The most amazing husstle that you have ever seen on a pool table?

J

justinb386

Banned
I may have not worded my title corectly, but I was just thinking about this road trip that me and some pool player friends took to St Louis back in the 90s.

We went to Ride the rail billiards (which was a 24 hour pool hall).

Anyway, one of my friends got husstles out of all of the money he had (maybe around a $100 or something like that), and it was on one the the most incredible things I ever seen on a pool table.

This guy was betting that he could flick the cue ball 3 rails around the pool table, and into a regular rack of 8 ball (with the 8 in the middle like normal), and he would bet that he could make the 8 ball in like a 100 throws (tossing the cue ball around the table 3 rails, and into the stack).

Anyways, this guy must have practiced this silly hustle a lot, because he was really good at knowing exactly how to eventually make the 8 ball in the corner pocket (forgot to mention that part).

Anyway, he would make it so that he would always make the 8 ball within the last 10 throws he had (to barely win the bet), and then he would be say something like 'let's bet another $10 or whatever' that I can't make the 8 ball in 10 less throws around the table.

Anyways, I think he kept barely winning each bet purposely to keep my friend Betting again, until he lost all the cash he had.

I just thought it was pretty amazing.

He got down to making that 8 in under like 50 throws I think.

I know it sounds silly, but I was amazed by it.

Have you ever seen any crazy hustles like that on a pool table?
 
Stu mortenson once told me, "if a guy in a pool hall wants to bet you he can walk on ceiling, he most likely can. Dont bet!
 
justinb386 said:
...
This guy was betting that he could flick the cue ball 3 rails around the pool table, and into a regular rack of 8 ball (with the 8 in the middle like normal), and he would bet that he could make the 8 ball in like a 100 throws (tossing the cue ball around the table 3 rails, and into the stack). ....
Have you ever seen any crazy hustles like that on a pool table?
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That proposition was a standard demo/time filler of Cueball Kelly -- the great promoter, hustler, and referee -- at tournaments. I saw him do it in three throws once. I'll bet I can do it in 20 which gives me a little margin. If someone wants to bet on the proposition, you shouldn't give them more than 15 throws and then only if you plan to pay for the entertainment.

The most amazing example of this I've seen is when Alain Robidoux (a top Canadian snooker player) gave an exhibition and set up the rack of reds with the black in the middle on a 6x12 snooker table and said he would throw the cue ball three cushions and gradually work the black into the corner pocket. It took him 25 throws which was the number he said at the start. The most amazing part to me was that every throw seemed to improve his position. When I try it I have a number of "miscues" usually.

Another "finger pool" proposition is to throw the cue ball five cushions and freeze it to a ball on the footspot. That was another of Cueball Kelly's specialties. I showed this to a total non-player when we were both at a technical conference. The table had slow cloth, which helps, and I think I did it in under 10 tries. He said, "Let me try," and did it on his second throw. You put a piece of chalk on top of the cue ball and say that you have to freeze it without knocking the chalk off. The chalk actually stabilizes the object ball and makes the shot easier.

Another amazing proposition is this "three and three" shot. The cue ball hits the two ball and stops roughly in place. The two ball goes three cushions and returns to hit the cue ball which then goes three more cushions to knock the 9 in. It takes lively cushions and some spin on the cue ball. The shot is easier as a three-cushion shot on a carom table because of the speed of carom cloth and you have a larger target.

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But the most amazing hustle I saw involved nothing but easy shots. The "hustler" bet the "fish" that he couldn't make six balls, each one sitting by a pocket. The trick was that the hustler would call the order. Easy, right? Just bring the cue ball back to near the middle of the table. The fish lost a total of 120 bets and was getting 3:1 on the money at the end. He didn't play very well but most importantly, he didn't learn at all. It was the psychology that was amazing.

