Charles Morrison
Verified Member
I grew up in a small town, Salisbury, NC which had a population of around 30K, There was one pool room during the early 1960’s when I was in high school. It was owned by Ed Rufty, a guy who had made his money during prohibition but later started up a pool room pretty much as a hobby and to have a place to hang out. There were five 4 1/2 by 9 tables and a 6th one that had been converted to a keno board game.
The big money maker for the house was the keno board game (luck more important than skill) that was played on the pool table in the far back section of the room. It featured a wooden board full of circular holes at one end with a ramp leading up to it. Each player drew two numbered pills out of a 16 pill jug. The pill numbers corresponded to the numbered holes on the wooden board. Each time a ball went into a hole where a player had its pill number then he got paid by each of the other players. The game was played almost continuously for at least 10-12 hours every day and it attracted a broad spectrum of players, most of whom were mediocre at pool. Of course, in a four to eight handed keno game, they had a much better chance to win and most of them knew it. The better pool players disliked its popularity, as it took away a lot of the money that they might otherwise have had a chance to win playing pool, but there really wasn't much they could do about it.
The noise level from the keno game permeated the pool room all day. Every time a ball would go up on the board and would circle around the perimeter of one of the holes without dropping in, you could always hear one or more players yelling "whip", "whip", "whip", which meant they wanted to ball to whip into one of the adjoining holes, especially when they held the pill number that corresponded to that hole. In addition, you always heard the shooter yelling "double keno", "double keno" if a ball was rolling around on the board anywhere close to the double keno "wild" hole which paid twice the game's lower stakes amount. Then there were the constant arguments about table bumping, leaning on the rail, etc. Was it inconsequential or did it really change anything? This was one argument. Was it accidental or intentional? This was another argument. Who did it cause to come out better and who did it cause to come out worse? Then still another argument concerning what to do about it.
The losers in the game were always moaning that they hadn't “matched" a pill in 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, whatever. Then there would be a guy bitching because the player in front of him in an eight handed kept playing him safe. Every game he was demanding a redraw for order of shooting. Sometimes, the rest of the players went along and sometimes they didn't.
It was a pretty much an accepted house rule that any player could quit at any time, even in the middle of a game, and regardless of whether he was winning or losing. Naturally, if a guy quit while he was winning he heard the derisive "hit and run, huh" comment from one or more of the other players. Once, I recall watching a game that had gone on for several hours with the same players. One guy who was losing asked the other players how they were doing re winning and losing. After all of the other players said they were net losers he asked "well then who the hell is winning?" One of the spectators pointed to the pool room cash register. Another house rule was that the game was always open and that anybody could get in at the beginning of the next game as long as he was willing to be last in the shooting order in the game in which he got in. I believe the house charged a nickel per cue per game (winner pays) so they wanted as many players as possible at all times.
Many times I can remember sitting and listening to some of the better pool players telling me for hours on end that keno with three players or more was predominantly luck and it made absolutely no sense to play it and give all those lousy pool players a chance to beat them. Naturally, I agreed wholeheartedly because what they were saying was perfectly true. Then, almost in disbelief, I would sometimes watch one of these same guys go get in the keno game that they had just been saying was stupid to play in and then go busted. Then they would come back and sit down and tell me the same thing all over again. I heard more pool players swear off playing keno forever, only to see them playing it again in the next day or so.
Back in the mid 60's, the average keno game would start at 10 cents / 20 cents, then fairly quickly get raised to 25 cents / 50 cents. After lunch it was usually 50 cents / one dollar and by early evening it would usually get raised to $1 / $2. By closing it was almost always at $2 / $4 and on occasion it would get to $4 / $8 or $5 / $10. One night, as I was getting ready to leave (about two hours before closing) there was a three handed $5 / $10 game going. What was of interest was the three players had earlier gone broke with their own money (the big winner had quit) and were now all trying to get even. Each of them was playing with money out of one of those wallets (that belonged to their employer) where there was a chain attached to their belt. One of them was a Budweiser truck driver, one worked at a gas station and the other was a Pepsi Cola truck driver. About a week later, I saw the two "drivers" and they were both wearing the uniform of a different employer. Apparently, they both had gotten fired for losing their employer’s money. Anyway, I would venture to say that the gas station guy was the likely winner on the night of their keno game although I didn't stay around to watch how it ended.
