If you live in the SouthWest beware of this HUSTLER.
- Thread starter PoolSleuth
- Start date
The world has certainly changed. Where I live, because I’m better than most everyone else, I’m labeled a ‘shark’, or a ‘hustler’ if I suggest a little friendly action. No sized spot will tempt them either.
Growing up, I could never resist that kind of challenge. Now, regardless of how tiny the stakes involved, I guess they think merely dipping in their toe will eventually drown them. Go figure.
im a hustler. i lie about how good or bad i play. i play only good enough to win the money. i make games i feel i always have the best of it.
i do whatever it takes to convince him to raise the bet to any amount. i act dumb and look like i make mistakes. i sell out often especially when it doesn't cost me much. i play games where i don't have to show my speed. i get repeat customers. as after they lose they are never sure why and want to play again.
that is what a hustler does.
a guy that walks in and asks people to play is not a hustler but a gambler at pool.
i do whatever it takes to convince him to raise the bet to any amount. i act dumb and look like i make mistakes. i sell out often especially when it doesn't cost me much. i play games where i don't have to show my speed. i get repeat customers. as after they lose they are never sure why and want to play again.
that is what a hustler does.
a guy that walks in and asks people to play is not a hustler but a gambler at pool.
Won't put their money on themselves, yet they don't hesitate to flip quarters after the tournament is over.
Ok, I had never seen this thread before.
That was hilarious!
That was hilarious!
If anyone here was hoping to educate @PoolSleuth, he's been banned for 20 years. How time flies.
I'd love to see video of this guy playing!
He's still here, Bob.
That triggers a memory from the good old days. I enjoyed playing with new people in New taverns for stakes. It was kinda like prospecting for gold or "like a box of chocolates"as Forrest Gump would say. The bikers bar got a different Aproach than most. I would just get a beer at the bar and loudly enquire, "Anybody in here play worth a F***?"
Definitely not hustling. Definitely not.....as Rainman would say.
Wanna play some? I'm not very good but my wallet is bigger than my brains.
Funny How?That was hilarious!
Got 20 years huh. Sorry to hiJack. A man was given 24 hours to live by his doctor. He went out and robbed someone...judge gave him 15 years. He felt better.
I was thinking about posting before I noticed this thread was twenty years old! A shame, AZB was much more entertaining twenty years ago. Some of the people gone now provided a lot of value to the board one way or another. One thing obvious though, the ban hammer was much too heavy then. A lot of posters that provided either great information or great entertainment have "Banned" under their name.
It was only after I came to AZB in 2005 that I found I would be considered a hustler. I never hustled pilgrims. I laid many a spread to attract hustlers though. If somebody came to me wanting to make easy money it wasn't my fault, at least not in my mind. I played whatever speed I needed to but basically three speeds, friends/dates, local small time gamblers and hustlers, and road players. It was funny, the local guys knew I had another gear but as long as I gave them one or two chances to win each game they were generally happy. In the last few years before I moved on from pool for a decade or two the road players had found me and there was some pretty sporty bar table action at the corner bar near my home. There was every night three and five dollar action too. We were just killing time hoping a stranger with deep pockets came along.
One night a road player had happened in and as was the norm if I was there, I got first crack at them. After they had all the fun they could stand I was back playing a local guy for small stakes. Without thinking about it I was still in road player mode. The local guy said, "Hey, this is me you are playing now!" I mostly avoided playing anyone else when I had a date but sometimes they had to remind me to back off the gas too.
I would have side projects to keep me entertained. A few were too brutal and I had to stop early but often I had a six month project going. One was testing how much I could win without losing customers for the most part. Seems odd but if you let people win early and late and slide the money out of the middle and mostly playing by the game, back in the seventies and eighties you could win seventy percent net! Consider that is winning 85% of the time because you had to make up that 15% you lost to net 70% and it was pretty surprising to be able to net 70%. There were a couple dozen gamblers around town that sincerely thought that we played about the same or I played slightly better but they would happily play me most nights.
