The Rack in Detroit

freddy the beard said:
Sherm, did they play even OnePocket? I cant imagine Gary playing Bugs even in the OnePocket. Banks even at home, yes. You know I loved Gary too, but did they play even?

Beard
Click to expand...
Truthfully, Gary was getting 10-8 at one pocket (played even when they played banks) but the spot really didn't come into play. Gary was beating him to 8 and offered to play even after it was obvious that he didn't need the spot. At least there and then! Gary was notoriously hard to beat at home! Cliff Joiner spent a month or so in Cincy but didn't ever ask Gary to play anything. Gary tried to make a bank game with him but he didn't want any of it. This is not to say that Cliff didn't know that by playing Gary, win or lose, it would knock his action around town. But he avoided Gary and wouldn't have liked his chances at anything but one-pocket. IHMO

just more hot air!


Sherm
 
SpiderWebComm said:
uh, *bump*

Did the rack have a snooker table? I recall Hopkins talking about playing a guy 1p on the snooker table in Chicago (maybe the rack?). My memory is crap but I think Hop ran 10-and-out twice on the snooker table for some big money. I need to call and get the story straight-- but I wanna say it was jew paul but I don't know really. If someone knows - let me know.

Beard - I hope I can ask this question the right way.... I know you used to play everyone you could banks... how did you rank at the rack? How many people above/below you?

Dave
Click to expand...

The rack had a 10' snooker table. It was off to the right as I recall. That was where Jew Paul played almost daily for stakes as high as 10K a game. All One Pocket! Allen did make a big score playing him. By the way, the Rack was in Detroit, not Chicago.
 
Sounds like this room was the best the world had to offer. Just wanting to know if anyone has an idea of how many pool tables this room had? Such as how many nine footers? Snooker Tables? Bar boxes? Etc
 
Feared the Red Rooster

SpiderWebComm said:
uh, *bump*

Did the rack have a snooker table? I recall Hopkins talking about playing a guy 1p on the snooker table in Chicago (maybe the rack?). My memory is crap but I think Hop ran 10-and-out twice on the snooker table for some big money. I need to call and get the story straight-- but I wanna say it was jew paul but I don't know really. If someone knows - let me know.

Beard - I hope I can ask this question the right way.... I know you used to play everyone you could banks... how did you rank at the rack? How many people above/below you?

Dave
Click to expand...

Aside from my Chicago guys, Romberg, Johnny Boy, Bugs, Howard the Coward, the only guy I couldnt beat playing banks was Corn Bread. Us Chicago guys didnt really play each other too much at the Rack. I, and most everybody else, feared Corn Bread at home. I loved Red and didnt really want to play him. Forced to play banks once, I had him spot me a ball and I beat him. I beat Denny Searcy playing banks in there, so I got wide berth in the banking department. The game in the Rack was Onepocket.

The Rack had 2 snooker tables, 1 5x10, 1 bar table and about five 4 1/2 x 9's and 1 3 cushion table as I recall.

The Beard
 
jay helfert said:
The rack had a 10' snooker table. It was off to the right as I recall. That was where Jew Paul played almost daily for stakes as high as 10K a game. All One Pocket! Allen did make a big score playing him. By the way, the Rack was in Detroit, not Chicago.
Click to expand...

OOPS that was a typo.. i edited my post
 
The Rack (rack & Cue?) was in Oak Park or Southfield? and not Detroit, to the best of my humble recollection.

Jerry
 
Hustler85 said:
Sounds like this room was the best the world had to offer. Just wanting to know if anyone has an idea of how many pool tables this room had? Such as how many nine footers? Snooker Tables? Bar boxes? Etc
Click to expand...



AFTER the raid it became a private club and the pool table set up eventually ended up like this:


A wall was put up to make two sides, one side (west) was a card room.

The other side (east) was where the tables were set up.

If you walked in the door (SE corner) on the poolroom side there would be 2 rows of tables on your left (lengthwise) and red low back theater seats (cushioned) against the wall on your right that were set up on a platform about a foot high.

