corvette1340 said:
Haha nice, I love my 5. I bet it was one of his worst days losing like that, hah ladies tee.
Eric.A.
Weirdest gambling experience you have had?
- Thread starter I rack balls
- Start date
Haha nice, I love my 5. I bet it was one of his worst days losing like that, hah ladies tee.
Eric.A.
While not as good as the others I've read so far, this is about the weirdest one I can remember right now.
I'm hitting balls in a local pool hall one mid-afternoon when an unfamiliar (to me) couple walks in. They walk up to the bartender, and the guy asks if there's anyone in the pool hall that might like to gamble some. The bartender directs them over to me, and we quickly settle on some 9-ball for 5 beans a game. The guy has a pretty good looking stroke, occasionally makes a difficult shot, but always finds a way to screw up before getting out. I win the first 5 games, and I start expecting him to ask to jack the bet. He doesn't, so I start playing a little more loosely and still win the next 4. In the meantime, I ask them where they are from, and they say Florida, and that their travelling is "business related".
At 10 games ahead, the woman starts complaining, telling the guy that she can't believe how bad he sucks, she's laughing at him every time he misses a shot, and she's telling me "good shot" practically every time a make a ball. I'm fully expecting her to start calling him Vincent at any time; they're really laying it on thick, and it's high time they jacked the bet. He finally does; he asks to go to 10 beans a game, and I agree. Now I figure that he's going to start playing, so I bear down a bit, thinking I might hustle the hustler, and knowing that I'm sometimes slow coming off the stall. I win the next 5 games. He and the girl get into a yelling match at this point, she says he's a drunk idiot (he's been nursing A beer since he arrived), and she's walking back to the hotel and locking his ass out, lol. This little scene causes a small congregation of railbirds to materialize.
I still don't know what to think about the situation, but as soon as the girl leaves, the guy asks to jack the bet to 20, and I comply. Oddly, something about this whole scenario has put me in dead punch, and I decided a couple of racks ago that I'm not going to hold back anymore. I win the next 5 straight to go 200 beans ahead. The guy says "ok, I'm going to go ahead and pay you the 200." He does. Then he says "I just want to know one thing. Can you play me a game of 8-ball for 100?" I look at the two bills he just handed me, then I look at him, then the rail (who are all trying to stifle snickers), then him, but before I can say anything he says "hey... can you afford to play me a game of 8-ball for a hundred?" I feel like I'm in a twilight zone episode at this point, so I try to infuse some reality into the situation by pointing out to him that I'm holding two of his bills in my right hand... and that he just handed them to me 10 seconds ago. Again, he says "can you play me a game of 8-ball for a hundred". I finally just give up and say "yes". I win the game of 8-ball, he pays me, he leaves. As soon as the door closes behind him, everyone on the rail says in unison "what the hell was that?" I have no idea.
Sorry this ended up being so long; I'm no good at short versions
Aaron
I'm hitting balls in a local pool hall one mid-afternoon when an unfamiliar (to me) couple walks in. They walk up to the bartender, and the guy asks if there's anyone in the pool hall that might like to gamble some. The bartender directs them over to me, and we quickly settle on some 9-ball for 5 beans a game. The guy has a pretty good looking stroke, occasionally makes a difficult shot, but always finds a way to screw up before getting out. I win the first 5 games, and I start expecting him to ask to jack the bet. He doesn't, so I start playing a little more loosely and still win the next 4. In the meantime, I ask them where they are from, and they say Florida, and that their travelling is "business related".
At 10 games ahead, the woman starts complaining, telling the guy that she can't believe how bad he sucks, she's laughing at him every time he misses a shot, and she's telling me "good shot" practically every time a make a ball. I'm fully expecting her to start calling him Vincent at any time; they're really laying it on thick, and it's high time they jacked the bet. He finally does; he asks to go to 10 beans a game, and I agree. Now I figure that he's going to start playing, so I bear down a bit, thinking I might hustle the hustler, and knowing that I'm sometimes slow coming off the stall. I win the next 5 games. He and the girl get into a yelling match at this point, she says he's a drunk idiot (he's been nursing A beer since he arrived), and she's walking back to the hotel and locking his ass out, lol. This little scene causes a small congregation of railbirds to materialize.
