Worst Player You Know of That Made a Living Hustling?
- Thread starter Get_A_Grip
- Start date
Did you buy any of his pots and pans?
Never, but who could resist a guy in a funny hat with a wallet on a chain in his back pocket?
How about Kilroy with his gift of gab and a big cigar hanging out of his mouth?
Who wouldn't play this guy for ten or twenty?
Ran into these guys all over the US when I was hustling pool. Never saw them beat anyone but they were always on the road and ate very well.
People today need to understand how different the US was in those days before the super rich stole all the money.
Everyone had cash in their pockets and 100 dollar 9 ball on the bar table was a common experience.
Bill S.
I try to avoid politics but I have to say politicians as a class of people are far more ruthless and heartless than pool players and do more harm to the people they hustle.
ironsoldier71
Registered
My teacher had MS and you would never see him coming. He never held a job to the best of my knowledge all the way up into his 30s. Pool was his job. Best thing about his hustle was it was a honest hustle. He did have MS. He just had an ability to focus when he wanted to and clear it up just long enough to fire off a hek of a shot.
Kind Regards,
Michael McDonald
Shooters Billiard Supply
www.shootersbilliardsupply.com
Player: Two Feather Anasazi by Viking Pool Cues (11 of 150)
Shaft: ViKore Shaft by Viking Pool Cues
Break: Predator Break 3 Pool Cue
Jump: Air 2 by Predator Pool Cues
Case: Instroke 3x5 Southwest Black Pool Cue Case
Table: Diamond Pro Am 9 ft with Aramith Tourney TV Pool Balls
Kind Regards,
Michael McDonald
Shooters Billiard Supply
www.shootersbilliardsupply.com
Player: Two Feather Anasazi by Viking Pool Cues (11 of 150)
Shaft: ViKore Shaft by Viking Pool Cues
Break: Predator Break 3 Pool Cue
Jump: Air 2 by Predator Pool Cues
Case: Instroke 3x5 Southwest Black Pool Cue Case
Table: Diamond Pro Am 9 ft with Aramith Tourney TV Pool Balls
My dad made a marginal living playing pool in the 60's in Los Angeles. I'm guessing he was an A player back then.
Not enough money to please my mother however, as she divorced him because she had young kids to feed and he didnt have a "real job" :grin-square:
Not enough money to please my mother however, as she divorced him because she had young kids to feed and he didnt have a "real job" :grin-square:
I wouldn't say "i paid my way through college" lol....i had a full ride between academics and athletics.....most places i lived in i usually lessened the rent by taking care of things for the owners.....did spurts of small odd carpentry jobs in the old homes in the town along with a restoration and rebuild "this old house" style (talk about an experience)....got locked out my house when my key fell through the inside pocket of my running shorts on an easy dime......waited on gf to get home so went on a slow cool down screw around.....a friend was the general contractor and i passed by half naked and just jumped in with them to pass the time.....seen i read a tape fine....asked me to walk with him and asked me questions as to what id do with such and such to test my abilities lol.....hired on the spot to do all the tedious detail work and mitering/trim....strips and restos. Laid asphalt when ever i had time to go to work during the day (or summers and breaks) 100$ a day 30min or 12 hours lol.
I will say that there were all kinds of players from late teens to their 50s or so between shreveport and alexandria.....who loved to play $5 pool and enjoyed dropping a $20 spot to me......along with a handful of others....plenty tournaments winner getting a bill after about 4 hours....i had a great rotation going around where i never won any single event too often because i was playing a diff one the next week on same day.
Local business owners and white collar guys would put me in events i could travel to. I had keys to 3 peoples homes to practice "anytime you want kid".....small town and lots of people are out and walk downtown etc.....i ran my nuts off always people in the way and traffic but i ran on those roads so much I owned them.....everyone and i mean everyone knew that really swift half naked kid lol.....and the bar i made my home court was a large focal point in town for everyone....so now those same townies or even the tourists....see this same kid dancing around a table at rapid smooth pace just raw performance like i was still running but painting simultaneously....
maybe it was the effort, maybe it was my character, maybe i was just lucky......but i really felt like those few years back then were really special. I was growing rapidly as a player and was just different than everyone else good or bad.....those years i rarely felt like i was gambling, i was expected to win that wasn't their attraction..... it was like my running, not if or when i may win or whatnot....but HOW i won....i was but a part time performance artist people WANTED to see do something special. I really loved it.
