What's your best Keith McCready story?

[JAM]

There ain't nothing finer than a pool tournament in the Carolinas, and this one was no exception. What a blast I had! There was action every single night for Keith. As soon as the tournament ended, Keith was on the prowl, looking for his prey. He got into a couple of traps, but he also had some triumphs.

That year, Ronnie Wiseman and Alex Pagulayan, who was living in Canada at the time, were on the road together. What a dynamic duo they were too! :grin:

Ronnie won the One-Pocket tournament, with Alex Pagulayan winning the 9-Ball tournament.

Here's a shot of Keith posing with the winners of the 2003 Carolinas Open. :grin-square:

 

[tigerseye]

It was the early 90's when i met Keith. I was at Cue Time in Mauldin South Carolina running around with Pete Horne. All the players were there for the big tourney,that was being held at a different location. There was some guy just bragging about all this money he had won and how much money he had and so on and so forth. Well Keith just blurted out look here guy, i have borrowed more money than you will ever see... LOL!! That shut the guy up right away. It was funny that only Keith could say something like that and stop the presses on that guys story=)) Keith is a fantastic guy. Mybe one day i will be able to play him with the last 4 and Alex Pag breaking for me...=)

 

[ShootingArts]

Writing

I have quite a few Keith stories, some of which I have never shared on the pool forums, as I am hoping to have them published sine die. I don't understand how Phil Capelle, as an example, can write a book in six months. For me, it takes two days to write one page, as I'm constantly editing it, going back and forth, et cetera, et cetera. I am about as good a writer as I am a pool player. I love to write, but it just does not come easy.

JAM,

I suffer from similar problems in formal writing, I can polish a two or three page document for days. I suggest roughing in a section or a chapter and then closing the door on that part and moving on. After it is all written go back and polish.

If you are interested I know of a writers group that supports each other and pushes for one chapter a week to review too. They existed a few years ago, I'd have to check if they are still around. Might give some structure to your project.

Good luck with the book! We are all waiting to see it. With Keith's life and your writing skills it should be a great one.

Hu

 

[PunchOut]

wheres all the gambling stories!

 

[stikapos]

My fav story is my only one. I'm at the US Open in the early nineties, say like 92 or so. I'm down there to check out a Jensen cue that Mike had sent down with Jimmy Reid. I walk in and Jimmy is in a death match with the Miz. The Miz is ahead, but Jimmy is gaining. Miz is noticiably pissed off. Of course, if Jimmy was getting the best of you, with his smirk and easy way, I'd imagine I'd be pissed off too. Anyway, at the next table over, Keith gets up and starts practicing. After a few minutes, he starts throwing balls on the table, playing one handed. He's pocketing everything in sight, popping balls here, drawing balls there. It wasn't long until everyone in the area was paying more attention to him than to Miz. And of course, all the ooing and owwwing got a bit loud, which pissed Miz off even more! Before ten minutes had passed, Miz was cursing both Jimmy AND Keith, resulting in him running over to Barry to protest the situation. If I remember correctly, Keith gave Miz a bow and conceded to practice on another table. Of course, Miz lost on the hill to Jimmy, after which I followed him to his room to see the cue. On the way, Jimmy had me rolling on the floor with his cracks about "Fatty".

Those were the days. At the Holiday Inn at Chesapeake, you could walk into the bar and rub elbows with all of the legends: Sigel, Mataya, Varner, Grady, Billy Inc, Howard, Earl, Rempe and the rest.

tim

 

[Ken_4fun]

I have quite a few Keith stories, some of which I have never shared on the pool forums, as I am hoping to have them published sine die. I don't understand how Phil Capelle, as an example, can write a book in six months. For me, it takes two days to write one page, as I'm constantly editing it, going back and forth, et cetera, et cetera. I am about as good a writer as I am a pool player. I love to write, but it just does not come easy.

Here is an excerpt of a Keith story I wrote. It took placed at the Carolinas Open in 2003. I've posted it before, here and elsewhere, but it is one of my faves:

There were two sessions I will never forget. A guy named Keith Bennett approached Keith McCready, and the two got into a real bark-fest, getting a little heated at times. Keith McCready, who is not happy with his 9-ball break, told Keith Bennett that he would play him even, only if McCready gets to have a designated breaker. Keith Bennett agreed. :grin-square:

Well, McCready's designated breaker was a fellow who is 6'7" and about 260 pounds, Big Jerry from VIrginia. I think after the first couple of games with this giant breaking the balls for McCready, Bennett knew he was screwed. The big guy would break and Keith McCready just ran out, plain and simple. This race-to-10 was over in minutes, with McCready realizing he is a force to be reckoned with, if only he had a better break.

