Hustling stories- who's played the *other* part?

mikepage

mikepage

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
We've heard many stories from posters who have duped others into bad bets. Sometimes they get into a fake match with a cohort. Other times they pretend to be drunk and obnoxious. Then when the side betters see an opportunity to make some quick cash on a sure thing or to shut up the cocky bast**d, they leap right into the quicksand.

All of these scammer stories have at least one scamee. So my question is this: who here has been the scamee? I know I know -- If it's a good hustle the mark has no clue and so forth. But these stories all have these people who are betting with strangers on strangers. So let me ask it another way. Who here has bet on a stranger with a stranger and lost? Judging by the number of stories, this should be a very long thread. There must be hundreds out there in AZland who have lost money this way.....

And another thing. I have probably run across thirty people who claim to have put themselves through college playing pool. If I've met thirty, then there must be tens of thousands of people who put themselves through college playing pool. And each of these student-athletes must have been supported by dozens at least of donaters. So my second question is who here has done a net donation of any significance to a college student?

Once again

(1) Who here has bet on a stranger with a stranger and lost?
(2) Who here has helped put someone else through college with pool donations?


mike page
fargo
 
mikepage said:
We've heard many stories from posters who have duped others into bad bets. Sometimes they get into a fake match with a cohort. Other times they pretend to be drunk and obnoxious. Then when the side betters see an opportunity to make some quick cash on a sure thing or to shut up the cocky bast**d, they leap right into the quicksand.

All of these scammer stories have at least one scamee. So my question is this: who here has been the scamee? I know I know -- If it's a good hustle the mark has no clue and so forth. But these stories all have these people who are betting with strangers on strangers. So let me ask it another way. Who here has bet on a stranger with a stranger and lost? Judging by the number of stories, this should be a very long thread. There must be hundreds out there in AZland who have lost money this way.....

And another thing. I have probably run across thirty people who claim to have put themselves through college playing pool. If I've met thirty, then there must be tens of thousands of people who put themselves through college playing pool. And each of these student-athletes must have been supported by dozens at least of donaters. So my second question is who here has done a net donation of any significance to a college student?

Once again

(1) Who here has bet on a stranger with a stranger and lost?
(2) Who here has helped put someone else through college with pool donations?


mike page
fargo
Click to expand...



ME!:D ................
 
I played sheepishly ( I wouldn't call it tanking or sharking ) about 6 months ago with a co-worker then we decided to drop some money on it. I upped my concentration and my level of intensity but he had hid his speed pretty well up front. I figured I could easily beat him if I was trying but he had me. Race to ten in 9-ball, I'm guessing he broke and ran at least 6 games and I didn't even think to offer alternating breaks since I figured I had it won pretty easily. I lost about 50 bucks and we had a good laugh......been friends ever since.
 
there was a time when I would play most anyone. I would say I"m ahead over all in the big picture, but I've lost plenty. I never was one to "hustle" in the sense of stealing, or lemoning to get someones money. I mostly knew everyone I played, or knew of them. I never went to bars looking for a mark. I usually played anyone even up trying to see where my game was compared to the rest of the pool world where I was from...(PA) that being said...

I did get stuck early in my career playing $5 on the 5 and $10 on the 9. I didn't know to clarify that money balls made out of turn stayed down, and the guy I played made combos like hangers!!:D.....so it cost me 50 or 60, but it was a good lesson, and we met again 2 years down the road in a 14.1 tourney, and we put $50 on our match.....I played well and won, and he shook my hand and said....now were even!

While working at the cue corner one slow night a guy came in wanting to play $5 9ball....I'll play anyone in the world $5 9ball.....so I'm stuck about $50 and he has already put 2- 3 packs on me, all the while he was chatting with himself, and generally acting kinda strange, but I didn't care....the guy played SUPERB!......about that time Andy came in.....Andy's one of the best players in Pa. He took me aside and asked what the H@#$ was I doing playing Jimmy Metts?....I had no clue who that is, or why I shouldn't play him....Andy filled me in that the guy plays World speed, and is probably playing me off a little....so I quit him, paid his time for him...figured it was the least I could do for the lessons that night. The guy was most surprised that I paid the time for him...he just mumbled something and strolled away.

I'm not a big fan of gaff shots ,but I lost $50 to Russel Parsons one night in his room in Delaware. He was shooting the cue ball off the end rail, and cutting a ball in the corner that was on the other end rail on the center diamond!!!!!!!:D.......5 tries for $50.....it went back and forth with me 2 up, then he got it down and ran 3....I quit...

I'm sure I'll think of more here, but that's a start....

Gerry

My man Mickey....aka highrun55 here, can probably recall more of my loses!:D
 
Last edited:
Gerry said:
[...]
I'm sure I'll think of more here, but that's a start....