This hustle is in Willie Jopling's collection of trick shots and propositions. I wrote it up for On The Break News in 2004 -- see page 8: https://issuu.com/thebreak/docs/ebreak8-04
 
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justinb386 said:
I may have not worded my title corectly, but I was just thinking about this road trip that me and some pool player friends took to St Louis back in the 90s.

We went to Ride the rail billiards (which was a 24 hour pool hall).

Anyway, one of my friends got husstles out of all of the money he had (maybe around a $100 or something like that), and it was on one the the most incredible things I ever seen on a pool table.

This guy was betting that he could flick the cue ball 3 rails around the pool table, and into a regular rack of 8 ball (with the 8 in the middle like normal), and he would bet that he could make the 8 ball in like a 100 throws (tossing the cue ball around the table 3 rails, and into the stack).

Anyways, this guy must have practiced this silly hustle a lot, because he was really good at knowing exactly how to eventually make the 8 ball in the corner pocket (forgot to mention that part).

Anyway, he would make it so that he would always make the 8 ball within the last 10 throws he had (to barely win the bet), and then he would be say something like 'let's bet another $10 or whatever' that I can't make the 8 ball in 10 less throws around the table.

Anyways, I think he kept barely winning each bet purposely to keep my friend Betting again, until he lost all the cash he had.

I just thought it was pretty amazing.

He got down to making that 8 in under like 50 throws I think.

I know it sounds silly, but I was amazed by it.

Have you ever seen any crazy hustles like that on a pool table?
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Good afternoon, sir.

I posted up a chapter of my book on here a few days ago, it featured fifteen similar hustles and proposition bets which might be of interest.
 
Guy puts object ball on the spot. From behind the spot he shoots the cueball with his fingers, spinning it 3 rails Mike Masse style and has to pocket the ball in the bottom pocket where he's shooting from. He picks up the cue ball after every shot and keeps working the object ball to the pocket after shooting cue bsll 3 rails. He bets he can do it in under 10 shots. He wins a few bets making it in under 10 shots and then reduces the number of shot to make it....keeping the fish on the hook. By the end I saw him win bets with as few as 3 shots. He won 7 or 8 bets from 3 guys who he had hooked.

When they left I told him how impressed I was. I asked how many shots does he need to win at least half the time....he said he's a winner if he bets 3 shots! He said the trick is to get the object ball near the long rail about 6 inches or less from the hole. Then spin 3 rails and clip it in off the rail , often hitting the 4th rail first .

I'd be able to retire if I could do what he did...he was very good at it. I saw him shoot in 20 or more.
 
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Bob Jewett said:
But the most amazing hustle I saw involved nothing but easy shots. The "hustler" bet the "fish" that he couldn't make six balls, each one sitting by a pocket. The trick was that the hustler would call the order. Easy, right? Just bring the cue ball back to near the middle of the table. The fish lost a total of 120 bets and was getting 3:1 on the money at the end. He didn't play very well but most importantly, he didn't learn at all. It was the psychology that was amazing.

This hustle is in Willie Jopling's collection of trick shots and propositions. I wrote it up for On The Break News in 2004 -- see page 8: https://issuu.com/thebreak/docs/ebreak8-04
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Bob,
I learned this hustle from a very good player named Tom Fisher about 1963 at the student union pool hall at Oklahoma University. I was amazed but I was not the mark, luckily.
Don
 
A good hustle I was shown is to set a ball up to make in any pocket to where you can jump the cue ball off the table after pocketing it ( with conisitancy ) Then watch where to cue ball comes to rest with the roll of the floor in the pool room (do this to where you land in same spot 4 out of 10 shots) . When you comeback the next day (or whenever) set a ball up at that spot on the floor and bet that you can pocket the ball on table and make a straight rail carom on to the ball on the floor (I've done it in places where the Ball is 30ft away and curves under two tables lol!!!! Its very fun!!