All the tables were Brunswick Anniversaries

*The first 2 tables were 9ft,
*The next 2 were 9ft,
*The next 2 were the main 5x10 snooker table and a 5x10 pool table (this table used to be a billiard table and someone? made it into a pool table by cutting the rails, every pocket including the sides a ball would barely fit thru) and the counter was on the right,
*The next 2 tables were a 5x10 snooker table with real slow cloth and a billiard table
*The next 2 tables were a 5x10 pool table with regular size pockets and a 9ft table
*A bar table ended up at the front of the room (south end of the building) by the mens bathroom and a small snack room (maybe 8x6) next to that
*The funace room and a girls bathroom were at the back of the room (north end of the building)

There were red low back theater seats (cushioned) on the other wall that divided the room set up on a platform also.

There was a door to the card room at each end.

The parking lot was on the east side of the building and the infamous steam room was across the street.
 
Here's a couple of games with good players:

*Mike Carella played Jack Cooney a gaff one-pocket game on a 9fter. Mike needed to make 8 or 9 in his hole before Jack made 1 in his side pocket. Jack out ran that one.

*Mike Carella played Superfly (so so player) 45-6 and robbed him.

*Billy Johnson (Wade Crane) played Cock-eyed Mike from Pittsburgh 9-ball on the tough 5x10 pool table giving Mike the 8. They played 8 ahead and Billy NEVER MISSED A BALL and it was over in like 20 minutes.

*A good local player, Pat White from Windsor, robbed Steve Mizerak on the second snooker table playing snooker.

*One of the young kids Tommy Avers was horsin Mike Sigel playing even 9-ball till someone told him who Mike was. When they got even he quit but if they would have kept their mouth shut I think Tommy would have robbed him.
 
A story about Roy "Kilroy" Kosmolski:

Kilroy was an old road man and at that time a counterman at The Rack.

I got a new 78 Tans Am, triple black with t-tops. Me and a buddy decide to screw around with him one night about midnite.

We pull up in the street in front of the door and just sit there till he looks out, he comes from behind the counter and just when he gets to the door we go squeelin off down the street.

We wait a bit and come back from the other way, sit in the street in front of the door, here he comes again, right before he gets to the door we go roaring off tires screamin.

We trick him this time and come back quick and he comes running to the door this time and off we go again.

Now we get slick and wait about a half an hour and go back, we pull up in the street and we're waitin lookin in and he aint nowhere, we're waitin and waitin and looking and all of a sudden there a knock on my passenger side window we look over and Killroys standin there with a pistol pointed at us!

I roll the window down and he starts bichin that we're lucky he didn't shoot first cause he thought we were the heist men, LOL, callin us SOBs and A-holes.

He waited in the bushes across the street at the Steam room a half an hour for us to come back, LOL


Think he wasn't lookin out for the place?
 
Paul "Jew Paul" Bruesloff stories:

Paul was a very good player so you know, but he was a thru ticket if you could win, meaning he didn't have any quit in him and you could win a ton off of him, a ton.

He has a great sense of humor and will do some really funny stuff at times.


**Nothings happening so he gives Cornbread $600 and tells him to play Detroit Whitey so Red starts wolfing at Whitey. He sneaks $600 to Whitey and tells him to go ahead and play Red. Paul takes off after they start playing and comes back in a few hours and they're done playing.

He goes up to Red and ask's how he did. Red tells him he lost. Now Paul goes over to Whitey and ask's him how he did. Whitey tells him Red beat him! LOL


**It's in the winter and a foot of snow. Paul and Billy Ray decide to pitch coins outside on the sidewalk for a thousand a toss. They clear a spot and go at it, zero degrees, no gloves, no coats, middle of winter.


**Paul might go up to a couple of broke champions (??? imagine that, broke champions), and tell one of them to go play so and so some 9-ball but nothing but 9-ball. Now he'll slide over to so and so and tell him he'll stake him against the guy but at nothing except one-pocket. Man, they'd start wolfing at each other like nothing you'd ever seen trying to get the other to play his game.


**Paul would not refuse the bite, he was classy old school.
One good player was around for awhile and got broke like most of them and finally asked Paul if he could "borrow" a thousand to get back to FLA and get going again. Paul doesn't hesitate and pulls out $500 and tells him "here, we're both out 500".