The next night, after the matches were over, the barking began again. There was a lot of little side games going on, leaving only a few available targets for Keith. Ron Wiseman was also not engaged in any action, and so a brief colloquy ensued with Keith saying, "Well, Ronnie, I'll play you even, only if I can have a designated breaker," thinking he had the dead nuts again. :grin-devilish:

Much to Keith's surprise, Ronnie liked the idea and replied, "Fine, no problem, Keith. Then I get to have a designated breaker too. Let's get it going." Keith went to the car to retrieve his cue stick and got the same big guy who broke for him in his Keith Bennett match, feeling pretty confident and cocky. :yeah:

When he came to the table, he looked around to see what big guy Ron Wiseman had chosen to be his designated breaker, and lo and behold, there stood a man of small stature. It was little Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan. How in the world, Keith thought, would Alex be any competition against his big breaker?

After winning the flip of the coin, Alex and Ronnie got the first break in the race to 10. Alex's first break sounded like a cannon, and the balls spread out like a flower, with Ronnie running out. Keith shot four times the entire match-up, with three of them being safeties that Ronnie left him.

Keith only had one shot he could actually see in this barbecue, a difficult long shot on the 4-ball. Meanwhile, as the score came to 10-zip, with Alex pocketing balls on every single break and Ronnie running out, the set was over in minutes.

After the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth game, Keith tried diligently to settle out of court, but Ronnie and Alex wouldn't hear of it and kept it going. In fact, the two of them were laughing so hard they could hardly shoot pool, as Keith sat on his perch chirping all the way. :rotflmao:

After the win, Ronnie, Alex, and Teddy the Greek taunted Keith by saying, "Hey, maybe next time you should get a better breaker," knowing full well that Big Jerry never got up off the stool. I have to admit, it was a costly but funny exhibition.

Here's Big Jerry, Keith's designated breaker. I loved that tournament at Fast Eddie's in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Though pool tournaments can be quite draining on the pocketbook and one's health, mainly due to lack of sleep, traveling with Keith McCready is a trip unto itself. And I feel blessed to have him in my life.

Tell me Keith called that Giant....Tiny....

LOL

Ken

 

[Roy Steffensen]

Unfortunately I have never met Keith McCready, but he has always been one of my favourites. I don't have a funny story about what Keith did, but I remember seing Marcus Chamat playing a moneymatch at the evening during one of the Eurotour's.

Marcus was in a very good mood, talking and smiling, and suddenly he changed his backstroke, and tried to imitate Keith. He fired in some shots, had a real good laugh, and then said to the people watching: "If you ever meet McCready you will laugh your ass off, he's incredible!"

 

[JAM]

Unfortunately I have never met Keith McCready, but he has always been one of my favourites. I don't have a funny story about what Keith did, but I remember seing Marcus Chamat playing a moneymatch at the evening during one of the Eurotour's.

Marcus was in a very good mood, talking and smiling, and suddenly he changed his backstroke, and tried to imitate Keith. He fired in some shots, had a real good laugh, and then said to the people watching: "If you ever meet McCready you will laugh your ass off, he's incredible!"

Marcus and Keith are very good friends! I like Marcus Chamat a lot. The very first time I met Keith, I met Marcus Chamat from Sweden. Marcus put up his visa as ID for a hotel next door to a pool room in Baltimore, so that Keith could get a room, as Keith had no ID.

One year at the DCC, the end of the week was near, and I was completely drained, no sleep, staying up all night, walking like a mountain goat all over the Executive West. I couldn't wait for all the fun to end and get back home! :boring2:

Both Keith and I came down with the flu, which made it worse. So this kid walks up to Keith and asked him to play some bumps. We were already stuck about 2 or 3 dimes for the trip, and Keith knew that I would not be very enthusiastic about having him play this unknown entity in Kentucky. After all, everybody knows that Kentucky is full of champion banksters. :wink:

So he goes over to Marcus Chamat and asked him if he wanted to stake him against this Kentucky kid for a bumps match for a nickel a pop. Marcus says yes.

The place was packed, and I had to stand for a long time, sweating this match, until I found me a chair. Keith loses the first set for 500 clams. Marcus gives him another 500. Keith and the kid go back and forth, and it ends up hill-hill, race to 5. Keith loses on the last game.

Then Keith comes over to me and says, "Gimme 500 bucks." I'm like, "What, are you kidding me?" He says, "Look, I know it doesn't look good from here, being that I'm stuck two sets, but I know I can beat this kid. Gimme 500 bucks."

