The Greatest Hustler of all Time

Tramp Steamer said:
Me, too. I guess it's one of those 'you had to be there' things. :)
Click to expand...


Read his biography, msot of his bets were rigged to where he couldn't lose. There was no gamble strictly a con or hustle. And the people he killed pretty much had it coming, you try to rob a game or a gambler you're putting your life on the line. There was one he had remorse about and it was a young caddy who tried to rob him in the dark. He was quoted as saying he would have given him the money if he had known.
 
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
 
spktur said:
Read his biography, msot of his bets were rigged to where he couldn't lose. There was no gamble strictly a con or hustle. And the people he killed pretty much had it coming, you try to rob a game or a gambler you're putting your life on the line. There was one he had remorse about and it was a young caddy who tried to rob him in the dark. He was quoted as saying he would have given him the money if he had known.
Click to expand...

No, I was talking about Nick's story. I, like jason, couldn't make heads nor tails of it. :smile:
 
spktur said:
Read his biography, msot of his bets were rigged to where he couldn't lose. There was no gamble strictly a con or hustle. ....
Click to expand...
Like the time he bet a guy that he could flip cards under a closed door and land them in a wastebasket on the other side of a door in the adjoining room. The bet was for 50 out of 52. They close the door, Ty starts flipping cards under the door, gets all 52 under the door and when they open the door, sure enough 50 out of 52 are in the wastebasket. Unknown to the chump, Hubert Cokes was in the other room making sure all the cards got into the wastebasket and he climbed out the window after 50.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Like the time he bet a guy that he could flip cards under a closed door and land them in a wastebasket on the other side of a door in the adjoining room. The bet was for 50 out of 52. They close the door, Ty starts flipping cards under the door, gets all 52 under the door and when they open the door, sure enough 50 out of 52 are in the wastebasket. Unknown to the chump, Hubert Cokes was in the other room making sure all the cards got into the wastebasket and he climbed out the window after 50.
Click to expand...

The fact he got them all under the door woulda been enough to get most of what I had in my pocket - remember, this is a guy who invented most of this stuff and NOBODY would have believed it could be done - same with bowling pin
 
Bob Jewett said:
Like the time he bet a guy that he could flip cards under a closed door and land them in a wastebasket on the other side of a door in the adjoining room. The bet was for 50 out of 52. They close the door, Ty starts flipping cards under the door, gets all 52 under the door and when they open the door, sure enough 50 out of 52 are in the wastebasket. Unknown to the chump, Hubert Cokes was in the other room making sure all the cards got into the wastebasket and he climbed out the window after 50.
Click to expand...

Lol, even if I know Cokes was in the other room putting the cards into the basket I don't think I'd want to argue with him over it.
 
deanoc said:
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
Click to expand...
I went ahead and bumped that thread so you can find it easy. Please continue.
 
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Exclamation The Whole Joint Got Hustled​

An oldie, but a goodie, posted by me almost 12 years ago in RSB. This is for the young uns:

I made up the name SONRA (using an 8 ball as the 'O') when Billy Songy and Billy Rainey were preparing to open a lounge/poolroom in New Orleans (Kenner).

On any given night, you might find a who's who of pool in the joint, such as Buddy Hall, Benny "The Goose", Bill Stack, New York Blackie, Cliff Brown, Whoppie, Painter, Dan Louie and me and my running buddies and anyone that played pool in New Orleans.

From 1997:
Subject: Bar Bets (Hoist On Your Own Petard)

One night I was hanging out at the Sonra Lounge (tucked in behind the cinema and on a canal) on Vets Hwy. in New Orleans,it was THE action spot from the mid 70's to the mid 80's and EVERY form of hustle was run
AND bet on in this bar.

On this particular night a stranger says to everyone and no-one in particular," I can KNOCK DOWN the headpin in a bowling alley with a playing card." Twenty heads swiveled at the same time to see who had made this claim.