Grady borrowed a few thousand from Paul for just a couple of days to get his Caddillac or something and he comes to Paul when he said and tries to give Paul the money, Pauls trying to refuse to take the money, Paul tells him "I don't trust people that pay me back" LOL Grady did get him to take it.


**Paul's playing one time on the main snooker table in front of the counter against Hopkins or Billy Cardone, it doesn't really matter. Paul always wore a suit, he'd hang his coat up on the coat rack next to the counter and throw his suit coat on a table when he got a game.

Anyway they're playing forever (I came in after they started) and it's jammed with people all around the table, everybodys sitting on the tables sweatin n bettin. I go to the 5x10 pool table next to the snooker table and shove a bunch of coats out of the way, jump on the table and start watching.

A few hours go by, Pauls going off, keeps pulling money out of all his pockets, now he loses a game and starts digging in every pocket and can't find any money. He starts looking around and looking around, goes to the coat rack and pulls his top coat off the rack and starts digging in the pockets...nothing...he starts looking around again then starts walking around the table looking on each one looking between everybody. Now he comes over by us and starts looking on the 5x10 and we're wondering, what the hell is he doing!

He reaches thru us and grabs his suit coat and reaches in the pockets and pulls out a bunch of bundles of $$$$, throws the coat back on the table turns around and pays off like nothing happened and keeps playing!!! We were sitting on about 40,000 for hours and hours, never knew it and he forgot about it!!!


**Pittsburg John Stapolis' big score happened like this. He was broke and got a hundred of Paul to get a room and some food. Well Johns' sittin around and sittin around and all of a sudden tells Paul he'd rather be broke than just have a hundred "what do you want to do Paul" he tells him.
Well, Pauls MO was to get the sideline betting to have more money on the game all the time.

So they start playing and Paul loses the first few games then people start wanting to bet on the side...but... John keeps winning and jacking his bet, winning and jackin his bet and winning and jacking his bet. Paul's in too deep now and keeps playing and playing.
When it was over Pittsburg John wins almost 300,000 on his own (who knows what was on the side??) from a stinking $100 he borrowed from the guy he was playing!!!!

Pauls move back-fired on him that time and I guarantee John didn't give the hundred back.




Paul is a great person and has a heart of gold though and he'll b*tch me out for saying it. He is ONE-OF-A-KIND.
 
stevelomako said:
Paul "Jew Paul" Bruesloff stories:

Paul was a very good player so you know, but he was a thru ticket if you could win, meaning he didn't have any quit in him and you could win a ton off of him, a ton.

He has a great sense of humor and will do some really funny stuff at times.


**Nothings happening so he gives Cornbread $600 and tells him to play Detroit Whitey so Red starts wolfing at Whitey. He sneaks $600 to Whitey and tells him to go ahead and play Red. Paul takes off after they start playing and comes back in a few hours and they're done playing.

He goes up to Red and ask's how he did. Red tells him he lost. Now Paul goes over to Whitey and ask's him how he did. Whitey tells him Red beat him! LOL


**It's in the winter and a foot of snow. Paul and Billy Ray decide to pitch coins outside on the sidewalk for a thousand a toss. They clear a spot and go at it, zero degrees, no gloves, no coats, middle of winter.


**Paul might go up to a couple of broke champions (??? imagine that, broke champions), and tell one of them to go play so and so some 9-ball but nothing but 9-ball. Now he'll slide over to so and so and tell him he'll stake him against the guy but at nothing except one-pocket. Man, they'd start wolfing at each other like nothing you'd ever seen trying to get the other to play his game.


**Paul would not refuse the bite, he was classy old school.
One good player was around for awhile and got broke like most of them and finally asked Paul if he could "borrow" a thousand to get back to FLA and get going again. Paul doesn't hesitate and pulls out $500 and tells him "here, we're both out 500".

Grady borrowed a few thousand from Paul for just a couple of days to get his Caddillac or something and he comes to Paul when he said and tries to give Paul the money, Pauls trying to refuse to take the money, Paul tells him "I don't trust people that pay me back" LOL Grady did get him to take it.


**Paul's playing one time on the main snooker table in front of the counter against Hopkins or Billy Cardone, it doesn't really matter. Paul always wore a suit, he'd hang his coat up on the coat rack next to the counter and throw his suit coat on a table when he got a game.

