The Greatest Hustler of all Time

Ty was great to be around.

If you were a young pool player like me at that time being with him was like being in the great Library in Alexandria. He knew everything about pool, cards, dice and golf.

Being an arrogant young person (I am now an arrogant old person) I questioned all his exploits.

It was only when traveling on the road with Taylor and Pucket that I was convinced that everything he told me was the truth.

Pucket told me how well Ty played ping pong and how they had beat a guy in AR out of 25K.

Taylor told me how Ty had hustled at trap and skeet shooting a perfect 700.

I used to shill for Ty at the Cotton Bowl getting Ty 15 shots or more to kick 3 rails or more and getting the 8 ball out of the center of the rack into a designated corner pocket. Ty was even money at 10 shots.

Most of you on this site have no idea what it was like to hustle pool on the road in the 50's and 60's. There was no internet and you could play on one side of town, beat everyone and go to the other side of town and no one would know.

I traveled for years never giving anyone my real name going by the name "Colorado" because I had CO tags on my car.

I really didn't hustle much, just played all comers. Things were much different then. Everyone had money in their pocket.

In SC I played the best player in a small town and won $200.00. I assumed that was it. Three more players stepped up right after the first guy and I won $600.00 more. They all just wanted to play someone new.

In Elyria OH I had a blowout in my Shelby Mustang and while the tire was being replaced I won $800.00 in a Black pool room nearby.

Everywhere you went people played $100.00 9-ball on the big or bar tables. A room at the Holiday Inn was $10.00. It was a great life.

At the Cotton Bowl in the 60's I was playing $1500.00 a game 9-ball when I was just 18. Thats about 25K today. A new Jag was $4400.00 and a new Corvette was 4K. I had both.

So all this conversation about Hustlers is mostly just BS except for very few like Deanoc that were actually there.

Bill S.
 
he's a hustler genius, more so than anyone ever in pool, only stu ungar compares in cards

Stu had a short run and then his nose got in the way.
Phil looks like he's gonna be around a long time .
And he's invested wisely.

I bet you a movie about his life will eventually be made . At least an HBO special.
 
No doubt he was one of the best, but as far as pool I think this guy takes the cake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_L9jGWSjyI

Cooney was a great undercover hustler..I knew him well, but Jack was a one trick pony..His only game was pool!..Titanic had a gaff for everything..Cards, dice, carney stuff, con games, you name it..Good thing they were different generations, or either Ti or Phil Ivey, would have kept Jack broke all the time!..;)

PS..In fact, I am $$$ ahead of Jack, in our several plays! :sorry:
 
Now Mr Dean

This is the guy I was telling you guys
about in my thread about dealing with the Knocker

I knew him well and we made some trips in which I asked him
about some of these stories Playing card,key in lock etc

many of his stories changed with the telling,as the legend grew
including these 2

I started a story that included Johnny Ervolino and ended up with
what I believe to be the largest score in pool history involving nick The greel dandolas,johnny moss,a huge drug king pin and a casino owner

I discovered the story was too long and perhaps not as interesting as I thought

When I wasa kid and used to dink I discovered that the more i drank,the worse
my stories became,but the more I drank,the better i thought they were
You can visualize the results

Now that i quit drinking,I think old age has that same effect



Seriously now you are talking about a 15 million dollar score. I know it and you know it too. Your mistake was as mine was. We thought these people had a clue.
They are not in that sub set.
On a lighter note ignorance is bliss and there are some mighty happy posters round here.
Nick :)
 
Ty was great to be around.

If you were a young pool player like me at that time being with him was like being in the great Library in Alexandria. He knew everything about pool, cards, dice and golf.

Being an arrogant young person (I am now an arrogant old person) I questioned all his exploits.

It was only when traveling on the road with Taylor and Pucket that I was convinced that everything he told me was the truth.

Pucket told me how well Ty played ping pong and how they had beat a guy in AR out of 25K.

Taylor told me how Ty had hustled at trap and skeet shooting a perfect 700.

I used to shill for Ty at the Cotton Bowl getting Ty 15 shots or more to kick 3 rails or more and getting the 8 ball out of the center of the rack into a designated corner pocket. Ty was even money at 10 shots.

