Johnny Ervolino

I get the chance a few a times a month to play some 1pocket with Ervolino. Does anyone have any stories they could share about him. It seems to me like he was a great player in his prime.

P.S. I like this site, its good to see people trying to promote the game. As far as I am concerned they could ban 9-ball forever. Even though i am forced to play it sometines just to get some action.

Looking forward to meeting some new friends here, and maybe we can meet and play some one-pocket if anyone visits vegas.

Bank2Win

I dont have any personal stories about Ervolino, but I did just watch a match of him in straight pool the other night. I think he was playing Earl if I remember correctly. He put a pretty good run on Earl to start, but couldnt hang on to the match. He is a strong player from what I saw, I would have loved to see him hang on to the match and win.

He was telling me that a few years agon in NY, he become the oldest man ever to run over 300 ball.. something like 335 Balls.

Ervolino

Ervolino

bank2win said:

I get the chance a few a times a month to play some 1pocket with Ervolino. Does anyone have any stories they could share about him. It seems to me like he was a great player in his prime.

P.S. I like this site, its good to see people trying to promote the game. As far as I am concerned they could ban 9-ball forever. Even though i am forced to play it sometines just to get some action.

Looking forward to meeting some new friends here, and maybe we can meet and play some one-pocket if anyone visits vegas.

Bank2Win

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In the mid 60's there was a ton of action in So. CA. I used to hang out at 5 Points Bowl, a 24 hour joint with a pool room in it. It seemed like every road player in the country came through sooner or later, and there are many stories, but here is one about Johnny Ervolino: I was in my mid 20's and my best game was golf on a 5 x 10 snooker table. I got Ervolino down for $10 a game and beat him for $50 or $60. He was pissed that a nobody like me could beat him at anything and you would have thought I made a big score if you heard all the noise he made. About 4 in the morning he was holding court in the coffee shop and somebody asked him why all the East Coast players were in Ca. He said: "I play at the 7-11 in New York. You want to win a hundred dollars there, you better not ever miss a ball and then you better be tough enough to get out with the $$. In CA, A-***** this (he pointed at me) run around with $500 and they will bet it. That's why we are in CA.

Johnny

Johnny

I have just heard his voice on some of the accustats videos. He sounds like an old gangster from the 1940's. He is fun to listen to when he is commentating.

jrhendy said:

In the mid 60's there was a ton of action in So. CA. I used to hang out at 5 Points Bowl, a 24 hour joint with a pool room in it. It seemed like every road player in the country came through sooner or later, and there are many stories, but here is one about Johnny Ervolino: I was in my mid 20's and my best game was golf on a 5 x 10 snooker table. I got Ervolino down for $10 a game and beat him for $50 or $60. He was pissed that a nobody like me could beat him at anything and you would have thought I made a big score if you heard all the noise he made. About 4 in the morning he was holding court in the coffee shop and somebody asked him why all the East Coast players were in Ca. He said: "I play at the 7-11 in New York. You want to win a hundred dollars there, you better not ever miss a ball and then you better be tough enough to get out with the $$. In CA, A-***** this (he pointed at me) run around with $500 and they will bet it. That's why we are in CA.

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Never played in the NY area, John but NY Blackie told me the same thing about the place back then. Said that's why he left.

BTW, John, $10 a game, how much a HICKIE? Our standard was 5&1, 10&2 then we jumped to 20&5, then back to the 50&10, etc.

hemicudas said:

Never played in the NY area, John but NY Blackie told me the same thing about the place back then. Said that's why he left.

BTW, John, $10 a game, how much a HICKIE? Our standard was 5&1, 10&2 then we jumped to 20&5, then back to the 50&10, etc.