Looking back honestly any night i decided to go play then i would take in a handsome $20/hr roughly wether matched up or a in the traveling local tourney circus. I was never without money in school....
my asphalt and carpentry paid well! but was spotty during year, and i refused to do the bullshit skillless job chit like wash dishes because i had skills, and i didn't want to waste time making minimum wage, running alone took up roughly 5 hours a day.....plus school....so i needed to maximize all my time.
without doubt if i hadn't had pool in college, more often than not my ass would have been flat busted.....because it kept me on bonus level when i did have money from the actual work, and when work was not possible it kept the cash flow coming in and maintaining a roll at least instead of watching it disappear....i never went hungry, or went into debt....my parents paid my cell phone bill and i'd get wild game and fish to bring back up from my dad......
it was really cool man....got a lot of support and love from that town....was my first adopted home and place i felt like i should be around and was welcomed...didn't matter which spots rough or not....no one gave me no shit.
Without doubt i was given birth in many places that others.....just couldn't get away with around there. Marcus Norwood always worried about me back then because so many people would get shot, stabbed killed....bad spots in redneckville in the dark.....i'd show up in flare jeans, cutoff sesame street shirt and better hair than grady seasons.....entertain everyone some how and leave safely with a bit taken from everyone and them inviting me back always.
The worst thing ever happened to me there was when i lagged the cb touching the rail 4 times in a row at roques......they never lagged to see who broke again....it was always flip a coin after that.....even jokingly called "edge" once....guy flips it and it rolls into the drop pocket and got stuck standing straight up on the leather seam....
a beautiful mess was I.
-greyghost
I will say that there were all kinds of players from late teens to their 50s or so between shreveport and alexandria.....who loved to play $5 pool and enjoyed dropping a $20 spot to me......along with a handful of others....plenty tournaments winner getting a bill after about 4 hours....i had a great rotation going around where i never won any single event too often because i was playing a diff one the next week on same day.
Local business owners and white collar guys would put me in events i could travel to. I had keys to 3 peoples homes to practice "anytime you want kid".....small town and lots of people are out and walk downtown etc.....i ran my nuts off always people in the way and traffic but i ran on those roads so much I owned them.....everyone and i mean everyone knew that really swift half naked kid lol.....and the bar i made my home court was a large focal point in town for everyone....so now those same townies or even the tourists....see this same kid dancing around a table at rapid smooth pace just raw performance like i was still running but painting simultaneously....
maybe it was the effort, maybe it was my character, maybe i was just lucky......but i really felt like those few years back then were really special. I was growing rapidly as a player and was just different than everyone else good or bad.....those years i rarely felt like i was gambling, i was expected to win that wasn't their attraction..... it was like my running, not if or when i may win or whatnot....but HOW i won....i was but a part time performance artist people WANTED to see do something special. I really loved it.
Looking back honestly any night i decided to go play then i would take in a handsome $20/hr roughly wether matched up or a in the traveling local tourney circus. I was never without money in school....
my asphalt and carpentry paid well! but was spotty during year, and i refused to do the bullshit skillless job chit like wash dishes because i had skills, and i didn't want to waste time making minimum wage, running alone took up roughly 5 hours a day.....plus school....so i needed to maximize all my time.
without doubt if i hadn't had pool in college, more often than not my ass would have been flat busted.....because it kept me on bonus level when i did have money from the actual work, and when work was not possible it kept the cash flow coming in and maintaining a roll at least instead of watching it disappear....i never went hungry, or went into debt....my parents paid my cell phone bill and i'd get wild game and fish to bring back up from my dad......
it was really cool man....got a lot of support and love from that town....was my first adopted home and place i felt like i should be around and was welcomed...didn't matter which spots rough or not....no one gave me no shit.
Without doubt i was given birth in many places that others.....just couldn't get away with around there. Marcus Norwood always worried about me back then because so many people would get shot, stabbed killed....bad spots in redneckville in the dark.....i'd show up in flare jeans, cutoff sesame street shirt and better hair than grady seasons.....entertain everyone some how and leave safely with a bit taken from everyone and them inviting me back always.
The worst thing ever happened to me there was when i lagged the cb touching the rail 4 times in a row at roques......they never lagged to see who broke again....it was always flip a coin after that.....even jokingly called "edge" once....guy flips it and it rolls into the drop pocket and got stuck standing straight up on the leather seam....
a beautiful mess was I.
-greyghost
I just spilled a little bit of my coffee . . . funny as hell. So true.
Good old day!
Yes it was possible to work your way thru college in the 60s. My local college (Central State) in Edmond Okla. was 11.50 an hour!!! I racked up 3 semesters before being drafted into the Army. And one more after service with my three month early out! Books were about $100 a semester maybe. So maybe $1000 for 4 semesters and living at home. Always bought my own car too. Old work cars were $100 everywhere and you could work on them. In the 70s and 80s $5 a game was big pool. Those years kept me in the black and I was seriously not a gambler. Everyone played for a beer or a couple bucks. I gave away more beer than I drank, always to my opponents first of course. Those were the days. Now people won't screw their stick together for $5.
