The dissappearing Road Player!! LOL

[chefjeff]

I was just thinkin the same thing. People mention getting 5$ games in like the 70's, and back then everything was alot cheaper to buy, If i went out tonight to play thats the same bet id find everywhere. the difference is that now 5$ is barely enough to get you a gallon of gas.

the price of everything rose, except the bets.

Why is that? Beer's higher, table time's higher, food's higher, wages are higher, etc. but it seems the bettors haven't made the connection that bets "should" be higher, too.

Yet, these guys go to the casino, put a hundred in the slots and think nothing of it. And the slots are sure to take it in the long run. Maybe few understand the principles of govt ruining the currency by inflating it?

If this problem could be solved, I think the road players would have some legs again. That's why I mentioned using chips (or something) instead of cash.

Jeff Livingston

 

[crawfish]

The death of the road player is due to a lot of things. Price of travel, internet (you can get the line on anyone, now.), APA or leagues (before these, ranking an opponent was up to the individuals involved), and lack of cash flow for the "C" players (money is tight for the "mark" right now).

 

[chefjeff]

I'll try to give you some comparisons. In the late 60's, I played a lot of $5 9-Ball and some for $1 & $2 a game too.

But back then, I had a nice Single apartment in Los Angeles that cost me $25 a week. All utilities included with twice weekly maid service. I had a very nice 1965 Mustang Convertible that I picked up for $2,000. You could buy a good used car for $500-1,000. Gas was .25-.29 cents a gallon. You could eat on $5 a day easily, and for $10 a day, you were eating in good restaurants. A steak dinner was $5 max. A full bag of groceries might be $10-15. On the road, motels were in the $10-20 range.

I remember that my typical daily agenda was to take a $20 bill with me each day and see what I could make with it at my job (playing pool). If I came home the next morning with $50 I had a good day (a $30 profit). A $50 score was good money. A very big score was $400. That would be talked about for days in the pool room. Thousand dollar scores were legendary. A regular job paying $100 a week was considered good and $150 a week was high pay. $200 a week was top pay. And I was making $100-200 a week playing small money pool for several years.

I remember having as much as $9,000 in my bank account in the 60's and thinking how rich I was compared to the other pool players. And I was! Back then the bite was $5, and $10 was a big bite. You only gave $20 to a very good friend. If you had a stack of twenties, you were holding good. A $20 bill then was the equivalent of a $100 bill today. No one carried hundreds back then. If someone flashed a few hundreds, he had a monster bank roll. You could buy a plain Tad for $60 and a very nice Ginacue for $125. Pool was .60-90 cents an hour.

I bought my first home in 1973 for $24,000 and it was a large home in a nice neighborhood. The payments were something like $135 a month! I had a poolroom with 22 tables in a 7,000 square foot building, that I leased for $600 a month. I was making between $500 and a $1,000 a week back then. And I was considered one of the wealthy young businessman in my community. They asked me to join the local Small Businessman's Association, which I did.

My mother and I bought an eight unit courtyard of small cottages (900 sq. ft. each) in 1976 for $139,000. I don't want to tell you how much it's worth today. You wouldn't believe me.

The emphasis is mine...

Actually, a $20 bill back then now takes $200 to buy the same. Yes, the inflation that govt uses to fight wars, and transfer money from he to thee, has ruined the currency ten-fold in the last 40 years! For example, beer that was 30 cents is now $3.

This misunderstanding is THE problem with the road players' existence, imho.

Maybe we all need a good economics lesson? Where's Milton Friedman when we need him?

Jeff Livingston

PS Please don't vote for those who do this to us.

 

[jason]

Why is that? Beer's higher, table time's higher, food's higher, wages are higher, etc. but it seems the bettors haven't made the connection that bets "should" be higher, too.

Yet, these guys go to the casino, put a hundred in the slots and think nothing of it. And the slots are sure to take it in the long run. Maybe few understand the principles of govt ruining the currency by inflating it?

If this problem could be solved, I think the road players would have some legs again. That's why I mentioned using chips (or something) instead of cash.

Jeff Livingston

In the 70's and before, we didn't have ESPN, the Internet, cell phones, accu-stats, multiple pool training videos and books as well as leagues to track player stats. That means a road player could hide their identity and skill. It was the illustion that someone could win. Today, the fishes are scared or your action is all ready dead by the internet or a quick phone call to a buddy.

The bottom line is the road player is dead. Yes, he's road kill! Its time for the pool world to wake up an forge a new future.

 

[chefjeff]

In the 70's and before, we didn't have ESPN, the Internet, cell phones, accu-stats, multiple pool training videos and books as well as leagues to track player stats. That means a road player could hide their identity and skill. It was the illustion that someone could win. Today, the fishes are scared or your action is all ready dead by the internet or a quick phone call to a buddy.