The stranger says," I'll stand at the foul line and I get to throw the complete deck and I'll knock the front pin over." So, right away I pipe up with ,"yeah,you'll leave all the cards in the box and throw the whole box."(Which would still be a pretty neat trick) The stranger says," no,I'm going to throw the cards ONE card at a time and I get to use the whole deck." So, once again I butt in and say," sure,you're going to tape one of the cards to a bowling ball or some other object and then throw it and knock over the pin." He says,"Nope,it will be knocked over with only one card or else I lose."

Well, it just so happens that there's a bowling alley about 3-4 blocks up the street, which is closed,BUT,the manager comes to this bar every night after closing and is willing to re-open for all of us to make this bet (plus he wants some of the action too).
Well, everybody in the bar puts up all the cash they can afford and Billy takes some cash from the register and since no-one will stay and keep an eye on the bar,they close up and 25-30 people (poolplayers mostly and a few degenerate gamblers) empty the parking lot and drive down to the bowling alley. Since there's thirty of us and only two of them and WE'RE holding the money,we aren't about to lose because of the "wording" of this bet. After all, there's over a $1000 riding on this.

Well, what none of us knew then (but we do now) is that a bowling pin is not completely FLAT on the bottom and this stranger,squatted down low and slung the 1st card out of a brand new deck AND lo & behold, it slid UNDER the front edge of that pin. And as he continued to throw,each subsequent card slid at what looked like a hundred miles an hour and landed under the pin OR a previously thrown card. After a few more throws,you could see the light dawning on the faces of thirty very unhappy campers (including my total net worth betting ass) The pin started to lean and while still holding a few cards the next throw toppled the pin.You could have heard a pin drop ( I just COULDN'T resist the pun) as the banker handed over all our cash. I mean , he did what he claimed and he got paid.

That night was one of the saddest nights ever back at the Sonra Lounge as everyone sat around bumming drinks and blaming each other for taking the bet. I'd like to say that it was the last time I went tapped betting on someone's hustle,but I'd be lying. Once a sucker,always a
sucker. Oh, and long before he was on TV, Harry Anderson came in on the hustle and snagged quite a few of us (he shot pretty good pool too). I believe that he was arrested while he was in N.O.
Also, Waylon Flowers came in and got drunk after his last local performance and then sent a gofer back to his hotel room for his puppet "MADAME" (the old-broad puppet,from Hollywood Squares) and put on the FUNNIEST most risque' show that I've ever seen in my life. What a dirty mouth on that old broad.

Someday,I'll tell you about the guy that swallowed the pool stick.


Doug
(*<~ Big Fish EAT Little Fish ~>*)

*Happy 64th Birthday to Pelican today.
 
jimmyg said:
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Exclamation The Whole Joint Got Hustled​

An oldie, but a goodie, posted by me almost 12 years ago in RSB. This is for the young uns:

I made up the name SONRA (using an 8 ball as the 'O') when Billy Songy and Billy Rainey were preparing to open a lounge/poolroom in New Orleans (Kenner).

On any given night, you might find a who's who of pool in the joint, such as Buddy Hall, Benny "The Goose", Bill Stack, New York Blackie, Cliff Brown, Whoppie, Painter, Dan Louie and me and my running buddies and anyone that played pool in New Orleans.

From 1997:
Subject: Bar Bets (Hoist On Your Own Petard)

One night I was hanging out at the Sonra Lounge (tucked in behind the cinema and on a canal) on Vets Hwy. in New Orleans,it was THE action spot from the mid 70's to the mid 80's and EVERY form of hustle was run
AND bet on in this bar.

On this particular night a stranger says to everyone and no-one in particular," I can KNOCK DOWN the headpin in a bowling alley with a playing card." Twenty heads swiveled at the same time to see who had made this claim.