Well, at this point, the kid is standing there, $1,000 winner, waiting to see what Keith is going to do next. The whole crowd was staring at Keith and me conversing. Finally, I thought, what the heck, it's the last day I'll be here, and then I can go home. So I gave Keith the cheese, even though I didn't like it one bit. :angry:

The Kentucky Kid and Keith go at it again, but this time, Keith pulls out ahead. He ends up winning the set. They played a second set, with Keith coming out on top. They doubled the stake, and Keith wins again. The kid unscrewed and quit.

Keith goes over to Marcus, hands him back his original 2 nickels, plus gives him half of our winnings. That's my Marcus-Keith gambling story.

Here's my favorite Marcus picture, and I have many. This one is a group shot taken at the DCC. Everybody's got dough except Keith.

 

[gpeezy]

Marcus and Keith are very good friends! I like Marcus Chamat a lot. The very first time I met Keith, I met Marcus Chamat from Sweden. Marcus put up his visa as ID for a hotel next door to a pool room in Baltimore, so that Keith could get a room, as Keith had no ID.

One year at the DCC, the end of the week was near, and I was completely drained, no sleep, staying up all night, walking like a mountain goat all over the Executive West. I couldn't wait for all the fun to end and get back home! :boring2:

Both Keith and I came down with the flu, which made it worse. So this kid walks up to Keith and asked him to play some bumps. We were already stuck about 2 or 3 dimes for the trip, and Keith knew that I would not be very enthusiastic about having him play this unknown entity in Kentucky. After all, everybody knows that Kentucky is full of champion banksters. :wink:

So he goes over to Marcus Chamat and asked him if he wanted to stake him against this Kentucky kid for a bumps match for a nickel a pop. Marcus says yes.

The place was packed, and I had to stand for a long time, sweating this match, until I found me a chair. Keith loses the first set for 500 clams. Marcus gives him another 500. Keith and the kid go back and forth, and it ends up hill-hill, race to 5. Keith loses on the last game.

Then Keith comes over to me and says, "Gimme 500 bucks." I'm like, "What, are you kidding me?" He says, "Look, I know it doesn't look good from here, being that I'm stuck two sets, but I know I can beat this kid. Gimme 500 bucks."

Well, at this point, the kid is standing there, $1,000 winner, waiting to see what Keith is going to do next. The whole crowd was staring at Keith and me conversing. Finally, I thought, what the heck, it's the last day I'll be here, and then I can go home. So I gave Keith the cheese, even though I didn't like it one bit. :angry:

The Kentucky Kid and Keith go at it again, but this time, Keith pulls out ahead. He ends up winning the set. They played a second set, with Keith coming out on top. They doubled the stake, and Keith wins again. The kid unscrewed and quit.

Keith goes over to Marcus, hands him back his original 2 nickels, plus gives him half of our winnings. That's my Marcus-Keith gambling story.

Here's my favorite Marcus picture, and I have many. This one is a group shot taken at the DCC. Everybody's got dough except Keith.

Keith looks younger in that photo. I guess its his expression.

 

[gpeezy]

looks like grady seasons,lol your right he does.

Exactly what I thought. "Hey there's Grady!"

 

[Dan Harriman]

wheres all the gambling stories!

I asked Keith to play a couple of yrs. ago when he was acting a little strange to me, either one pocket or Banks and he wanted a spot in both games. However back in the early seventies it would have been a different story as I was playing pool but could not see over the table without a coke crate.

Keith thought I was wrong for posting about Brady Behrman owing me $, Keith was loud and not nearly as colorful as I had seen him but hey wee all have our bad days, overall I like Keith and have respect for his God given ability.

 

[JAM]

I asked Keith to play a couple of yrs. ago when he was acting a little strange to me, either one pocket or Banks and he wanted a spot in both games. However back in the early seventies it would have been a different story as I was playing pool but could not see over the table without a coke crate.

Keith thought I was wrong for posting about Brady Behrman owing me $, Keith was loud and not nearly as colorful as I had seen him but hey wee all have our bad days, overall I like Keith and have respect for his God given ability.

Keith doesn't quite remember both of the above-referenced incidents, the way you do. :smile:

I hope when you're 50-plus that the players younger than you will write about their interactions with you some day. I hope it's the way you remember it too. :grin-square:

Keith said in your best game today, back in the '70s, you would have definitely needed the 7-ball.

