Your biggest gambling score, pool or otherwise.

Taxi said:
My only big scores have been when I had a book shop, but at Guys & Dolls in Silver Hill, MD, a little over 50 years ago a big time DC drug dealer dropped $100,000 in cash in a one pocket game, and then came back later and won back $40,000 of it. But after reading some of these stories, what Lawrence "Slippery" Jackson dropped that night almost seems like chump change, although that $100,000 then would be about $730,000 today. :cool:
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Man, Guys and Dolls. I used to love that place for action late at night with Geese. We were always welcome. Sterling, Strawberry, Ronnie, Left-handed Ronnie, they were all there off and on. Big money games for sure!
 
never made a mil. in one score. but had lots of a decent fraction of that in many spots.
mostly retired now, only deal in 4 and 5 figure things.
 
Oddest occurrence involving $480 some odd dollars.
Years ago doing carpentry work I did a small 1 day job on a Friday and got $485.00. Afterwards I went to my favorite watering hole
and got into a 3-ball ring game & won $480 something dollars.
Go to another bar down the street that had a pot where if you come in that day and pay .50 you're good for that nights drawing.
Sure enough, my name was drawn and the pot was $480 some odd dollars.
I go back to my regular bar and get into an "acey-deucy" card game. Some folks call it 'hi-lo" or "in between".
You guessed it, I won $480 some odd dollars. All of this before midnight. I collected the same amount 4 times within a
few bucks in about an 8 hour period! lol
 
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Johnny Rosato said:
Oddest occurrence involving $480 some odd dollars.
Years ago doing carpentry work I did a small 1 day job on a Friday and got $485.00. Afterwards i went to my favorite watering hole
and got into a 3-ball ring game & won $480 something dollars.
Go to another bar down the street that had a pot where if you come in that day and pay .50 and your good for that nights drawing.
Sure enough, my name was drawn that and the pot was $480 some odd dollars.
I go back to my regular bar and get into an "acey-deucy" card game. Some folks call it 'hi-lo" or "in between".
You guessed it, I won $480 some odd dollars. All of this before midnight. I collected the same amount 4 times within a
few bucks in about an 8 hour period! lol
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I'm familiar with that Hi-Lo game LOL
 
Johnny Rosato said:
Oddest occurrence involving $480 some odd dollars.
Years ago doing carpentry work I did a small 1 day job on a Friday and got $485.00. Afterwards i went to my favorite watering hole
and got into a 3-ball ring game & won $480 something dollars.
Go to another bar down the street that had a pot where if you come in that day and pay .50 and your good for that nights drawing.
Sure enough, my name was drawn that and the pot was $480 some odd dollars.
I go back to my regular bar and get into an "acey-deucy" card game. Some folks call it 'hi-lo" or "in between".
You guessed it, I won $480 some odd dollars. All of this before midnight. I collected the same amount 4 times within a
few bucks in about an 8 hour period! lol
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You hit the Trifecta plus one! I guess that's a Quadfecta. :)
 
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I stayed at a casino in St Charles, MO the night before a Ram's game, early 2000's. The game was a noon kick so I headed down to the craps table for a few minutes before we headed out. I was a $5 front and $25 / $26 back odds guy at the time. I held the dice for 30 minutes.

I made over $1,000 at 5/25 and the guys that were filling the infield couldn't carry all of their chips away. They bought me a bunch of drinks....
 
$100 in nickels from a nickel slot machine in a gas station in Vegas ~1985. I was 11 years old. Ok, maybe not the biggest dollar-wise, but 100 bucks to an 11yr old was huge....especially since I was underage and not supposed to be playing it anyway. :D Good times!
 
I have gambled at pool for almost 70 years. Like most of us, booked winners and losers. I was still betting pretty high in my 70’s. 3 & 5k sets at the Derby, and traveled a bit to play 3/4K sets. I always was an action guy, and just loved to play too much to be a nut hunter.

My biggest score was a little under 10k on Bertha, the 6 x 12 at Hard Times, Bellflower in the early 90’s. We played three long sessions in five days.

