We played every day and never rested until the road trip was over
No wigs, just fake glasses, different hair styles and colors, and dressed to fit in with the locals in whatever part of the US I was in. And the psychological/financial damage was different back then (in the 80's). Players were much tougher because we gambled ten times more than in this day and age. There were MANY pool players running around gambling for a living and some of us made a lucrative time of it.
It's a sign of the times more than anything, remember this story is based on how pool gambling was in the 80s. If you lost a match there was always somewhere you could go to win your money back plus a lot more in some cases. Every bar you went to they were playing for $10.-$20 a game and many "challenge table" bar tables had $50. games going on all the time.
Most of the trips I went on with other top notch road players we averaged winning $800, and sometimes $1000. a day (this was average). Sometimes we would hit a big score for 15k-20k and really boost our daily average up. We played every day and never rested until the road trip was over, then my partner would go back home to rest and I'd get another partner and keep going. I kept this pace up for many years, and covered the country many times in the places that pool gambling was prevalent.
I would sometimes play/gamble every day for months at a time in those days. One stretch I went three straight years without losing and won over a million dollars (I had partners so about 60% was my end).
This doesn't exist anymore, there's not even close to as much action today as there was in the 80s. Also, the information travels faster and camera phones can get you seriously hurt if you're out "hustling". Many times I played guys that thought I was "CJ," but I would deny it until I won all the money, then escape before they could ever prove who I really was.
This is difficult to imagine now, but it was like this all over the country, especially in Texas, OK, Tenn., Kentucky, Al., Carolina s, etc.
Funny that you wouldn't think that psychological or financial damage is not long lasting. Did you ever wear a wig?
No wigs, just fake glasses, different hair styles and colors, and dressed to fit in with the locals in whatever part of the US I was in. And the psychological/financial damage was different back then (in the 80's). Players were much tougher because we gambled ten times more than in this day and age. There were MANY pool players running around gambling for a living and some of us made a lucrative time of it.
It's a sign of the times more than anything, remember this story is based on how pool gambling was in the 80s. If you lost a match there was always somewhere you could go to win your money back plus a lot more in some cases. Every bar you went to they were playing for $10.-$20 a game and many "challenge table" bar tables had $50. games going on all the time.
Most of the trips I went on with other top notch road players we averaged winning $800, and sometimes $1000. a day (this was average). Sometimes we would hit a big score for 15k-20k and really boost our daily average up. We played every day and never rested until the road trip was over, then my partner would go back home to rest and I'd get another partner and keep going. I kept this pace up for many years, and covered the country many times in the places that pool gambling was prevalent.
I would sometimes play/gamble every day for months at a time in those days. One stretch I went three straight years without losing and won over a million dollars (I had partners so about 60% was my end).
This doesn't exist anymore, there's not even close to as much action today as there was in the 80s. Also, the information travels faster and camera phones can get you seriously hurt if you're out "hustling". Many times I played guys that thought I was "CJ," but I would deny it until I won all the money, then escape before they could ever prove who I really was.
This is difficult to imagine now, but it was like this all over the country, especially in Texas, OK, Tenn., Kentucky, Al., Carolina s, etc.