Sneaky Pete?

DJSTEVEZ

DJSTEVEZ

Professor of Human Moves
Silver Member
Please help me understand. I was always under the impression a Sneaky Pete was a 2 piece cue that had many of the refinements of a production 2 piece cue, but was made to look like your run of the mill 1 piece house cue, so as to give its player a covert advantage.

That being said, I see many cues called Sneaky Petes, that look like anything but a run of the mill 1 piece house cue and that wouldn't fool anyone with a Pool IQ higher than 6.

Am I missing something? -Z-
 
DJSTEVEZ said:
Please help me understand. I was always under the impression a Sneaky Pete was a 2 piece cue that had many of the refinements of a production 2 piece cue, but was made to look like your run of the mill 1 piece house cue, so as to give its player a covert advantage.

That being said, I see many cues called Sneaky Petes, that look like anything but a run of the mill 1 piece house cue and that wouldn't fool anyone with a Pool IQ higher than 6.

Am I missing something? -Z-
Click to expand...

no you are not missing anything. It seems anything that has 4 points these days can be called a sneaky pete. ha
 
It's been discussed before in other threads. I personally like to refer to the collar-less plain sneakies as "true sneakies", and everything else are just sneaky pete's or fancy sneakies. Either way, they are conversions. If you really want to "hustle" someone these days with a sneaky cue, just use a budweiser decal cue.
 
Yeah I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that no one is fooled by a sneaky anymore, so at this point the term "sneaky pete" simply refers to that specific style of cue. To me a sneaky is a wrapless 4-point cue (some say it can have a wrap) with no veneers. People might call it fancy if it has ringwork, a wrap, a hoppe ring, etc.
 
I always find it hysterical when sellers refer to the cue they are peddling as a "fancy sneaky pete". Only in America can you have that type of blatant contradiction. I've also noticed that the Mini Cooper car is now offered in jumbo size. Jeezus, are you serious? They are going for the world's tallest midget, seriously???

I guess sellers tell buyers whatever they wish to hear. On that note, I'm sure these "fancy" sneaky petes "hit a ton", whatever that means...
 
Fancy Sneaky = No wrap, splice looks like a house cue but often with fancy woods or rings.

Plain Jane = Made to look like a custome cue, no points maybe some simple rings

There is also the Merry Widow which is a fancier Plain Jane, maybe with a fancy wrap or fancy wood handle with more intracate ring work than just a simple silver ring or a single color wood or plastic.

I think the term Sneaky Pete has expanded a bit because those cues are not the Plane Jane ones since they have the form of a house cue so they needed their own category.

Of course to a non-player, any cue is a house cue or a sneaky pete. I've seen people pick up my 4 point Ned Morris cue with cocobolo and rings and try to use it, and I've seen pool room employees take my cue and stick it on the wall rack when they are going around cleaning it up because it's just wood without ivory inlays or anything.
 
sneaky pete

sneaky pete's [ hustlers ] were made to make people think you were playing with a house cue.

no longer, i now see what is being called sneakys with fancy joint rings, wraps, inlays. this is most of the time done by younger people who were not around when these cues were first being used.

photos are of a real old school sneaky, this one has a recycled brunswick bumper from the 1950's era
 

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It's just a style that has evolved into plain and fancy cues with point but no inlays. Not a big deal, lots of things start one way, and morph into something else.

I mean, in this day and age even bangers have their own cues, so, only a chump would judge a player using a house cue.....Bugs Rucker only used house cues unless someone loaned him a cue during a game. He just didn't care, and he was not trying hustle anyone since everyone in chicago knew who he was.....pretty hard to hide his banking speed? Plus, if someone wants to gamble at banks and you think he's a nobody, run away ;)
 
My main player was a sneaky pete blank, but it was rather fancy, even as a sneaky blank. Curly maple into some very dark ebony. Not your average house cue, so it also has a black phenolic butt cap and joint collars. I like the looks of a traditional full splice house cue, without actually having a cue that looks like a house cue. That being said, my cue is not a sneaky pete.

