"Sneaky Pete" and the gullible...

TimFXF

TimFXF

A Wouldbe Hasbeen
Silver Member
OK, I don’t get it**. There is this cue stick known as the “Sneaky Pete”... I guess the “sneaky” part is that it “looks" like a bar cue, but it ain’t. Ain’t been for years. The dead giveaway is the “314”* printed on it near the joint.

So... Does anyone really get to “sneak” their Pete up against some poor, unsuspecting Barney. ‘Cause - Jeez Louise!!! Anyone with a 2-piece cue is marked to begin with. I say this knowing that I like the look of a SP... I like the look of simple cues - personally. Are there Rubes out there that will bite on the SP? Or, as I suspect, is this a legacy of the rich past of the sport?

Tim

*It seems like that every Sneaky Pete shaft has a 314, 314 squared... Or a Z or an OB1 or a ....

**OK. Maybe i do get it!
 
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Outside of pool geeks like us those markings probably look like something found on a typical house cue. You are right though most wood to wood jointed sneakies are pretty obvious if you look at them closely.
 
Not all sneakys are obvious...my breaking cue is very sneaky...enough so that I had to prove to a hall owner it wasn't a house cue by taking it apart for him.
 
I guess it comes down to another level as well. What is your tolerance to admit how good you are? “Jeepers, I got this cue from my sugar daddy...”
 
There was a time when sneaky petes were

Years ago the original house shaft was often used with possibly a retaper, usually a new ferule, and tip. These could be very sneaky. Other sneaky petes got a new shaft with some effort made to match the shade of the butt wood. Again these could be mistaken for a house cue in a bar. Of course this was when half of the people carrying a stick weren't toting a sneaky too.

Now with petes being much more common and the addition of joint collars, butt caps, or even just shafts badly mismatched in appearance there is little hope of hustling with a sneaky most places. The new sneaky is taking a "bubblegum" cue and making it a decent player. I recently added phenolic joint collars and a good shaft to a Budweiser cue. It plays much better than it did but not nearly as well as a plain cue or sneaky. Guess it will go away and I'll try again or I will core the fore arm and handle. It is complete with the vinyl case it came in so it is hard to look like a player toting it.

Hu
 
Sneaky Pete's have also become an affordable way to get into the custom cue market. Not everybody is ready to drop $2K on a Bender, so the $300-$600 market for custom SP's are a great way to try out different cuebuilders.

Of course, I personally don't understand how Scruggs SP's haved the resale value they are at right now. Think one just sold on ebay for $700+ recently. I understand the guy is hot now, but yeeeesh, that's a bit much for a SP.
 
They can be sneaky enough!

Yep, there are sure better ways to fool people then having that 314 logo on the shaft! :D IMO, anyone who makes a judgement on someones ability based on what kind of cue they're using is an idiot. One of the most dangerous player/gamblers I know uses a regular house cue. Not one from behind the counter either.

In some ways you have to watch a sneaky more carefully than your more elaborately decorated cue. Several times I have to stop people from reaching for my cue when they are looking for a house cue.

I got distracted when leaving one night after league because one of my teamates left their cue and cue case behind. Well I forgot to check my own bag and left without putting my 314-2 sneaky in my bag. I still had my break cue in there, but I didn't notice the weight difference until the next morning when I went to move the bag. I guess carrying two bags the night before confused the issue.

I went back the pool hall as soon as I could and low and behold, right on one of the front tables, a dude was playing with my cue. He apologized and sincerely thought it was a house cue. I have a personal mark inside the buttcap that I showed him just to make sure there was no doubt. Man oh man was I relieved! I'm glad at least he was fooled! :D

What I think happened is that one of the waitresses accidently scooped it into one of the house cue racks while I had my back turned just before I left the previous night. Close call! :eek:
 
before i get flamed, this is my opinion & i'm entitled to it.

I think the sneakiest "pete" out there right now has got to be any fiberglass or graphite cue. I've never seen anybody with real game play with one except Alyson or Earl.