The bottom line is the road player is dead. Yes, he's road kill! Its time for the pool world to wake up an forge a new future.

I'm not buying this reason.

To me, the internet should have the opposite effect. Look at the match-ups made on AZ (or woofed, anyway ) These would have been very hard and expensive to match-up before the net. It seems that traveling now would be more effecient because the players wouldn't drive for info (expensive) but go online for it (cheap).

Question: Back "then," was anyone REALLY surprised when a hustler took their cash? Really?

Jeff Livingston

 

[Fast Lenny]

In the 70's and before, we didn't have ESPN, the Internet, cell phones, accu-stats, multiple pool training videos and books as well as leagues to track player stats. That means a road player could hide their identity and skill. It was the illustion that someone could win. Today, the fishes are scared or your action is all ready dead by the internet or a quick phone call to a buddy.

The bottom line is the road player is dead. Yes, he's road kill! Its time for the pool world to wake up an forge a new future.

I try explaining that to alot of people,the best way for a good player to make a score is play the bar tourneys that go on all over the place everynight in a city,you might score $150-$200 for a 4 hour tourney,best advice I can give.I think it is easier to get action with drunks in a bar still better then the poolhall,its easy action but when they are toting a gun or a 6'4 350+ pound drunk pissed off redneck it can get your adrenaline going.

 

[JoeyA]

The arm pit of the world is Milagro, NM... population, like, 2 or something (middle of the f-ing desert). The SoB gas station guy charged me $200 for a bald tire.

I'm not sure if you got a different treatment or not. If the bald tire cost you $200, you must have asked him to put the tire on your rim. FTR, for strangers, the price on all bald tires in the desert start at $99.95 each.

While you may feel you got screwed, it is a commonly known fact that mounting is extra.
JoeyA

 

[jay helfert]

I'm not sure if you got a different treatment or not. If the bald tire cost you $200, you must have asked him to put the tire on your rim. FTR, for strangers, the price on all bald tires in the desert start at $99.95 each.

While you may feel you got screwed, it is a commonly known fact that mounting is extra.
JoeyA

He got mounted all right! :wink:

 

[jay helfert]

The emphasis is mine...

Actually, a $20 bill back then now takes $200 to buy the same. Yes, the inflation that govt uses to fight wars, and transfer money from he to thee, has ruined the currency ten-fold in the last 40 years! For example, beer that was 30 cents is now $3.

This misunderstanding is THE problem with the road players' existence, imho.

Maybe we all need a good economics lesson? Where's Milton Friedman when we need him?

Jeff Livingston

PS Please don't vote for those who do this to us.

And I still can't get change in a CWS pharmacy for a $100 bill. Or at the cleaners, the hardware store, the print shop. What's up with that? I had a $65 printing bill the other day and handed the guy a $100 bill. He looked at it like it was some strange object. I guess everyone uses checks or credit cards. He had to go next door to get me $35 change.

 

[iba7467]

Thoughts from the Road (modern days)

The road is:
Going into a bar with nothing but a credit card and making a deal with the waitress to bring you shots of water and split the winnings with her. Then leaving with the waitress, a paid tab, free dinner, a nice place to stay, and the start of a bank roll.

Conning ex-girlfriend to drive you to New Orleans and drop you off. Then on the ride home, blowing out one tire and the spare. Luckily finding a guy that knew that guy that owned the tire store and having to pay for her tires.

Dropping off your road partner so as not to tip off the room and instructing him not to play a certain player. Then, you come back to find yourself stuck two sets to "Harry" who is actually Justin who you told him not to play.

Getting a cell phone call from a different road partner asking if he can beat Jason from Alabama playing one pocket ("Heck yeah, bet it all) and finding out your partner is half-deaf and is playing Justin from Alabama ("You need two/three balls to play").

Driving through 3 states to play a guy who has been losing $10,000 at a time, and getting there while he is playing $20 sets for two straight days before you have to pull out.

Beating a guy so badly that he thanks you everytime. You watch him empty his wallet to you and he asks to keep playing. As a courtesy you allow it. He goes to the ATM, amazingly it isn't working. Then the miraculous happens and he asks you to follow him to another ATM in a well-lit gas station across the street. At the gas station he not only gets the rest of your money but also fills up your gas tank.

Learning every stupid "local" rule in every little town everywhere.

 

[stick8]

smart

I'll try to give you some comparisons. In the late 60's, I played a lot of $5 9-Ball and some for $1 & $2 a game too.