Most of you on this site have no idea what it was like to hustle pool on the road in the 50's and 60's. There was no internet and you could play on one side of town, beat everyone and go to the other side of town and no one would know.

I traveled for years never giving anyone my real name going by the name "Colorado" because I had CO tags on my car.

I really didn't hustle much, just played all comers. Things were much different then. Everyone had money in their pocket.

In SC I played the best player in a small town and won $200.00. I assumed that was it. Three more players stepped up right after the first guy and I won $600.00 more. They all just wanted to play someone new.

In Elyria OH I had a blowout in my Shelby Mustang and while the tire was being replaced I won $800.00 in a Black pool room nearby.

Everywhere you went people played $100.00 9-ball on the big or bar tables. A room at the Holiday Inn was $10.00. It was a great life.

At the Cotton Bowl in the 60's I was playing $1500.00 a game 9-ball when I was just 18. Thats about 25K today. A new Jag was $4400.00 and a new Corvette was 4K. I had both.

So all this conversation about Hustlers is mostly just BS except for very few like Deanoc that were actually there.

Bill S.

Hi Bill..I hope you are not including me in the 'BSer' catagory. I think you may remember, I was there too, and I knew Ti, Puckett, and Alfie Taylor real well! :thumbup:

PS..Lots of good action at the Cotton Bowl, but don't get carried away!..It would happen once in a while, but $100+ 9ball, was not a common wager, and you'll have to admit, $1500 nine ball was a VERY rare occurance! :rolleyes:

Remember LasVegas?..circa 1998 ;)
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1338758747_734524.jpg
 
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I thought it was actually in DC where she was shot, outside Bedrock Billiards.


Golden Cue in Bladensburg Md. Listen to his interview, he says Maryland

Really don't think Bedrock was in existence yet ?
 
Hi Bill..I hope you are not including me in the 'BSer' catagory. I think you may remember, I was there too, and I knew Ti, Puckett, and Alfie Taylor real well! :thumbup:

PS..Lots of good action at the Cotton Bowl, but don't get carried away!..It would happen once in a while, but $100+ 9ball, was not a common wager, and you'll have to admit, $1500 nine ball was a VERY rare occurance! :rolleyes:

Remember LasVegas?..circa 1998 ;)
View attachment 420729

Dick,

Been missing you. You are almost old enough to remember.

I was playing Bobby Chapman 1500 a game in the middle and giving up the 5 and the break. Bobby was betting another 4K on the rail every game. It took longer to settle the bets than it did to play a game of 9 ball.

Bill S.
 
Ty was great to be around.

If you were a young pool player like me at that time being with him was like being in the great Library in Alexandria. He knew everything about pool, cards, dice and golf.

Being an arrogant young person (I am now an arrogant old person) I questioned all his exploits.

It was only when traveling on the road with Taylor and Pucket that I was convinced that everything he told me was the truth.

Pucket told me how well Ty played ping pong and how they had beat a guy in AR out of 25K.

Taylor told me how Ty had hustled at trap and skeet shooting a perfect 700.

I used to shill for Ty at the Cotton Bowl getting Ty 15 shots or more to kick 3 rails or more and getting the 8 ball out of the center of the rack into a designated corner pocket. Ty was even money at 10 shots.

Most of you on this site have no idea what it was like to hustle pool on the road in the 50's and 60's. There was no internet and you could play on one side of town, beat everyone and go to the other side of town and no one would know.

I traveled for years never giving anyone my real name going by the name "Colorado" because I had CO tags on my car.

I really didn't hustle much, just played all comers. Things were much different then. Everyone had money in their pocket.

In SC I played the best player in a small town and won $200.00. I assumed that was it. Three more players stepped up right after the first guy and I won $600.00 more. They all just wanted to play someone new.

In Elyria OH I had a blowout in my Shelby Mustang and while the tire was being replaced I won $800.00 in a Black pool room nearby.

Everywhere you went people played $100.00 9-ball on the big or bar tables. A room at the Holiday Inn was $10.00. It was a great life.

At the Cotton Bowl in the 60's I was playing $1500.00 a game 9-ball when I was just 18. Thats about 25K today. A new Jag was $4400.00 and a new Corvette was 4K. I had both.

