The Oklahoma Roots of One Pocket

[RabbiHippie]

Has anybody ever played a game of front-and-back One Pocket? I've never seen a game played like that, just the front two corner pockets with a ball spot. Most exotic handicap I've seen was the "hit and pick."

I gather front-and-back used to be a common handicap. Jersey Red was famous for huge front-and-back spots and Eddie Robin's book Winning One Pocket (p. 30) says it was popular from the 30's and 50's.

I wonder if the old-timers were influenced by Corners and were more comfortable with a back table game bet

 

[gulfportdoc]

Has anybody ever played a game of front-and-back One Pocket? I've never seen a game played like that, just the front two corner pockets with a ball spot. Most exotic handicap I've seen was the "hit and pick."

I gather front-and-back used to be a common handicap. Jersey Red was famous for huge front-and-back spots and Eddie Robin's book Winning One Pocket (p. 30) says it was popular from the 30's and 50's.

I wonder if the old-timers were influenced by Corners and were more comfortable with a back table game bet

How do you mean, RH? Are the two scoring pockets at the opposite end of the ball rack?

 

[RabbiHippie]

How do you mean, RH? Are the two scoring pockets at the opposite end of the ball rack?

Fair question. I've never seen One Pocket played this way either, only read about it. Eddie Robin and Willie Jopling both call it "Back-to-Front One Pocket."

Jopling made a pamphlet called "One Pocket Handicapping: Thirty-nine Spots, Propositions and Hustles" where no. #32 is "Eight in The Back, Two in The Front." Joplin says it was a "classic One Pocket hustle almost as old as the game itself."

32. Eight in The Back, Two in The Front ... This is a classic One Pocket hustle almost as old as the game itself. Tell your opponent you're going to make eight in a corner at the foot of the table and he only needs to make two in a corner at the head of the table. Give him the corner on your side of the table if you both play the same speed, or let him take a pick if he is a weaker player. (The hustle here is that you can play him so safe on a pocket at the head of the table that he will start talking to himself. After the break the balls are all down table; just keep them there and don't leave him a bank.)

Scoring on the opposite end of table from the rack is how the Corners game was played, but not as a hustle. Both players had pockets on the same end so neither was at a disadvantage.

Here's page 31 from Eddie Robin's Winning One Pocket where he diagrams some break shots for this version:

 

[Billy Jackets]

I am looking forward to reading it , thanks for all the hard work.

 

[RabbiHippie]

I am looking forward to reading it , thanks for all the hard work.

You can read the 1st installment of the book right now, in case you didn't see it on the home page. If you have the forum bookmarked, it's easy to miss the new stuff.

The Oklahoma Roots of One Pocket

The 2nd installment of the book is already done and should be available next month. @cincy_kid and @NH Steve put in extra hours getting the history on the website. I don't know if everyone realizes how much work it takes to keep the website running, but it's much appreciated.

 

[RabbiHippie]

@gulfportdoc, like you I'm trying to picture what these old versions of One Pocket looked like and how to play them.

There was a game of Corners going on when I saw the funny-looking table with only two pockets. But I didn't watch closely enough to get a feel for what kind of patterns you would use.

Seems to me both Corners and Back-to-Front would tend to strengthen your up-table game.