The worst thing that went on in the pool room I grew up in was a player was allowed one, as they called it, cuff game, while playing in ring games. I never used this course of action, it made me feel uncomfortable and I couldn't bring myself to do it. Unfortunately, the rest of the people in the room had no problem cuffing me. I can count how many times I've been stiffed.
Some twenty years or so ago, I had a terrible three days in a row playing, Eddie, The Electrician, Tennaro in Town Line Ten Pin, in Malden MA.. Eddie beat me for twenty-seven hundred in that three day span. For the first time in my life, I cuffed him, fifty dollars. Some time later Eddie came back to Town Line looking to play again. We began playing for fifty a rack. Two or three games into the session, Eddie stopped play and demanded the fifty I owed him before play resumed. I felt sick to my stomach, thinking of how many people I've played that stiffed me and I never got the money the next time we played. I reached in my pocket and gave Eddie the money. My debt to Eddie paid. He never beat me again, but I never recovered the full amount I lost over the three day span. Eddie was right. I owed him the money. A bet is a bet. Of course we always posted, from that point.
Integrity, is the hardest thing to find, in a lot of pool rooms. Some people think they're playing with monopoly money.