Anyway they're playing forever (I came in after they started) and it's jammed with people all around the table, everybodys sitting on the tables sweatin n bettin. I go to the 5x10 pool table next to the snooker table and shove a bunch of coats out of the way, jump on the table and start watching.

A few hours go by, Pauls going off, keeps pulling money out of all his pockets, now he loses a game and starts digging in every pocket and can't find any money. He starts looking around and looking around, goes to the coat rack and pulls his top coat off the rack and starts digging in the pockets...nothing...he starts looking around again then starts walking around the table looking on each one looking between everybody. Now he comes over by us and starts looking on the 5x10 and we're wondering, what the hell is he doing!

He reaches thru us and grabs his suit coat and reaches in the pockets and pulls out a bunch of bundles of $$$$, throws the coat back on the table turns around and pays off like nothing happened and keeps playing!!! We were sitting on about 40,000 for hours and hours, never knew it and he forgot about it!!!


**Pittsburg John Stapolis' big score happened like this. He was broke and got a hundred of Paul to get a room and some food. Well Johns' sittin around and sittin around and all of a sudden tells Paul he'd rather be broke than just have a hundred "what do you want to do Paul" he tells him.
Well, Pauls MO was to get the sideline betting to have more money on the game all the time.

So they start playing and Paul loses the first few games then people start wanting to bet on the side...but... John keeps winning and jacking his bet, winning and jackin his bet and winning and jacking his bet. Paul's in too deep now and keeps playing and playing.
When it was over Pittsburg John wins almost 300,000 on his own (who knows what was on the side??) from a stinking $100 he borrowed from the guy he was playing!!!!

Pauls move back-fired on him that time and I guarantee John didn't give the hundred back.




Paul is a great person and has a heart of gold though and he'll b*tch me out for saying it. He is ONE-OF-A-KIND.
Click to expand...

Great bunch of stories Steve. Looks like there was no place ever like the Rack. If you don't mind I'm going to ask Calired (or some other computer whiz)
to lift them over to 1P.org....to share with the guys.
 
Many people mentioned about Rosie and Jimmy Chagra in this thread as the backer for most of big money games. Could anyone provide some more details on these 2 guys above?
 
Table Time at the RACK

A 20 year old black boy and his friend show up at the door of the RACK after pumping up out on the road.

They were met at the door with a cold icy stare and were told that they had to know somebody to get into the pool room. Being from the deep South, they may have thought they had run into some racial profiling until one of them spotted another black road player who had traveled through New Orleans. After substantiating their case as pool players and the other black road player barely remembering that he had plucked some bucks from the young boys' pockets, they were allowed to enter the Sanctuary.

"EVERYONE" was there and the boys stood captivated by the action and the heroes of their youth, learning the names of the new faces they didn't know and the trophies that each of them carried as only young boys can.

With each passing day they gathered more and more courage and finally picked out one of the lower tiered players and asked to play. The "local" suggested they play for $500 and the boys asked how many they were going to race to and were met with big belly laughs from everyone there. Their first bet out of the gate was for $500 a game, nine ball. The story would have been dismissed by me if I hadn't been reading this thread but the bottom line is the two boys won $40,000 over a two week period.

This story came unsolicited except for the simple question, "Have you ever heard of The RACK in Detroit Michigan?".

They tell the story of one man who would when he ran out of money, he would order by telephone two or three suitcases of money to be brought in, if I'm not mistaken, by helicopter.

Also, another thing that he mentioned that I didn't read in this thread or possibly just passed over was the table time. When they inquired about the table time, they were told that it was 10% of the winnings and this practically shocked them to death. They were told that if they didn't like it to get the Fxxx down the road. Don't know if this was just for the two newbies or if it was true for everyone.

One day the "pilot" as they called him, ordered a caterer to come down to the pool room and cook for him as he didn't like to leave the pool room once he was there.

The boys stayed their right at two weeks.

If I get some additional details I will chronicle this reliable story better but I was happy to corroborate some of the stories of the big money that was bet at the rack.