I still don't know what to think about the situation, but as soon as the girl leaves, the guy asks to jack the bet to 20, and I comply. Oddly, something about this whole scenario has put me in dead punch, and I decided a couple of racks ago that I'm not going to hold back anymore. I win the next 5 straight to go 200 beans ahead. The guy says "ok, I'm going to go ahead and pay you the 200." He does. Then he says "I just want to know one thing. Can you play me a game of 8-ball for 100?" I look at the two bills he just handed me, then I look at him, then the rail (who are all trying to stifle snickers), then him, but before I can say anything he says "hey... can you afford to play me a game of 8-ball for a hundred?" I feel like I'm in a twilight zone episode at this point, so I try to infuse some reality into the situation by pointing out to him that I'm holding two of his bills in my right hand... and that he just handed them to me 10 seconds ago. Again, he says "can you play me a game of 8-ball for a hundred". I finally just give up and say "yes". I win the game of 8-ball, he pays me, he leaves. As soon as the door closes behind him, everyone on the rail says in unison "what the hell was that?" I have no idea.
Sorry this ended up being so long; I'm no good at short versions
Aaron
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Best opponent to "gamble" with; DIVORCING RICH GUY
This is true as I watched it in Houston in the late 1970's at Grand Central Station at San Felipe and Fountainview owned by my friend Yassin Al-sabaan. I had quit playing pool for a corporate career ( bad mistake) 10 years earlier but still always hung out at pool halls. GCS was the biggest gambling room in Houston and maybe the country. Top players such as:
Buddy Hall
Handsome Danny Jones
Jersey Red
St. Louie Louie
Fly boy
Earl Strickland
Billy Dan
James Christopher
Sammy Jones.............any many more road players
One day a classy looking guy walked in and had a drink while sitting next to me at the bar. As I was a banker and he owned an oil compnay, he felt comfortable talking to me rather than the Syrian, Yassin. As we were talking, I could tell he knew nothing about pool and asked what was the fastest game to play and I said maybe six ball. He was watching Jersey Red play and decided to play him after I told him of Red's past. Red wanted to play for $100 per game and Phil said fine and Red won about $10,000 and Phil gives him a check signed by him for $10k and Red was pissed despite the fact that he didn't even have a hundred with him.
As time went on, Phil came in every day and set up a $ per game "rating" for each player based on my description of their accomplishments; ratings went from $100 to $500 per game. After a few days, Phil lost $70,000 paid with his checks and the winners put all the checks together and gave them to me to cash as I worked for a large bank. I went to Capital National Bank and wanted the $ in cash and the VP said we don't have that much; I said BS as it was Friday afternoon and they all wanted to go home but I showed him my bussiness card and insisted I wanted cash. He relented but a long line developed as people were behind me trying to cash paychecks and only 1 line was open. The VP looked at the checks and without looking at a signature card or verifying a balance asked, "What has Phil been doing"? I responded, "Phil has become a pool hustler and isn't real good yet".
Got stacks of bills and the people behind me were ****ing mad. As I was in downtown Houston, and all of them knew I had $70,000 in cash. HHHMMMMMMMMMMM,: I asked the Security Guard what time do you get off duty? He answered 5:00pm and I asked him to walk me to my car with gun drawn, when I am in the car, I will give him a $100; I was on my way to the pool room.
Unknown to me, the players had bet Yassin $10,000 that I would never come back and he covered the bet. I walked in and they all were shocked except Yassin; I learned of the bet, gave Yassin $10,000 and the rest to the players; Yassin gave me $5000
as he knew I would come back.
I became a closer friend with Phil and soon, players were sleeping in their car outside the pool room waiting for Phil to arrive and then they all assaulted
him for a game. On a 4th of July weekend Friday, Phil asked me to play and I thought why not as despite not touching a cue for 10 years, I would still win 95+ games out of 100. How much I asked? He said, $15 per game!!!!
I asked hiim why so litttle? He said because I wasn't a World Champion; I offered that I won a national straight pool title and national bowling champion while in college!!! No, $15 per game and that was it . Well we played for about 30-35 hours and I won about $5000 and he wouldn't raise the bet but.....
The holiday weekend continued as he kept writing checks and after 4 days he was exhausted as he only had napped a few hours at a time. He finally said he was pooped and we had some dinner and I asked how much did he lose? He never wrote checks in a register as he just ripped them out and wrote them to cash and handed them out. We figured out how many checks he had written that weekend and the previous week and multiplied it by an estimate of the average check amount and determined he lost well over $1,000,000.00 in about 10 days and every check cleared; mine too!!!!!!!
As he was an incredibly intelligent guy, friendly, handsome, wealthy, legally blind on a pool table, why does he do this? He said the universal response, DIVORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He was getting robbed in a DIVORCE and would rather blow the money that give it to his lovely bride . As he owned the oil company, he was filthy rich but wanted to piss her off 
by showing her attorney the cancelled checks demonstrating his hatred of his client.
