Pool ?

Jack Sharpe said:
What is the most outrageous spot you have seen somebody give?

Old timer Abe Rosen, who died about ten years ago at age 88, and who was the mentor of world one-pocket champion John Ervolino, was a classic. Abe made the following game with many, though he couldn't make this game with strong players. He wanted 99 on the wire going to 100 in straight pool. There would be no deductions for any fouls he committed, and he would shoot every shot with the sharp end of a normal sized pencil.

To place this in some perspective, the cue ball couldn't be hit very far with the pencil, so Abe was betting that his opponent would not only hang a ball over a pocket but that they would leave the cue ball close enough to it that he could knock it in. He would nearly always win against players that played below "B" level.
 
When I was first learning 1-Pocket an old timer gave me 11-4.
We played for time. When I won a game it went to 10-5, etc., etc...
I always paid for the time back then... :)

Troy
Jack Sharpe said:
What is the most outrageous spot you have seen somebody give?
 
The most outrageous spots I have ever seen are usually the ones I have “negotiated” for myself or as the old saying goes “dig my own grave”. A player in Anchorage would spot me 9-6 one pocket I had to make 9 and he had to run 6 ( 6 no count!). Funny thing the first time we played that way I broke made the corner ball in my pocket and ran 9 out! Of course that was not normal. We played a quite few times with that spot and I think over all it came out pretty even. I maintain he could play with the best if his opponent had to wear a paper bag on their head with my face on it. He liked my money especially well for some reason(?).
 
I seen a guy play on the bar table when I first started playing pool and his opponent just had to drive the object ball to the rail to win the game. He was getting the break, the guy giving the spot, so he was just betting he could run out every game, I guess. He won though.
 
I saw two guys playing one time where the better one could only win by Fouling the guy out, or geting an early nine. If he just ran them out, he didnt lose, but he didnt win either. It was actually pretty close and he was much better than the other guy
 
I once saw..

a guy give ten to four and two breaks in one pocket if he did not like the first break he got to break again. They where playing for eight hundred a game and the guy giving the spot walked out with 30 grand in cash. I also saw guy get 7 to 10, but the guy getting 7 had to walk on one leg and shot one handed.
 
Melvin

Jack Sharpe said:
What is the most outrageous spot you have seen somebody give?

I saw your uncle :) Melvin in Denver giving the following spot (on a bar box):
9-ball rack, eight in the middle.
Melvin was solids, other player was stripes (9-ball and then 8)
Melvin had to shoot in rotation and bank every ball.

Melvin was taking all comers and killing them. It's a little bit of a sucker's bet, but the impressive thing was that Melvin was running rack after rack that way.

I also saw Dave Gomez play somebody where he had to shoot one handed and hopping on one leg during his shot.

One time I played a kid with a house cue with the tip cut off as a spot...beat him 3-2 IIRC.

Cheers,
Regas
 
I never saw it but i heard that one old timer would play some weaker one pocket players this way. The spot was that no ball the better player made in his own pocket counted, the only balls that counted were the ones his opponent made in his (the wrong) pocket.
 
In a very good book "Winning One-Pocket" there are several weird spots reported: one player will play with a heavy (leather?) jacket if the other player plays without shoes. Eventually the jacket-player wins because the wooden floor gave so many splinters to other players feet and broke his concentration (ouch!)
Player shooting with a crayon needs only one. I think shooting with a craoyn is easier than with a sharp pencil.
Alex Pagulayan played straight pool race-to-100 so that Alex's breaks under 100 don't count. Only way to win was to run 100-out. And he did, at least twice...
 
i got to see this one, it was some of the best pool i have ever seen. keith might remember this. keith played efren, efren gave up 12-7 and the breaks, i think they broke even. also i have seen efren give up the 3 out in 9-ball...and win. of course it wasn't to great players. although i think efren can win that also, if he is breaking good
 
I saw a guy get 14-3 in one pocket. . . that was WHACK. He never one. . . went off for thousands. . . . :o
 
SonjaBlue03 said:
I saw a guy get 14-3 in one pocket. . . that was WHACK. He never one. . . went off for thousands. . . . :o

Now there's somebody that has a grudge against his money. Can you set up the game for me? :p



Eric
 
Rude Dog said:
I seen a guy play on the bar table when I first started playing pool and his opponent just had to drive the object ball to the rail to win the game. He was getting the break, the guy giving the spot, so he was just betting he could run out every game, I guess. He won though.

That's just ridiculous LOL!
 
Jack Sharpe said:
What is the most outrageous spot you have seen somebody give?

I watched Louie Roberts, back in the late 70's, give a spot where he got the breaks and if he didn't run out from the break, he would lose the game. His oponent never had to shoot. I saw Louie win a lot of cabbage with that spot. He figured if he could break and run out over 50% of the time he would win. he was playing some god awful good pool back then.

Lunchmoney
 
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Jack Sharpe said:
What is the most outrageous spot you have seen somebody give?
Clarksburg, WV.- Guy Buffy used to play Floyd Boston
8-1 in 1 hole for 20 a game and beat him constantly.
Morgantown - Mark Kadd played a guy named Joey
Scotchell , maybe the best 1 holer in town,
11-5 for 200 a game & won every game.
 
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