Yes it was possible to work your way thru college in the 60s. My local college (Central State) in Edmond Okla. was 11.50 an hour!!! I racked up 3 semesters before being drafted into the Army. And one more after service with my three month early out! Books were about $100 a semester maybe. So maybe $1000 for 4 semesters and living at home. Always bought my own car too. Old work cars were $100 everywhere and you could work on them. In the 70s and 80s $5 a game was big pool. Those years kept me in the black and I was seriously not a gambler. Everyone played for a beer or a couple bucks. I gave away more beer than I drank, always to my opponents first of course. Those were the days. Now people won't screw their stick together for $5.
justinb386
Banned
I knew plenty of guys who were B level that made $200-$300 a night playing nickel and dime 8 ball, 9 ball, 6 ball and even 3 ball. You just had to know where to fish and when to move on. That stuff can add up quick if you're clever. To answer the OP's question, you didn't have to be a world beater to make money scuffling through college towns/bars back in the 80s. Playing long sets for big bucks was a totally different scenario, though. Lots of A and B players tried to get a spot they could stay ahead of and monsters like St. Louis Louis and many others lived for that action.
I think those days are gone forever, now, though. Go into any bar and try and get action, even $5 a game...it's either nothing or there's a shortstop present who wants to start at $50. I haven't seen a designated challenge table in a bar in years, where those nickel and dime games flourished, everybody lined up their quarters on the rail and a B player could put .50 cents in at 5:00 pm and hold the table all night, just beating all comers and taking Lincolns and beers off them at a clip.
Are there any good challenge tables left anywhere in the US (among average college boy drinkers, who are not players, for example)? Back in the early 2,000's, I went to this college bar called Stix (in the small town of Carbondale IL, where I grew up), and every weekend (Friday and Saturday), I would go there at maybe around 8 or 9 pm, and put 50 cents down to play next (and wait around 45 minutes to an hour, at times to get on the table), and I would hold the table the entire night until 2am until the bar closed. Back in those days, the college kids loved to play pool (just for fun, mostly, while they were having some beers). As the years went by, the game of pool greatly lost interest, and eventually, the pool tables just sat there unplayed for the most part. I have not seen a challenge table in years. Are they even around anymore? Are there any parts of the US where pool is still popular (among the general public, who just enjoy playing pool while having some beers, instead of rather just sitting at the bar)? It is so sad about the state of the popularity of the bar pool scene has become, and the state of the popularity of pool in general.
justinb386
Banned
On more than one occasion I cleared close to $300 playing 3 ball, at $2 per player antes! I had every $1 bill in the bar, they had to come to me to break $20s and keep playing. And still they kept coming. Haven't seen a 3 ball game in almost 20 years...$5 and $10 games of 8 ball could net me $200 easy in a military or college town, back when every bar had one bar box designated as a challenge table. People don't mind lining up and paying a few bucks to try and beat the "shark". It adds up quick, and you don't have to play any scams. Once you lose (ahead), put your .50 cents up on the table, have a beer and disappear. Hit two or three bars a night.
Those cheap games were the way most scufflers made money; you could bleed the WHOLE BAR dry and they'd never catch on. Doubling down and getting the games expensive is too risky and you usually end up with less than what you'd get nickel and diming everybody. All you had to do was stay ahead, and they'd spend every thing they had trying to catch up, no need to double down. No challenge tables anymore. Used to be you'd have to run get there early to beat the crowd or you'd wait two hours to get a shot at a table. Now the bar is still full but the pool tables are usually open. Just decorative furniture. Dead, dead, dead.
What about "just for fun" challenge tables? Those seem to be all gone too. It has been ages since I seen a line of quarters on a bar table (with strangers waiting to play the winner of the next game). No need to bet anything, just play for the love of the game. No love for the game anymore though. The challenge tables (just for fun) are all gone too.
justinb386
Banned
That is so true. Every now and then, you would get a player that had the ability to run the rack on you though. I did not give any chances to anyone. I played every game like I was playing a decent player. Ran out when I could, and played safe when I felt like I could not get out. I always hated bar room (just for the bangers) rules though. I was never out to take anyones money. Just loved playing, and holding on to the table for as long as possible. Sorry, I am back to talking about the challenge tables again (which may not have actually been challenge tables, because I rarely ever seen any bets being made, and I never asked anyone to play for anything).
