I cannot place who "Nick" is.
As far as unknown monsters, the Metro D.C. area, which includes Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., does have its fair sure of unknown players.
Baltimore used to be where all the action was. After the bars would shut down, 'round midnight back then, everybody drove to Glen Burnie to Bill and Billie's (now called Jack and Jill's). This was an pool room that was on every road player's map because the action was prevalent, every single day and night. I remember when an unknown Efren Reyes came to Glen Burnie and drew a crowd 'round his table. Folks were talking about Efren months after he left town, how he took all the cheese, they way he played, et cetera.
I can't remember the names of all those Baltimore players, but most of 'em used to play out of Greenie's. There was Jarvis and Tony, as I recall. Of course, nobody can discount Cigar Tom Vanover from Dundalk, who still plays today by appointment.
Up Frederick way, you have Bo Newport, White Max, and the guy from Hagerstown who would play ANYONE on his home table, Punky. Whatever road agent came to town could get action from any of these players.
Rockville, Maryland, which is closer to my neck of the woods, there are lots of unknown monster players who had a whole lot of gamble: Korean Lee, Geese, Tom-Tom, Danny Wolford, Fat Mike, Elevator Larry, Quick Vic, Bobby Hawk, West Virginia Frank, Bus Driver Ronnie, Cab Driver Pete, Mamoo, Danny Green, and Jimmy Scrimma (sp). I think I'd throw in Timmy Crown for the heart and gamble he had. He might not have played as good as the above-referenced, but he definitely knew how to match up and would bet it up as high as the Georgia pine.
In D.C., the most notorious player would have to be Strawberry. There ain't nobody who can take his crown as being the best in D.C., as far as I'm concerned.
Who can forget Virginia's finest, the Boggs brothers (Scotty and Freddy), Jimmy Mac, Billy Stephens, Seattle Sam, Roanoke Red, and I'm sure Black-Balled can chime in here and provide a few more players' names from Virginia.
These guys would step up and play anybody, especially on their home table. There used to be quite a bit of action in the Metropolitan D.C. area, like most other places, I guess. Today, nobody wants to bet a quarter without doing a thorough review and research via the Internet and/or cell phone, and then they don't want to gamble. Rather, they want to steal by offering a game that their opponent has no chance to win at.
That's the state of pool in my area.
JAM