Sammy Soto ?

U

usakr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Does anybody here know or heard of Sammy Soto? I met him in 89-90. A friend of mine brought him down and till this day I don't think I have ever seen anybody quite that good. He played a local player 9-ball giving him the 7 out on a barbox with a big cueball. They played $100 a game and Sammy beat him 60 to 0. The guy got mad and closed his bar and took out a gun. And said we are not finished we need to keep playing. And we had to stay in there and Sammy continued to beat him. It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. After that the guy paid Sammy and became his backer for a while. Sammy stayed here for a few months and beat everybody in the area giving up weight all the time. He then played a player who was at the top of his game at the time from Mexico named Canela. Canela was a feared player all over Texas at the time. Sammy played him two sets and they broke even. And then Canela quit. I had never heard of Canela quitting on anybody before. They shook hands and after Canela left Sammy told me that Canela's hands were sweating and that he shouldn't be gambling if he gets nervous for money. I got to know Sammy pretty well those months and I remember mentioning Mike Sigel. And he got upset when I mentioned his name. When I asked why he said Mike owed him $500 that he beat him out of and wouldn't pay him. But to Mike's credit he did spot Sammy the 8. However, I really think it would have ended the same without the weight. Anyways has anybody heard of him or know how to get a hold of him?
 
Sammy Soto would come up to STL from time to time in the mid to early 90's. Barbox 8 ball with the big cue ball was still his specialty. He beat everybody. Never played tournaments.

Long time ago, but I think he was staying in Benton IL at the time & playing out of a bar there, getting backed by the owner. They setup a challenge match vs Buddy Hall, race to 100, 9 ball with the big cue ball & I believe Sammy won but it was close. Don't quote me on who won. The window was open as the whole town/bar bet on Sammy. I wasn't there but heard it was a crazy, fun scene.

Sammy was known to have the 'standard pool player demon' in his life so your guess is as good as mine if he is still around Illinois or still on this earth. Haven't heard of him or seen him in quite awhile.
 
He came thru Indiana for a while around 93 or so. I was just getting started playing again, after I closed up my 2 pool rooms. Bartender called me on a Tuesday night, and said there were a couple guys looking to play some. I called my buddy Troy because I knew he was playing regularly. We get there and he wants to play some for $20 a game. Troy trys to play and he won't play, even after he was offered the 8. So I played him for about 5 or 6 hours and lose $200. He agrees to come back Friday and play some more. We play for $20 a game, and they have about $50 a game on the rail. I had a friend trying to bet another $50 a game with them, and they wouldn't take it. After 6 hours, I lose another $120, or 6 games.
I talk to a friend of mine in southern In. a week later and he says I wasn't supposed to be playing, the guy is a monster. He comes back and plays Troy at the pool room in Anderson and loses $1500 and then another $1000 or so a week after that. Maybe he ran out of Chemicals.
When I played him, I saw things that give away a really good player, but he was having trouble stringing anything together. I thought the first night he maybe was stalling, but didn't seem so after they turned down extra bets.
He was a pretty easy going guy to gamble with.
 
I googled Sammy Soto & came up with this - maybe you could contact the poster on Yahoo.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070821193619AAkmSQS
Anybody seen Sammy Soto lately?
a bar right up the street from me, held a team tourny every year, 6 to 7 tables 1 9ft. and i got the privelage to watch Sammy Soto. i've watched 1,000s of hours of pool on tv, and this guy could easially be at the top of the tour, but he is a road player, and turns his back to the photos, when he wins, to protect his idenity. i would guees him being about 50 yrs old, havnt got the pleasure to see him in about 4 years, as he hasnt showed up at the local team tourny, which attracts teams from other states. just curious if anybody has ran across him lately. and if you seen him, please explain what he looks like, so i can confer that he fits the discription, and noone talking bs stories about them beating him. would love to watch him and reyes play a race to 120, would be a great match. but he is in my mind probablly the best unknown player of all time?
5 months ago
 
Around ten years ago I was at Steepleton's Billiards in Lexington KY for their 9 ball tournament. I was staking Florida Tour champion John DiToro. This guy comes in the night before the tourney looking for some bar table action. John matches up with him for $30 a game on the 9 footer and John comes out 4 game winner after about an hour and a half. The next night after the tourney he wants to play John again but I tell him he has to bet more. They play 5 ahead for $500 and he beats John rather quickly. I don't know this guy, never heard of him before but Freddie Hess from Detroit tells me he's a monster player and tells the story of him playing Buddy Hall in the bar table matchup and either winning or losing by a game (can't remember which).
After the tournament is over, he offers anyone in the house the eight. John Brumback, Eric Durbin, Norman Wines and Jack Hines are there! Hines confronts him about playing and Sammy says he didn't know Jack was in the house and they wolfed awhile but never played. Never seen him before or since. He sure was "undercover".
 
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