I used to hang around the Golden Cue, outside of LA in the 70’s/80’s, when Archie The Greek came in a lot. I beat him for a few K a couple times. Back in Archie’s early action days, you could take a cheap shot at him, and if you got him stuck, he would not quit til he was empty. This was before he won millions.

My playing days are pretty much over after back surgery this year, but I treasure the memories and the action.
 
Just out of high school. Private dice game at a friends house. I only had twenty dollar bills, could not get a bet in until I got the dice, I bet one of my 20’s (it took three people to fade the bet LOL). About 90 mins later, I have all the money in the house. Last bet was for $14 in quarters the home owner got from the change jar. Made just under $1100.

Playing pill pool 15 ball rack, 5 players, $5 per ball, everyone drew 3 pills. Made about $600

Made over $300 in a single pot of $1 3ball that had been tied dozens of times in about three hours. I shot a 1.

$400. I see a $100 chip in the high dollar slot room in Kinder, LA. I know I can’t just pick it up so I slip in a $100 and get mixed bars for $500.

Bought a 1906 Brunswick cue from an antique store for $15, traded it to the Glenns for one of Buddy Halls books and some other signed memorabilia.
 
We have a private run bingo lottery. Players pick 10 numbers and as the lottery nights happen your numbers come up. It takes about a month to 1 1/2 months for someone to win. 10 bucks to play one line. About 150 lines played a month.

I won the first month i played. People had been playing for years and never won. 1560. They were so pissed. I pay forward for the year and then i win 3 more times in two years. Had to split the pot with someone 2 of those times.

They stop playing in the summer to take a break. I think they still play but they didn't invite me back. I was in for 160 bucks, won about 4k.

I dont gamble at pool personally. I might buy someone if they are raffled in a tournament. Won a little that way. I am by no means good enough to play for more than a drink in race.
 
Some great scores on this thread!
Pool: Beat two traveling players out of about $4,000 in two separate sessions on the bar table.
Won over $10,000 buying the same player in the calcutta in a strong monthly tournament in Tennessee .
Biggest score was over $54,000 betting Football in a week.
Won over $25,000 in three separate trips in cockfighting. I know that is a terrible sport (not proud of it) but I have played cards, bet sports, booked sports, gambled at pool and everything else but when it came to stone cold gamble....never saw anyone gamble like cockfighters.
 
JG-in-KY said:
Some great scores on this thread!
Pool: Beat two traveling players out of about $4,000 in two separate sessions on the bar table.
Won over $10,000 buying the same player in the calcutta in a strong monthly tournament in Tennessee .
Biggest score was over $54,000 betting Football in a week.
Won over $25,000 in three separate trips in cockfighting. I know that is a terrible sport (not proud of it) but I have played cards, bet sports, booked sports, gambled at pool and everything else but when it came to stone cold gamble....never saw anyone gamble like cockfighters.
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The rest of your story is nice, the cockfighting and not so much.
 
JAM said:
Man, Guys and Dolls. I used to love that place for action late at night with Geese. We were always welcome. Sterling, Strawberry, Ronnie, Left-handed Ronnie, they were all there off and on. Big money games for sure!
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Don't forget Lefty Joe and Jackie Robinson.

Back around 1968, when Geese was about 15 or 16, his mom used to drop him off at Guys and Dolls on a Friday night, and then pick him up on Sunday morning. He was always out of my league, but I used to love to match up with Jimmy Mack, Little Gus (Buddy Dennis's traveling partner), and Charlie Justice when he was a pimply faced adolescent. Charlie and Jimmy Mack died way too young, but Gus lived to a ripe old age, and even got a front page writeup in the City Paper when he was in his 70's.
 
5k at cards, think I cashed out 7k but 2 of it was mine. Pool it would be about 2k.

My favorite though was starting play at a dollar a game, guy kept asking to double it until he was down over 300. He didn't have the money, so ended up with quite a bit of cd's and a cd player. That was in 1990 when those things were still new and unique. Same dude air barreled me on 500 about a year later.