Of course my next question was had he considered marrying a man as I was prepared to switch for his "love".
If anyone doubts this, ask Buddy Hall who use to call me the banker.
DABABE
This is true as I watched it in Houston in the late 1970's at Grand Central Station at San Felipe and Fountainview owned by my friend Yassin Al-sabaan. I had quit playing pool for a corporate career ( bad mistake) 10 years earlier but still always hung out at pool halls. GCS was the biggest gambling room in Houston and maybe the country. Top players such as:
Buddy Hall
Handsome Danny Jones
Jersey Red
St. Louie Louie
Fly boy
Earl Strickland
Billy Dan
James Christopher
Sammy Jones.............any many more road players
One day a classy looking guy walked in and had a drink while sitting next to me at the bar. As I was a banker and he owned an oil compnay, he felt comfortable talking to me rather than the Syrian, Yassin. As we were talking, I could tell he knew nothing about pool and asked what was the fastest game to play and I said maybe six ball. He was watching Jersey Red play and decided to play him after I told him of Red's past. Red wanted to play for $100 per game and Phil said fine and Red won about $10,000 and Phil gives him a check signed by him for $10k and Red was pissed despite the fact that he didn't even have a hundred with him.
As time went on, Phil came in every day and set up a $ per game "rating" for each player based on my description of their accomplishments; ratings went from $100 to $500 per game. After a few days, Phil lost $70,000 paid with his checks and the winners put all the checks together and gave them to me to cash as I worked for a large bank. I went to Capital National Bank and wanted the $ in cash and the VP said we don't have that much; I said BS as it was Friday afternoon and they all wanted to go home but I showed him my bussiness card and insisted I wanted cash. He relented but a long line developed as people were behind me trying to cash paychecks and only 1 line was open. The VP looked at the checks and without looking at a signature card or verifying a balance asked, "What has Phil been doing"? I responded, "Phil has become a pool hustler and isn't real good yet".
Got stacks of bills and the people behind me were ****ing mad. As I was in downtown Houston, and all of them knew I had $70,000 in cash. HHHMMMMMMMMMMM,: I asked the Security Guard what time do you get off duty? He answered 5:00pm and I asked him to walk me to my car with gun drawn, when I am in the car, I will give him a $100; I was on my way to the pool room. Unknown to me, the players had bet Yassin $10,000 that I would never come back and he covered the bet. I walked in and they all were shocked except Yassin; I learned of the bet, gave Yassin $10,000 and the rest to the players; Yassin gave me $5000
as he knew I would come back.I became a closer friend with Phil and soon, players were sleeping in their car outside the pool room waiting for Phil to arrive and then they all assaulted
him for a game. On a 4th of July weekend Friday, Phil asked me to play and I thought why not as despite not touching a cue for 10 years, I would still win 95+ games out of 100. How much I asked? He said, $15 per game!!!! I asked hiim why so litttle? He said because I wasn't a World Champion; I offered that I won a national straight pool title and national bowling champion while in college!!! No, $15 per game and that was it
. Well we played for about 30-35 hours and I won about $5000 and he wouldn't raise the bet but..... The holiday weekend continued as he kept writing checks and after 4 days he was exhausted as he only had napped a few hours at a time. He finally said he was pooped and we had some dinner and I asked how much did he lose? He never wrote checks in a register as he just ripped them out and wrote them to cash and handed them out. We figured out how many checks he had written that weekend and the previous week and multiplied it by an estimate of the average check amount and determined he lost well over $1,000,000.00 in about 10 days and every check cleared; mine too!!!!!!!
As he was an incredibly intelligent guy, friendly, handsome, wealthy, legally blind on a pool table, why does he do this? He said the universal response, DIVORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He was getting robbed in a DIVORCE and would rather blow the money that give it to his lovely bride
. As he owned the oil company, he was filthy rich but wanted to piss her off by showing her attorney the cancelled checks demonstrating his hatred of his client. Of course my next question was had he considered marrying a man as I was prepared to switch for his "love".
If anyone doubts this, ask Buddy Hall who use to call me the banker.
DABABE
I'm living in Houston in the early 80's.
I went to this bar that had a nice weekly 8 ball tourney. I got there early because there was usually action before and after the tourney.
This guy I had never seen asks me to play some 9 ball for 20 clams, so off we go.
The guy wins the flip and breaks the 9 in on the first two games. He breaks the third and leaves and easy 1-9 combo. Makes the 9 on the fourth and on the fifth game makes a 2-9 combo. Makes it again on the snap in the sixth.
