with a brush and using semi gloss that you may use on a wall. It had the brush marks dried on it, I decided that I could lose $100 to find out race to 7 or something. He wants to play $100 a rack! I backed out saying I didn't realize the time. I never saw him before or again and to this day don't know if i would have taken him for 10K or if he would now be owning my house. The cue was priceless though.
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You did the right thing. That sounds like Billy Ray. I don't know why, but it just sounds like him.
 
jay helfert said:
You did the right thing. That sounds like Billy Ray. I don't know why, but it just sounds like him.
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Where is he from? looked to be around 50 yrs old. The problem I have with myself though Jay is that the hustle was so obvious that it makes me think that it wasn't and that he just had $$ to burn. Maybe he just took me for a chump.
 
buzzsaw said:
One night I was giving him some crap and told him how easy it would be for a guy to dress up like a woman and go out and hustle men at a bar. Two days later I walk into the local Denny's and there he sat in ladies attire. The bad part about it though was that he looked like a man in drag.
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I have a story about something like that... if you'd like to read it please go to...

http://davidthehamstermalone.blogspot.com/2007/11/way-truth-and-wife.html
 
bfdlad said:
Where is he from? looked to be around 50 yrs old. The problem I have with myself though Jay is that the hustle was so obvious that it makes me think that it wasn't and that he just had $$ to burn. Maybe he just took me for a chump.
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Originally from Rhode Island, but could be from anywhere presently. He would be in his early 50's now, about 6' and healthy looking. He loved that "yocal" kind of hustle, probably worked for him many times.

If this appears to be a knock on Billy's action, then I ask the Pool Gods to forgive me. I'm probably wrong anyway.
 
jay helfert said:
Originally from Rhode Island, but could be from anywhere presently. He would be in his early 50's now, about 6' and healthy looking. He loved that "yocal" kind of hustle, probably worked for him many times.

If this appears to be a knock on Billy's action, then I ask the Pool Gods to forgive me. I'm probably wrong anyway.
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your "yocal" comment reminds me of a guy a while back that came into Alexanders to try and work the room for a few days...He was about 6'...I don't remember his name or anything...I just remember that he had on some goofy looking overalls...sandals...and some kind of straw type farmer john hat...

He had a modern day Huckelberry Fin look to him......with a crappy off the shelf looking cue....

He tried to work up some action, but he wasn't having much luck.....I wandered in and pretty much spotted him right away...(he was hard to miss)...I did the typical...."who is this joker" questioning of the locals...and was told point blank by a "better" player to steer clear of that guy...he is "BIG" trouble......(not meaning win/lose money aspect)

I think I remember a comment..."if he is here, I want to be on the other side of the street"

Can't remember who he was or where he was from...but apparantly he had made a "name" for himself.......(Bad Action)
 
One of the best I ever heard

BRKNRUN said:
your "yocal" comment reminds me of a guy a while back that came into Alexanders to try and work the room for a few days...He was about 6'...I don't remember his name or anything...I just remember that he had on some goofy looking overalls...sandals...and some kind of straw type farmer john hat...

He had a modern day Huckelberry Fin look to him......with a crappy off the shelf looking cue....

He tried to work up some action, but he wasn't having much luck.....I wandered in and pretty much spotted him right away...(he was hard to miss)...I did the typical...."who is this joker" questioning of the locals...and was told point blank by a "better" player to steer clear of that guy...he is "BIG" trouble......(not meaning win/lose money aspect)

I think I remember a comment..."if he is here, I want to be on the other side of the street"

Can't remember who he was or where he was from...but apparantly he had made a "name" for himself.......(Bad Action)
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A friend of mine was 18 and playing pretty sporty. He lived in Indianapolis, and they had just opened a new strip club, called Babes. He had a fake id, and figured he'd take the place off. Bought some white overalls, tennis shoes, and a painters cap. dribbled a few different paints on them, and went to the club. He started with the guys who couldn't play too well, and worked his way up during the next 3 weeks or so. Playing for $5 a game on up. Over about 3 weeks, he made about $4,000.
 
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