New York's top money players

jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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There were a flock of great players in New York back in the 60's and 70's but when it came to betting high dollars one stood out. His name was Johnny Ervolino. Not too tall, maybe 5'9" and slightly built, he had a voice that could be heard in all four boroughs. And he had heart, tons of it.

At a time when New York was blessed with an abundance of champions, Johnny stood out. Jersey Red, New York Blackie, Richie from the Bronx, Boston Shorty and Johnny Irish were all there, and all great players. If someone came in looking for a $50 One Pocket game or a $500 set of 9-Ball, he would quickly get accommodated by any one of the above champions. But when they starting asking about playing two or three hundred a game One Pocket or five hundred a game Straight Pool or a thousand dollar set of 9-Ball, that's when they called ERVOLINO!

Johnny was the go-to man for big games. He would play anyone for any amount at any game. How many old time players can we say that about? If a Lassiter or a Cornbread or a Taylor came to town looking for big action there was only one guy to call. And that was Johnny Ervolino. He was fearless and could play great for the cash. As far as I know Lassiter was the only guy who beat him for the cheese. The top Straight Pool players of that era were not interested in gambling with this guy.

The biggest Straight Pool money game I ever heard about in the 60's pitted Johnny against Teddy Elias, another great money player from Toledo, Ohio. Johnny went to his home town and played him on his table. NO ONE ever beat Teddy Elias in Toledo! They played one game to 200 for $7,000! All the money Johnny and his backer brought with them. When the smoke cleared Johnny had all the cash. And Teddy had his first loss. Seven thousand was some pretty serious money in the 60's. Like betting 50K today.

The next great money player to come out of New York was Allen Hopkins. In the era of the Sigel's, Mizerak's, Margo's and Rempe's, Allen stood out. He bet the highest and played the best for big money, from the time he was a teenager. Allen was playing $300 9-Ball with top flight hustlers (Harley Bryant among them) and giving up weight at age 19! He was the East Coast equivalent of Keith McCready.

More to come later.
 
jay helfert said:
There were a flock of great players in New York back in the 60's and 70's but when it came to betting high dollars one stood out. His name was Johnny Ervolino. Not too tall, maybe 5'9" and slightly built, he had a voice that could be heard in all four boroughs. And he had heart, tons of it.

At a time when New York was blessed with an abundance of champions, Johnny stood out. Jersey Red, New York Blackie, Richie from the Bronx, Boston Shorty and Johnny Irish were all there, and all great players. If someone came in looking for a $50 One Pocket game or a $500 set of 9-Ball, he would quickly get accommodated by any one of the above champions. But when they starting asking about playing two or three hundred a game One Pocket or five hundred a game Straight Pool or a thousand dollar set of 9-Ball, that's when they called ERVOLINO!

Johnny was the go-to man for big games. He would play anyone for any amount at any game. How many old time players can we say that about? If a Lassiter or a Cornbread or a Taylor came to town looking for big action there was only one guy to call. And that was Johnny Ervolino. He was fearless and could play great for the cash. As far as I know Lassiter was the only guy who beat him for the cheese. The top Straight Pool players of that era were not interested in gambling with this guy.

The biggest Straight Pool money game I ever heard about in the 60's pitted Johnny against Teddy Elias, another great money player from Toledo, Ohio. Johnny went to his home town and played him on his table. NO ONE ever beat Teddy Elias in Toledo! They played one game to 200 for $7,000! All the money Johnny and his backer brought with them. When the smoke cleared Johnny had all the cash. And Teddy had his first loss. Seven thousand was some pretty serious money in the 60's. Like betting 50K today.

The next great money player to come out of New York was Allen Hopkins. In the era of the Sigel's, Mizerak's, Margo's and Rempe's, Allen stood out. He bet the highest and played the best for big money, from the time he was a teenager. Allen was playing $300 9-Ball with top flight hustlers (Harley Bryant among them) and giving up weight at age 19! He was the East Coast equivalent of Keith McCready.

More to come later.
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I"m lucky enough to be best friends with Allens good buddy. Allen is an old school breed......he will gamble at anything! First time I met him was at our annual 14.1 event. I was working the counter and between matches Allen, Rempe, Calovito, Sigel, etc went across the street for lunch. I'm like 23 at the time and new to gambling terminology. Allen sits next to me and sais....Gerry, pick 3 for $100 and I'll take the field in the PGA event on the TV.....I say..Allen, I know squat about gambling on golf....he sais....OK,.....I'll pick 3 and you take the field! :) ....too much fun

Every year at the Expo we all get together and drink too much and tell stories. Allen knows EVERY thing about every gambler ever known. His stories about hitting the road with Shadow are legendary.


G.
 
There was guy in Jersey around the Toms River area that played the 8 under Jimmy Fusco just for reference sake. He was on every road players list. He would let these guys pound him for days and lose 3k to 5k every time.What he lacked in common sense he made up for in his betting. This was in the 80's and 90's.
 
measureman said:
There was guy in Jersey around the Toms River area that played the 8 under Jimmy Fusco just for reference sake. He was on every road players list. He would let these guys pound him for days and lose 3k to 5k every time.What he lacked in common sense he made up for in his betting. This was in the 80's and 90's.
Click to expand...

was that the guy whos family owned a beer company or something....was his name Lonny, Leon, Lenny?

