One night, the big poker game at the St. Nicholas was robbed by men with machine guns. Hubert Cokes, Muff Riggio, and Fats were among those playing. The robbers told them to take off their clothes and lay on the floor. Fats started "the conversation" saying he was too fat to lay on the floor and citing health problems. They told him to stand against the wall and shut up or they'd kill him. He kept talking. The robbers got $150,000 in cash. The poker game went on with markers.
Nearby Evansville, Indiana had experienced an oil boom and also had wide-open gambling. Legendary gamblers Titanic Thompson, Ray Ryan, and Hubert Cokes were playing in a large poker game at the McCurdy Hotel. They were joined by mobsters and oil men. Fats made frequent trips to Evansville. Ray Ryan won $250,000 from oil man H. L. Hunt playing gin rummy. He won $550,000 from Nick the Greek in heads up poker in Las Vegas in 1949, but he cheated. Fats played a series of pool matches over several days with high-roller Ryan. They changed the bet many ways, but Fats always won.

after reading this iv learned wearing nice clothes will get u robbed and left naked.bad enuff being robbed but stealing clothes too. i think there was a saying most pool games were over before the balls was racked, meaning the spot was to big 1 way or the other, some people was better at getting this spots, the biggest winners wasnt the best player it was player with who got the best spots.

its that way in all gambling. the person who handicaps the game the best wins the money.
even in poker, if you select good games you win the money even if you arent a great player.
if you dont feel you are a good handicapper then wait for way the best of it or your loses will eat up gains from playing in marginal spots where you can be a big dog.

I think big pool games are fixed. Just figure out who's dumping who.

no, more smaller pool games are dumped when there is lots of side action or a backer that isnt close enough to the player. that is stupidity on those betting.

the real big games are mostly on the square as most of those games the players are betting mostly their own money.

Agree with Ray Zee. There is more cheating in smaller games. Most stake horse/backer combos are really close friends, often long-term friends. You stick with folks you know and trust.


At college I hung in the campus pool hall to play gin rummy, scout for poker players, and bet on pool, play very little. You bet on skill against ego, knowing and handicapping the players. Some on here talk as if talking up a spot is somehow bad. The gambling negotiation, the challenge, "the conversation" is very important. For Fats, Ty, they won all bets by one stroke, keeping the guy thinking he could win AND VERY IMPORTANTLY keeping the guy wanting to beat you very badly. Not hate, but competition. Ribbing, teasing, challenges to macho all are part of being a gambler.

I'd play nine ball, if the seven was also my money ball and it came back up until downed in rotation. I'd blast away on combos trying to get lucky on a money ball. With three of them, I'd try at them.

At gin, I'd "spot" them the deal, meaning I started with eleven and they started with ten cards. I'd spot folks the blitz at gin. If they reached a 100 points before I won a hand, I'd pay double. In the same situation, they did not have to pay double.

Carney Neal challenged Poor Ol' Ignorant Ed (a wizard) to heads up, no limit, hold 'em and offered two to one odds. If some big pro will spot you three to two or so, you've got them. Ed would just move in every hand he had anything at all. Neal would be laying two to one on that hand. I'm known for the prop bets where the sucker has zero chance. You must price it low, five bucks or ten, to get paid. When I say, "I'll bet you...", the smart money knows they have no chance, but they bet me because I am me, a local celeb. You can bet one of dice will show a six or an ace every time, and you have way the best of it. Or who wrote songs, The Gambler...Love Sick Blues.. Prop bets are great.

An Italian web site quoted this thread. Neat.
The late Etta James, the famous singer said that Minnesota Fats was her father. She was the daughter of an underage black prostitute. Fats never really acknowledged it, but did give her his gold watch, one of the last things the broke had in his old age. I believe he was her father also. Here is a comparison in these photos (if it works..the odds are three to one against.) Don't you think they look enough alike to bolster her claim?
[IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/149pc8y.jpg[/

[IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/149pc8y.jpg[/

You can find the two of them on google images.. search etta james and minnesota fats.