first time you ever played one pocket

[jrhendy]

I played my first game of one pocket in 1955 on a 5 x 10 snooker table at Ernie's in Monterey Park CA about 6/7 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

My opponent was Dado the Filipino and I had no chance. Later on I saw him gamble high with top road players getting a little weight.

He left town for a few years and we played again around 1959 and I beat him for $50 and he quit. The guy who was with him busted me. I found out later it was San Francisco Phil, one of the best one pocket players out of Cochran's in San Francisco.

 

[chicagomike]

I'd have to say in the 80's at Oak Park Billliards, Oak Park Illinois...don't remember the first game, but I do remember losing at it alot. The other guy always seemed to get lucky and always seemed to get unlucky.

Great old room that stood the test of time...even as it lay dormant for many years you could look through the big store front windows looking at the old drop pocket Brunswicks and swear you hear the clicking of pool balls. Recently sold and I hear they may turn it into a brewery.

 

[Trebor]

I was in that room in 87, watched Buster Merchant play 10 ahead 9ball till the sun came up.

That little sawed-off leftie sure could play some 9ball

 

[NH Steve]

CK, you'll like this: My first 1P experience was in Cincinnati, Ohio. I started attending the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music up on Mt. Auburn in 1962. It was that year or the next that I was scouting for a pool room (before I found Mergards), so I went into a small 4-6 table room downtown on Vine St. near the library.

I thought I was a hot shot from Pittsburgh, and wanted to play an older guy some 9 ball for 50 cents a game. He said, "I'll tell you what. Let's play with all 15, and all you need to do is get 8 in your hole before I get 8 in mine." I couldn't imagine an easier game. After I lost $3.00 at 50 cents per game in a row, I quit, and left totally frustrated. I didn't try one-pocket again until 1969 in Los Angeles...

~Doc

Isn't that the truth lol.

 

[ChicagoFats]

I have no idea when the first time I played one pocket was. It must have been mid nineties.
I did however tangle with Arturo(funny loud player from Chicago). I think someone mentioned playing him during the tournament weekend. There also used to be a player Steve Dasher. Dasher only plays poker now if he is still alive to my knowledge. I think those are the two I played that were memorable. My guess is they gave me 10-8 and probably could have given me 14-4. I used to be able to run 5 packs on the 9 footers in 9 ball, so I could definitely make balls. They were smart and always kept it close, but looking back they must have been stealing!!!

 

[bobt64]

Didn't even know the game existed until I started wintering in AZ about 10 years ago. Our local seniors room had a player, John Longbottom (RIP), who had been a very good snooker player in England and for some reason played 1p in AZ. Started playing him and the first thing I remember is getting a headache from the game, so much more complicated than 8 ball. Really didn't play the game that often until a few years ago, got to where John wasn't too tough since he really was an offensive minded player and I had learned that defense is just as important as offense. He really had a great stroke, probably one of the most consistent I have ever seen outside the pro's. Since then 1P has basically taken over our room and last season was just about the only game we played. And the competition has really improved.

Now I'm back in IL and can't get a game, hope to maybe get one tomorrow when a strong local player is going to be my partner in our summer 9 ball league. We have played before and it was a tough match, hope it happens.

 

[cincy_kid]

CK, you'll like this: My first 1P experience was in Cincinnati, Ohio. I started attending the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music up on Mt. Auburn in 1962. It was that year or the next that I was scouting for a pool room (before I found Mergards), so I went into a small 4-6 table room downtown on Vine St. near the library.

I thought I was a hot shot from Pittsburgh, and wanted to play an older guy some 9 ball for 50 cents a game. He said, "I'll tell you what. Let's play with all 15, and all you need to do is get 8 in your hole before I get 8 in mine." I couldn't imagine an easier game. After I lost $3.00 at 50 cents per game in a row, I quit, and left totally frustrated. I didn't try one-pocket again until 1969 in Los Angeles...

~Doc

LOL, nice Doc!

I used to live down there off of William Howard Taft for a bit near UC, but I never was around for Mergards, although I have heard many stories about the place.

 

[gulfportdoc]

LOL, nice Doc!

I used to live down there off of William Howard Taft for a bit near UC, but I never was around for Mergards, although I have heard many stories about the place.

It was a very nice room. Well kept. But it only had roughly 8-10 tables. The big attraction was the bowling lanes portion of the building. Mergard's was on the north side of E. McMillan, east of Peebles Corner. The pool room was in the southeast corner of the building.

Funny part is, in the early '60s, I never saw it crowded when I was there in the evenings. There were usually a few tables going, that was it. Surprisingly I didn't realize at the time that great players played there: the Spaeth's, Donnie Anderson... I recall Donnie being the bartender in the small barroom there, but I wasn't even aware that he was a great player!