Another player who I knew shows up and runs over to the guy I'm playing and whispers something to him. The guy I'm playing turns around and walks up to me and says, "If we're going to play anymore, I need the 7 ball!"
My jaw hit the floor! "You got me 120 stuck and you want weight?"
"Yep."
Ah, pool detectives. Don't you just love them?
Another time, I walked into a bar I hadn't been to before. There are a bunch of people playing for beers on a couple of barboxes.
I get in and everyone is having a ball. I win a few beers when I hear one of the guys says, "Ah,no. Not these a***oles again!
I look over to the door and here are two guys walking toward the tables with cue cases.
They put their quarters up and one of them says, "When we get up, we're playing for money, not cheap beer. Anyone got a problem with it can pull their quarters, right now!"
I thought it was some kind of joke and start laughing which pisses them off.
They want to play for 5 clams and I say, " Play for 20 or pull your quarters!
Now they're really hot and everyone else is really enjoying this.
I drill them both for 200 and they pay off but not without threatening me with "You hustled us." and "You ain't getting out of here with our money!"
I offer to buy them a beer and they're having none of it so I buy the house a round and everyone but them is happy.
About 10 minutes later, I'm sitting at the bar keeping an eye on them and a guy I know who can play comes in. I tell him what happened and he jumps up and asks them to play.
He drills them out of another 200 along with the same threats and they pack up and leave.
He joins me at the bar, has a drink and says he has to go.
No sooner does the door close behind him, there are two gun shots in the parking lot.
I jumped up and head to the door, think better of it, ask the bartender where the back door is, make a dash for it and it is all but welded shut. I'm trapped.
Just then, I hear another gun shot and right behind it, automatic gunfire.
Then, nothing but silence for about 5 minutes.
Finally, I sneak up and crack the door and there is the guy I know sitting on the curb holding his shoulder. "You okay?", I asked. He says, "Call the cops and call me an ambulance. It's ok to come out."
I go over to him and he's been shot in the shoulder. He has a Uzi-like auto laying on the curb next to him. "What happened?"
He says when he came out, they shot him from their truck. He made it to his car, pulled the auto and opened up on them.
I turned around and there sits this truck covered in holes. He says he already looked and they are both dead.
He said he'd be alright and it would be best if I got out of there. That's all I had to hear.
I saw him quite some time later and he wouldn't talk about it other than to say he had a class A dealer's license for the auto and those guys had really screwed up his stroke.
I heard from someone else that it cost him 30K in legal fees but he beat it.
Got a little weak in the knees thinking what would have happened if I walked out first.
I went to this bar that had a nice weekly 8 ball tourney. I got there early because there was usually action before and after the tourney.
This guy I had never seen asks me to play some 9 ball for 20 clams, so off we go.
The guy wins the flip and breaks the 9 in on the first two games. He breaks the third and leaves and easy 1-9 combo. Makes the 9 on the fourth and on the fifth game makes a 2-9 combo. Makes it again on the snap in the sixth.
Another player who I knew shows up and runs over to the guy I'm playing and whispers something to him. The guy I'm playing turns around and walks up to me and says, "If we're going to play anymore, I need the 7 ball!"
My jaw hit the floor! "You got me 120 stuck and you want weight?"
"Yep."
Ah, pool detectives. Don't you just love them?
Another time, I walked into a bar I hadn't been to before. There are a bunch of people playing for beers on a couple of barboxes.
I get in and everyone is having a ball. I win a few beers when I hear one of the guys says, "Ah,no. Not these a***oles again!
I look over to the door and here are two guys walking toward the tables with cue cases.
They put their quarters up and one of them says, "When we get up, we're playing for money, not cheap beer. Anyone got a problem with it can pull their quarters, right now!"
I thought it was some kind of joke and start laughing which pisses them off.
They want to play for 5 clams and I say, " Play for 20 or pull your quarters!
Now they're really hot and everyone else is really enjoying this.
I drill them both for 200 and they pay off but not without threatening me with "You hustled us." and "You ain't getting out of here with our money!"
I offer to buy them a beer and they're having none of it so I buy the house a round and everyone but them is happy.
About 10 minutes later, I'm sitting at the bar keeping an eye on them and a guy I know who can play comes in. I tell him what happened and he jumps up and asks them to play.
He drills them out of another 200 along with the same threats and they pack up and leave.
He joins me at the bar, has a drink and says he has to go.
No sooner does the door close behind him, there are two gun shots in the parking lot.