So all this conversation about Hustlers is mostly just BS except for very few like Deanoc that were actually there.

Bill S.
Great story! 500 is a perfect score on the range. Did they keep going to 700? I'll bring this up to the super seniors at the skeet club. I hope they remember.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
Great story! 500 is a perfect score on the range. Did they keep going to 700? I'll bring this up to the super seniors at the skeet club. I hope they remember.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I think you are correct.
It was a perfect 500.
At least that what I was told by Taylor.

Bill S.
 
i know nothing about skeet but Titanic told me he would bet no one in the world could beat him
in a contest to 300 if I remember
because it was common to shoot a perfect score and therefore he won all the ties

i never saw it,my memory is so so
and Tytanic was not above semantic embellishment

especially toward the end

He did claim to be an expert shooter
I saw some trophis in his house,but it was always a good idea
to take the things he said "cum granulo salis"

there is a good article about him in the sports illustrated with joe namath on the cover
early 70s
 
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More....a skeptic's point of view and some fact.

You pool room guys sitting around cutting up jackpots still believe all that air barrel about Thompson and the traps he could do. (those of you who doubt his skill at throwing playing cards are WRONG…. Thompson was fantastic at it) However , magician Ricky Jay was far better than Thompson at it….assuming that Jay is still living
Nobody will ever convince you that you don’t have a clue. But I just delight in exposing this stuff…..so I’ll cap the cut, deal centers on you, and draw a few cards. Here we go.
Around 1952 he came blowing through Atlanta into York’s Pool Room on Pryor St. and started his ‘loudmouth Jimmy Mataya routine’. He had a couple of road agents with him…(they got off light.)
A few guys from the so-called “Dixie Mafia” realized he was behaving like an idiot and they took every dime he had at gunpoint when playing cards at the Sylvan Hotel on Mitchell St. One of the tush hogs raped him, beat hell out of him, and they ran him right out of town on a Trailways Bus…..flat busted.
Ray Maddox from Tatnall, Roy McCullough “The Candy Kid” who started the Winecoff Hotel fire in ’46 to get even over a hurt, and Maddog Coates were the three. These people were not about to fool around with some pumped up “big time con man”.
McCullough eventually died in Reidsville prison and is buried in an unmarked grave outside the walls, Maddog was gunned down in the heist of a poker game over in Mobile, Ala., and Ray Maddox became a born again Christian, professing conversion all over the south.
Believe it or not.
Attached is a photo of Roy McCullough aka The Candy Kid
Roy McCullough (The Candy Kid).jpg
 
my understanding,based on what he told me about the key in lock,card throwing,and bowling pin bets
is that several episodes were confused and the myth overtook strict correspondence with the truth

the true stories were very entertaining but believable,the story of knocking the pins down or throwing a key into a lock were exaggerated

i have written too much lately,but if interest remains high,I will add a little clarification

I will verify Billy Stroud's playing with Bobby Chapman at a very high price and his overall amazing pool
way back when

Jackpot could probably help ,at this time Billy was one tough cookie

I was later adopted ,for all practical purposes by Waco Sam who previously was the money behind
Bobby,
now here was a person of great interest,who was betting $20,000 pr game on basketball in the 50s
and the type of guy played by the great movie star in Key Largo

but his stories had nothing to do with pool
 
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Dick,

Been missing you. You are almost old enough to remember.

I was playing Bobby Chapman 1500 a game in the middle and giving up the 5 and the break. Bobby was betting another 4K on the rail every game. It took longer to settle the bets than it did to play a game of 9 ball.

Bill S.

Bill, I did not say it never happened, I was just saying it was a VERY rare occurance!..Chapman was a good go-off, but he didn't usually get down that often!..In fact, in my 60some years of hi-$$$ action, I have only seen 1K 9ball a few times..Usually among wealthy suckers, who couldn't run 3 balls..Tough to bet on, either way!

Myself, I have played several multi-K sets (or freeze-outs) but I don't think I ever played 9ball for over $2-300 per game!..One pocket, different story..Many 2-3K sessions per game! :cool:

PS..I'm sure you remember our trip to Johnston City, in the 60's..Good times huh? ;)
 
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