This is not going to be about the morality or lack of it, of hustling. Instead I want to talk about the cost, in economic terms, for pool halls, the industry and us players. I'm not talking about real players challenging other real players to money games. I'm talking about hustlers here.
I'll start off by saying that where I live, there are no true, professional hustlers. We have maybe 2 people I know of, that could be deserving of the term, so I'll use them as examples. They're both in their 50's and male. Both are former champions, but now play at maybe an A minus level. They never practice, only come in for a game of pool and cards, and never buy anything. They don't even pay for time and they use every trick to try to save the few measly bucks their time would have been. They're the cheapest people I know. And before you start in about "tough times", they both have decent jobs. They're sore losers and cheat too, almost bad enough to take away the pure joy of beating their brains in on the table, which are very rare opportunities indeed and never for any decent money. They don't take risks with people who actually know how to hold the cue..
Around here the junior players are protected by everyone,and we all try to teach them as much as possible. Anyone going after them would be kicked out. They represent our club, and we want them to do as well as they possibly can. So the hustler targets the new enthusiast, the adult guy/girl that suddenly got bitten by the pool bug and is now spending endless hours at the pool hall, buying the cues on display, buying lessons, playing in tournaments etc.. True they overestimate their game, and have more gear than brains, but they are pumping a lot of money into the pool economy, and bringing friends with them. The hustler rarely tries to go after the active, strong players. They are known, and can't win either, except maybe at cards. Plus we all know their tricks for cheating at ring games etc..
What happens to the enthusiast after a few humiliating losses to the hustler? Well usually they go away, for a long while. We would certainly not see them in our hall again. The most strong willed ones may spend a lot of time at home getting better but most quit the game...some forever. I recently met a guy like that, 10 years after he got fleeced by a scumbag. He had finally gotten over it and had taken up the game again. 10 years of potential, solid pool hall revenue lost. Not just for him, but for the friends/girls he would have brought in to impress, maybe they'd even gotten bitten by the bug themselves. This guy lost tons of money (well maybe not in absolute terms, but enough to be painful for sure), the fact that he even came back after that, shows just how hooked he was on the game.And did the hustler spend any of that money in the pool hall, you may ask? Maybe 2%, and that's being generous!
So..What's the point of telling all of you this? Well maybe you haven't thought about it this way before? There are certainly ethical questions that is being raised by hustling, but the true cost is the loss of money and recruitment to the game. Is the player going to think highly of the people who stood by or maybe even helped the hustler fleece them, when they were still naive about the pool world? Is he ever coming back to that poolhall? The hustlers I described are pure parasites in the pool economy. They bring nothing in, all they do is take. As a poolhall owner or employee, think about these things. Maybe being a "knocker" isn't that bad after all?