Merry Christmas to you and yours! :smile:

 

[Island Drive]

Costa Mesa

Ran into Kieth at the original Hard Times south of Long Beach CA 1978. I was playing good at the time and had never seen him play except on the bar box. We matched up with me getting the 8 in 9-ball and I think it was $300 a set. I had a couple barrels and so we went at it. We played two shot and I won the first set I think 11-6, but there was something about the way he "stepped into a shot" I found intimidating. We played the second set and he played ALLOT better, he had me convincingly 10-6, he rolled out, I long rail banked the shot in and ran out the set and Kieth was out of money, thank god, why, because he started playing so good I would of lost it all back and then some, I knew I couldn't win. I always enjoyed watching him torture King Kong on the box, boy how the hours just flew by when those two played.

 

[8ballEinstein]

OK, OK, a gambling story

wheres all the gambling stories!

At Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Keith was playing a televised tournament match with Earl Strickland. Keith loses, does a brief television interview and bolts out of the place as if he had somewhere to go; he didn't even collect his tournament winnings!

The next day, folks at the tournament room start getting word that Keith and his backer were in action and were up six figures. Realize, the guy who ends up winning the Ceasars tornament was going to get something like $15,000.

The details get foggy here but from what I understand, Keith and his horse took down about $400,000+. Since the full amount was not collected and Keith owed some money to some folks, he ended up with about $90,000. After that, it was party time in Las Vegas! Keith stirred up a game, giving up a crazy spot (the 4-ball, I think) to some "A' level player. Keith immediately loses $15,000, but that's Ok with him; he's got plenty of gambling coupons to throw around. He stays in town to have some fun and skips out on the next tournament in Reno, even though someone had already staked him to play in it.

There are tons of gambling stories about Keith. Some are flat out unbelievable. Head to head matchups, for the money, were his forte.

 

[JimS]

I asked Keith to play a couple of yrs. ago when he was acting a little strange to me, either one pocket or Banks and he wanted a spot in both games. However back in the early seventies it would have been a different story as I was playing pool but could not see over the table without a coke crate.

Keith thought I was wrong for posting about Brady Behrman owing me $, Keith was loud and not nearly as colorful as I had seen him but hey wee all have our bad days, overall I like Keith and have respect for his God given ability.

See... now that's why some folks say you're a smart a$$ pric. I'd be hard pressed to disagree.

 

[pbat2751]

My Keith story,


This takes place a few years back at a Joss event in Providence RI.

Allen Hopkins is playing in the event and is playing on one of the front tables. I figure I can get the overhead view from the smoking deck outside.

So here I am watching from the window and who walks up and stands next to me but Keith and another guy who turns out to be Hopkins brother.

I think I learned more listening to them talk through the shots on that set then any other time in my time playing pool.

Thanks again.

 

[Tiddler]

River City Open

In the early 80's I went to the River City Open in San Antonio with a friend and we ended watching a match Keith had. We had a blast listening to Keith's running commentary. It end up hill/hill and Keith ran the final rack down to the eight ball. All it took was a stop shot and and easy cut on the nine. Seeing the goal posts in sight Keith jacked up and tried to draw 3 rails around the table miscuing and leaving an easy out. At this point some guy leaps up from his seat next to the match and screams, "I'm gonna kill that SOB." It turned out he had bet $3000 on Keith and wasn't a good loser.

 

[jay helfert]

It was in the 1980's at Caesars Palace for the World Championships. I was directing the tournament and went down to open the room for practice at about 8 AM. I then walked across the hall to the restroom. When I came out there was one lonely figure walking down the hall toward me. Keith! He walks up to me and asks, "What's our number Toupee," meaning what does he owe me? I told him I thought it was $240. Keith reaches in his pocket and pulls out a gargantuan wad of money, so big he could barely get his hand around it. He deftly peels off two hundreds and two twenties and hands them to me. "Now we're even," he says. I was still staring at the huge wad. "Where did you get that," I asked him? "I got lucky playing craps," was his reply.

Now he reaches in his other front pocket and pulls out another similar size wad. "In fact, I got lucky TWICE," he exclaims!
Keith must have been holding over fifty thousand in his two hands. Then he says good night, puts the money back in his pockets, and tells me he's going up to bed. That my friends is Keith McCready.

 

[DrawtheRock]

Keith was nothing but Action in San Francisco

Jay,
That was a great story and I have heard of him winning that much in craps in Vegas and then throwing 10 and 20 dollar bills out of his bank roll (after having won about 50k or more) and saying "its only 50's and 100's that should be in my bank roll".