Ps. Make sure the house man is on your side, that the room is slow when practicing (others may not appreciate it ) and its best done in a carpeted room .
 
justinb386 said:
I may have not worded my title corectly, but I was just thinking about this road trip that me and some pool player friends took to St Louis back in the 90s.

We went to Ride the rail billiards (which was a 24 hour pool hall).

Anyway, one of my friends got husstles out of all of the money he had (maybe around a $100 or something like that), and it was on one the the most incredible things I ever seen on a pool table.

This guy was betting that he could flick the cue ball 3 rails around the pool table, and into a regular rack of 8 ball (with the 8 in the middle like normal), and he would bet that he could make the 8 ball in like a 100 throws (tossing the cue ball around the table 3 rails, and into the stack).

Anyways, this guy must have practiced this silly hustle a lot, because he was really good at knowing exactly how to eventually make the 8 ball in the corner pocket (forgot to mention that part).

Anyway, he would make it so that he would always make the 8 ball within the last 10 throws he had (to barely win the bet), and then he would be say something like 'let's bet another $10 or whatever' that I can't make the 8 ball in 10 less throws around the table.

Anyways, I think he kept barely winning each bet purposely to keep my friend Betting again, until he lost all the cash he had.

I just thought it was pretty amazing.

He got down to making that 8 in under like 50 throws I think.

I know it sounds silly, but I was amazed by it.

Have you ever seen any crazy hustles like that on a pool table?
Click to expand...

I just read you post....see mine. Guy did same thing with 1 ball...in 3 to 5 shots. He did this on a 9 foot with 4.75 inch pockets

Was the 8 ball shot done on a barbox? On a 9 foot I'd be very impressed.
 
Bob Jewett said:
I'll bet I can do it in 20 which gives me a little margin. If someone wants to bet on the proposition, you shouldn't give them more than 15 throws and then only if you plan to pay for the entertainment.
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How much will you bet? We can do this at the DCC next year
 
Best hustle I ever saw.

In the late 60's a guy came through Atlanta and started working the rooms.
He would bet (if you gave him 8-5 on the money) that he could take the cue ball on a regular 4 1/2x9, stick it in his mouth, (without removing any false teeth), bend over behind the line and make spot shots by spitting the cue ball out of his mouth.
Everyone, including me, couldn't wait to put up and get some of that. My wise old gambling coach advised me..."don't get into that, you'll go broke". I stayed in the chair.
The guy proceeded to rob everyone making those spot shots.
He cleaned out Atlanta and then headed toward Augusta where David Sizemore and his posse finally got the best of the thing by getting the guy to give THEM 8-5.
I wonder if he's still alive.
He could make those shots though with that mouth shooting.
 
I don't know if you'd count this as a hustle or not, but I saw Billly Peay beat a guy at 9-ball giving up the spot of "a good hit."
 
justinb386 said:
I may have not worded my title corectly, but I was just thinking about this road trip that me and some pool player friends took to St Louis back in the 90s.

We went to Ride the rail billiards (which was a 24 hour pool hall).

Anyway, one of my friends got husstles out of all of the money he had (maybe around a $100 or something like that), and it was on one the the most incredible things I ever seen on a pool table.

This guy was betting that he could flick the cue ball 3 rails around the pool table, and into a regular rack of 8 ball (with the 8 in the middle like normal), and he would bet that he could make the 8 ball in like a 100 throws (tossing the cue ball around the table 3 rails, and into the stack).

Anyways, this guy must have practiced this silly hustle a lot, because he was really good at knowing exactly how to eventually make the 8 ball in the corner pocket (forgot to mention that part).

Anyway, he would make it so that he would always make the 8 ball within the last 10 throws he had (to barely win the bet), and then he would be say something like 'let's bet another $10 or whatever' that I can't make the 8 ball in 10 less throws around the table.

Anyways, I think he kept barely winning each bet purposely to keep my friend Betting again, until he lost all the cash he had.

I just thought it was pretty amazing.

He got down to making that 8 in under like 50 throws I think.