But back then, I had a nice Single apartment in Los Angeles that cost me $25 a week. All utilities included with twice weekly maid service. I had a very nice 1965 Mustang Convertible that I picked up for $2,000. You could buy a good used car for $500-1,000. Gas was .25-.29 cents a gallon. You could eat on $5 a day easily, and for $10 a day, you were eating in good restaurants. A steak dinner was $5 max. A full bag of groceries might be $10-15. On the road, motels were in the $10-20 range.

I remember that my typical daily agenda was to take a $20 bill with me each day and see what I could make with it at my job (playing pool). If I came home the next morning with $50 I had a good day (a $30 profit). A $50 score was good money. A very big score was $400. That would be talked about for days in the pool room. Thousand dollar scores were legendary. A regular job paying $100 a week was considered good and $150 a week was high pay. $200 a week was top pay. And I was making $100-200 a week playing small money pool for several years.

I remember having as much as $9,000 in my bank account in the 60's and thinking how rich I was compared to the other pool players. And I was! Back then the bite was $5, and $10 was a big bite. You only gave $20 to a very good friend. If you had a stack of twenties, you were holding good. A $20 bill then was the equivalent of a $100 bill today. No one carried hundreds back then. If someone flashed a few hundreds, he had a monster bank roll. You could buy a plain Tad for $60 and a very nice Ginacue for $125. Pool was .60-90 cents an hour.

I bought my first home in 1973 for $24,000 and it was a large home in a nice neighborhood. The payments were something like $135 a month! I had a poolroom with 22 tables in a 7,000 square foot building, that I leased for $600 a month. I was making between $500 and a $1,000 a week back then. And I was considered one of the wealthy young businessman in my community. They asked me to join the local Small Businessman's Association, which I did.

My mother and I bought an eight unit courtyard of small cottages (900 sq. ft. each) in 1976 for $139,000. I don't want to tell you how much it's worth today. You wouldn't believe me.

SMART, at least you did not invest in dog fighting!!!!

 

[crawfish]

A couple of more thoughts:

Breaking down in Jacksonville, FL and finding a bowling alley (while waiting on a tow truck) across the street with $20 a game action on the barbox. (Few hundred winner, by the way.)

Dropping off Coltrain with the following instructions: Nothing bet less than $50 a game, no giving up weight, your name is William, and play noone that the owner isn't involved with (he's the one with the cash). You guessed it, I walk in and he's giving up the seven to the best player in the house for $20 a game while Mike's dad, Roger, is giving the owner Mike's full resume' (Mosconi cup, Junior Nationals, etc. etc.)

Getting stuck 22 games on the bartable at $20 a game only to raise the bet to $100 and end up winning a few hundred.

Last and best of all......Talking trash to the Australian Oyster and him not playing.

 

[SpiderWebComm]

He got mounted all right! :wink:

That same trip....continued....

So I pull out of Milagro, NM with my one bald tire (I forgot to mention the trip started in Phoenix... so I didn't get far before the bad rolls came in force).

I eventually make it to TN, driving just outside of Memphis when all of a sudden this green shit sprays all over my windshield. "WTF is THAT?" I thought. I turned on my wipers and it smeared my vision so I unloaded my windshield washer fluid on it and it finally cleared up.

About 15 minutes later, people are honking as they pass me on the left. They are screaming SOMETHING, but I couldn't really hear them over Van Morrison singing Brown Eyed Girl. Whatever, I thought. I looked down to grab a cigarette when I see the temperature gauge PINNED at the highest number. I snap my head into the rear-view mirror and I see this dark smoke billowing out the back.

My knot was super thin after the tire beat-down... I was spending the nights in my car at truck stops... letting the car run because it was like 10 degrees outside (I'm sure many of you are laughing at that shit, we've all done it sometime).

So I pull the car over and pop the hood. And this mushroom cloud rose from my engine. I don't know SHIT about cars but there I am....walking around the engine, trying to look at shit. Not sure what I was looking at, but I was staring at it. Maybe that green crap was coolant???????

No AAA, used the rest of my cash to tow off the nearest exit --- a little place called shade tree automotive. The owner MUST have been a pool player... he saw my cue along with my shit and took GOOD care of me. I'll never forget that guy.

Dave

 

[chefjeff]

And I still can't get change in a CWS pharmacy for a $100 bill. Or at the cleaners, the hardware store, the print shop. What's up with that? I had a $65 printing bill the other day and handed the guy a $100 bill. He looked at it like it was some strange object. I guess everyone uses checks or credit cards. He had to go next door to get me $35 change.

There's an idea....The road players could become credit card merchants. They could carry the, now small, mobile credit card processing devices in their cue cases and could process the mark's credit card right on the spot and instantly deposit funds into their accounts.

