I played Mario a few times when I was a kid getting the wild eight at fourth and Main in LA. I ran into him in San Jose in the early 80’s and he could not believe there was a game I could beat him at, and I beat him playing one pocket four or five times before he pulled up. He left LA for Florida for awhile and when he came back they touted him as a bar pool champion. I watched Don Watson destroy him at the 3P’s in El Monte.
I went to Daisy Maes a few times, but I was not much of a bar pool player and in those days my best game was snooker and golf. Chris, the manager there was a friend so I would go down and check out the action once and a while, but never played there. I could not play a lick with the big cue ball. I could beat suckers but that place was full of champions. I had three sons born in the early sixties, and while I still played a bit, I did not travel much and stuck to snooker and golf.
There was action everywhere in those days in the bars. I looked younger than I was and wore glasses and did not look like I had been hanging around pool rooms for 8/10 years. The local champions had no chance against a kid who grew up in a pool room. By the 70’s you needed someone along to make sure you got out alive. The known action bars were not a problem, but I could not beat those guys. I tried a few times, but after blowing a couple paychecks along with one of my brothers, playing Bakersfield Bobby and Tijuana Joe one night, I realized bar pool was not for me.
There was a Mexican guy named Leon from Odessa, Texas that would come to town once and a while chasing Archie The Greek to play one pocket, cards or dice. One time he brought this red headed Mexican player with him who beat Doc Brienza in the Golden Cue where I hung out. The Greek was not around and I figured Leon knew that and I asked him what he was doing in town. He said they were there to play Keith if they could get any weight.This was when Keith was riding high and staked by Charlie The Ape, who would bet high. Charlie said even or nothing and they did not play. I heard later on this was Canelo.
I met Charlie when he lived in Pasadena and hung out at Bahama Lanes and hustled a little pool and cards. He was a shortstop then and did not get into money until he moved to Orange County a few years later. I beat him out of a little money playing nine ball and when he dogged an easy nine, he stiffed me the last game then put the end of the cue in his mouth and broke it about 6/8” from the tip. Scared the shit out of me and then I he bit me for $20 more. I asked him if that was enough.
I played most of the guys on your list of players at one time or the other over the years, even booked a winner once and a while, and the ones I did not play, I sweated. Seems like anyone that could draw their ball came through California in the 60’s/early 70’s. Johnny Ervolino came to Five Points Bowl and I trapped him in a golf game and he might have lost $50 before he quit. Later on in the coffee shop he was holding court and someone asked him why the east coast players were in CA. Now he is still hot about losing the $50. He says ‘I come from The Golden Cue in Brooklyn. You want to win $100 there, you better never miss a ball and then be tough enough to get out with the money’. Then he points at me and says ‘Out here, guys like this run around with $500 and they will bet it’.
Good post John,
The Humdingers ( all 3 of them ) were run by the guy who brought me to La... His name was Wayne Copeland AKA “Fat Rat”. He was about 5’ 8” and weighed over 400 lbs... His alias was appropriate... He was fat, and he was a rat...
He wouldn’t bet fat meat was greasy, he was a total nut hunter... I had called him from Houston and tried to get him to stake me long distance and of course he wouldn’t go for that, no way he would send cash, but said he would send me a one way plane ticket to LA and I could stay at his place until I got pumped up... He said the action was non stop... Well I happened to be financially challenged at the time, so I said send it...
Life takes some strange turns and that trip to LA would basically shape the rest of my life... Fat Rat picked me up at the airport and took me to his place in Garden Grove where upon arrival, I met my future bride... She was visiting with a friend, and when I exited the car that day, she told her friend she was gonna marry that guy... We have been together now for almost 49 years and I gotta say, she’s the best woman I ever met...
Anyway, the Rat had me playing every night at the Humdingers... It was easy action and they played table challenge 8 ball mostly, mostly for $5.00 and $10.00 a game... You’re right about the bar pool back then John, you could go into almost any bar and play $5/$10 nine ball or 8 ball... I didn’t like it, but it was a way to get a bankroll without any risk other than maybe the occasional poor loser or drunk wanting to fight...
It wasn’t long until I broke up the partnership with the Rat, because anytime I wanted to stretch out a bit and play a player, he was out... He just wouldn’t gamble and that eventually led to us splitting up... The final straw was when I got challenged to play some by Jimmie Reid on a 9’ table and the Rat said no...
A guy who didn’t even know me that well said, “Here Jeff take this $500.00 and play him some 9 ball for $50.00 a game.” I didn’t win, but I didn’t lose either, we played for 8 hours and broke even... I remember how good that made me feel that a guy who barely knew me was willing to put up money for me to play tough competition... The only name I knew him by was Guatemala, I never knew his real name, but he showed heart that day and I never forgot it...We cut up money on several occasions after that, he was a good guy...
I met Archie Karas in Vegas, I watched him lose $4,000,000.00 in 45 minutes at the Shoe... I was playing at the table when two of those giant security guards Jack had working for him came and said they were closing down the table... Well I knew that meant one thing, Archie was coming to play and he had been beating their brains out and I wanted to watch... I just slide over to the next table on the end closest to the table they shut down and I had the best seat in the house... Archie showed in a few minutes carrying two racks of $5000.00 chips... That’s $1,000,000.00 in chips... He went to the cage 3 more times in the next 45 minutes and each time he brought back another $1,000,000.00 He left empty... He lost the $4,000,000.00 in 45 minutes, I couldn’t get over it...
Archie had started that unbelievable run playing Bobby Baldwin one pocket for $1000.00 a game, ON THE WIRE!!!
It’s my understanding, he had little or no money and they just kept track of the games on the overhead string... He would get 5 games up and Bobby just kept raising the bet, first to $5000.00 a game, then to $25,000.00 and finally to $50,000.00 a game... and Archie won $1.6 million and got paid... Then according to what Archie told me, he played Doyle, Chip Reese, and Johnny Chan head up Razz, each for a freeze out of $500,000.00, $250,000.00 each... And he beat all 3 of them... Then he started the craps... He told me he had every $5,000.00 chip that Binions owned at one time... About $30,000,000.00 worth of them...
Archie shot from basically the center of the table and apparently was able to have some control of the dice... He beat em up until they added an eighth inch of foam under the cloth on all their tables and that was the time I witnessed him lose...
Archie snapped to it, and took his business across the street to the Nugget, but Jack Binion reeled him back in... He had some $25,000.00 Horseshoe chips made with Archie’s picture on every one of them and that brought him back to the shoe... He lost it all...
Archie told me this story at the Commerce Club several years after the fact... Cole Dickson and I were there for the poker tournament and Archie sits down with us and is short on cash and wants to bite us for $200.00. I asked him to tell the story and he did... At the end, I asked him what was he trying to win??? He had $30,000,000.00 from nothing... He said he wanted to win $100,000,000.00 and be the biggest winner in history... Cole gave him the Duece...