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I think it was $1 a hickey. Ervolino & Blackie were both all around players and played several games well. I think Ervolino was a better player, but Blackie was around CA longer. I played a lot of ring snooker with Blackie on a 6 x 12 in Bellflower, and a little payball on a 5 x 10. We also played three cushion billiards a couple of times. The only other time I played Ervolino was in a one pocket tournament in Seattle and he beat me 4 to zip. They were both much better players than I was.

jrhendy said:

I think it was $1 a hickey. Ervolino & Blackie were both all around players and played several games well. I think Ervolino was a better player, but Blackie was around CA longer. I played a lot of ring snooker with Blackie on a 6 x 12 in Bellflower, and a little payball on a 5 x 10. We also played three cushion billiards a couple of times. The only other time I played Ervolino was in a one pocket tournament in Seattle and he beat me 4 to zip. They were both much better players than I was.

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Last time I saw Ervolino was in Vegas in 1996. He was matched up with an old running mate of mine named "Smokey" Joe Bartlet, who went by the alias, Jesse Justice when he lived in Jackson back in the 70s. Joe was also known, jokingly as, Charles Manson. Looked just like him. Long beard and hair to his waist. Only about 5'8" tall. Joe was a good money maker and played about my speed when he lived here. Maybe the last two over me. I tryed many times to play him one pocket and he allways said he hated the game and wouldn't play. I moved to Chicago in 1979 and hadn't seen Joe until my trip to Vegas in 1996, when I ran into him playing,,,,,,,,,,get this,,,,,,,,,,,Johnny Ervolino, even one pocket. I couldn't believe it. This guy, who wouldn't play me was now playing Ervolino, AND WINNING. They were playing for 3-4 hundred a game and Joe was up 4 games at the time. First thing he says to me is, "You're next". I told him he had missed his chance many years ago. I had to leave before they quit playing but Ervolino had come back and was only a game or two down. Never found out who took it off. Joe was the only player I ever knew who actually got, much, better the older he got.

Say Howdy

Say Howdy

bank2win said:

I get the chance a few a times a month to play some 1pocket with Ervolino. Does anyone have any stories they could share about him. It seems to me like he was a great player in his prime.
Looking forward to meeting some new friends here, and maybe we can meet and play some one-pocket if anyone visits vegas.

Bank2Win

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Next time you see Johnny, tell him "Action Jackson" from Vegas says Howdy!
I am now living near Seattle and will be opening a pool room about the first of the year. Thanks...
*** I do have a few "Johnny" Stories but too long to type them out..

In 2000, at the age of 65, Johnny Ervolino ran 333 balls at The Billiard Emporium in Commack, NY (on Long Island). And one pocket was his best game!

BackPocket9Ball said:

In 2000, at the age of 65, Johnny Ervolino ran 333 balls at The Billiard Emporium in Commack, NY (on Long Island). And one pocket was his best game!

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BP9B, was this witnessed and attested to by reliable sources? Perhaps you were there? That's an incredible feat at any age, but at 65 it's even moreso!! What kind of equipment was he playing on?

Doc

I was not there to witness it, but many were and there is a big plaque hanging on the wall commemorating it as the room's high run. Also Johnny has the high straight pool run at Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan. It's around 260, I think, and it was done maybe a couple of years earlier (maybe 1998 or 1999).

Both runs were on bucket tables. Of course, most high straight pool runs have been performed on loose tables. But bucket or not, these are incredible achievements for a man in his 60s.

2000 was clearly a good year for Johnny. He also finished 5th at Grady's World One Pocket Championships that year -- ahead of Larry Lisciotti, Cliff Joyner, Corey Deuel, Ginky, Tom Wirth, Ronnie Wiseman, Howard Vickery, and Shannon Daulton, among others.

Howdy Hemicudas,
I heard ``Smokey``has been hanging around Jacksonville,FL.Cheers
Vagabond

I've known Johnny Ervolino ever since I've been a pup. Matter of fact, the last time I was in Las Vegas, I played him one-pocket and tried to play him 9 to 7, which he drilled me. I didn't think the old man had it in him anymore, but he surprised the heck out of me. He could make a bank from anywhere and still runs a lot of balls.

When I was younger, I used to watch him play straight pool against the likes of Joe Balsis, Irving Crane, Luther Lassiter, Boston Shorty, and so on. The one unique thing about him, I love the way he long-strokes a cue-ball.