When the two young boys from the South first arrived at The RACK, Grady Mathews was cooking food in the pool room or so they say and they were asked if they wanted to play the cook. Both knew who Grady was and politely declined the offer to play him. Maybe one day I can confirm that Grady was the cook at THE RACK....

JoeyA
 
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Stories

stevelomako said:
Paul "Jew Paul" Bruesloff stories:

Paul was a very good player so you know, but he was a thru ticket if you could win, meaning he didn't have any quit in him and you could win a ton off of him, a ton.

He has a great sense of humor and will do some really funny stuff at times.


**Nothings happening so he gives Cornbread $600 and tells him to play Detroit Whitey so Red starts wolfing at Whitey. He sneaks $600 to Whitey and tells him to go ahead and play Red. Paul takes off after they start playing and comes back in a few hours and they're done playing.

He goes up to Red and ask's how he did. Red tells him he lost. Now Paul goes over to Whitey and ask's him how he did. Whitey tells him Red beat him! LOL


**It's in the winter and a foot of snow. Paul and Billy Ray decide to pitch coins outside on the sidewalk for a thousand a toss. They clear a spot and go at it, zero degrees, no gloves, no coats, middle of winter.


**Paul might go up to a couple of broke champions (??? imagine that, broke champions), and tell one of them to go play so and so some 9-ball but nothing but 9-ball. Now he'll slide over to so and so and tell him he'll stake him against the guy but at nothing except one-pocket. Man, they'd start wolfing at each other like nothing you'd ever seen trying to get the other to play his game.


**Paul would not refuse the bite, he was classy old school.
One good player was around for awhile and got broke like most of them and finally asked Paul if he could "borrow" a thousand to get back to FLA and get going again. Paul doesn't hesitate and pulls out $500 and tells him "here, we're both out 500".

Grady borrowed a few thousand from Paul for just a couple of days to get his Caddillac or something and he comes to Paul when he said and tries to give Paul the money, Pauls trying to refuse to take the money, Paul tells him "I don't trust people that pay me back" LOL Grady did get him to take it.


**Paul's playing one time on the main snooker table in front of the counter against Hopkins or Billy Cardone, it doesn't really matter. Paul always wore a suit, he'd hang his coat up on the coat rack next to the counter and throw his suit coat on a table when he got a game.

Anyway they're playing forever (I came in after they started) and it's jammed with people all around the table, everybodys sitting on the tables sweatin n bettin. I go to the 5x10 pool table next to the snooker table and shove a bunch of coats out of the way, jump on the table and start watching.

A few hours go by, Pauls going off, keeps pulling money out of all his pockets, now he loses a game and starts digging in every pocket and can't find any money. He starts looking around and looking around, goes to the coat rack and pulls his top coat off the rack and starts digging in the pockets...nothing...he starts looking around again then starts walking around the table looking on each one looking between everybody. Now he comes over by us and starts looking on the 5x10 and we're wondering, what the hell is he doing!

He reaches thru us and grabs his suit coat and reaches in the pockets and pulls out a bunch of bundles of $$$$, throws the coat back on the table turns around and pays off like nothing happened and keeps playing!!! We were sitting on about 40,000 for hours and hours, never knew it and he forgot about it!!!


**Pittsburg John Stapolis' big score happened like this. He was broke and got a hundred of Paul to get a room and some food. Well Johns' sittin around and sittin around and all of a sudden tells Paul he'd rather be broke than just have a hundred "what do you want to do Paul" he tells him.
Well, Pauls MO was to get the sideline betting to have more money on the game all the time.

So they start playing and Paul loses the first few games then people start wanting to bet on the side...but... John keeps winning and jacking his bet, winning and jackin his bet and winning and jacking his bet. Paul's in too deep now and keeps playing and playing.
When it was over Pittsburg John wins almost 300,000 on his own (who knows what was on the side??) from a stinking $100 he borrowed from the guy he was playing!!!!

Pauls move back-fired on him that time and I guarantee John didn't give the hundred back.




Paul is a great person and has a heart of gold though and he'll b*tch me out for saying it. He is ONE-OF-A-KIND.
Click to expand...

Steve,
Great Stories,
I was there for some of them.
How about Rosie
Got to be a few good ones about him.
thanks, Bill
 
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