Great thread, SJD. I never met you, but you were the stuff of legend and I heard so many stories about you that I felt I knew you. I hung out at Duke's in San Jose in the early 70's, going up to Cochran's and the Palace on the weekends to get wamboozled. Some of the characters I remember are Redwood City Shorty (hell of a poker player), Al the plumber, Denny, Philipino Gene, Sunnyvale Gary (scored at pool and donated it to the track), the midge brothers, Cole, Bucktooth, Tracy Joe, Bear (crazzzzzy), Texas Max, Pros Lopez, et al. Though The Rack in Detroit is the number one action joint ever, I saw a match in Chinatown in The City that was mind-boggling. I ran with the Kitazumi brothers and they smuggled me into an asian room in North Beach; all asians and me. A real good player named Dalton was playing another asian guy 9ball for 20,000 a game and the side action was at least double or triple that. Every asian zillionaire in the Bay Area was there (and there were/are a lot of them) and betting like only asians can (they ALL bet til they're broke or you're broke). They said this kind of action went on all the time, but no one knew about it cuz they kept everything to themselves (smart people). Funny thing was, I got paid a hundred to be a bodyguard and I guarantee that I couldn't have handled anyone in the joint; looked like a Jet Li/John Woo collaberation in there.
How I lived through those years is a mystery.[/QUOTE]
Naw, not a mystery, same way I did.......
God takes care of Drunks and Fools.............