To me, a true sneaky pete is a converted house cue. You won't get anymore sneaky than that.
 
The type of cue in question was invented by a guy named Pete, and he was one sneaky bastard, too.
Pete used to sneak into his local pool hall and when no one was looking would steal a couple of house cues off a wall and sneak home.
In a spare bedroom, where he had a tidy, but well-equipped shop, he would saw the cues in half, install a pin in one end and a threaded insert into the other, then sneak back to the pool hall and put them back on the wall.
This practice went on for several years until one day Pete was caught sneaking out the door with an armload of cues and was arrested. He was charged, tried and convicted, and sent to prison where he snuck around stealing shoes that he used to make single layer cue tips.
The rest, as they say, is history. :)
 
Original SP was a house cue off the wall that you liked, bought, had cut in half. They worked better before everyone got two-piece cues. Johnnyt
 
I actually did have a TS sneaky that was a total road player cue. Beat up and chalk stained all throughout the butt of the cue. It was very hard to see the joint, and it did fool a few people. It was great to see their reactions when I unscrewed it.... But again, anyone who knows cues should be able to spot it.
 
Found out why it's called a Sneaky Pete this past Wednesday night.
We were shooting doubles at my house the other night when one of the guys ran out for the win. While I racked for his break, he kept walking around the room looking in corners... around his case... behind chairs... everywhere.
His playing partner told him "If you're looking for the break cloth, it's right there" and pointed toward the corner table.
"I can't find my break cue", he replied back. His partner had moved it from one of the wall hooks next to the wall rack and put it up in an empty slot in the rack... inline with the house cues. It had been there for about an hour and it looked exactly like my one piece house cues. His partner (who knows my table and all of my cues like the back of his hand) had no idea that it was a two piece stick.

Isn't this classic as to why it's called a "Sneaky Pete"?
 
galipeau said:
If you really want to "hustle" someone these days with a sneaky cue, just use a budweiser decal cue.
Click to expand...

That makes all the sense in the world. I had s buddy of mine (Johnny B, aka New Rochelle Johnny) who used to play a lot with Ginky and the whole Chelsea crew from NYC. He always used a low line Mali cue whenever he played. He said most people would assume he sucked if shooting with such a low end cue. In truth he loved the hit of Mali cues and thought they played very well.
 
DJSTEVEZ said:
Please help me understand. I was always under the impression a Sneaky Pete was a 2 piece cue that had many of the refinements of a production 2 piece cue, but was made to look like your run of the mill 1 piece house cue, so as to give its player a covert advantage.

That being said, I see many cues called Sneaky Petes, that look like anything but a run of the mill 1 piece house cue and that wouldn't fool anyone with a Pool IQ higher than 6.

Am I missing something? -Z-
Click to expand...
You're not missing anything. They are. I think people are confusing conversion with SPs

Freddie <~~~ blames it on Schön
 
DJ, you pretty much have it nailed. I like a wrapless cue so the sneaky's are what I prefer. But with half a dozen, only my McDermott M 11 B comes close to a true sneaky.

A year or two back there was a thread of, show us your sneaky's. There was only one or two real sneaky's. Most shown never came close. I could see showing one having nice wood and even a collar, but no, nowhere near. The thread had colored veneers, wraps, butterflies. and inlays. WTF?
 
Sneaky Pete was what you called the guy that tried to bring a two piece cue into the room. Most rooms didn't want two piece cues used because they broke and tore the cloth.

How do you tell a Sneaky Pete ?

One arm would be held straight down with the fingers under the edge of their jacket and the other hand across their chest holding the sticks together threw the jacket, so they didn't rattle.They would walk like a crab to a dark corner of the room and put them together and make like they took it off the wall. If they won the need to hide them was gone and they left with the two pieces in their hand.
 
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