The stranger says," I'll stand at the foul line and I get to throw the complete deck and I'll knock the front pin over." So, right away I pipe up with ,"yeah,you'll leave all the cards in the box and throw the whole box."(Which would still be a pretty neat trick) The stranger says," no,I'm going to throw the cards ONE card at a time and I get to use the whole deck." So, once again I butt in and say," sure,you're going to tape one of the cards to a bowling ball or some other object and then throw it and knock over the pin." He says,"Nope,it will be knocked over with only one card or else I lose."

Well, it just so happens that there's a bowling alley about 3-4 blocks up the street, which is closed,BUT,the manager comes to this bar every night after closing and is willing to re-open for all of us to make this bet (plus he wants some of the action too).
Well, everybody in the bar puts up all the cash they can afford and Billy takes some cash from the register and since no-one will stay and keep an eye on the bar,they close up and 25-30 people (poolplayers mostly and a few degenerate gamblers) empty the parking lot and drive down to the bowling alley. Since there's thirty of us and only two of them and WE'RE holding the money,we aren't about to lose because of the "wording" of this bet. After all, there's over a $1000 riding on this.

Well, what none of us knew then (but we do now) is that a bowling pin is not completely FLAT on the bottom and this stranger,squatted down low and slung the 1st card out of a brand new deck AND lo & behold, it slid UNDER the front edge of that pin. And as he continued to throw,each subsequent card slid at what looked like a hundred miles an hour and landed under the pin OR a previously thrown card. After a few more throws,you could see the light dawning on the faces of thirty very unhappy campers (including my total net worth betting ass) The pin started to lean and while still holding a few cards the next throw toppled the pin.You could have heard a pin drop ( I just COULDN'T resist the pun) as the banker handed over all our cash. I mean , he did what he claimed and he got paid.

That night was one of the saddest nights ever back at the Sonra Lounge as everyone sat around bumming drinks and blaming each other for taking the bet. I'd like to say that it was the last time I went tapped betting on someone's hustle,but I'd be lying. Once a sucker,always a
sucker. Oh, and long before he was on TV, Harry Anderson came in on the hustle and snagged quite a few of us (he shot pretty good pool too). I believe that he was arrested while he was in N.O.
Also, Waylon Flowers came in and got drunk after his last local performance and then sent a gofer back to his hotel room for his puppet "MADAME" (the old-broad puppet,from Hollywood Squares) and put on the FUNNIEST most risque' show that I've ever seen in my life. What a dirty mouth on that old broad.

Someday,I'll tell you about the guy that swallowed the pool stick.


Doug
(*<~ Big Fish EAT Little Fish ~>*)

*Happy 64th Birthday to Pelican today.
Click to expand...


This story never gets old, even after having read it 30+ times over the years.
 
jimmyg said:
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Join Date: Mar 2003
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vCash: 6070
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Posts: 6,433

Exclamation The Whole Joint Got Hustled​

An oldie, but a goodie, posted by me almost 12 years ago in RSB. This is for the young uns:

I made up the name SONRA (using an 8 ball as the 'O') when Billy Songy and Billy Rainey were preparing to open a lounge/poolroom in New Orleans (Kenner).

On any given night, you might find a who's who of pool in the joint, such as Buddy Hall, Benny "The Goose", Bill Stack, New York Blackie, Cliff Brown, Whoppie, Painter, Dan Louie and me and my running buddies and anyone that played pool in New Orleans.

From 1997:
Subject: Bar Bets (Hoist On Your Own Petard)

One night I was hanging out at the Sonra Lounge (tucked in behind the cinema and on a canal) on Vets Hwy. in New Orleans,it was THE action spot from the mid 70's to the mid 80's and EVERY form of hustle was run
AND bet on in this bar.

On this particular night a stranger says to everyone and no-one in particular," I can KNOCK DOWN the headpin in a bowling alley with a playing card." Twenty heads swiveled at the same time to see who had made this claim.

