Straight Pool Action

[Williebetmore]

Keith,
Just a note from one of the straight pool afficionado's (??straight pool snobs??). In your travels, you surely must have played some straight pool. What is your high run? Who were the best players you've seen (if any)? If there was a straight pool tournament here in the Midwest, would you play? Do you know of any hotbeds for straight pool action? Thanks.

 

[Keith McCready]

Willie, I used to play straight pool when I was a kid. I have run 150 balls before and stopped. It seems like that I don't have enough patience for the game. Straight pool was a little bit more popular back in the '70s than it is today.

I always liked watching Luther Lassiter play straight pool. He was the ultimate player back then when it was popular, him and Joe Balsis and Irving Crane. Everybody had an opinion about Willie Mosconi and Luther Lassiter, and most folks thought that Mosconi was the better player, but in my opinion, I believe Wimpy was.

 

[Williebetmore]

Keith,
Thanks for your response, I wasn't aware that you had seen Wimpy play - it would have been a thrill for me. I'm surprised you didn't mention Cowboy Jimmy Moore; my father always claimed Jimmy's straight pool was better than Wimpy's (he also claimed that Wimpy was the best shotmaker ever, with the possible exception of Mosconi). He thought that Mosconi's shotmaking was very similar to Lassiter's - extremely aggressive offensively (not the usual pitty-pat straight pool). He claimed to have seen Willie make a 5 rail kick-in to win a close championship match (Willie also mentions it in his biography).

There is a new book called "Hustler Days" that you may already have read - it details the exploits of Wimpy and Jersey Red, I thought it was fascinating.