I jumped up and head to the door, think better of it, ask the bartender where the back door is, make a dash for it and it is all but welded shut. I'm trapped.
Just then, I hear another gun shot and right behind it, automatic gunfire.
Then, nothing but silence for about 5 minutes.
Finally, I sneak up and crack the door and there is the guy I know sitting on the curb holding his shoulder. "You okay?", I asked. He says, "Call the cops and call me an ambulance. It's ok to come out."
I go over to him and he's been shot in the shoulder. He has a Uzi-like auto laying on the curb next to him. "What happened?"
He says when he came out, they shot him from their truck. He made it to his car, pulled the auto and opened up on them.
I turned around and there sits this truck covered in holes. He says he already looked and they are both dead.
He said he'd be alright and it would be best if I got out of there. That's all I had to hear.
I saw him quite some time later and he wouldn't talk about it other than to say he had a class A dealer's license for the auto and those guys had really screwed up his stroke.
I heard from someone else that it cost him 30K in legal fees but he beat it.
Got a little weak in the knees thinking what would have happened if I walked out first.
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> I had only been away from my town a few times looking for action when this happened. There was a place in Murray,Ky that supposdly had action,so my friend Jeff asked me to go. We only had 200 between us as far as gambling money went,so we decided to combine our funds,and whoever got action first used it. We had asked the woman behind the counter if anyone around played for money,and she said the place would be full of college kids in a little over an hour,so we left to get something to eat. We came back,and sure enough people were playing on 6 of the 8 tables. We asked around about finding a game,while goofing off playing with each other. Jeff had gone to the bathroom,and this old guy came up and sat down. I hit maybe 10 balls and sat down to chill for a minute when he got up to walk away. I asked him if he wanted to play some,and he turned around with the damndest look on his face and said "SON YOU CAN'T FOOL ME,YOU PLAY BETTER THAN I DO BUT YOU WANT TO TRY AND HIDE IT THEN ASK ME TO PLAY BECAUSE YOU ARE TRYING TO WIN MONEY,SO LET'S JUST SAY YOU BEAT ME OUT OF 500 AND GET IT OVER WITH!". I'm still confused as to why this seemingly gentle old man is raising his voice to me as if I disrespected him,when it got worse by him handing me 500 dollars in 20's. I asked him why he was giving me the money when I had not done anything to deserve it,and told him that I didn't mean to make him mad or cause a problem between us. He toned down and said that the bartender had called him at home and told him there were a couple young kids in the room looking for action. He wanted to see what we really had,and that he thought I was missing balls on purpose to disguise my speed,which I didn't need to do because he would have played even if I had not missed. He said he came here to lose 2500,but since I decided to try and play off,it would have made him feel bad because he didn't get beat by a guy that just drilled him,he got beat by a guy that was toying with him. "Here's your 500 son,I'll try ya for real sometime,but you better give me your best game!" About the time he handed me the money,Jeff walked up. The old guy,who's name I found out later was Norman,walked away without saying anything to Jeff. Jeff was like "damn that was fast,how much did WE win?". I told him what happened after we got back to the car,and that I felt bad about what had just happened. Jeff was the more opportunistic of the two of us,and said that I had no reason to feel bad,that I should take the money and never question where it came from. I went back there on my own a couple times,and always ran into him,and he always wanted to play. As long as I gave him all I had,he was good for 500 every time,until Jeff went up there looking for him. Jeff talked him into a game,telling Norman that I told him that Norman was a champion,and he wanted to learn "from a legend". Norman lost 200 to Jeff at 50 a game,when he heard Jeff bragging to a waitress that this was just like stealing. Norman paid off the 200,and walked out without saying a word. The next time I saw him,he told me to thank Jeff for "plugging the hole where the money leaked out of the tree",and said he didn't wish to even speak to me anymore,when none of this was my fault. The last time I asked about him up in that area,the bartender told me he drank himself to death,which was odd because he had told me once that he hadn't had a beer for 20 years at the time. Tommy D.
Rocky Creek?
Hey JAM ..
First off HAPPY NEW YEAR from good ol Germany!
This fella "Rocky Creek".... I think I know this guy.. well not me but my Father and my Uncles do/did... did you by chance, run into this guy in Macon GA.. maybe at old little place called the Corner Pocket?... Just guessing...
Shane
JAM said:I was on the road with an action player, and we traveled down South looking for any and all action.
In Georgia, we met up with a steer who told us about a player named "Rocky Creek" that was a good score if you could get him down. We entered the bar where Rocky Creek hung out, but he was already engaged in action for a thousand bucks a game in the back room.
