Oklahoma pool players

[deanoc]

I remember the first and last time i ventured into Oklahoma to gamble

playedat a place called Trueloves,Norm Hitchcock gave me the 5 and the break on one table while Buddy was giving Grady the 8 and the break on another


Randy invited us to a crap game and I went home broke,determined to stay away from
places like that forever

Years went by and I ran into verl horn,James walden,and another
really great bar player of some note

my memory fails me now, chip and joey gave me 4 hit and the pick and i remember getting even and they offered to quit,i was thrilled to get out of the game without having to look like a nit

THE TRAIN ,greg stevens,tried to sneak up on me at my real estate office one day,we had never met and i didn't know him by sight but one of the boys who worked for me did.
I took Greg to play golf,won his dwindling stack ,took him to eat at Campisis and
gave him the money to get home,he went to witchita to open a pool room.
We hit some pool balls,i never saw anyone that looked better.

i wondered if he could beat Buddy,still do

Down here Buddy was the best player to ever live,i don't know if he
could beat efren but i wonder
now they tell me that little kids give efren the 8 ball over there

Madlock is the name i forgot,what a bar player,there was a guy who actually
played everyday and played good.
i figured he was what people think about when they think about a
pool hustler

funny how a regular working guy like myself that can not run a rack with ball in hand
has seen so many great players in the little time i get out


if you guys know where these guys are today i would like to hear from you.


or stories about these guys,the old days or even today

i hope these guys are doing well

 

[garczar]

I remember the first and last time i ventured into Oklahoma to gamble

playedat a place called Trueloves,Norm Hitchcock gave me the 5 and the break on one table while Buddy was giving Grady the 8 and the break on another


Randy invited us to a crap game and I went home broke,determined to stay away from
places like that forever

Years went by and I ran into verl horn,James walden,and another
really great bar player of some note

my memory fails me now, chip and joey gave me 4 hit and the pick and i remember getting even and they offered to quit,i was thrilled to get out of the game without having to look like a nit

THE TRAIN ,greg stevens,tried to sneak up on me at my real estate office one day,we had never met and i didn't know him by sight but one of the boys who worked for me did.
I took Greg to play golf,won his dwindling stack ,took him to eat at Campisis and
gave him the money to get home,he went to witchita to open a pool room.
We hit some pool balls,i never saw anyone that looked better.

i wondered if he could beat Buddy,still do

Down here Buddy was the best player to ever live,i don't know if he
could beat efren but i wonder
now they tell me that little kids give efren the 8 ball over there

Madlock is the name i forgot,what a bar player,there was a guy who actually
played everyday and played good.
i figured he was what people think about when they think about a
pool hustler

funny how a regular working guy like myself that can not run a rack with ball in hand
has seen so many great players in the little time i get out


if you guys know where these guys are today i would like to hear from you.


or stories about these guys,the old days or even today

i hope these guys are doing well

Verl died as did BigTrain but everyone is still around. James is a shadow of his former greatness but he still plays. Chip&Joey are the two best in the state right now.

 

[pt109]

Mr Truelove was one of the classiest room owners I ever saw...
...won a few thousand from a player he was staking....when it came time to settle the tab...
...he said “When people gamble with me, they pay for nothing.”

Middle of the second day in that session, man came in who’d been drinking...a lot..
..he said, in a loud voice “A girl called me to tell me she was was pregnant.....
...I said, Well excuse me!”

 

[deanoc]

I remember Verl died

very few people remember him outside of his pool cues

but what a guy he was
strong as a bull even in his 60s

he was close friends with everyone in the pool world
we couldn't walk into a pool room and he wouldn't
know everyone
good story

we were in le cue on sahara ,an old man askVerl about a cue

Every cue he had was about $1500

so Verl tells the old fella that he doesn't need an expensive cue

go see Dean,he has a new cue for $800

The oldgentleman comes up and we have to take his car to the hotel

on the way I discover that the guy was the founder of UHAUL

Coen,I think

Well he buys about $5000 worth of cues from me and
drives me back to the pool room

I tell Verl what happened

"Go see dean you don't need an expensive cue"

Verl looked sick

Everywhere we went people loved Verl
and they would point out good games for us to play
or good Balabushkas to buy,or szamboti cues

or we would buy Ivory tusk

I never had such a good partner

people could tell you stories about him that
you would love to hear

I also knew about Greg Stevens,but I barely knew him

just that one time

i was glad that he gave up the hustling,rather fast life
and settled down after our visit

there never was a future in pool
too fast,too risky , too little of the better things in life
like a wife,a job,money for old age,respectable friends who love you

but it was tempting,wild,and fun

 

[garczar]

I remember Verl died

very few people remember him outside of his pool cues

but what a guy he was
strong as a bull even in his 60s

he was close friends with everyone in the pool world
we couldn't walk into a pool room and he wouldn't
know everyone
good story

we were in le cue on sahara ,an old man askVerl about a cue

Every cue he had was about $1500

so Verl tells the old fella that he doesn't need an expensive cue

go see Dean,he has a new cue for $800

The oldgentleman comes up and we have to take his car to the hotel

on the way I discover that the guy was the founder of UHAUL

Coen,I think

Well he buys about $5000 worth of cues from me and
drives me back to the pool room

I tell Verl what happened

"Go see dean you don't need an expensive cue"

Verl looked sick

Everywhere we went people loved Verl
and they would point out good games for us to play
or good Balabushkas to buy,or szamboti cues

or we would buy Ivory tusk

I never had such a good partner

people could tell you stories about him that
you would love to hear

I also knew about Greg Stevens,but I barely knew him

just that one time

i was glad that he gave up the hustling,rather fast life
and settled down after our visit

there never was a future in pool
too fast,too risky , too little of the better things in life
like a wife,a job,money for old age,respectable friends who love you

but it was tempting,wild,and fun

Greg was a piece of work i tell 'ya. He'd wash down a handful of "L.A. turnarounds" and play for 4-5 days. You didn't dare play him the first couple of days, had to wait for him to slow down. His high gear was every bit as good as Buddy's. He went on to be a very successful room operator in both Tulsa and later in Wichita.