That might take away the illusion that a C-note actually buys anything valuable nowadays. 'Course the IRS could be privy to such transactions, so the road players would have to pay taxes for the roads, etc. that they're using, which would be a new thing for most, I'd guess.

I like it, though. Anyone here think of doing that or have done that?

Jeff Livingston

 

[TXsouthpaw]

There's an idea....The road players could become credit card merchants. They could carry the, now small, mobile credit card processing devices in their cue cases and could process the mark's credit card right on the spot and instantly deposit funds into their accounts.
Jeff Livingston

Now that would be something. A player with a credit card machine in his case. That makes me wonder whats gonna happen as cash becomes more and more obsolete. With credit cards and paypal and online banking,people carry less and less cash nowadays. Whats gonna happend when no one uses cash anymore?

And i do think the internet and tv and movies have killed all the small time action. World beaters like stevie moore and bartram can still get thousand dollars of action but they know who theyre playing. Small time gambling is dead because everyone is scared of getting "hustled". Every tv show from the honeymooners to married with chilrdren to full house has done a "pool episode' where someone gets hustled for all theyre cash.
Its not so much the money that people mind losin, its just that no one wants to feel like they just got hustled.


jay mentiond that coming home up 30$ in the 70's was a good day. Its a damn shame that coming home up 30$ nowadays is still good.

 

[JoeyA]

FYI...The price of gas is the same as it was "back then." You can still buy a gallon of gas for a quarter...IF the quarter was made before 1965, as those were mostly real silver.

Jeff Livingston

If that's the case, I have to visit the safety deposit box. I have 4,000 gallons of gasoline sitting in the box.
JoeyA

 

[Johnnyt]

1958 when I was on the road

Gas=$0.25 I had a motorcycle=spare change to fill

Motel-clean= $9.95 all over the place

Meals=$0.75-$1.25+tip hot roast beef, double mashed, soda with free refills, pie, pleasant service

First house= $19,500 waterfront Long Island, NY 4 BR 2Bath pool, 5 years old

My monthly rent on 9 table poolroom on Main street in East Islip, LI=$105

What I did with my winnings from pool and betting Greyhounds

Oh yeah, I bought almost 200 racing greyhounds from $3000 to $26,000 a copy. I still have one stud dog left. He's #1 in the nation. So far he's made over $750,000 and we have 5 years frozen semen for when he can't produce anymore. But I bet Jay can give me the break and last 3 with his real estate holdings:wink: Johnnyt

 

[ccshrimper]

Three of us were headed to a tournament in Tyler Texas and were in on everything together but one friend had twice as much money as us. On the way, we stopped in Shreveport to gamble at Pockets. As we're walking into pockets, we see a thug in a cadillac but we were in such a hurry to gamble we didn't think anything about it. About 5 minutes later, a cop comes in and asks who's driving our car. The thug crammed a screwdriver through the ignition and was almost gone when the cops saw him. They chased him and he pulled a pistol out on the cops but they were able to get control of him before he could fire. He had 2 pistols on him(one ours), fake crack and his gun had three fired bullets in the revolver. We had to go to the police station for some reason and the cops had beat the shit out of the kid and told us they gave him some "police assistance" for pulling a gun on them lol...

This didn't stop us, we went back to Pockets and won about 3 different games before running into Jimmy Sanders. One of the guys with me kept saying he couldn't make a ball, he was just getting lucky making all them combos and cheeses. I finally pull up and find out who he is and we head to Tyler with a steering wheel that now turns with the steering column and all in about a 2 foot circle and a garbage bag over the broke window in the middle of winter. We get to the tournament in Tyler, don't cash and go completely busted to the point of digging quarters out of the seats to get enough gas to make it home. We get home and convince the friend who had the most money he owed both of us money even though we were in on everything together and he had the most money lol...

After looking back on it, we were the luckiest pool players on the planet that night. If we'd forgot something in the car and walked up on that kid, he would have probably shot us.

 

[Milo]

Thanks Guys

Wow, so many great, funny, and entertainining stories of your lives on the road. I admire players who can live in very rough situations and have fun doing it. It sound like most of you wouldnt trade your road experiences for anything in the world.
I am a women player who has never been on a road trip. Dont know how I would fare. Probably not very well. Im too honest. LOL (just teasing guys)

 

[dabarbr]

Most of these stories bring back al lot of memories, some good and some bad, I'm glad I went through it but if I had the chance to go back and do it again, I wouldn't. As good as the times were I still feel that I lost a part of my life on the road. JohnnyT did it the right way. He knew when to move on. A smart man.