My friend was hot to trot and wanted to gamble. So he asked if there was anybody else in the joint who might be interested in playing him some. Up walked a scrawny little kid, who looked to be about 13 or 14 years old. He said he'd try him some if my friend would give him a spot.
So my friend decided to turn the tables on him and said, "How will you play me some if I shoot every shot one-handed?," thinking he had a lock, being that he was an excellent one-handed player.
The young'n didn't back down and said, "How about I play you even and I will shoot every shot behind my back?" Being that we were in Georgia, my friend decides to stack it up as high as the Georgia pine, thinking he was a shoe-in to pocket himself a nice chunk of change.
All of a sudden, the railbirds who were sweating the game in the back room gathered 'round our table, which I thought was a little strange. The kid wins the flip and proceeded to break, again, with his cue stick behind his back. To this day, I have NEVER seen anything like it. The kid breaks the balls and runs out like a bandit. Then he continues his winning ways, break and run, break and run, until he busted us.
I've seen a whole lot of gaffes in my life, but I have never seen anyone break and run out, shooting every shot behind their back, like this kid from Georgia. I remember as we were making our exit, the kid was cutting up our money with his Backers Committee, consisting of the sweating railbirds. In sum, the hustler got hustled.
JAM
Hey JAM ..
First off HAPPY NEW YEAR from good ol Germany!
This fella "Rocky Creek".... I think I know this guy.. well not me but my Father and my Uncles do/did... did you by chance, run into this guy in Macon GA.. maybe at old little place called the Corner Pocket?... Just guessing...
Shane
Here's my wierdest gambling experience. My friend Howard and I had just turned 21 and we started hitting bars for cash. We couldn't believe how people who could barely pocket a ball would bet it up at these taverns - it was like pool hustler's heaven! While I wouldn't do this sort of thing now, we really needed the money and were young and brash.
One night we went into an Irish pub on Ventura Blvd. that had two 7' Valley's. I took my cue and I won drinks and money and Howard watched and drank them, never playing once. Part of our gambit was Howard would mouth off to someone and offer them a spot if they wanted to bet more. Well, when I was at the bar waiting for a drink, I had overheard a guy telling a girl he was a "pool hustler". I had seen him play before and I didn't like him - he was sleazy. As far as his game goes, he would have been in trouble with either of us.
After the bar closed, we had won a few hundred and headed to a Denny's nearby. Who walks in but the "pool hustler". I said hello and invited him to join us.
We get this guy talking about how good he is, and Howard says "I can't play worth a damn, and I bet I can beat you". I said "Howard, you're drunk. Maybe your daddy is rich but you sure can't beat this guy". Sure enough, we set up a best two out of three 8 ball match for $100 for the next night.
The next night, the guy shows up with his custom cue, and a whole cheerleading section in the audience. The room is packed and he's sitting with two pretty girls. He had told everyone in the bar about the "sucker' match.
It was over in a very short time. Mr. Hustler didn't make many balls and Howard didn't miss many. To our vehement protest, he had to write a check for $500. We had to be escorted from the bar and the damn check bounced!
The bar playing careers of Chris and Howard went on for a year or two, but we hated it and learned there were easier ways to make money.
Chris
One night we went into an Irish pub on Ventura Blvd. that had two 7' Valley's. I took my cue and I won drinks and money and Howard watched and drank them, never playing once. Part of our gambit was Howard would mouth off to someone and offer them a spot if they wanted to bet more. Well, when I was at the bar waiting for a drink, I had overheard a guy telling a girl he was a "pool hustler". I had seen him play before and I didn't like him - he was sleazy. As far as his game goes, he would have been in trouble with either of us.
After the bar closed, we had won a few hundred and headed to a Denny's nearby. Who walks in but the "pool hustler". I said hello and invited him to join us.
We get this guy talking about how good he is, and Howard says "I can't play worth a damn, and I bet I can beat you". I said "Howard, you're drunk. Maybe your daddy is rich but you sure can't beat this guy". Sure enough, we set up a best two out of three 8 ball match for $100 for the next night.
The next night, the guy shows up with his custom cue, and a whole cheerleading section in the audience. The room is packed and he's sitting with two pretty girls. He had told everyone in the bar about the "sucker' match.
It was over in a very short time. Mr. Hustler didn't make many balls and Howard didn't miss many. To our vehement protest, he had to write a check for $500. We had to be escorted from the bar and the damn check bounced!
The bar playing careers of Chris and Howard went on for a year or two, but we hated it and learned there were easier ways to make money.
