St. Louie Louie

Actually, as I read the rest of these posts, I might as well tell Bobby, it was his Dad. He beat my friend and it took him 2 years to find out he had NO CHANCE of winning. Your Dad played pretty good back then.
 
Well

satman said:
Actually, as I read the rest of these posts, I might as well tell Bobby, it was his Dad. He beat my friend and it took him 2 years to find out he had NO CHANCE of winning. Your Dad played pretty good back then.
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This guy is an interesting guy to watch. I mean this in good way but he is kinda boring. Let me explain, he controls the cue ball so well, that it seems he never makes a tough out. If a novice would watch him, he would appear to be an okay player, but nothing great. He seldom has to make a tough shot, because he is constantly shooting the shot the keeps him in line. There is another very good player in town that makes great shots and is entertaining as hell, but isnt even in the same league.

I go to alot of tourneyments, but as far as controling the cueball, this guy is very very good.

IMO that is how your friend could be fooled.

Ken
 
st.louie memorial tournament

we used to hold a annual tourney and Louie won the last won we had b4 his death so we named the tourney the st.Louie memorial tourney and have held several since.we are currently getting ready to post the next date for this added tourney and will post here and on our web sight under events soon along with the us open qualifier tourney we have planned .any other questions feel free to call 708-403-0600 ask for ed thanks
 
jay helfert said:
I wouldn't know where to begin with Louie. We made two road trips together, and he stayed with me in L.A. for a couple of months on another occasion. And we spent time together in a multitude of locations. Let me start by saying he was ABSOLUTELY the best shot maker I ever saw, to this day. He fired balls in from everywhere like they were on laser beams. And everything split the middle of the pocket at warp speed. You had to see it to believe it.

And nothing touched a rail going down the table either. If the ball started out a quarter inch off the rail, that is where it stayed traveling along the rail at high speed. He could see the edge of the ball better than anyone. And these were balls that he pumped into the pockets like they were hangers! Like I said, you had to see it. Even then you would be shaking your head.

And he would run out the rack in milliseconds. Just pounding one ball after another into the back of the pocket. His position play could be spotty, because he only needed to see the edge of the ball to make it. He was one of those rare breed of players, who didn't win many tournaments, but was given a wide berth in gambling games by most of the tournament champions. Keith and Louie are two who come to mind first. Denny was another one like that.

He may have won more tournaments, but like Keith, it was hit or miss whether he would show up for a match. He could be crashed out anywhere with a broad he met the night before. Or he might have been out all night gambling in a local pool room. Louie would never turn down any woman or any drug. He was a handsome guy, with a little boy like charm. Girls melted for him. When he was excited about something, his speech would often slur, and he might stutter a little. Girls just wanted to mother him.

I will have a longer story about my travels with Louie in my book. I had the longest fight of my life with him. Yes, I did say fight! It lasted an hour or more. He was drunk, but still bigger and stronger than me.

I will end with this. I LOVED Louie Roberts, as much as I ever loved any man. But sometimes I hated the things he did, and staying with him could be extremely exasperating. I miss him every time I think about him, and his memory will never fade from my mind. EVERY ONE who ever met Louie never forgot him. He had that magical ingredient, CHARISMA! Louie was the biggest natural star I ever saw in pool. If the sport had gotten big, Louie would have been our superstar, the most famous pool player on the planet.

Like Tiger, everyone loved Louie. They just took to him, men and women alike.
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I saw Louie play Ray Martin in Austin in 1981. Ray got up on him quickly and Louie started whoofing real loud. His talk put Ray in a coma. If this is a pool hero, there isn't much to pick from.
 
NO Warning

Jim Kuykendall said:
I saw Louie play Ray Martin in Austin in 1981. Ray got up on him quickly and Louie started whoofing real loud. His talk put Ray in a coma. If this is a pool hero, there isn't much to pick from.
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OK, now you're banned for 24 hours. If you post again in the next 24 hours, I will ban you for a WEEK.... dammit

Doug
(don't make me extend it to a MONTH)
 
> There may very well be something to the hypnosis thing Louie mentioned one time. I heard from one old-timer that was around the poolrooms in Memphis when Louie was there,and he said that Louie had some kind of subliminal tape that he would listen to right before any match.

He must have lost it,because maybe an hour after seeing Louie play for my 2nd and final time,he was sitting in the floor in the bathroom of The Rack,and backed into corner,indian style.

He was reading what looked like an old letter or something on what looked like notebook paper,and almost slipped and fell while trying to keep me from seeing whatever it was,folded it up and put it away like he was scared of me trying to take it from him. One of the most puzzling things I've ever seen in a poolroom,especially that one. Tommy D.
 
One of the old timers where I live tells a story of Louie puting up the keys to his car. After losing he uses the spare set to take off with the car. I will try to get him to post as he has several and was around StLouis alot back then. I never heard of Louie until the 90's when I lived in Tucson and they were talking about him then. ALot of stories go around as some people just want to talk. RIP Louie.

ROBERT
 
Louie Roberts was a great 9 ball player and had great enthusiasm for the game of nine ball. I knew him personally and yes like everyone else he had his ups and downs, I'm sorry that people like Jim Kekeedol are so bitter just cause of one incident where Louie may have overworked the crowd - but that was one of his strengths was getting everyone there rooting for him. He had a fun loving way about him and yes he did live a fast paced life, everyone who knew Louie loved him and in my opinion he added alot of class to the game of 9 ball.
 
I wish I had a Louie story to share, but am thrilled to have heard these. It sounds like he had all the attributes I have seen in different great road players, all rolled up into one.