[...]
Click to expand...

These are interesting Gerry. But I'm not so much asking whether you have lost money, but instead in whether you have lost money to a stranger after believing (or having been lead to believe) you had the nuts.

mike page
fargo
 
mikepage said:
We've heard many stories from posters who have duped others into bad bets. Sometimes they get into a fake match with a cohort. Other times they pretend to be drunk and obnoxious. Then when the side betters see an opportunity to make some quick cash on a sure thing or to shut up the cocky bast**d, they leap right into the quicksand.

All of these scammer stories have at least one scamee. So my question is this: who here has been the scamee? I know I know -- If it's a good hustle the mark has no clue and so forth. But these stories all have these people who are betting with strangers on strangers. So let me ask it another way. Who here has bet on a stranger with a stranger and lost? Judging by the number of stories, this should be a very long thread. There must be hundreds out there in AZland who have lost money this way.....

And another thing. I have probably run across thirty people who claim to have put themselves through college playing pool. If I've met thirty, then there must be tens of thousands of people who put themselves through college playing pool. And each of these student-athletes must have been supported by dozens at least of donaters. So my second question is who here has done a net donation of any significance to a college student?

Once again

(1) Who here has bet on a stranger with a stranger and lost?
(2) Who here has helped put someone else through college with pool donations?


mike page
fargo
Click to expand...

I can't quite say that I have been hustled, though I was beated by Eric Durbin and another time by Charlie Williams where they were the road players and I was the local.

Eric tried to hustle me by stalling, so was I. After two cheap sets (50 donuts) we broke even. I then told him there was no point to all this stall business as I did not care who he was nor how well he played. I could tell that he played far better than he showed. So we matched up at another pool room at full speed (his full speed was chemical) and I got beat in a close one for 1200 donuts. He beat me again a couple weeks later out of another 400 donuts (his chemical speed again).

At the time, I was starved for road players. The tougher the better! I beat my share.

The Charlie one was a little less exciting. He came into my poolroom and I was not there. He made a cheap game with one of the middle speed players who he beat, then my phone rang.

I came down and played a couple close sets and Charlie came out 500 donut winner. I wanted to play more the next day, however Charlie was going back to Florida that next day. Some of my buddies said they had seen him on TV before. It made no difference to me.
 
mikepage said:
These are interesting Gerry. But I'm not so much asking whether you have lost money, but instead in whether you have lost money to a stranger after believing (or having been lead to believe) you had the nuts.

mike page
fargo
Click to expand...


oh.....then, I'd say....no

Gerry
 
mikepage said:
We've heard many stories from posters who have duped others into bad bets. Sometimes they get into a fake match with a cohort. Other times they pretend to be drunk and obnoxious. Then when the side betters see an opportunity to make some quick cash on a sure thing or to shut up the cocky bast**d, they leap right into the quicksand.

All of these scammer stories have at least one scamee. So my question is this: who here has been the scamee? I know I know -- If it's a good hustle the mark has no clue and so forth. But these stories all have these people who are betting with strangers on strangers. So let me ask it another way. Who here has bet on a stranger with a stranger and lost? Judging by the number of stories, this should be a very long thread. There must be hundreds out there in AZland who have lost money this way.....

And another thing. I have probably run across thirty people who claim to have put themselves through college playing pool. If I've met thirty, then there must be tens of thousands of people who put themselves through college playing pool. And each of these student-athletes must have been supported by dozens at least of donaters. So my second question is who here has done a net donation of any significance to a college student?

Once again

(1) Who here has bet on a stranger with a stranger and lost?
(2) Who here has helped put someone else through college with pool donations?


mike page
fargo
Click to expand...

I've lost money before, I lost tonight, but I've never been hustled (that I know of). I like to know who I am playing first, unless I'm playing cheap.

As for losing tonight, it was interesting. I won a 1 pocket match earlier for $5, they dude wouldn't play for more even though I don't play much of the game. Later I was asked by a guy to play a race to 5 in 9 ball. I later learned he was one the top five players in town. I agreed to play, he won the first rack, broke well in the second rack but missed and I ran out with ball in hand. I then ran out the next rack.

The guy I was playing decided that he wasn't interested in playing anymore, so we decided to sub a slightly better player. Which was fine, but I was just getting in stroke and all the discussions took me well out of rythem. The new opponent won the next 3 games to take it to 4-2. I responded by winning the next one, 4-3. My opponent then had to leave for some reason, I can't remember why. So we got another sub.

The next rack I broke, he ran two balls then I ran out. 4-4. The final rack I broke, came up dry, he hit the balls as hard as he could and the 9 ball went in. I lose 5-4. I hadn't a clue who to give the $5 to.

There ya have it, it took 3 people to beat me :D. Oh yeah and it was really, really hot and humid in there too. I know, excuses, excuses :D.
 
