Chuck Fields - yup I know the dismal sight describe. It also depends where / when you're at. I know the room I came up in they had " the wall ". Pretty much anytime you would walk in the ( and I do literally mean ANY TIME AT ALL ) There would be a wall of pool players just sitting ready for action, some catching some sleep, maybe some cards. There also may be some people throughout the pool room in chairs, under tables, in the back room - whatever basically. The difference Chuck was these people were not just waiting to " hustle " someone.. Everybody basically knew everybody else so not really any sneaking up. They were just waiting for some kinda action to their liking. Could be an old grimey man sleeping in a chair, someone might give him a nudge to wake up and ask " you wanna play some $50 - $100 a rack?" He says sure, pulls a knot of about $5000 out puts his post up and within 30 seconds of sleeping we had action! Countless stories like that.
B &1, I kinda da think you and quite a few others might be confused a bit, and that may mainly be due to terminology. That's one I really don't want to get into right now, or ever again lol, but at least not for a LONG time! I also want to preface all of this by saying I don't have issues with leaguers. They totally have their place as far as I'm concerned. Actually , I feel like I just wrote a 20 page book in the other investment thread about how important I think they are to pools overall survival , let alone growing it. I am referring to misconceptions you have based on this post.
I don't really see any leaguers hustled. Keep in ,India with everything I say from this point forward there are always exceptions but this is in " general ". The first reason I don't believe any leaguers are getting hustled is because you couldn't get most of them to bet water is wet. Some kind of $$$ needs to be wagered in the first place for a hustle could even become possible. Next, most of the leaguers are located in the bars. People that are being referred to as " hustlers " are usually the hard core pool people found in the pool halls ( and honestly it's fairly rare to even see those these days ). This is a major point of contention on the wording and definitions ( which is the debate I don't want to get into ). For me, the hustler is the guy stagerring around the pool hall flashing money and suckling down a fifth of good old Jase Daniels looking for a game ( the JD IS actually iced tea ( that's the hustle ). Now the guy that offers a little less weight than what he thinks his opponent needs is not a hustler to me, that just seems like smart gambling. So my point is yes we Def need the league players, I don't really ever see them getting takein advantage of financially ( that could be debatable though in regards to all the latest and greatest gadgets and cue / shafts - but hey I figure it's their money and if it makes rhea happy then cool ). One last point which no one ever likes hearing, If the leaguers are not gambling (which they are not ) remember it takes TWO people to get in action, hustle or otherwise. Both want to get each others money. Once again, the leaguers rarely have to worry about that, so I think they are just fine.
As to the old timers, well they figured they had to pay their dues and had to learn the hard way - why shouldn't you? Yup, that Def is their mindset but don't worry all the old timers will be gone before too long. Tell your what, there's gonna be A LOT of people wishing they had spent that couple bucks to get to listen to all the old stories - but it will be too late.
Golf and Bball , maybe you don't know it but there are TRUCKLOADS of cash from the action at the Golf course and on the court. Serious, SERIOUS money and that's no joke.