I bought a few cues from him back in the day...

G.
 
Gerry said:
was that the guy whos family owned a beer company or something....was his name Lonny, Leon, Lenny?

I bought a few cues from him back in the day...

G.
Click to expand...

No not the guy. I did not want to name him but he was known as "The Legend"
 
measureman said:
There was guy in Jersey around the Toms River area that played the 8 under Jimmy Fusco just for reference sake. He was on every road players list. He would let these guys pound him for days and lose 3k to 5k every time.What he lacked in common sense he made up for in his betting. This was in the 80's and 90's.
Click to expand...

Was it Neptune Joe?
 
irish

Jay-

I've always wanted to learn more about Johny Irish. I thought he was one of the best 9 ball players around 30-40 years ago but he doesn't get brought up much. Any good stories about him?
 
stories

Jay im from central pa alot of the older guys talk about Jiimmy matts??? jimmy matz??? do you have any good stories about him
 
Jay, I think you should make another book with your knowledge of these players, you know many and the ones you do not know well I am sure you can gather the info from. Do a chapter on each player and call it something like Legends of a Lost Road. :)
 
Johnny Irish

Tin Man,
Fez Kasem, the old timer who lived in El Paso, considered Johnny Irish to be right at the top of the heap. That's quite a recommendation from an insider who knew most of those greats, and hung with Jimmy Moore.
Nick
 
Pretty sure I watched a video of that guy somewhere. He was playing Strickland in a straight pool tourney and he must have been in his early sixties. Anyway, he put a pretty nice run on Earl (I think it was like 80) and I was thinking damn that old man can play!
 
Gerry said:
was that the guy whos family owned a beer company or something....was his name Lonny, Leon, Lenny?

I bought a few cues from him back in the day...

G.
Click to expand...

Lenny Loder. Pretty decent player, but no match for a champion. Dave Lipner was another one who used to try to gamble with the big boys. Pretty good 14.1 player, just not good enough.
 
Gerry said:
i just remembered his name was Lenny Smallowitz

he had some seriously nice cues!
Click to expand...

Actually his name was Lester Smallowitz. He was a fairly good player and played in several big tourneys in the 80's. He was from a moneyed family. I think he still plays occasionally.
 
Tin Man said:
Jay-

I've always wanted to learn more about Johny Irish. I thought he was one of the best 9 ball players around 30-40 years ago but he doesn't get brought up much. Any good stories about him?
Click to expand...

Johnny Irish was from another era, the Greenleaf era. When I arrived in New York the first time in 1964, he was already well into his 60's. I played him at 7/11 not knowing (or caring) who he was. I found out later I had played with a legend. I think he died by the late 1960's.

From what I was told, at one time he may have been the best player in the country, right there with Lassiter at 9-Ball and Rags at One Pocket. Some people thought he was the best player that ever lived. I NEVER heard that said about Mosconi back then. In the 60's they still talked about how great Greenleaf was. He was rated over Mosconi by all the old time players. And James Evans was second.

Mosconi was considered a top tournament player, that's all. And even at that, some of the old timers felt that Caras and Crane had more heart and played better under pressure. They scoffed at all his world titles won in challenge matches against hand picked opponents. Mosconi lost his one challenge match with Cranfield and never played him again. This is what someone told me, so I don't know this first hand. He broke even with Caras in challenge matches as well. And didn't like playing Crane either, except in a tournament when he had to.

No question Willie was a great player, but among his peers he was not considered the best of all time. Most of the old time players liked Rag's game, saying that no one ever beat him. And they felt Lassiter was the best 9-Ball player, along with Willis and Rood. But when they talked about the all time greats, Johnny Irish's name always came up. He was definitely a world beater. Even back then, there was differences of opinion about who the top players were. But it was a small select group.
 
harris4143 said:
Jay im from central pa alot of the older guys talk about Jiimmy matts??? jimmy matz??? do you have any good stories about him
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Jimmy Matz was a great $5-$20 9-Ball player! He could play even up against anyone, and often did. He didn't care whether someone was a name player or not. Hopkins, Sigel, Rempe no matter. He would just get up and play. He never traveled much, staying close to home and sadly close to his "connections" for whatever 'medication' he was on. A true waste of talent! I don't think he ever played in one major tournament.

I heard a story about him and Jack Hynes playing many years ago. Jack went from town to town in Pennsylvania looking for this guy he heard about who played so good. He finally found him and Jimmy would only play for maybe five or ten a game. He beat Jack out of something like $300 and Jack went crazy begging the guy to raise the bet. I'm not sure if it ended in fisticuffs or not. I never got that part of the story straight. Just that Jimmy busted him and never raised the bet.
 
jay helfert said:
Lenny Loder. Pretty decent player, but no match for a champion. Dave Lipner was another one who used to try to gamble with the big boys. Pretty good 14.1 player, just not good enough.
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Lenny Loder was/is from the New England area. Lenny made Mike Sigel give up backgammon, though. LOL!

Edit: Sorry Jay, just saw your post about Lester.
 
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