Any time i see sombody with one, i automaticaly think "sucker".:D
 
ASN130, a old friend of mine who moved to NC about 2yrs ago, used a old Excaliber graphite cue that he found in Chicago, and his game was UNREAL! It was the only cue he used, cuz he would break with it and jump with it too.

Of course you'd never know this from looking at him cuz his hair was down to the middle of his back and he looked like a skater and would wear baggy pants and his case was full of APA patches lol. But he was a AA rated player lol.

Yally, the reason why Scruggs' SP cues are so much is because he doesnt make them anymore and hasnt in a few years. It would basically be like Gilbert not making his JB cue's anymore.

Now, I had a old SP cue, that was made for me and the butt of it was a chopped house cue and the guy used a epoxy mix for the finish, which gave it more of a house cue look, instead of high gloss. And of course a new shaft. But the shaft for the first 8 inches from the joint had the same epoxy finish so when it was together it looked just like a house cue lol. I ended up selling the cue GRRRRRRR but man did it play so NICE
 
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yally said:
Of course, I personally don't understand how Scruggs SP's haved the resale value they are at right now. Think one just sold on ebay for $700+ recently. I understand the guy is hot now, but yeeeesh, that's a bit much for a SP.
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Maybe because he is not making them anymore. :rolleyes:
 
ShootingArts said:
Years ago the original house shaft was often used with possibly a retaper, usually a new ferule, and tip. These could be very sneaky. Other sneaky petes got a new shaft with some effort made to match the shade of the butt wood. Again these could be mistaken for a house cue in a bar. Of course this was when half of the people carrying a stick weren't toting a sneaky too.

Now with petes being much more common and the addition of joint collars, butt caps, or even just shafts badly mismatched in appearance there is little hope of hustling with a sneaky most places. The new sneaky is taking a "bubblegum" cue and making it a decent player. I recently added phenolic joint collars and a good shaft to a Budweiser cue. It plays much better than it did but not nearly as well as a plain cue or sneaky. Guess it will go away and I'll try again or I will core the fore arm and handle. It is complete with the vinyl case it came in so it is hard to look like a player toting it.

Hu
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http://www.pooldawg.com/product/action-va61-pink-pool-cue-stick

Yup...I'm getting one.
 
The only people

they fool anymore are bangers to begin with that you could beat playing finger pool while they used a cue.

I have enough trouble trying to keep waitresses from taking my J&J break/jump cue and putting in the cue rack. 2 weeks ago, a wairtress
took my break cue out of my Q-Clw holder holding both my sticks and was
halfway across the room to put into a cue rack before I caught up with her.
Jeesh, shouldn't the cue holder have been a hint to her? .... LOL
 
Snapshot9 said:
they fool anymore are bangers to begin with that you could beat playing finger pool while they used a cue.

I have enough trouble trying to keep waitresses from taking my J&J break/jump cue and putting in the cue rack. 2 weeks ago, a wairtress
took my break cue out of my Q-Clw holder holding both my sticks and was
halfway across the room to put into a cue rack before I caught up with her.
Jeesh, shouldn't the cue holder have been a hint to her? .... LOL
Click to expand...

Forgive her...these are the same girls that stop dead in their tracks as you're shooting. I constantly have to tell them just to keep walking. People walking by, no distraction. People walking in my line of sight and suddenly stopping, distraction.

ShootingArts said:
That should work, you'll have to have to have big cajones to tote it in some places though! :D :D :D

Hu
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I'm gonna order one tomorrow. Hell, it's only 25 bucks. God help the waitress that decides my hot pink stick is a bar cue.
 
i know it wasnt a sneaky pete but i took my plain jain cue into a pool hall in a neighboring town thinking it was plain enough looking. after about 30 minutes of play a local walked up to me and asked the one simple question that blew it for me. is that a Szamboti he asked. Not being a great lier i simoly said yes and kept playing. no action that night
 
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