Its a past time now keno and lottery has sucked up a lot of would be gamblers no practice needed , Hispanic bars still get some action that was my last gold mine they love to gamble but there far and few between ,,
I can find action but only with players who can play no easy money everyone looking for a lock
God dam I miss the days of ring games in bars all over the place those days are gone and they will never come back
1
justinb386
Banned
I bet there is still a weekly 3 ball game going on in a small bar in Evansville IN. It was fun, but I would quit after losing around $20 in a single pot. Too hard to win, unless you make 2 balls on the break, and get decent shape on the last ball. It was really fun though. I did win on rare occasions.
justinb386
Banned
Back in the 90's, all of the decent players I knew were nits too. They would not play unless it was a lock (or though they thought). This game has always been full of nits (I imagine). The money players.
justinb386
Banned
$50 a game 9 ball? Per game? How much could you afford to lose? Seems like a lot of money to play for per game (even today). Back then it must have been 10 times as much in comparison. What was minimum wage back then? Like $2.80 per hour? I do not know. Maybe you were a rich college kid (from a wealthy family) I assume.
I went to OU (Oklahoma U.) in the early 60's and a big game was $5 9-Ball or $10 One Pocket. I got schooled there by a guy who became a famous Vegas gambler - Tommy Fisher. Only 5'4" tall, Tommy was a scratch golfer who was near unbeatable on a par three course. He beat several tour players in the early 70's when they came through town for the Las Vegas Invitational. He actually challenged Jack Nicklaus to play on a par three course but that match never came off. I walked around with him one time and it seems like he hit every green! Shot something like 48 or 49 for the eighteen holes and beat some other high roller for close to a thou.
Tommy made his living playing mostly 75-150 Stud and 150-300 Hold'em, but was a fantastic sports bettor. He and Billy Baxter could move the line with their bets. Tommy was a very smart guy who made millions and hung onto most of it. One time two guys tried to rob him in the parking lot at Caesars and Tommy shot one guy in the chest with his little .25. They got caught when his buddy took him to the hospital. Nothing happened to Tommy. He died about five years ago.
I ran around with Tommy off and on for a year or two at OU. He beat me at One Pocket, but I learned a lot from him and he whomped me playing Gin Rummy. Never could figure out what he did, but now I'm convinced he had some moves with the cards. He played in the biggest card games on campus, where you could win in the hundreds back then. I failed there too. I was still learning at that stage and Tommy was several years older. He was out of St. Louis and they called him Tom the Bomb around there in the 60's.
P.S. Don Owen of OB cues was there (OU) at the same time and he was the best Straight Pool player on campus, but I'm not sure if he tangled with Tommy for money. I'll have to ask him sometime. John Guffey, the cue maker, went to OU after me. One other interesting factoid. James Garner was from Norman, Ok and they told me he was the best pool player in town when he was a kid, before leaving for Hollywood. Garner's brother drove a Coke or Pepsi truck on a route that included Campus Corner poolroom and I played him a few times, maybe a dollar a game 9-Ball. He was more my speed.
Tommy made his living playing mostly 75-150 Stud and 150-300 Hold'em, but was a fantastic sports bettor. He and Billy Baxter could move the line with their bets. Tommy was a very smart guy who made millions and hung onto most of it. One time two guys tried to rob him in the parking lot at Caesars and Tommy shot one guy in the chest with his little .25. They got caught when his buddy took him to the hospital. Nothing happened to Tommy. He died about five years ago.
I ran around with Tommy off and on for a year or two at OU. He beat me at One Pocket, but I learned a lot from him and he whomped me playing Gin Rummy. Never could figure out what he did, but now I'm convinced he had some moves with the cards. He played in the biggest card games on campus, where you could win in the hundreds back then. I failed there too. I was still learning at that stage and Tommy was several years older. He was out of St. Louis and they called him Tom the Bomb around there in the 60's.
P.S. Don Owen of OB cues was there (OU) at the same time and he was the best Straight Pool player on campus, but I'm not sure if he tangled with Tommy for money. I'll have to ask him sometime. John Guffey, the cue maker, went to OU after me. One other interesting factoid. James Garner was from Norman, Ok and they told me he was the best pool player in town when he was a kid, before leaving for Hollywood. Garner's brother drove a Coke or Pepsi truck on a route that included Campus Corner poolroom and I played him a few times, maybe a dollar a game 9-Ball. He was more my speed.
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When I read this title.. the first name that popped into my head was Jay Helfert!!
Love you Jay
Love you Jay
I can't think of anybody that actually made a living out of playing pool that weren't champions , and most of them are broke..
I know a few who lived with parents all their lives, moved the wife and kids in when they got married and drew welfare or other government subsidy.
Most of them also dealt drugs, and occasionally robbed homes or boosted or other methods to get a little cash .
When you go in the pool room , believe nothing you hear and only about half of what you see as far as "pool players" are concerned.
The back stories are usually nothing like the portraits they paint.
I know a few who lived with parents all their lives, moved the wife and kids in when they got married and drew welfare or other government subsidy.
Most of them also dealt drugs, and occasionally robbed homes or boosted or other methods to get a little cash .
When you go in the pool room , believe nothing you hear and only about half of what you see as far as "pool players" are concerned.
The back stories are usually nothing like the portraits they paint.