I played in some dives in my time...one was a biker bar in Leesville, LA (I was in the Army at Ft. Polk) where I took $200 off a MC member one night on a crappy, unleveled Valley Cougar (I played Busch League at another bar, and had competed there a couple of times, so I knew the table). My opponent would bleed to death under that same table two nights later (I wasn't there, thankfully).
Another bar in Leesville had one bar box (a 7 footer) that actually played pretty good. I won another couple of hundred playing a bunch railroad workers passing through in a game of 3 ball. After I left for home, one of those railroad guys was found dead on the railroad tracks that ran right behind the bar...he was beaten to death and cut in half with a chain saw to make it look like a train.
A friend of mine opened a small pool room with 8 and 9 foot Gandy tables--but no liquor license. He went bust within three months. Nearest 9 footer was Layfayette, LA, so crappy bar boxes were all that were to be found.
So, there are worse places to play than a bowling alley. Just about anywhere in Leesville in the 1980s qualified.
Another bar in Leesville had one bar box (a 7 footer) that actually played pretty good. I won another couple of hundred playing a bunch railroad workers passing through in a game of 3 ball. After I left for home, one of those railroad guys was found dead on the railroad tracks that ran right behind the bar...he was beaten to death and cut in half with a chain saw to make it look like a train.
A friend of mine opened a small pool room with 8 and 9 foot Gandy tables--but no liquor license. He went bust within three months. Nearest 9 footer was Layfayette, LA, so crappy bar boxes were all that were to be found.
So, there are worse places to play than a bowling alley. Just about anywhere in Leesville in the 1980s qualified.
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