For those of you who do not know Jersey Red
He is on my list as a possIble best player ever list
I have a book "HUSTLER DAYS" for $20 shipped with stories about him,Ronnie,Fats ,Wimpy and others that is great reading
I had the advantage on Red when we me as I knew he was a great player,
a ton of fun to watch and one of the most creative persons in the world
to match up with
The story began when I went to a tournament in san antonio. i wanted to gamble and gamble high. The problem I faced was 2 fold,1) i don't play dood enough to win without a big spot
2) No one knew me or how much I played for or how bad I played
So I decided to buy myself a reputation by playind Red with a big spot and losing until he got tired of playing
I figured this would really convince the locals to watch the game because Red is or rather was a great showboat,a legend of a player
I knew if he spotted me that I could lose every game with a great attitude
just pay off and grin like a possum eating glue
First step was to match up,no problem I owned Reds Szamboti and it got my foot in the door,soon he was holding court
He offered me 3 pockets to his one and he got the break,when I asked him how much he wanted to play for he whispered $10 a game,I asked him to please keep the amount private between us
Why?
I wanted everyone to think I was playing higher,I was thrilled to get all this attention for so cheap a bet
Anyway once the game started the fun began,Red ran 8 and out every time I missed
the crowd loved it,more importantly Red loved the attention.
He was well beyond his prime at this time
I missed every shot I shot for hours, i shot the wrong shots and sold out,
we would rack a new rack ,Red would break leaving me in a trap,i would sell out I would laugh and call him lucky,I explained that not a man alive could keep up the pace
Well Red was in full throat "The Red rocket of One Pocket,The aitola of one hola'
and something else Big Cheif of Pocket Apiece
Funny stories,a clapping crowd and a willing sucker
The spread was being laid down so good that every time I went to the urinal
complete strangers followed me in and stood on my right and my left
Here is what they said "you ever think it might be a bad game?"
"This guy is really good,don't you think you should quit"
Never had the pool detectives been so eager to help me.
, lift my skirt,knock Red
Now Red was not in on the deal with me,he was just pocketing my money.
Red got to enjoying the adulation from the crowd,he said the Red rocket can still play when the bet gets up there
finally I won a game about the same time that Red was called to his tournament
appearance,he apologized and left.
I announced that I would not be playing by the game anymore.I explained that I was tired of people quitting every time that I started getting in stroke.
"no sir freeze up $2000 or i am through" said I triumphantly
The crowd wondered what i was talking about,everyone present was convinced that
I was a complete idiot
Now as you know pool players don't play each other very often,they tend to look for the nuts playing weak action,easy games,but they always say"No body has any gamble"
The implication being ,that no body but them has any gamble
Well I got a big table to sit at ,every player wanted to play me.
Can you imagine why?
I almost couldn't stand it when the guys said"Nobody has any gamble,here"
then almost apologizing 'They added no body but you,that is"
Now this game Red gave me looked or rather sounded like a big spot,
but it was really a sucker bet,a proposition bet.
This was good for me because I later would introduce propositions to
other players and I would be getting huge bets
Every pundit,every pool detective,every know it all,every detective would tell
his friends about the rube who was not aware what was going on
Well just to mention one game,Danny Medina was advanced into my presence and I offered to spot him my 8 to his 2 but he had to bank his 2 balls
now this was years ago and perhaps this gaff was not so well known.
At any rate Danny could see that I couldn't make a ball,certainly not a difficult shot
So the game was on,i of course offered to cover all bets,but they had to post
Every living soul loves to bet on a great player against a rube,motivated by the fact that they knew I wouldn't quit plus the motivation of looking smart when betting on the crowd favorite, with the impending event that if they didn't hurry 'my money
was there for the taking while it lasted
Cunning and greed that we know is so prevalent in the underbelly of the action crowd.
Finally I started asking for 2 to odds on each game,since I was spotting Danny my 8 to his 2
I was so lucky that Danny could not bank anything because therewas always a ball in front of his hole.I didn't have to clear his hole of ball so i shot at my hole time after time
always leaving Danny way up table so he would need to make a two railer
Rather than bore you guys with the details,not a soul in the room had any money left to gamble with after about 2 hours so I went home,
everyone lost their bank roll betting on the side
I really did them a favor by leaving before the first round of the tournament was over
Now they could get down to business
I never could understand tournament pool,it seemed like the best
players always won.This just didn't seem fair.