I'm a low stake gambler, rarely more than 100 dollar sets. Did get down 100 2 weeks ago in less than a minute flipping quarters. Got it back just as fast.

Do like a good 10/20 tonk game, have played 50/100 a few times that turned out well.
 
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cubswin said:
5k at cards, think I cashed out 7k but 2 of it was mine. Pool it would be about 2k.

My favorite though was starting play at a dollar a game, guy kept asking to double it until he was down over 300. He didn't have the money, so ended up with quite a bit of cd's and a cd player. That was in 1990 when those things were still new and unique.
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In 1968, at a short lived room at 14th & H in Washington, I once beat a complete stranger out of a hundred bucks, but he was playing on ass and promised he'd be back the next night with the money. I had little choice but to believe him, and miracle of miracles, he actually kept his word.

Only instead of the $100, he paid off with a bag of 70 silver dollars. None of them were rare, but still, when I took them to a coin dealer, he gave me about $130. Not as good as a Tad cue, which I got a few years later to pay off a $50 debt, but still better than nothing.
 
Taxi said:
In 1968, at a short lived room at 14th & H in Washington, I once beat a complete stranger out of a hundred bucks, but he was playing on ass and promised he'd be back the next night with the money. I had little choice but to believe him, and miracle of miracles, he actually kept his word.

Only instead of the $100, he paid off with a bag of 70 silver dollars. None of them were rare, but still, when I took them to a coin dealer, he gave me about $130. Not as good as a Tad cue, which I got a few years later to pay off a $50 debt, but still better than nothing.
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Reminds me of the time a guy owed me $400 for so long I just forgot about it. It was a loan, not a gambling debt. I guess his conscience got the best of him and one day he calls me out of the blue and asks me about our debt. He then tells me he still has his old Ginacue and I can have it. He was living in Vegas and I was not about to drive there just to get a cue. That's okay though. A few days later a UPS arrives and in it is this nice old Gina. I sold it a few weeks later for $1,500 and called it even. :)
 
nothing in pool......yet, i'm just not good enough or consistent enough within my game to be able to assess a proper handicap to myself in a betting match,

if I can continue to progress I will definetley seek out some matches at some point,


football parlays have been good to me, usual bet is around 5-6 games, money line, with at least one underdog paying 3-1, (that's Tennessee this weekend btw if anybody is interested) this type of ticket will usually pay anywhere from 25-1 to 50-1

I'm good to cash out on 1 or 2 of these per season, I've hit a 50-1 shot at $1000

we have no fuss no muss sports betting here through the government and no taxes on winnings

between the sports book. the horse track, our casinos, and private poker rooms/games.......im in a surprisingly decent place to gamble
 
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So I have won 4to 5 hundred playing pool a couple times but never bet high enough with the right guys to score more. I have won 4 trips playing including airfare and 4 nights in Hawaii.

I walked into the horse track 1 day for the breeders cup . Had a grand on me ,walked out with 14 grand. Probably "churned 20+" in plays.

Luckiest day at the track , took afternoon off because I needed a new work vehicle. Had a appointment to look at a vehicle,guy calls and says hey I can't do it till after supper. I was 6 blocks from the track so went for lunch and make a couple plays. Ordered a burger and fries looked at a 10 horse race that I felt only 3 could even finish. Bet 1 straight $5 tri and a couple exactly wheels. Race came in and paid 601.80 for a $2 tri. Now 600.00 is a IRS ticket but that is 600.00 + the $2 wager. So I got over 1500.00 for my 5. Also hit the exacty for 40 more then the ticket.
 
In 2005, I walked through the university book store between classes, killing time. Spotted a clearance sale on Zip drive disks at a penny each. Bought all 123 disks and quickly sold on ebay for about a $600 gain.

In Vegas, late at night. I was heading back to the room and had a dollar coin in my pocket. I put it in a slot machine at the exit door and won $100.

Early 90's, I had two Chemistry classes with an hour between. I stopped at the pool room and saw a non student playing $5 9 ball and staying even with a D player. I asked D if I could play the guy. Ended up skipping the second class and getting a check for $85, which was used to purchase a new Porper case.
 
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