I went to a pool hall once when I was about 17. A guy approached me claiming he needed weight and he would play. So of course I did. He won a couple sets then we dropped the spot. He won a couple more then I decided I was done. So now he starts offering me weight to stay and play. I can't remember if I played one more or not I just know this guy saw me coming a mile away.:o I can still picture his face almost perfectly and I'm 29 now. I lost like 100 or 150 or so, no big deal but I felt like a fool considering my friends saw the tail end of it.
 
Back in Salem, MA in the 70's players sometimes came through our/my pool room...One day I played a slightly built man with longish red hair and a small handlebar type mustache...

We played some ten dollar 9-ball for a while and I held a slim lead...I started playing real well and wondered why I could only manage to keep a small lead...I usually was a clear winner by this time...we raised the stakes to twenty dollars a game and I kept my lead...we went to forty dollars and game and I too quickly lost about four hundred and called it quits...

I was bent out of shape because we didn't get too too many players just passing through and I always won...as this man was leaving the Whale arrived and asked me...'That's Toby Sweet. You didn't play him, did you?'

I reminded Toby about that day when I ran into him at Florida Tour events down here in the early 90's...without the red hair...but he said he didn't remember...
 
I got carved up pretty good in a game of grandpa once. I learned my lesson and only play grandpa with people I know very well now. I almost got hustled pretty bad, but somebody else stepped in and got the action first. As I watched, I slowly went from dissapointed to relieved that I wasn't the one playing. That was my introduction to Scott Frost.

As for the college students, I have rarely seen them win much of anything, but I have seen them donate a fair amount. I played a regular game with a student who recieved sizeable government grants for living expenses, but lived for free with his rich girlfriend. He gave me much of his grant every semester trying to learn how to play one pocket. God how I miss him.
 
I cant say I've been hustled before, I tend to get the low down on everyone who comes in to play, and I know most of the guys who come in to play, even from outa town.

But lately anytime i play, everyone thinks i am hustling them. Which is so not true, I just tend to change my speed of thinking and shot selection when gambling.

Sunday, the first guy i played with, got all the breaks and 4 games on the wire going to 9. I beat him 9-6 i think. And he was pissed because the pool hall owner, she got him into the game. And now wants the 7 & 8 and all the breaks.

The next guy that nite, i was just giving 1 game on the wire, and ended up beating him two sets in a row 5-1 and 5-3. And now he wants all the breaks and the 8ball.

I told the two, i would give them another game on the wire, but no wild balls, cuz then it just turns into a ball banging contest. But they gave me some crap about it, saying i was way too good for them.

I played a guy tonight in 8ball in a race to 9, and he was up 7-2 on me, and I ended up winning 9-7, needless to say he wasnt happy.

Another guy i recently played, we was playing some cheap sets, in 9ball, going to 5. And was just going back n forth, so I was like lets double it, and wow, things changed, he just started getting all the rolls and shyting balls in left and right or he would miss and somehow leave me hooked. So i loose two sets and quit. And he is complaining about it. Now we was playing on 7ft tables.

So me being me lol, i was like well lets play on a 9ft table and go 40 a set. And the guy starts with his, whats wrong with a 7ft table, lets play here. And i was like, no lets play on a 9ft table and see what you have. Then of course he gives me the whole, i've never played on 9ft tables and complaining about how i always practice on 9ft tables, and bla bla bla.

Needless to say i told him if he ever found his sack to give me a ring.
 
george

Back in 90 I went to a local tournament with chicken george and we end up playing late in the tournament. I get down to the eight ball and he tells me if I win he'll tell the director I'm under age and get me thrown out.Pissed me off so bad I missed the eight straight in,next time I saw him he asked me why I left without him!What a dink.
 
I've been robbed but not hustled.

Let me explain.

There was a guy in my poolroom acting drunk and he came up to me and asked to gamble. He saw I had a nice cue case, and assumed that I was one of the many league players in my room who have nice equipment but can't play a lick.

I asked what he wanted to bet. He said a $200 race to 9. Right off, I knew he was trying to hustle, but I found it entertaining and acted really nervous and shy to play, but said ok. We posted the money on the table beside the pool table under the ash tray. I could see that he could play....but I trounced him 9-4. The whole time I could see he was thinking, "What did I get myself into." After I finished the last rack, he grabbed the entire post (my cash and his) and proceeded to RUN out of the poolroom. Haven't seen him since.

To be honest, I wasn't that mad. I guess this is just the risk we take in this world of ours.

I've always been able to 'read' people really well (except for this robbery occassion). I knew he was up to something....but running out with the post was the LAST thing I would have thought of. I've never seen it happen personally, and it really kind of shocked me.
 
college kids

mikepage said:
(2) Who here has helped put someone else through college with pool donations?


mike page
fargo
Click to expand...


