Easy guys easy. What's up anyway Harvey? I prefer to respond to posts as they come up. One day I will finish my book, when I can pull myself away from the Poker tables (and Pool tournaments).
Thanks Jam for the kind words. I owe you dinner next time our paths cross. Thank you so much for being such a good friend to Keith. Now, his life story would be worth telling. He started playing the greats of the game at age 14, and never one time backed down from a challenge, be it on big tables or small.
You couldn't bet too high or play too long for Keith. He had a way of being cocky in a light hearted way that drew people to him like flies (not sure that's the best analogy). And with all the money on the line and the Cue Ball on the end rail, Keith would come up with the most unbelievable shots over and over. And make it look easy! I never saw his equal, although Louie had to be a close second.
As far as the name "Pockets", Bill Pierce the publisher of the National Tavern News, layed that one on me in 1983. I didn't so much care for the new name, especially after Mike Panozzo of Billiards Digest began to refer to me as "Pockets". Darn him, he still does too.
Of course that is a darn sight better than Toupee Jay, a name I earned by wearing a rug to cover my bald pate. Sean Walsh from Arizona christened me one day in Los Angeles when I had returned after a hiatus sans toupee, and engaged in a game with someone who did not recognize the 'new' me.
When the unfortunate foe, who I had buried in a $10 9-Ball game, looked around and wailed "Who is this guy?", Sean piped up from the sidelines, "Why that's Toupee Jay, I'd know him anywhere." I wanted to murder him. And to my misfortune the name stuck for the next 30 odd years.
Is it too late Freddie to get a name change?