Sometimes 70% was my real win rate especially in the earlier years, most of the time I was on the stall to hold it down to seventy percent. I also played a lot of lucky shots to keep other people interested. Barely hooked myself a lot of times in those days before jump cues although there were a few jump rods around. Rules gambling were pretty fluid but a man generally asked before breaking out a jump rod!
Going back twenty years to the start of the thread, most of us recognize the "hustler" was merely a gambler. His approach was open, and winning seven to one was something a hustler would never do unless he had one foot out the door. A hustler would have let the other player win five or six games. That was another source of entertainment, a hustler giving me most of a set then I only had to bear down a little for a few games. Can look lucky and the hustler be ready to go again! Often possible to win three sets race to seven before the hustler starts wondering who is hustling who.(grin)
The Hustler was before my serious gambling days but the four or five years after the Color of Money were great! Everybody that thought they could run three balls was ready to hustle. Aliases were the norm so I never paid any attention to names. I often harassed strangers with no idea if it was true or not, "that wasn't the name I heard you using two weeks ago" in a loud voice. They didn't know if it was true or not so they would squirm!
Hard to find a place it is fun to play and I can't run three balls anymore anyway. This old thread brings back lots of memories though.
Funny! Twenty years ago you didn't know what a hustler was according to your post. Twenty years later you still don't if your posts are to be believed.(grin)
Hu
It was only after I came to AZB in 2005 that I found I would be considered a hustler. I never hustled pilgrims. I laid many a spread to attract hustlers though. If somebody came to me wanting to make easy money it wasn't my fault, at least not in my mind. I played whatever speed I needed to but basically three speeds, friends/dates, local small time gamblers and hustlers, and road players. It was funny, the local guys knew I had another gear but as long as I gave them one or two chances to win each game they were generally happy. In the last few years before I moved on from pool for a decade or two the road players had found me and there was some pretty sporty bar table action at the corner bar near my home. There was every night three and five dollar action too. We were just killing time hoping a stranger with deep pockets came along.
One night a road player had happened in and as was the norm if I was there, I got first crack at them. After they had all the fun they could stand I was back playing a local guy for small stakes. Without thinking about it I was still in road player mode. The local guy said, "Hey, this is me you are playing now!" I mostly avoided playing anyone else when I had a date but sometimes they had to remind me to back off the gas too.
I would have side projects to keep me entertained. A few were too brutal and I had to stop early but often I had a six month project going. One was testing how much I could win without losing customers for the most part. Seems odd but if you let people win early and late and slide the money out of the middle and mostly playing by the game, back in the seventies and eighties you could win seventy percent net! Consider that is winning 85% of the time because you had to make up that 15% you lost to net 70% and it was pretty surprising to be able to net 70%. There were a couple dozen gamblers around town that sincerely thought that we played about the same or I played slightly better but they would happily play me most nights.
Sometimes 70% was my real win rate especially in the earlier years, most of the time I was on the stall to hold it down to seventy percent. I also played a lot of lucky shots to keep other people interested. Barely hooked myself a lot of times in those days before jump cues although there were a few jump rods around. Rules gambling were pretty fluid but a man generally asked before breaking out a jump rod!
Going back twenty years to the start of the thread, most of us recognize the "hustler" was merely a gambler. His approach was open, and winning seven to one was something a hustler would never do unless he had one foot out the door. A hustler would have let the other player win five or six games. That was another source of entertainment, a hustler giving me most of a set then I only had to bear down a little for a few games. Can look lucky and the hustler be ready to go again! Often possible to win three sets race to seven before the hustler starts wondering who is hustling who.(grin)
The Hustler was before my serious gambling days but the four or five years after the Color of Money were great! Everybody that thought they could run three balls was ready to hustle. Aliases were the norm so I never paid any attention to names. I often harassed strangers with no idea if it was true or not, "that wasn't the name I heard you using two weeks ago" in a loud voice. They didn't know if it was true or not so they would squirm!
