Sammy Soto

[chicken ranch]

Does anyone know anything about this player from the 70s and early 80s?
Ive heard that he was a hell of a player that lived around so. illinois for years that would frequently travel and hustle pool with big stakehorses.
Every older player in the region has said he was by far the best player around,especially with the big cue ball, on the bar tables. but ive never heard any specific stories on him.

 

[Maniac]

Does anyone know anything about this player from the 70s and early 80s?
Ive heard that he was a hell of a player that lived around so. illinois for years that would frequently travel and hustle pool with big stakehorses.
Every older player in the region has said he was by far the best player around,especially with the big cue ball, on the bar tables. but ive never heard any specific stories on him.

Last played for the Texas Rangers. When the 'roids scandal came out and he stopped taking them, his ability to hit home runs diminished.

What's that you say??? Oh , you said Sammy SOTO. My bad !!!

Maniac

 

[jason]

Last played for the Texas Rangers. When the 'roids scandal came out and he stopped taking them, his ability to hit home runs diminished.

What's that you say??? Oh , you said Sammy SOTO. My bad !!!

Maniac

Yea, played around Illinois for several years. First on the southside and then a lot on the northside. It wasn't until he moved to the northside that he got in stroke. Sure was fun to watch.

I remember everytime he had a match, he would sprint his position on the table. I think it was Jay that was umpiring, umm...I mean ref-ing and Sammy broke his stick and Jay noticed it was corked. I think he was playing against this big fellow named Mark.

...I think he's a white guy now!

 

[dogginda9]

I first met him as "Charlie Salvino" around Chicago. Great player. Most of the stories you heard about him are probably very true.

 

[genomachino]

I played him in Benton,Ill at the 105 bar...........

Does anyone know anything about this player from the 70s and early 80s?
Ive heard that he was a hell of a player that lived around so. illinois for years that would frequently travel and hustle pool with big stakehorses.
Every older player in the region has said he was by far the best player around,especially with the big cue ball, on the bar tables. but ive never heard any specific stories on him.

On one of my road trips back in the early 80's I made a 2 month stop at Benton Ill.

A guy named Ted owned the 105 Bar by the railroad tracks there. He was one of the main money guys in that town at the time. Real nice guy also.

I met a young man there that kind of steered me around at first but eventually we became real good friends. His name was davey Ore.

If you read this Davey Ore please get ahold of me. It would be fun to talk to you and see what's going on with your life.

I worked the town real slowly laying it down and trying to make as much money as i could. I had one guy there when i first got there that couldn't run 3 balls in a row betting $50.00 a rack the forst week I was there.

There was alot of players there and they all had pool names.

Downtown Brown, Ralph the Mouth. I can't remember any of the rest of them though.

But I do remember Sammy Soto. He was a slim guy about average height. Short dark hard.

I heard so much about this guy that I knew that he would be the last guy I would want to play there because if I beat him it would finish off all my action for sure.

From everything I had heard about the guy I was a little scared that I might not be able to beat him.

There was an Irving Kay table at the 105 with a big rock. That's a big cue ball for those that might not know.

Finally the day came that we were going to play on that tough table for some big cash. I had won around 9,000 or so during my stay there going here and there.

I had visions of playing some 1,000 sets. Sammy didn't have any money himself so it was up to Ted and a few other guys to put up the money.

I guess I had showed too much and couldn't get a real good bet so we ended up playing some sets for 200.00 or 300.00. I won 2 or three sets and the backer pulled up.

I was playing the best pool of my life at this time. I needed all of it to beat this guy. He could play. It was no walk in the park.

Every set I won could have went the other way with just one shot the other way.

Benton, Ill was just one town of many that I hit on the road back then.

What fun. every town was like a new world. new friends and action all over the place. I even met a real nice girl there.

But that Sammy Soto could play. I could have easily lost that day.

My best game back then was on a table like that with the big rock. Mostly the reason for that was everyone else played so bad on it. But not sammy Soto.

Sammy was a hell of a player. I really didn't want a rematch. I was glad to see that they didn't want one either.

You see on the road you were out there to make money. You really needed to match up right and not make any mistakes.

Playing sammy was a mistake but it turned out OK.

While on the road sometimes you would make a mistake and shoot your way out of it. Playing Sammy $1000 sets would have been a mistake.

He could bust alot of road players back then. Anyone that played him better be on top of their game. I'll never forget how well he moved that big rock around the table. Almost like magic. A couple of games I did a double take with some of the shape he got.

What a great memory.

Thanks for the thread...........Geno...........

 

[Zims Rack]

I met Sammy a few times- he use to play alot at Lenjos with Jimmy Martin, Dean Deforest, Butch Geragosian & crew! An amazing shooter (even on those tables)!

 

[satman]

I played him twice

He came into Muncie with a couple of guys from southern In. and they ended up in a bar not far from my house. It was a Tuesday nite and, I hadn't been playing much, and was a little out of stroke. The bartender called me and asked if I wanted to come play them. I called my buddy Troy, and we went to check them out. We talked with them, and Sammy said he wanted to play some for $20 a game. Troy wanted to play him, but he said no. I had more of a rep at the time than Troy, and we couldn't understand that, since the guys from down south knew me. Troy even offered up the wild 8, and they still refused.

So, we played $20 a game 9 ball, and after about 6 hours, he was $200 ahead. He wanted to play some more on Friday nite, so I hit a few balls the next couple of days. Friday nite we started at $20 a game, and they got a few side bets, totaling about $50 a game. A buddy of mine wanted to bet another $50 a game, and Sammy said no. 5 hours later, I was stuck 6 games.

I was told a couple weeks later, that Sammy was way too good for me to play even. He came back up soon after we played, and Troy beat him on 2 different occasions for 1500 and 1200. Haven't seen or heard of anyone playing him for years now.

 

[usakr]

I know him. Best player I've ever seen He hustled Mike Siegel back in the 80's. Mike gave him the 8 and lost. If someone beat him it's only because he must have had been up for three days or something.

 

[jay helfert]

Yea, played around Illinois for several years. First on the southside and then a lot on the northside. It wasn't until he moved to the northside that he got in stroke. Sure was fun to watch.

I remember everytime he had a match, he would sprint his position on the table. I think it was Jay that was umpiring, umm...I mean ref-ing and Sammy broke his stick and Jay noticed it was corked. I think he was playing against this big fellow named Mark.

...I think he's a white guy now!

Wow you got a better memory than me. I think that was in Burlington, Iowa at the Tap Room bar table tourney. I could be wrong, so many bar table tourneys back then. I was backing Keith. No one wanted to play Keith on the bar tables there. NO ONE! I think he got third in the tourney for $1,000. Keith gave that tall skinny guy (Dave?) the seven ball and we won another thou. That's about it. I flew home after that one and Keith headed for Kentucky.