The stranger says," I'll stand at the foul line and I get to throw the complete deck and I'll knock the front pin over." So, right away I pipe up with ,"yeah,you'll leave all the cards in the box and throw the whole box."(Which would still be a pretty neat trick) The stranger says," no,I'm going to throw the cards ONE card at a time and I get to use the whole deck." So, once again I butt in and say," sure,you're going to tape one of the cards to a bowling ball or some other object and then throw it and knock over the pin." He says,"Nope,it will be knocked over with only one card or else I lose."

Well, it just so happens that there's a bowling alley about 3-4 blocks up the street, which is closed,BUT,the manager comes to this bar every night after closing and is willing to re-open for all of us to make this bet (plus he wants some of the action too).
Well, everybody in the bar puts up all the cash they can afford and Billy takes some cash from the register and since no-one will stay and keep an eye on the bar,they close up and 25-30 people (poolplayers mostly and a few degenerate gamblers) empty the parking lot and drive down to the bowling alley. Since there's thirty of us and only two of them and WE'RE holding the money,we aren't about to lose because of the "wording" of this bet. After all, there's over a $1000 riding on this.

Well, what none of us knew then (but we do now) is that a bowling pin is not completely FLAT on the bottom and this stranger,squatted down low and slung the 1st card out of a brand new deck AND lo & behold, it slid UNDER the front edge of that pin. And as he continued to throw,each subsequent card slid at what looked like a hundred miles an hour and landed under the pin OR a previously thrown card. After a few more throws,you could see the light dawning on the faces of thirty very unhappy campers (including my total net worth betting ass) The pin started to lean and while still holding a few cards the next throw toppled the pin.You could have heard a pin drop ( I just COULDN'T resist the pun) as the banker handed over all our cash. I mean , he did what he claimed and he got paid.

That night was one of the saddest nights ever back at the Sonra Lounge as everyone sat around bumming drinks and blaming each other for taking the bet. I'd like to say that it was the last time I went tapped betting on someone's hustle,but I'd be lying. Once a sucker,always a
sucker. Oh, and long before he was on TV, Harry Anderson came in on the hustle and snagged quite a few of us (he shot pretty good pool too). I believe that he was arrested while he was in N.O.
Also, Waylon Flowers came in and got drunk after his last local performance and then sent a gofer back to his hotel room for his puppet "MADAME" (the old-broad puppet,from Hollywood Squares) and put on the FUNNIEST most risque' show that I've ever seen in my life. What a dirty mouth on that old broad.

Someday,I'll tell you about the guy that swallowed the pool stick.


Doug
(*<~ Big Fish EAT Little Fish ~>*)

*Happy 64th Birthday to Pelican today.
Click to expand...
I see said the blind man.
Great hustle
 
You guys can be so gullible at times.

Titanic Thompson tales are very amusing but some are highly improbable.
Example: A man known for carrying huge amounts of cash and is known to be armed with gun(s) is sitting at a table engaged in prop talk.....then he throws huge rolls of money on the spread to prove how high he will go. The crowd shivers in fear and metaphorically grovels for mercy from this giant of a human being.
What would actually happen: 3 ex-cons would've known he was there. All are armed but look like 'nobodys'. Two are spotted at different places in the room. The 3rd one, dressed like a plumber, walks up to this brilliant hustler, pulls his own gun, sticks it to the hustler's head and blows his brains out without a word.
His two partners have out their guns now and are cleaning out everyone in the room.
Shooter man pickups 'big time hustler's' blood stained bankroll and they all leave out the door together. One blasts and kills the bartender/owner right between the eyes just for the hell of it. They're never seen or heard from again.
That's the reality.
 