Next time I see him, I'll be looking forward to playing him some more. He is a lot of fun to play with!

The top ten bite men

The top ten bite men

Irvalino, who I love dearly to this day, as great a player as he was, was just as good a degenerate gambler and master bite man. He put the greatest bite move on me in Vegas in the 70's. Its started in LA at a tourn. I was broke and trying to borrow money. I asked Johnny for a bite and he told me, no, he didnt have any money but if he had had money I could get anything I wanted. 3 mo. later in Vegas I made a 15k score at the dice table with Johnny at my side. He bit me for 900$! His logic was, "When you came to me broke in LA, needing money, what did I tell you?" "That if I had it you could get anything you wanted. Now how are you going to treat me?" Behind that irrefutable logic I unassed the 900. It was only later that I realized he had never given me anything but in actuallity had turned me down!
I still love him and would really like to hang with him again.
Freddy the beard.

The #1 Bite Man(IMO)

The #1 Bite Man(IMO)

Freddy -
I think the title of #1 Bite Man in the history of pool has to go to St. Louie, Louie.
When flat broke and at a tourney in KY once, he was asked to play a short race for just $100. He would have had "The Nuts" and he and everyone knew it, including the player wanting to play. HE SAID NO!
When asked - How could you turn down such a good game when you’re flat broke? Louie said - Hell, have you seen all the spectators around here, it would take 45 min. to an hour to play that set and I can average $250 an hour, Just "On The Bite".
Louie & I were pretty close for many years and he is the only "Bite Man" I know of who had it down to an hourly average.
As I have mentioned before, one time in your poolroom, Louie took off a pretty big score against Bernie Swartz. Right after the match, everyone started going to Louie for the money he owed them. Larry Hubbard & I had driven Louie up there from St. Louis and we practically had to carry him down the stairs to get him away from the crowd of debtors.
The three of us went to breakfast down the street and while eating, Louie gave Larry & me $500 a piece. We had both had a nice side-bet on Louie and didn't have a dime coming from his middle bet and we both told him so.
"Here is a very scary in-site into Louie's thinking" -
He said - Hey, we're all from St. Louis and you guys know, as well as I do, That I'm going to be broke again in less than 2 days. So I want you to have this to remember this score.
I never did forget that statement and the thinking behind it.
For years, whenever Louie went "On The Bite" and I was around, I just took out $20 and gave it to him without him saying a word. When he would press for more, I would always say, "Louie, this is YOUR BEST GAME, Don't waist it on me, Go Get Em"!

TY & GL

ajrack said:

Next time you see Johnny, tell him "Action Jackson" from Vegas says Howdy!
I am now living near Seattle and will be opening a pool room about the first of the year. Thanks...
*** I do have a few "Johnny" Stories but too long to type them out..

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Ajrack,

Are you still planning on opening a room near Seattle? If so, will it be open soon?

Lunchmoney

Louie and the bite

Louie and the bite

St Louie Louie did this in my joint in Chicago. He was playing and spotting somebody when about 5 killers all happeded to show up at the same time to watch the game. It appeared Louie had hocked his cue for different prices to all five thugs and they showed up in case he won to get their money. Once they realized he had hornswaggled all of them they began to argue as to who the cue really belonged to. Gangster pride was an issue and blood was going to flow. Nobody wanted the other guy to have the stick. Louie heard the grumbling and he was sweating profusely. Then in one of the great moments of thinking on your feet in history, he missed an eight ball, hesitated and then smashed the stick to smithereens on the rail. Nobody gets the cue. After a moment the thugs began laughing, realizing the crisis was over and they made comments like, "That Louie's really crazy aint he?" and "Aint no crazier than we are for lending that sumbitch and money!"
The Beard

You tell him Big Steve in Miami wants to hear from him...get me a # where I can contact him!! Thanks in advance.

Voodoo Daddy said:

You tell him Big Steve in Miami wants to hear from him...get me a # where I can contact him!! Thanks in advance.

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Howdy,
He is one of the regulars in Cue club in Las Vegas.Give a call to cue club.Cheers
Vagabond