Chris
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One Night I Went Out On A Friday Night For A Few Beers In A Small Town In Western Ny.i Go There Almost Every Night And Am The One To Beat In This Little Bar. I Cash A Forty Dollar Check At The Bar For Beers And A Game Or Two. I Was Sitting At A Table Shooting The S--t With A Buddy And A Older Gentleman Walks In And Pulls Out A Wad Of Cash And Says, I Heard You Play For Money Around Here. Well My First Impression Was Cop. He Pulls Out His Wallet, Opens It Up And Says I Aint No Cop, I From Florida And I Am Up Visiting And Wanted To Play Some. Well I Take Him Up To The Bar For A Drink And To See What He Wants To Play And How Much. He Wants 500 Hundred A Game 9 Ball. By Then I Am Sitting There With Around 32 Bucks Left And No Cue. I Get On The Phone, Call My Girl.she Brings The Cue But No Cash. The Bar Owner Gets Money Out Of The Safe And We Play. He Breaks And Runs Out. I Tell Him I Will Put My Cue Up For A Shot At The 500 Back.the Cue Was Well Worth It, He Declines. Just Before He Leaves A Local Contracter Walks In And Hears About The Game And Two Hundred Out. We Play And He Slops A Awful Combo On The Nine. He Pulls Out His Checkbook Writes A Check Cashed By The Bar And I Go And Drill The Guy For The Next Two Hours. 500 Hundred A Game 9 Ball And A 1000 Dollar Game 8 Ball. I Opened The Bar And Ajoining Bar And Got Forty People Drunk And Woke Up After Paying Everyone Back And Giving Them A Good Chunk For Putting Up The Cash With 27 New 100 Dollar Bills And A Wad Of Twenties. Sent Him Home With Less Than Twenty Dollars In His Pocket. Never Seen That Old Man Again But Heard He Has A Family Owned Summer House Over On The Beach In Our Area. Not Bad For Going Out With Forty Bucks And Just For A Few Bud Lights.
TATE said:
Like what?
I'm down in Ft. Worth for the BCA convention in 1984 and Fats is getting inducted into the Hall Of Fame. There is a bar table ring game going on for $20 a man and I stake Chris MacDonald. He kills the game and we win like $800. Someone tells us about a pimp who plays One Pocket at Rustys in Dallas after hours.
We drive over there and sure enough the guy is in there practicing. Chris goes over and asks him to play. The guy tells Chris he will play him some $100 One Pocket. I tell Chris go ahead, and I sit at a small table near the game.
After a few games a big guy walks up to me and says "Play a little Tonk?" Okay I know how to play, but I figure him for a card hustler. He has huge hands. He asks me to play for $10 and $20, a decent bet. I figure we are big winners anyway, so I'll take a shot. Right away I'm winning hand after hand, some of them doubles ($20). He asks to raise the bet to $20 and $40.
Reluctantly I say okay. More winning and more money is coming my way. Fast and furious I'm getting paid off from a huge bankroll that could choke a horse. Pretty soon we are playing $50 and a $100, a damn big game. I just keep on winning hand after hand. He may be winning about one in five hands.
His buddy shows up and sits down behind me. I put a stop to this quick. He asks if his buddy can catch a hand (his words). I decline. Finally I bust the guy for a telephone number. Now he again asks if his buddy can play. Sure I'm winning thousands, why not. We start out at $50 and a $100, and the same thing happens. I'm winning hand after hand and he's paying me from a monster bankroll.
About 8 AM the game ends when I win a hand for a $100 and the guy only has about $35 left. I tell him to forget it. But he insists and goes to the bar and gets the girl to give him all the $1 bills in the till. It is bundled in $20 packets each held with a paper clip. He hands me $100 in $1's and I say forget it, you keep it. They insist so I take it.
My pockets are stuffed with money, huge bulges in all four pockets. Chris' game ended hours before and he won another eight hundred. I'm worried about getting heisted but no one bothers us as we walk out to the car and drive back to Ft. Worth.
We go to Chris' camper and sit inside at a small table. His girlfriend Julie helps me unfold and count the money, over seven grand. I give Chris his half of the winnings from the pool game and try to hand him $500 more. He won't take it, says I won that on my own. So I leave the camper and on the way out slip Julie the pack of 100 $1's.
Hawaiian Brian and Jack Cooney were in Rusty's that night and saw me playing cards with the guy. Later I ran into Jack and he said that was Norman and his partner. They own the two biggest Bingo Parlors in Dallas, And always carry huge amounts of money. Norman asked me if I play One Pocket, but to this day I've never seen him again. Too bad.