I know it sounds silly, but I was amazed by it.

Have you ever seen any crazy hustles like that on a pool table?[/QUOTE


Our local one pocket guru Black Henry is infamous for this " bet " . Of course he will start out asking for as many tries as he thinks he can get but routinely takes the 20 tries bet - on a 9 foot and wins every time. I'm not gonna say what the actual amount needed is but obviously Def less than 20 lol. He is also a master at the shot described by Cueenvy. I've seen them both a thousand times.

One of my favorites was a classic from Cager. He was an older black man. He would stagger around with a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand looking to bet " his newly aquired pay check ". Words slurred, falling over practically, he WAS MESSED UP! Or so they thought. The Jack Daniels bottle was actually iced tea. He kept a couple shorties of the real stuff in his pocket. Would go in the bathroom every so often, take a swig, swish it around and gargle with it, spit it out. Dab some on his neck and shirt and officially smelled like a brewery.

I never fell victim to either of those but here is one that did get me lol. I was a kid, around 12 or so maybe 13 and I had just started going to the infamous Jack & Jills. I had a guy approach me after going there for a few days. The game was I spot him the 7 ball. I said no way!!!! He said but wait kid, I'm only gonna shoot with one hand! I'm not even gonna use the rails. Well in my infinite wisdom I now know that I'm gonna be stealing! Wrong! He bursted me! Out of $400 at $100 a set. First couple sets I actually thought I had a chance. There were no big run outs, but he always seemed to leave me bad when he missed, and he always seemed to make the 7 or 9 when he needed to.

Well after the first two sets I got hip and then knew I had NO CHANCE what so ever. I told the guy look I know I have no shot at this game, there will be no adjusting, no thanks period you got me buts it's cool as I've never seen anyone do the things you're doing one handed. I continued, I said however you are amazing and I actually would not mind watching some more of this but no more holding back. I said look I'll play you two more sets but I wanna see what you can do for real! I also said don't worry about killing any future action because I will never be playing you nor anyone else EVER at this game lol! I said gimme a show and I'll probably match up with somehow in the future. I could see the conflicted look on his face as he looked over to his stakehorse for guidance. The stakehorse said " ah go ahead give him a show - I like this kid ". The guy says " yeah I like the kid two. OK kid - put your money on the light and let's do this ". Well what I got to see over the next two sets was absolutely amazing to me! Mind you jacked up the whole time. He ran out EVERYTIME he got to the table, from everywhere - it just didn't matter. BTW this was on a 9 foot GC. JACKED UP he would fire balls splitting the pockets, table and a half length draw, one handed jump shots, you name it it happened. In my young pool career I had never seen anything like it and actually not since either! It truly was amazing.

Well remember earlier how I told the guy I would probably match up somehow in the future. That turned out to be a lie. That would be the one and only time we would match up. What did happen though is over the course of the next year or so we actually became friends. He introduced me to one pocket and began working with me. He tought me most of what I know about the game today. I really liked this guy, turns out he was a monster, especially in one hole. He was funny as hell and boy would he gamble. Unfortunately he was taken from us way too early, he died way too young maybe about 8-10 years ago.

BTW - that stakehorse I mentioned was a guy named Baldy. Baldwin was his real name. The guy I played was named Mike. Most would know him by The All Mighty GEESE!
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GoldenFlash said:
In the late 60's a guy came through Atlanta and started working the rooms.
He would bet (if you gave him 8-5 on the money) that he could take the cue ball on a regular 4 1/2x9, stick it in his mouth, (without removing any false teeth), bend over behind the line and make spot shots by spitting the cue ball out of his mouth.
Everyone, including me, couldn't wait to put up and get some of that. My wise old gambling coach advised me..."don't get into that, you'll go broke". I stayed in the chair.
The guy proceeded to rob everyone making those spot shots.
He cleaned out Atlanta and then headed toward Augusta where David Sizemore and his posse finally got the best of the thing by getting the guy to give THEM 8-5.
I wonder if he's still alive.
He could make those shots though with that mouth shooting.
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I heard of that guy. The way I heard it he was spitting the cue ball three rails and making the 8 in the corner.