Keith stayed in San Francisco for close to a year about 15 yrs ago and there was plenty of gambling going on. A couple of stories that stick out was when we went to a bar in SF where the owner had lost about 40k to Bill Cress about a month earlier and Nine Ball Paul Silva (old at the time) took Keith and I to the bar in order to hustle the owner (who couldnt play at all). Keith had thick glasses that were about half an inch thick that were just glass with no prescription. He also snuck in a 24 ounce sneaky peete that he said moved the big ball around really well. We pretended we worked together and he proceeds to beat me out of my paycheck (making it close of course) while the owner of the bar watched. The owner came down but said he quit playing for a while because of losing so much. The best player in the bar said he would love to play keith some 9 ball for 200 a game. After the guy was down about 3grand, and was cashing his last check that the bar would let him cash (for another grand)...Keith says to me "this is the end of his lunch money..watch me put a 5 pack on him". Keith runs 5 on him and we left. After getting back to the Cue Club in San Francisco and splitting up the winnings, Paul Silva talks Keith into pitching coins on the pool table (closest to the end rail wins). What Keith didnt know is that Paul Silva used to sit in a chair for hours and pitch coins on that table, and pay a guy 1 dollar to pick the coins up and bring them back to him so he could pitch them all again. After Keith was stuck for about all of his pool winnings (from the bar match earlier), I see him in the bath room kneeling on the floor scraping the quarter on the cement floor. I ask him what the hell he was doing, and he replies that he was prepping his coin so that he could bust the old son of a *****=(Keith went bust in about another hour). Two days later we were at another pool hall where we were trying to get Keith a game with the local sucker but Billy Ray had the guy in a long session already. While Keith was waiting to play he proceeded to convince about 5 guys who were about 22 yrs old to pitch coins for cash. He cleaned them out for about 2 grand while he was waiting to play. Im sure there are some other stories of him in SF during that time and I have to say he is by far the most colorful guy in pool and man can he gamble.
Jay--you were lucky to see him on the bar box in his prime giving huge spots (to King Kong, Ernesto, Morro, Tracy Joe)--are there any top young pros now that you think would have thought of trying to play him even on the bar box with the big ball back in his prime? How many top young players around now would like to give King Kong or Ernesto the 6 or 7 ball on a bar box even today?

Keith if you read this, why dont you chime in about some stories about you playing Morrow (the dealer from SF)..that was a guy that everybody would love to have played and those were some great gambling sessions to watch (for big bucks)

It was in the 1980's at Caesars Palace for the World Championships. I was directing the tournament and went down to open the room for practice at about 8 AM. I then walked across the hall to the restroom. When I came out there was one lonely figure walking down the hall toward me. Keith! He walks up to me and asks, "What's our number Toupee," meaning what does he owe me? I told him I thought it was $240. Keith reaches in his pocket and pulls out a gargantuan wad of money, so big he could barely get his hand around it. He deftly peels off two hundreds and two twenties and hands them to me. "Now we're even," he says. I was still staring at the huge wad. "Where did you get that," I asked him? "I got lucky playing craps," was his reply.

Now he reaches in his other front pocket and pulls out another similar size wad. "In fact, I got lucky TWICE," he exclaims!
Keith must have been holding over fifty thousand in his two hands. Then he says good night, puts the money back in his pockets, and tells me he's going up to bed. That my friends is Keith McCready.

 

[bumpypickle]

Some second hand Keith stories.

It was in the 1980's at Caesars Palace for the World Championships. I was directing the tournament and went down to open the room for practice at about 8 AM. I then walked across the hall to the restroom. When I came out there was one lonely figure walking down the hall toward me. Keith! He walks up to me and asks, "What's our number Toupee," meaning what does he owe me? I told him I thought it was $240. Keith reaches in his pocket and pulls out a gargantuan wad of money, so big he could barely get his hand around it. He deftly peels off two hundreds and two twenties and hands them to me. "Now we're even," he says. I was still staring at the huge wad. "Where did you get that," I asked him? "I got lucky playing craps," was his reply.

Now he reaches in his other front pocket and pulls out another similar size wad. "In fact, I got lucky TWICE," he exclaims!
Keith must have been holding over fifty thousand in his two hands. Then he says good night, puts the money back in his pockets, and tells me he's going up to bed. That my friends is Keith McCready.

1. In Reno in the 90's someone lent Keith their cue and case to play and later saw the cue and case for sale at a vendors booth who bought the cue from Keith for pennies on the dollar.
2. If I remember right Dave Vincent "Shakey Dave" told me a story of being at a tournament down in LA and while at the hotel could hear a sqeeking in the parking lot for hours and finally in the morning looked out to see Keith riding an old sqeeky bike in circles with only his underpants on.
3. I think it was Dave Piona who told me that he was in Vegas and Keith was in his mid teens and had like 15k in his pocket from playing pool.