Of course I didn't know much about pro pool then, and who the real life hustlers were, until I moved to NYC in '67. There I saw my first world champion pocket billiards event, and I was blown away. That was in '68, and Irving Crane won it.

~Doc

 

[baby huey]

I couldn't play nine ball and I couldn't play snooker at least with any chance of playing decent players and an old man named Tommy the Greek told me to start playing One Pocket. This was 1967 in Los Angeles at an old pool room downtown called the Brunswick Billiard Academy. I immediately took to the game and played day and night and within a year I was a decent player. I began playing in the Hollywood area and with all the action there I was able to step my game up a bit. You have to have competition to get better and there sure was competition in Hollywood. I have read posts that Gulfport Doc and the Ghost played in the area but I can't remember them and I wish I had met them back then. That advice from my old buddy Tommy the Greek, helped fuel my passion for the game and it still exists to this day.

 

[keoneyo]

I thought I was a hot shot from Pittsburgh, and wanted to play an older guy some 9 ball for 50 cents a game. He said, "I'll tell you what. Let's play with all 15, and all you need to do is get 8 in your hole before I get 8 in mine." I couldn't imagine an easier game. After I lost $3.00 at 50 cents per game in a row, I quit, and left totally frustrated. I didn't try one-pocket again until 1969 in Los Angeles...

~Doc

I learned in Los Angeles in 1967. I worked at Jerrys Billiards cleaning up the joint after it closed at 2 AM in Pasadena while I was going to college. I then moved to West Hollywood and Ye Billiard Den was down the street. There I ran into guys like Cecil, Marvin Henderson, Hawaiian Brian, Danny D, Lenny Moore, Cuban Joe, Philly Joe Veasey, Bernie Schwartz, Dalton Leong, etc etc. I was like a kid in a candy store.

There was a older gentleman whose name was Virgil Murray. He liked to play 2 dollar one pocket. He schooled me taking $10 off me every day. While every one was playing their high stakes games me and Virgil played in a corner every day. I had been playing a lot of 14.1 and 8 ball so I was well aware of pattern play and safeties. After a year of getting beat up everyday I finally beat Virgil one day him needing 1 and me needing 7 and I ran out on him.

That day old Mr Murray saw me not as his daily fish but someone to be reckoned with. I saw the change in his eyes as I walked in. It was then I was stuck on the game for life.

 

[Island Drive]

Grady

Grady

Colorado Springs, 1973 or 4. He gave me 10-6 and I somehow won, (the backer was his wifes titty bar den mother money) and got the heat from her, never from him. Never played it again till these past few years, and still don't understand how I won knowing NOTHING at all about the game and He knowing the game.

 

[gulfportdoc]

I couldn't play nine ball and I couldn't play snooker at least with any chance of playing decent players and an old man named Tommy the Greek told me to start playing One Pocket. This was 1967 in Los Angeles at an old pool room downtown called the Brunswick Billiard Academy. I immediately took to the game and played day and night and within a year I was a decent player. I began playing in the Hollywood area and with all the action there I was able to step my game up a bit. You have to have competition to get better and there sure was competition in Hollywood. I have read posts that Gulfport Doc and the Ghost played in the area but I can't remember them and I wish I had met them back then. That advice from my old buddy Tommy the Greek, helped fuel my passion for the game and it still exists to this day.

I'm sure I must have seen you at Mr. Pockets on 6th St., because you used to go in there. I was there mostly in '69-'70. Then I found Chopsticks Billiards and Tiff Payne's in N. Hollywood, and they became my steady rooms. I was only at Ye Billiard Den a few times. Didn't like it. But Ghost and all those thieves hung out there in the late '60s and early '70s I believe. And there was this snappy Hawiian kid named Keone who was a real up & comer...

I never knew the Billiard Academy, although I knew about Romy's. I also liked Celebrity Billiards on Vine.

~Doc

 

[bobt64]

Not totally on topic but I did mention in my earlier post that I might finally get a game, well it did happen and it felt great. Was a little rusty but still enjoyed it.

 

[baby huey]

Doc, Romys was 4th and main and I also played out of Chopsticks where the best thieves in the county played. You must remember Cokes, Hollywood Jack, Fat Bob, Jeff Mervis and a host of others. I didn't go to Tiff Paynes as it was a 3C room mainly but I did hang out at Mr. Pockets on 6th street and ventured into Hollywood on a daily basis. Pool was very big back in the late 60's and you couldn't go five minutes without hitting a pool hall somewhere. Hawaiian Brian and I were roommates back then and we went on the road quite a bit. One time we left Mr. Pockets heading up to the Bay Area only to stop into Big Mamas in North Hollywood and didn't leave for two days after we busted everyone there twice. My nickname in North Hollywood was Dr. Death given me by Cokes who I made some big scores off of. I lost too just like everyone else but I just loved to rumble with those guys because they got so mad when they lost thinking they had the nuts.