We drive over there and sure enough the guy is in there practicing. Chris goes over and asks him to play. The guy tells Chris he will play him some $100 One Pocket. I tell Chris go ahead, and I sit at a small table near the game.
After a few games a big guy walks up to me and says "Play a little Tonk?" Okay I know how to play, but I figure him for a card hustler. He has huge hands. He asks me to play for $10 and $20, a decent bet. I figure we are big winners anyway, so I'll take a shot. Right away I'm winning hand after hand, some of them doubles ($20). He asks to raise the bet to $20 and $40.
Reluctantly I say okay. More winning and more money is coming my way. Fast and furious I'm getting paid off from a huge bankroll that could choke a horse. Pretty soon we are playing $50 and a $100, a damn big game. I just keep on winning hand after hand. He may be winning about one in five hands.
His buddy shows up and sits down behind me. I put a stop to this quick. He asks if his buddy can catch a hand (his words). I decline. Finally I bust the guy for a telephone number. Now he again asks if his buddy can play. Sure I'm winning thousands, why not. We start out at $50 and a $100, and the same thing happens. I'm winning hand after hand and he's paying me from a monster bankroll.
About 8 AM the game ends when I win a hand for a $100 and the guy only has about $35 left. I tell him to forget it. But he insists and goes to the bar and gets the girl to give him all the $1 bills in the till. It is bundled in $20 packets each held with a paper clip. He hands me $100 in $1's and I say forget it, you keep it. They insist so I take it.
My pockets are stuffed with money, huge bulges in all four pockets. Chris' game ended hours before and he won another eight hundred. I'm worried about getting heisted but no one bothers us as we walk out to the car and drive back to Ft. Worth.
We go to Chris' camper and sit inside at a small table. His girlfriend Julie helps me unfold and count the money, over seven grand. I give Chris his half of the winnings from the pool game and try to hand him $500 more. He won't take it, says I won that on my own. So I leave the camper and on the way out slip Julie the pack of 100 $1's.
Hawaiian Brian and Jack Cooney were in Rusty's that night and saw me playing cards with the guy. Later I ran into Jack and he said that was Norman and his partner. They own the two biggest Bingo Parlors in Dallas, And always carry huge amounts of money. Norman asked me if I play One Pocket, but to this day I've never seen him again. Too bad.
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I rack balls said:
You're story brought to mind the old anecdote told by Mark Twain.
Mark Twain Anecdote
While attending a billiard tourney on the evening of April 24, 1906, Mr. Twain was called on to speak. He told this story:
THE game of billiards has destroyed my naturally sweet disposition. Once, when I was an underpaid reporter in Virginia City, whenever I wished to play billiards I went out to look for an easy mark. One day a stranger came to town and opened a billiard parlor. I looked him over casually. When he proposed a game, I answered, "All right."
"Just knock the balls around a little so that I can get your gait," he said; and when I had done so, he remarked: "I will be perfectly fair with you. I'll play you left-handed." I felt hurt, for he was cross-eyed, freckled, and had red hair, and I determined to teach him a lesson. He won first shot, ran out, took my half-dollar, and all I got was the opportunity to chalk my cue.
"If you can play like that with your left hand," I said, "I'd like to see you play with your right."
"I can't," he said. "I'm left-handed."
**********
Big Nasty
Registered
Like many of you we all have our weird stories. My weirdest gambling story took place in my living room. It was not really much with the actual game but with the cast of spectators. It was weird because me and the guy I played matched up at the pool room after a tournament and then went to my house to play. I think he was giving me like 10 - 5 or something like that for $200 a game. So practically everyone in the pool room came over to my house to watch the match. As we started playing as most matches people are interested then as the night goes on they lose interest. The funniest thing was that I weighed about 350 at the time and my opponent was bigger than me and all Shannon Daulton kept saying was this is the "heaviest" action I have ever seen. But at one time there were probably 20 people there sweating us play.
Bullitt_#1346
New member
Big Nasty said:
That is one awesome story. I wish I had been there.
Non-Gambling, I Suppose
I am not sure this qualifies. Last night in a Baltimore pool room I am the new face. As I am screwing my sticks togther someone comes up and asks how I play. I said, "Not too well," and the guy says that's cool and just walks away. I never saw somebody looking for action give up that easily before. It was damn weird.
I am not sure this qualifies. Last night in a Baltimore pool room I am the new face. As I am screwing my sticks togther someone comes up and asks how I play. I said, "Not too well," and the guy says that's cool and just walks away. I never saw somebody looking for action give up that easily before. It was damn weird.