One time, sitting at the bar in the pool hall, some guys bet another guy that he could not walk over to the wall and put his hand on the wall and not move his hand for one minute. He accepted the bet, walked over to the wall and put his hand on it. The guys at the bar yelled "Oh no. Move it up where we we can see it." The guy moved his hand up, realized what he had just done, dropped his head, came back over and paid the bet. :D


Take 6 balls, put each of them in front of a pocket. Put the cue ball on the spot. Take 6 shots and make every ball on the table without scratching. I never bet anything but I have had several guys try it. They all finish in 6 shots and I point to the cue ball and say you still have one left. "every ball on the table without scratching"

The funniest one I ever saw, a guy broke the balls playing bar table 8 ball. It was a terrible break. Clusters everywhere. Nothing went. His opponent walked to the table and said I'll bet you $10 you don't get another shot this game. The guy immediately took the bet. His opponent turned around and shot the 8 ball straight in the side pocket. Ten bucks.
 
BmoreMoney quote from post 16:

"...

I never fell victim to either of those but here is one that did get me lol. I was a kid, around 12 or so maybe 13 and I had just started going to the infamous Jack & Jills. ..."


So an adult hustling money from a 7th grader? And you had 300-400 to burn? Alrighty then..
 
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ghost ball said:
...

I never fell victim to either of those but here is one that did get me lol. I was a kid, around 12 or so maybe 13 and I had just started going to the infamous Jack & Jills. ...


So an adult hustling money from a 7th grader? And you had 300-400 to burn? Alrighty then..
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Hey my money was just as green as the next guys, and it wasn't exactly like that was my first time in action lol. As far as the money, it was mine - I either worked for it or had won it but either way it was mine to do as I pleased. Along with other businesses my father owned, he had several car lots when I was growing up. I started " working " at the main one on the weekends when i was 11 as he started teaching me the business. I started off detailing the cars, then I started fixing / installing stereos as needed. When I was 12 I fell in love with a car he had for sale. It was a sweet 300zx turbo with red leather interior. Well he gave it to me as a present and told me it was mine to do whatever I wanted with it but make sure to be smart and use everything he was teaching me. After I got bored with that one and " fell in love " with another I sold it and bought the next one. So using what my father had taught me I began buying cars cheap, having any work done that was needed and putting them on one of his lots for sale. Of course once in awhile I needed guidance with something, but honestly all decisions were left up to me - as he always told me do whatever you think you should do but remember you will live with the consequences good or bad. I used his mechanics but I paid them. I paid the salesperson commissions, and all associated expenses. I actually pretty much always made money on the cars I messed with - he taught me well I suppose.

I always had a cool custom or classic car, and was able to build up a bank roll to invest in cars to flip. Another way I made money was finding cars for his car lots. I'd ride my bike around to look for cars with no tags. I perused all of the papers, checked out every message board I could find etc. Depending on the car I was either paid a flat rate finders fee of $50, $100, sometimes $200 if they bought the car. On certain cars that turned out to be huge scores I would get a commission of 10% of the profit. So anyway yeah I made money and used it as I saw fit. I wasn't the only " kid " in there either. There were others. One that comes to mind that was around same time as me was Jason Hill. I think he ended winning the Jr national championship or something like that.

So what were you getting at : being young and playing pool or being young and having some money ? Everybody is always talking about how we need to get the kids interested in pool lol. Well that's what interested me. Everyone is also talking about how need to learn responsibility and should have to work for the things they get instead of always expecting everything given to them on a silver platter right ?
 
Youre right, b...more than a few yoingns in jack n jills.
I can recall giving mex rides home more than once.
The young newport tooo...
 
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