Hard to find a place it is fun to play and I can't run three balls anymore anyway. This old thread brings back lots of memories though.
Funny! Twenty years ago you didn't know what a hustler was according to your post. Twenty years later you still don't if your posts are to be believed.(grin)
Hu
Our friend Coco is smarter than the average bear! One of the first handles I noticed on the forum. Got to be pretty smart to take a play on words and bend it some more!(grin)
Hu
We called guys like you “lock artists.” You “laid down the lemon” and always made sure to have the best of it. Or “the nuts” or better yet “the Hungarian nuts!”
The difference between you and me was that I wanted to get a game and be in action every day. I hated sitting around the place doing nothing but waiting for a game, the right game. You had much more patience than me. You knew you were going to win going in. I didn’t! I had to fight for it, every little score. But winning was so sweet when I finally made them quit and got the money.
In the end you probably made more than me, but I got to play a lifetime of pool in only ten years. And all the good memories that came with it.
I will admit this though. If a guy tried to cheat me on the score (on the wire) or the ball count in One Pocket I often let them get away with it. After awhile I realized it was a sign of weakness and I was still going to win. It might take me a little longer but they would keep playing because they thought they were getting away with something. Yep, I played dumb them too.
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Sounds a little dangerous to me. I won some big money in biker bars but being a very quiet and humble hustler. I once beat the president of a notorious biker gang out of thousands and the title to his chopper. He paid me in full and showed me total respect. True that!
P.S. I played my best from start to finish! I never laid down on him. We started right out at $50 Eight Ball and I wasn’t about to give anything away, even one game. For all I knew it might be a one or two game shot. Serious money in the 1960’s and 70’s.
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yea jay i let my customers cheat me, stiff me last game, mess with the count sometimes, short me money, but it only made them keep playing.
i didnt have to have the nuts, only what i thought was the best of it. but usually did as back then guys just wanted to play.
i played every day i wanted to, as had a steady supply of customers. and had many long sessions. but did not care if i didn't play as pool rooms were fun back then if you were just sitting around and bullshitting.
but what it taught me was about keeping money and investing it. it was more fun with a pocketful of money than only enough for coffee.
what you did worked well for you. and was very successful. hats off.
i didnt have to have the nuts, only what i thought was the best of it. but usually did as back then guys just wanted to play.
i played every day i wanted to, as had a steady supply of customers. and had many long sessions. but did not care if i didn't play as pool rooms were fun back then if you were just sitting around and bullshitting.
but what it taught me was about keeping money and investing it. it was more fun with a pocketful of money than only enough for coffee.
what you did worked well for you. and was very successful. hats off.
Oh wow another memory from the archives. Let's see musta been the late 70s in Redding CA.
I was making waterbeds at the time. My work partner Larry and I were enjoying an after work beer in the local motorcycle clubs hang out. I think they went by Brothers in the wind. Anyway Larry and I were playing a game of pool when a half dozen of 'em sauntered in.wearing colors. The were acting out and playing grab ass amongst themselves. The one who appeared to be leader approached the pool table and swiped his hand over a ball as if going to take it to throw.
Oh yeah and Larry he was a very stout partner. When he ripped the 8 foot sheets of 3/4 inch particle board he would pick them up at one end. Sheets that I could barely handle from the middle to put on the saw table.
Anyway Larry didn't like it and got right in his face! Seriously! I did the quick calculation as I moved to his side. Something like uh, "let's see 6 of them so if Larry can handle 4 that leaves me two..with my house cue." HARD Swallow and game face on...Fortunately their leader had sized Larry and didn't like the odds. Whew!
i had some close calls in bars. once i went out thru the shitter window and landed in the garbage bins when the crowd changed and i was in bad soup.
after that i learned to go to the phone booth and call the cops and say there is a fight at such and such bar. and when they came in i went out.
for those under 40 you may have to google what a phone booth was.
after that i learned to go to the phone booth and call the cops and say there is a fight at such and such bar. and when they came in i went out.
for those under 40 you may have to google what a phone booth was.