Keno was nothing more than legalized casino gambling on a pool table. Fortunately, I mostly stayed away from it except as a spectator.
The big money maker for the house was the keno board game (luck more important than skill) that was played on the pool table in the far back section of the room. It featured a wooden board full of circular holes at one end with a ramp leading up to it. Each player drew two numbered pills out of a 16 pill jug. The pill numbers corresponded to the numbered holes on the wooden board. Each time a ball went into a hole where a player had its pill number then he got paid by each of the other players. The game was played almost continuously for at least 10-12 hours every day and it attracted a broad spectrum of players, most of whom were mediocre at pool. Of course, in a four to eight handed keno game, they had a much better chance to win and most of them knew it. The better pool players disliked its popularity, as it took away a lot of the money that they might otherwise have had a chance to win playing pool, but there really wasn't much they could do about it.
The noise level from the keno game permeated the pool room all day. Every time a ball would go up on the board and would circle around the perimeter of one of the holes without dropping in, you could always hear one or more players yelling "whip", "whip", "whip", which meant they wanted to ball to whip into one of the adjoining holes, especially when they held the pill number that corresponded to that hole. In addition, you always heard the shooter yelling "double keno", "double keno" if a ball was rolling around on the board anywhere close to the double keno "wild" hole which paid twice the game's lower stakes amount. Then there were the constant arguments about table bumping, leaning on the rail, etc. Was it inconsequential or did it really change anything? This was one argument. Was it accidental or intentional? This was another argument. Who did it cause to come out better and who did it cause to come out worse? Then still another argument concerning what to do about it.
The losers in the game were always moaning that they hadn't “matched" a pill in 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, whatever. Then there would be a guy bitching because the player in front of him in an eight handed kept playing him safe. Every game he was demanding a redraw for order of shooting. Sometimes, the rest of the players went along and sometimes they didn't.
It was a pretty much an accepted house rule that any player could quit at any time, even in the middle of a game, and regardless of whether he was winning or losing. Naturally, if a guy quit while he was winning he heard the derisive "hit and run, huh" comment from one or more of the other players. Once, I recall watching a game that had gone on for several hours with the same players. One guy who was losing asked the other players how they were doing re winning and losing. After all of the other players said they were net losers he asked "well then who the hell is winning?" One of the spectators pointed to the pool room cash register. Another house rule was that the game was always open and that anybody could get in at the beginning of the next game as long as he was willing to be last in the shooting order in the game in which he got in. I believe the house charged a nickel per cue per game (winner pays) so they wanted as many players as possible at all times.
Many times I can remember sitting and listening to some of the better pool players telling me for hours on end that keno with three players or more was predominantly luck and it made absolutely no sense to play it and give all those lousy pool players a chance to beat them. Naturally, I agreed wholeheartedly because what they were saying was perfectly true. Then, almost in disbelief, I would sometimes watch one of these same guys go get in the keno game that they had just been saying was stupid to play in and then go busted. Then they would come back and sit down and tell me the same thing all over again. I heard more pool players swear off playing keno forever, only to see them playing it again in the next day or so.
Back in the mid 60's, the average keno game would start at 10 cents / 20 cents, then fairly quickly get raised to 25 cents / 50 cents. After lunch it was usually 50 cents / one dollar and by early evening it would usually get raised to $1 / $2. By closing it was almost always at $2 / $4 and on occasion it would get to $4 / $8 or $5 / $10. One night, as I was getting ready to leave (about two hours before closing) there was a three handed $5 / $10 game going. What was of interest was the three players had earlier gone broke with their own money (the big winner had quit) and were now all trying to get even. Each of them was playing with money out of one of those wallets (that belonged to their employer) where there was a chain attached to their belt. One of them was a Budweiser truck driver, one worked at a gas station and the other was a Pepsi Cola truck driver. About a week later, I saw the two "drivers" and they were both wearing the uniform of a different employer. Apparently, they both had gotten fired for losing their employer’s money. Anyway, I would venture to say that the gas station guy was the likely winner on the night of their keno game although I didn't stay around to watch how it ended.
Keno was nothing more than legalized casino gambling on a pool table. Fortunately, I mostly stayed away from it except as a spectator.
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