Thanks to all for the stories, sounds like Louie was a GREAT guy, if perhaps flawed like us all.

Joe
 
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Danny Harriman said:
Louie Roberts was a great 9 ball player and had great enthusiasm for the game of nine ball. I knew him personally and yes like everyone else he had his ups and downs, I'm sorry that people like Jim Kekeedol are so bitter just cause of one incident where Louie may have overworked the crowd - but that was one of his strengths was getting everyone there rooting for him. He had a fun loving way about him and yes he did live a fast paced life, everyone who knew Louie loved him and in my opinion he added alot of class to the game of 9 ball.
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Danny, it's Kuykendall and I am not bitter at Louie at all. All I know about him is what people have told me and what I have read here. The only time I saw him play in person he acted like an ##@#$hole showing his opponent and the game little respect.
 
Jim Kuykendall said:
Danny, it's Kuykendall and I am not bitter at Louie at all. All I know about him is what people have told me and what I have read here. The only time I saw him play in person he acted like an ##@#$hole showing his opponent and the game little respect.
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Jim,

We've ALL been assholes at some time in our lives! Don't judge a man by one bad day. Louie did have some bad days, but a lot more good ones. I don't know who you've been talking to, but I spent a lot of time around Louie. And he was almost universally LOVED! He was as popular in his day as Efren is today. If there had been a pool popularity contest in the 70's and 80's, it would have been neck and neck between Louie and Keith! Anyone else was a distant third!
 
jay helfert said:
Jim,

We've ALL been assholes at some time in our lives! Don't judge a man by one bad day. Louie did have some bad days, but a lot more good ones. I don't know who you've been talking to, but I spent a lot of time around Louie. And he was almost universally LOVED! He was as popular in his day as Efren is today. If there had been a pool popularity contest in the 70's and 80's, it would have been neck and neck between Louie and Keith! Anyone else was a distant third!
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I stand corrected.
 
Louie video!

Fast Davie NC said:
I would love to hear some "Old School" stories about Louie Roberts! He had an incredible stroke. Who all did he run with on the road?
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I would have to agree with Jay. Louie wasn't asshole. Everyone has a bad day or two! One thing I can say about Louie, the more people around the better the show! He loved a crowd! And if there wasn't a crowd he would find one quick!

I have a Louie video giving Gary Seville the 7&8 wild.

$30.00 delivered in the lower 48.

I had the pleasure of taking lessons from Louie back in the late 80's. I have watched him get so far out of line and still find a way to win. His stroke was the absolute best there was. I still don't believe he killed himself!!!

DOUG PATRICK
618-709-2615
 
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Louie in St.Louis

Years ago( early seventies ) I was in St Louis with Gary Pinkowski. Some of you older guys will remember Gary...a pretty good player. Anyway, Gary and Louie made a game with Gary getting the call eightball. Louie was getting staked by two brothers who owned a bar there in St. Louis.They were famous for being really scary tough guys, but we didn't play in their bar, we played in a pool room called Afton Billiards...somewhere in St. Louis. Anyway, we played for two days and we beat Louie out of 1200.00.
We got paid with no problems, although I had to hold a diamond ring overnight as collateral til we got paid in full.
Anyway, I ran into Louie in Indiana a few months later and he told me a great story about what happened that last night. He said that these brothers ( who didn't know shit about pool or pool players) had believed that he was the greatest player who ever lived, and therefore could NOT!!! be beat. He told me that they had stopped their car on the Mississippi bridge, snatched him out of the back seat, and held him upside down over the river by his ankles, trying to get him to admit he had dumped them ( which, of course, he hadn't ). He told me that he hit them with the best sales pitch of his life while dangling upside down a couple hundred feet above the river( which those of you who knew Louie would agree it must have been a world class close he put on them.) Anyway...he convinced them.
When he told me what happened to him that night, he laughed and laughed like it was just another funny pool story.
As many of you have already said, he was one of a kind, and although I wasn't a close friend of his , I miss him.
 
patrickcues said:
I would have to agree with Jay. Louie wasn't asshole. Everyone has a bad day or two! One thing I can say about Louie, the more people around the better the show! He loved a crowd! And if there wasn't a crowd he would find one quick!

I have a Louie video giving Gary Seville the 7&8 wild.

$30.00 delivered in the lower 48.

I had the pleasure of taking lessons from Louie back in the late 80's. I have watched him get so far out of line and still find a way to win. His stroke was the absolute best there was. I still don't believe he killed himself!!!

DOUG PATRICK
618-709-2615
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I've got that video and I have a question. Did Louie make his bridge different from the standard closed bridge with the thumb pressing against the index finger? The reason I ask is because it looks like you can see daylight as he curls his index finger over the shaft.

By the way, do you know Bill Hendricks who Louie introduces at the beginning of that video? Craig from Cue and Cushion said he has only been in there a couple times this year. He used to come in on Sundays and play some three cushion. I hope he is doing ok.
 
alstl said:
I've got that video and I have a question. Did Louie make his bridge different from the standard closed bridge with the thumb pressing against the index finger? The reason I ask is because it looks like you can see daylight as he curls his index finger over the shaft.

By the way, do you know Bill Hendricks who Louie introduces at the beginning of that video? Craig from Cue and Cushion said he has only been in there a couple times this year. He used to come in on Sundays and play some three cushion. I hope he is doing ok.
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Louie's bridge was kinda unique. He would use his pikey finger and his middle finger to bridge on and his index finger made a perfect 90 with his thumb.
 
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