He is on my list as a possIble best player ever list
I have a book "HUSTLER DAYS" for $20 shipped with stories about him,Ronnie,Fats ,Wimpy and others that is great reading
I had the advantage on Red when we me as I knew he was a great player,
a ton of fun to watch and one of the most creative persons in the world
to match up with
The story began when I went to a tournament in san antonio. i wanted to gamble and gamble high. The problem I faced was 2 fold,1) i don't play dood enough to win without a big spot
2) No one knew me or how much I played for or how bad I played
So I decided to buy myself a reputation by playind Red with a big spot and losing until he got tired of playing
I figured this would really convince the locals to watch the game because Red is or rather was a great showboat,a legend of a player
I knew if he spotted me that I could lose every game with a great attitude
just pay off and grin like a possum eating glue
First step was to match up,no problem I owned Reds Szamboti and it got my foot in the door,soon he was holding court
He offered me 3 pockets to his one and he got the break,when I asked him how much he wanted to play for he whispered $10 a game,I asked him to please keep the amount private between us
Why?
I wanted everyone to think I was playing higher,I was thrilled to get all this attention for so cheap a bet
Anyway once the game started the fun began,Red ran 8 and out every time I missed
the crowd loved it,more importantly Red loved the attention.
He was well beyond his prime at this time
I missed every shot I shot for hours, i shot the wrong shots and sold out,
we would rack a new rack ,Red would break leaving me in a trap,i would sell out I would laugh and call him lucky,I explained that not a man alive could keep up the pace
Well Red was in full throat "The Red rocket of One Pocket,The aitola of one hola'
and something else Big Cheif of Pocket Apiece
Funny stories,a clapping crowd and a willing sucker
The spread was being laid down so good that every time I went to the urinal
complete strangers followed me in and stood on my right and my left
Here is what they said "you ever think it might be a bad game?"
"This guy is really good,don't you think you should quit"
Never had the pool detectives been so eager to help me.
, lift my skirt,knock Red
Now Red was not in on the deal with me,he was just pocketing my money.
Red got to enjoying the adulation from the crowd,he said the Red rocket can still play when the bet gets up there
finally I won a game about the same time that Red was called to his tournament
appearance,he apologized and left.
I announced that I would not be playing by the game anymore.I explained that I was tired of people quitting every time that I started getting in stroke.
"no sir freeze up $2000 or i am through" said I triumphantly
The crowd wondered what i was talking about,everyone present was convinced that
I was a complete idiot
Now as you know pool players don't play each other very often,they tend to look for the nuts playing weak action,easy games,but they always say"No body has any gamble"
The implication being ,that no body but them has any gamble
Well I got a big table to sit at ,every player wanted to play me.
Can you imagine why?
I almost couldn't stand it when the guys said"Nobody has any gamble,here"
then almost apologizing 'They added no body but you,that is"
Now this game Red gave me looked or rather sounded like a big spot,
but it was really a sucker bet,a proposition bet.
This was good for me because I later would introduce propositions to
other players and I would be getting huge bets
Every pundit,every pool detective,every know it all,every detective would tell
his friends about the rube who was not aware what was going on
Well just to mention one game,Danny Medina was advanced into my presence and I offered to spot him my 8 to his 2 but he had to bank his 2 balls
now this was years ago and perhaps this gaff was not so well known.
At any rate Danny could see that I couldn't make a ball,certainly not a difficult shot
So the game was on,i of course offered to cover all bets,but they had to post
Every living soul loves to bet on a great player against a rube,motivated by the fact that they knew I wouldn't quit plus the motivation of looking smart when betting on the crowd favorite, with the impending event that if they didn't hurry 'my money
was there for the taking while it lasted
Cunning and greed that we know is so prevalent in the underbelly of the action crowd.
Finally I started asking for 2 to odds on each game,since I was spotting Danny my 8 to his 2
I was so lucky that Danny could not bank anything because therewas always a ball in front of his hole.I didn't have to clear his hole of ball so i shot at my hole time after time
always leaving Danny way up table so he would need to make a two railer
Rather than bore you guys with the details,not a soul in the room had any money left to gamble with after about 2 hours so I went home,
everyone lost their bank roll betting on the side
I really did them a favor by leaving before the first round of the tournament was over
Now they could get down to business
I never could understand tournament pool,it seemed like the best
players always won.This just didn't seem fair.
