Cowboy Dennis
Verified Member
So as not to hijack the Rack thread, I thought I'd tell a story about a man who's legendary for his gambling exploits in this town. He was called "Jew Paul" by most. Paul Bruesloff was his name.
I have posted before about the first time I ever went into the Rack and I saw Paul playing Clyde Childress, getting 9-7 for $4000 a game. This is a story about another Rack, the R.A.C.. It was technically the Russian-American Club, owned by Steve Lomako, but all of the players knew it was the RackII. It was a private club and stayed open 24 hours if needed.
This is a tale of Paul's gambling abilities and most of all, his endurance. I believe he was in his 70's at least, back in 2002 or 2003 when this story takes place. Of course my memory could be off a little but I'm close.
Paul was playing in the backroom poker game when I arrived that night. I think the game started around 4 or 5p.m..
At about 10p.m., Paul quit the poker game and we made a game playing one-pocket on an extremely tight Gold Crown. I think I was giving him 11-6 for $100 a game. I lost the first six games in a row and then won the next two games.
In game number 9 I needed 6 balls and made 5 tough shots to get on the hill. I had shapes on a 1 rail, cross-corner bank, with the object ball just off the rail between our pockets and the cueball set up perfect for banking the ball and sending the cueball uptable. I made the bank but the cueball just dribbles into the side pocket. Paul makes a long straight-in down his rail and banks the second ball on the spot to win the game. I'm down five games.
I rack the balls for game #10, lay my stick on the table, and go to the men's room. When I come back Paul is talking with a couple of guys from New York who just walked in as I was away.
I will not tolerate people distracting me when I am playing and I considered asking the guys to move away from our table. But they are trying to make a game with Paul and they are going to bet $1000 a game. I decide to quit and play Paul another time(never happened). My $100 was nothing compared to what these guys were going to bet and I was willing to let it go till later.
It's now probably close to 2 a.m.. Paul starts playing the guy for $1000 a game, I don't remember how they played. Long story short, I get tired and go home to sleep. I return at aprox. 6 p.m. the next evening. Paul is still playing the same guy, the same game.
When I walk in, the N.Y. guy goes to the men's room. Paul sees me and says (very loudly) "who has more customers than me?" Without missing a beat I reply "McDonalds". All of the railbugs crack up.
I think Paul was down 6 or 7 games when I arrived but over the course of the next 7 or 8 hours he gets even and the guy quits.
The guy's buddy is sleeping in their car in the parking lot and Paul tells him to go and get the other guy. The other guy is the better player and Paul probably assumes that. He comes in, fresh as a daisy and starts playing Paul for $1000 a game, giving him 10-7. It's now around 1 a.m. or so. I watch till around 6 a.m. or so and go home to sleep. Paul has been in poker & pool action for 36-38 hours now.
Paul wears sneakers with the entire toe area cut off so that his sock-covered toes can stick out and be comfortable. He looks like a well dressed, classy gentleman, which he was, until you looked down at his feet and saw his socks sticking out the front.
After going home and sleeping and returning the next night, I arrived to find Paul still playing the second guy 10-7. This is probably around 6 p.m. again. Paul has been in action for 48 hours now and I've gone home twice, to sleep. But now Paul is stuck 7 or 8 games and ends up quitting, out of cash, a few hours later.
This is a man in his 70's at the time and maybe closer to 80 yrs. old. He is/was great to gamble with and all you have to do to beat him is stay awake for 5 or 6 days. Oh yeah, you also have to outplay him and outgamble him.
Not too many players ever put fear into me, but I knew from the start that Paul was not going anywhere when we started playing and that I would have to outlast him. Circumstances happened out the way they did and I never got a chance to try to outlast him. Which I could not have done anyway.
This is my story about the one time that I played Paul Bruesloff, I would like to hear others from some of you old-timers.
Dennis
I have posted before about the first time I ever went into the Rack and I saw Paul playing Clyde Childress, getting 9-7 for $4000 a game. This is a story about another Rack, the R.A.C.. It was technically the Russian-American Club, owned by Steve Lomako, but all of the players knew it was the RackII. It was a private club and stayed open 24 hours if needed.
This is a tale of Paul's gambling abilities and most of all, his endurance. I believe he was in his 70's at least, back in 2002 or 2003 when this story takes place. Of course my memory could be off a little but I'm close.
Paul was playing in the backroom poker game when I arrived that night. I think the game started around 4 or 5p.m..
At about 10p.m., Paul quit the poker game and we made a game playing one-pocket on an extremely tight Gold Crown. I think I was giving him 11-6 for $100 a game. I lost the first six games in a row and then won the next two games.
In game number 9 I needed 6 balls and made 5 tough shots to get on the hill. I had shapes on a 1 rail, cross-corner bank, with the object ball just off the rail between our pockets and the cueball set up perfect for banking the ball and sending the cueball uptable. I made the bank but the cueball just dribbles into the side pocket. Paul makes a long straight-in down his rail and banks the second ball on the spot to win the game. I'm down five games.
I rack the balls for game #10, lay my stick on the table, and go to the men's room. When I come back Paul is talking with a couple of guys from New York who just walked in as I was away.
I will not tolerate people distracting me when I am playing and I considered asking the guys to move away from our table. But they are trying to make a game with Paul and they are going to bet $1000 a game. I decide to quit and play Paul another time(never happened). My $100 was nothing compared to what these guys were going to bet and I was willing to let it go till later.
It's now probably close to 2 a.m.. Paul starts playing the guy for $1000 a game, I don't remember how they played. Long story short, I get tired and go home to sleep. I return at aprox. 6 p.m. the next evening. Paul is still playing the same guy, the same game.
When I walk in, the N.Y. guy goes to the men's room. Paul sees me and says (very loudly) "who has more customers than me?" Without missing a beat I reply "McDonalds". All of the railbugs crack up.
I think Paul was down 6 or 7 games when I arrived but over the course of the next 7 or 8 hours he gets even and the guy quits.
The guy's buddy is sleeping in their car in the parking lot and Paul tells him to go and get the other guy. The other guy is the better player and Paul probably assumes that. He comes in, fresh as a daisy and starts playing Paul for $1000 a game, giving him 10-7. It's now around 1 a.m. or so. I watch till around 6 a.m. or so and go home to sleep. Paul has been in poker & pool action for 36-38 hours now.
Paul wears sneakers with the entire toe area cut off so that his sock-covered toes can stick out and be comfortable. He looks like a well dressed, classy gentleman, which he was, until you looked down at his feet and saw his socks sticking out the front.
After going home and sleeping and returning the next night, I arrived to find Paul still playing the second guy 10-7. This is probably around 6 p.m. again. Paul has been in action for 48 hours now and I've gone home twice, to sleep. But now Paul is stuck 7 or 8 games and ends up quitting, out of cash, a few hours later.
This is a man in his 70's at the time and maybe closer to 80 yrs. old. He is/was great to gamble with and all you have to do to beat him is stay awake for 5 or 6 days. Oh yeah, you also have to outplay him and outgamble him.
Not too many players ever put fear into me, but I knew from the start that Paul was not going anywhere when we started playing and that I would have to outlast him. Circumstances happened out the way they did and I never got a chance to try to outlast him. Which I could not have done anyway.
This is my story about the one time that I played Paul Bruesloff, I would like to hear others from some of you old-timers.
Dennis