 

[keoneyo]

Doc, Romys was 4th and main and I also played out of Chopsticks where the best thieves in the county played. You must remember Cokes, Hollywood Jack, Fat Bob, Jeff Mervis and a host of others. I didn't go to Tiff Paynes as it was a 3C room mainly but I did hang out at Mr. Pockets on 6th street and ventured into Hollywood on a daily basis. Pool was very big back in the late 60's and you couldn't go five minutes without hitting a pool hall somewhere. Hawaiian Brian and I were roommates back then and we went on the road quite a bit. One time we left Mr. Pockets heading up to the Bay Area only to stop into Big Mamas in North Hollywood and didn't leave for two days after we busted everyone there twice. My nickname in North Hollywood was Dr. Death given me by Cokes who I made some big scores off of. I lost too just like everyone else but I just loved to rumble with those guys because they got so mad when they lost thinking they had the nuts.

Wonder why you never came into Ye Billiard Den. Brooklyn Pancho, Butch, Cuban Joe, Danny D, Lenny Moore, Ronnie Caan (Jimmy's brother), Black Rudy, Iceman, Hollywood Jack, and a bunch of degenerates were regulars there. Hawaiian Brian was in regular attendance as a fellow Hawaiian eventually bought out the place.
Also remember Tournament Billiards in Culver City. Preacher Red, Cecil, Rags, Banking Mike, I remember played there as well.

 

[gulfportdoc]

Doc, Romys was 4th and main and I also played out of Chopsticks where the best thieves in the county played. You must remember Cokes, Hollywood Jack, Fat Bob, Jeff Mervis and a host of others. I didn't go to Tiff Paynes as it was a 3C room mainly but I did hang out at Mr. Pockets on 6th street and ventured into Hollywood on a daily basis. Pool was very big back in the late 60's and you couldn't go five minutes without hitting a pool hall somewhere. Hawaiian Brian and I were roommates back then and we went on the road quite a bit. One time we left Mr. Pockets heading up to the Bay Area only to stop into Big Mamas in North Hollywood and didn't leave for two days after we busted everyone there twice. My nickname in North Hollywood was Dr. Death given me by Cokes who I made some big scores off of. I lost too just like everyone else but I just loved to rumble with those guys because they got so mad when they lost thinking they had the nuts.

Sure I remember those guys; plus Howard, Gene the Machine, Fitz, Louie "The Magic Man" St. Pierre, Harry "The Hook" Cohen, and many others.

In '70-'71 I used to frequent Big Mamas quite often because when Coke had it, he'd blacken the windows, lock the doors and stay open all night-- including the bar. I'm sure he paid off the cops. I think even RA had a piece of it for awhile, but with those guys, and all the drugs/booze in those days, they weren't going to hold onto it very long.

"Coke" had a nose and nostrils that befitted his nickname.. His real name escapes me at the moment, but a couple of years back I did a web search for him in L.A., and was shocked to find out that he was not only still alive, but that he was a very successful real estate salesman! He was never a top player, probably under Hyd Jack, maybe like Tony Ola; but he loved the action in pool and cards.

~Doc

 

[One Pocket Ghost]

Jerry, Doc, & Keone....I posted up this pic once before, years ago...I think you'll enjoy seeing it...

It's my Ye Billiard Den t-shirt that I got there at the poolroom in about 1968, and I still have it - it's quite a nostalgic souvenir for me to have >>>

 

[gulfportdoc]

Jerry, Doc, & Keone....I posted up this pic once before, years ago...I think you'll enjoy seeing it...

It's my Ye Billiard Den t-shirt that I got there at the poolroom in about 1968, and I still have it - it's quite a nostalgic souvenir for me to have >>>

Brings back some good memories. It was such a stylized concept-- typical of the day, but like other kitschy styles, destined for old hathood.. I've forgotten when it closed, or under what circumstances. Keone probably knows. Maybe the rent got too high, or it just simply went out of favor.

~Doc

 

[baby huey]

Ghost, that T-Shirt brings back memories. Do you still have the first dollar you won gambling? What a place, and, right in the middle of Hollywood with all the personalities and girls. What an action room. Do you remember Celebrity Billiards?

 

[keoneyo]

Brings back some good memories. It was such a stylized concept-- typical of the day, but like other kitschy styles, destined for old hathood.. I've forgotten when it closed, or under what circumstances. Keone probably knows. Maybe the rent got too high, or it just simply went out of favor.

~Doc

People just stopped coming in and every one got wise to the propositions. It petered out and everyone went to 6th Street. By then the guys who were keeping the action going just looked for better spots.
I was a great time though. Every one had some kind of thing going or other. I had a great deal with some local guys and there was money to be made.