GoldenFlash said:
Titanic Thompson tales are very amusing but some are highly improbable.
Example: A man known for carrying huge amounts of cash and is known to be armed with gun(s) is sitting at a table engaged in prop talk.....then he throws huge rolls of money on the spread to prove how high he will go. The crowd shivers in fear and metaphorically grovels for mercy from this giant of a human being.
What would actually happen: 3 ex-cons would've known he was there. All are armed but look like 'nobodys'. Two are spotted at different places in the room. The 3rd one, dressed like a plumber, walks up to this brilliant hustler, pulls his own gun, sticks it to the hustler's head and blows his brains out without a word.
His two partners have out their guns now and are cleaning out everyone in the room.
Shooter man pickups 'big time hustler's' blood stained bankroll and they all leave out the door together. One blasts and kills the bartender/owner right between the eyes just for the hell of it. They're never seen or heard from again.
That's the reality.
Click to expand...

Turn your TV off......you've exceeded your limit
 
I recall one story where he paid a man who drove a horse drawn wagon slam full of watermelons (I think it was watermelons) to unload all of his cargo, count them then reload them.

Thompson then went ahead of the melon delivery guy to his destination and when melon man arrived, Titanic Thompson started the hustle with locals saying that he could guess the exact number of melons on the wagon that just rolled into town. :wink:

best,
brian kc
 
Last edited:
I knew Ty personally and spent a lot of time with him at the Cotton Bowling Palace in Dallas.

He really could throw playing cards with deadly accuracy.

He played good golf with either hand.

He was a champion trap and skeet shooter.

He was a great card cheat. I used to sit next to him and got to see him in action.

His proposition bets were hard to fade. I only saw him lose once when Bill Porter took the prop to a new Univac computer he was learning to use. We almost lost anyway.

He could play pool well but not so well when I knew him.

Bill Stroud
now 75 years old
 
GoldenFlash said:
Titanic Thompson tales are very amusing but some are highly improbable.
Example: A man known for carrying huge amounts of cash and is known to be armed with gun(s) is sitting at a table engaged in prop talk.....then he throws huge rolls of money on the spread to prove how high he will go. The crowd shivers in fear and metaphorically grovels for mercy from this giant of a human being.
What would actually happen: 3 ex-cons would've known he was there. All are armed but look like 'nobodys'. Two are spotted at different places in the room. The 3rd one, dressed like a plumber, walks up to this brilliant hustler, pulls his own gun, sticks it to the hustler's head and blows his brains out without a word.
His two partners have out their guns now and are cleaning out everyone in the room.
Shooter man pickups 'big time hustler's' blood stained bankroll and they all leave out the door together. One blasts and kills the bartender/owner right between the eyes just for the hell of it. They're never seen or heard from again.
That's the reality.
Click to expand...

In real life....those three guys don't own all the guns in the world.

In real life....$300,000 got dumped on a carom table...the backer said "The line is open, if this is not enough, I got lots more,"

Ir real life, a bookie ran out of money staking a player...sent one of his men to his home to retrieve a card-board box sitting under a stairwell...it was the small bills he'd never bothered to count....the box was dumped on that same carom table and a few guys sorted the 1s ,5s, 10s, and 20s.....there was about $52,000....the man went off for that also.


However, in real life, a whole pool hall got stuck up in Montreal, about fifty gamblers went broke....jewelry also.
Three men with sawed-off shot guns...in the days of the FLQ crisis, Montreal had the best bank-robbers in the world...and just like the banks they were robbing....
...they were branching out. :)
 
A skeptic's point of view....

bstroud said:
I knew Ty personally and spent a lot of time with him at the Cotton Bowling Palace in Dallas.
He really could throw playing cards with deadly accuracy.
He played good golf with either hand.
He was a champion trap and skeet shooter.
He was a great card cheat. I used to sit next to him and got to see him in action.
His proposition bets were hard to fade. I only saw him lose once when Bill Porter took the prop to a new Univac computer he was learning to use. We almost lost anyway.
He could play pool well but not so well when I knew him.
Bill Stroud
now 75 years old
Click to expand...
If all these things are accurate, and it was well known, why would anyone but a simon pure fool gamble with him.
At a poker table for sure??
Great mechanics are quiet as mice, don't make a big splash, and bust everybody.
 
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