I hear all about the college kids that played their way through college too. I was just a working kid from the poor side of town. I was used to playing in a far tougher environment than the college fluff joints had to offer and went over there for easy pickings when my friends wanted to chase college chicks.

If any college student shot pool to pay his way through college odds are he hustled other college students, not players. Of course we both already knew that.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
I hear all about the college kids that played their way through college too. I was just a working kid from the poor side of town. I was used to playing in a far tougher environment than the college fluff joints had to offer and went over there for easy pickings when my friends wanted to chase college chicks.

If any college student shot pool to pay his way through college odds are he hustled other college students, not players. Of course we both already knew that.

Hu
Click to expand...

Personally, I would be surprised if even 1 in 100 of the people who say they hustled their way through college actually did. Maybe more like 1 in a 1000. Most of them saying this probably made a little beer money and considered that "hustling their way through college". For the claim to be legit, they would have had to pay for their books, room and board, tuition, fees, etc. from hustling money. It ain't happening.
 
catscradle said:
Personally, I would be surprised if even 1 in 100 of the people who say they hustled their way through college actually did. Maybe more like 1 in a 1000. Most of them saying this probably made a little beer money and considered that "hustling their way through college". For the claim to be legit, they would have had to pay for their books, room and board, tuition, fees, etc. from hustling money. It ain't happening.
Click to expand...

My girlfriend's dad "put himself through college" hustling pool, but that doesn't mean he made enough money at pool to pay for college. What he means is he put himself through college working when he could and living in utter poverty conditions (went to the University of Virginia in the 70's and shared a dirt-floor shack with 6 or 8 of his friends). If he ever wanted any spending money, it came from the bar tables, playing locals who assumed none of the college kids could play, and had enough contempt for the college kids that they were always willing to put up some money to put them in their place. All he did was play the part of the cocky drunk frat boy, and they lined up to bet against him, and he won more than he lost. I don't think he ever played any real players.

I think a lot of people probably have stories like that, and when being nostalgic they claim they "put themselves through college" hustling pool, when really all they can honestly claim is they won some much-needed spending cash playing pool in college.

-Andrew
 
The place it happened was somewhat of a small town. He came into town and was a very likable guy. He played in the ring games in which he didn't hold back he just kept running out. He was very impressive to us that had never seen anything like him before. He had us thinking he was a straight up guy and we thought we were friends. He give the best we had the 7-break and just mopped the floor with him. This went on for 2-weeks when all of a sudden a road player came through that was looking for action. We jumped all over the chance to back our new friend against this guy and they did great performance such as our friend won $400 the 1st night. The guy said he would be back the next night to jack up the money in which we felt really confident about our new friend since he just beat the guy. Well guess what the guy got us for a couple thousand and our new friend well he suddenly dissappeared the next day or so. The road player was Bob Osbourne and the New friend was Pete Horne. Man were we suckers!
 
Smorgass Bored said:
Well, it wasn't at pool, but myself and the whole bar went busted on this one. This has been around now, but it was 'new' in 1970 when it happened.
<insert flashback music HERE>
I hung out in a bar with a bunch of regulars that would bet on anything, but mostly pinball high score and the bumper pool table. I was sitting at the bar when a stranger walked in and sat to my left. After about 30 minutes, another stranger walked in and sat to my right. They struck up a convesation and one said that he was a Math Professor at tulane University and the other said that he doubted that he could mentally add up a simple row of numbers. He took a bar napkin and wrote down the following numbers and then covered them with a second napkin:

1000

10

1000

40

1000

40

1000

10
-------------

He moved the top napkin down the numbers very slowly and asked the other stranger to add them up in his head, but not to declare his answer just yet. He re-covered the numbers and did it a second time. Of course, I was adding it up in MY head at the same time. I had the true & correct answer in my head. The stranger on my right then asked the stranger on my left if he would like to BET on his answer. The math professor said sure and emptied out his wallet (about $200). The stranger that proposed the wager then went from customer to customer (and the bar owner) showing them the numbers,while I tagged along and whispered in their ear that I'd added it up a few times and the answer was 5,000. everyone in the bar bet ALL their cash and the owner emptied his pockets and the cash register. Well over $1,000 of 'our' entire bankrolls were on the line. when we finally added it up, we were shocked to find out that we were ALL wrong. The fellow scooped up the cash and walked quickly out the door. We were all talking a mile a minute and blaming each other (mostly me) for getting it wrong. About 10 minutes later, the other stranger left. A couple of minutes later, George (who was playing the pinball by the front window saw them pass by in the same car...... Oy-Vey !
Doug
Click to expand...

The answer i got was 4100. How did you get 5000?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top