. I always prided myself on not ever getting hustled bad in all my playing days.
One weekday I had just opened, and was practicing on the billiard table when this guy
walks in. He was over six-foot tall and dressed in painter’s clothes and walked with a limp. He smelled of cheap wine. He watched me play billiards for a few minutes before he asked if I wanted to play for two dollars a game and loser pays for the time for the table. I told him it was slow now and I could play but if I got busy I would have to quit. He said he understood and we played. I played him two games of a race to fifteen point’s wins. I beat him both games easy. The score was four to fifteen and six to fifteen. He paid me and paid for our time on the table and thanked me for the games and left.
The next day this same guy came in at about the same time dressed the same and
smelling the same asking if I had time to play a few. I said yes. We played two games and again I beat him three to fifteen and six to fifteen. He came in everyday for the rest of the week and we played with the same result. I didn’t see him on the weekend and had forgotten about him by Monday. Sure enough at a little after one in the afternoon on Monday in he comes. He said he had hit the daily double at Belmont Park Saturday for four hundred and sixty dollars. He said he always played the one-two combo in the double and it came in. I followed the horses in the paper so I knew that the one-two had come in like he said and paid four-sixty for a two- dollar bet. He said he was on a lucky streak and would I play him for twenty a game instead of the two dollars we had been playing for. I felt a bit guilty. But said I would. I figured I would beat him for twenty or forty dollars and he would quit and that would end it.
The first game I beat him eleven to fifteen. Before the next game he asked if I would
raise the bet to forty a game. I said yes and beat him ten to fifteen. The next two games he won thirteen to fifteen and twelve to fifteen and said he was getting use to the table now. He then asked if I wanted to up the bet to eighty a game. I said why not make it a hundred a game? He agreed and we played five more games with him winning four of them. Then we played another five games and he won four of them. By now I am a little rattled that I am letting this chump beat me for some serious money. At this point he says today is his last day painting in this area and would not see me for awhile. Thinking I wouldn’t get a chance to get even after today, I say how about making it two hundred a game. I figured he would say no, but he said sure.
We played five more games at two hundred each and he won them all. I said I was broke
then. He then says to me. I will play you for your stick against my three hundred. Well my cue was a nice one, but not worth three hundred to me. In fact I won it in a pool game for payment of fifty-five dollars. I said yes and we played. He won nine to fifteen. I gave him the cue and we said our good-byes and he left.
About two minutes after he left one of my regular customers came in as I was sitting at
the counter licking my wounds.
The customer says to me “I hope you didn’t play the guy that just left here for money”.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because he was the New England Three-Cushion Billiard Champ”.
To this day only a handful of people know that the hustler got hustled for more than two
thousand -dollars and my cue stick. The moral of the story being, yes you can hustle a hustler.
The first rule of making money in pool is in knowing how well you play. This means
to be honest with yourself. Most pool players get beat by thinking they are better than they really are. If they get a little lucky along the way, that only makes it worse next time. Because now they think they won on skill. That’s a big mistake there. If you’re honest with yourself you won’t play people over your head. It makes no sense playing someone just as good or better than you are for money. Like they say theirs no money in that.
From Hustling Under The Radar by John W. Terrell
One weekday I had just opened, and was practicing on the billiard table when this guy
walks in. He was over six-foot tall and dressed in painter’s clothes and walked with a limp. He smelled of cheap wine. He watched me play billiards for a few minutes before he asked if I wanted to play for two dollars a game and loser pays for the time for the table. I told him it was slow now and I could play but if I got busy I would have to quit. He said he understood and we played. I played him two games of a race to fifteen point’s wins. I beat him both games easy. The score was four to fifteen and six to fifteen. He paid me and paid for our time on the table and thanked me for the games and left.
The next day this same guy came in at about the same time dressed the same and
smelling the same asking if I had time to play a few. I said yes. We played two games and again I beat him three to fifteen and six to fifteen. He came in everyday for the rest of the week and we played with the same result. I didn’t see him on the weekend and had forgotten about him by Monday. Sure enough at a little after one in the afternoon on Monday in he comes. He said he had hit the daily double at Belmont Park Saturday for four hundred and sixty dollars. He said he always played the one-two combo in the double and it came in. I followed the horses in the paper so I knew that the one-two had come in like he said and paid four-sixty for a two- dollar bet. He said he was on a lucky streak and would I play him for twenty a game instead of the two dollars we had been playing for. I felt a bit guilty. But said I would. I figured I would beat him for twenty or forty dollars and he would quit and that would end it.
The first game I beat him eleven to fifteen. Before the next game he asked if I would
raise the bet to forty a game. I said yes and beat him ten to fifteen. The next two games he won thirteen to fifteen and twelve to fifteen and said he was getting use to the table now. He then asked if I wanted to up the bet to eighty a game. I said why not make it a hundred a game? He agreed and we played five more games with him winning four of them. Then we played another five games and he won four of them. By now I am a little rattled that I am letting this chump beat me for some serious money. At this point he says today is his last day painting in this area and would not see me for awhile. Thinking I wouldn’t get a chance to get even after today, I say how about making it two hundred a game. I figured he would say no, but he said sure.
We played five more games at two hundred each and he won them all. I said I was broke
then. He then says to me. I will play you for your stick against my three hundred. Well my cue was a nice one, but not worth three hundred to me. In fact I won it in a pool game for payment of fifty-five dollars. I said yes and we played. He won nine to fifteen. I gave him the cue and we said our good-byes and he left.
About two minutes after he left one of my regular customers came in as I was sitting at
the counter licking my wounds.
The customer says to me “I hope you didn’t play the guy that just left here for money”.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because he was the New England Three-Cushion Billiard Champ”.
To this day only a handful of people know that the hustler got hustled for more than two
thousand -dollars and my cue stick. The moral of the story being, yes you can hustle a hustler.
The first rule of making money in pool is in knowing how well you play. This means
to be honest with yourself. Most pool players get beat by thinking they are better than they really are. If they get a little lucky along the way, that only makes it worse next time. Because now they think they won on skill. That’s a big mistake there. If you’re honest with yourself you won’t play people over your head. It makes no sense playing someone just as good or better than you are for money. Like they say theirs no money in that.
From Hustling Under The Radar by John W. Terrell
I'll buy that. ^^
