Insurance?

At LeCue in downtown Houston the business guys would come in everyday about noon on lunch break...( late 60's ) They played a game called insurance ( I believe ) for like $2.00. I think it was a form of golf, because it was played on the 5x10 snooker table... Anybody ever heard of it? What was the object of the game and how was it played?

Jeff sparks said:

At LeCue in downtown Houston the business guys would come in everyday about noon on lunch break...( late 60's ) They played a game called insurance ( I believe ) for like $2.00. I think it was a form of golf, because it was played on the 5x10 snooker table... Anybody ever heard of it? What was the object of the game and how was it played?

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Are you talking about liability ???

Jeff sparks said:

At LeCue in downtown Houston the business guys would come in everyday about noon on lunch break...( late 60's ) They played a game called insurance ( I believe ) for like $2.00. I think it was a form of golf, because it was played on the 5x10 snooker table... Anybody ever heard of it? What was the object of the game and how was it played?

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Jimmy B said:

Are you talking about liability ???

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It's a similar game, someone from Cal. brought it to a neighborhood room and we changed it around a little. It's been years since I played but I remember the only person you paid was the player that followed you. If you broke and ran balls everyone paid.

androd said:

It's a similar game, someone from Cal. brought it to a neighborhood room and we changed it around a little. It's been years since I played but I remember the only person you paid was the player that followed you. If you broke and ran balls everyone paid.

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Yep, I think that's right, only paid when you sold out...

I remember Greg Stevens would play for days and nights at a time and finally get so spaced out on the 5th or 6th straight day of playing and get broke...

The next day, he would borrow $10.00 from me or whoever he saw first, and play in that insurance game and build up his bankroll all over again. Only to repeat the same routine of getting broke again after several days of playing, over and over and over....

He was an amazing character who always stayed in action, and impossible to beat playing 9 ball when he had the mixture just right...

He played excellent one pocket as well, Jersey Red could give him 9/8 and win sometimes, but couldn't give him 8/7...

I asked him one time how he always pumped up so quickly after getting broke, he said it's easy, just spot em the nuts and outrun em...

Jimmy B said:

Are you talking about liability ???

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When I lived in San Francisco I played at a Filipino room and they played liability. I loved it. Break and run to the five and both players played. Break and run out both paid the five and nine. That table would run for days.

Scrzbill said:

When I lived in San Francisco I played at a Filipino room and they played liability. I loved it. Break and run to the five and both players played. Break and run out both paid the five and nine. That table would run for days.

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As late as in the nineties it was played at the Hard Times in bellflower. During some of the big rotation tournaments when the elite players would come to play they would play liability on big Bertha. It's played by regular snooker rules. You only pay the person that followed you x amount per point. If you sold out the five then you pay out five. I've seen this game played for $100 a point. If you sold out that five then it cost you $500.

Frank Almanza said:

As late as in the nineties it was played at the Hard Times in bellflower. During some of the big rotation tournaments when the elite players would come to play they would play liability on big Bertha. It's played by regular snooker rules. You only pay the person that followed you x amount per point. If you sold out the five then you pay out five. I've seen this game played for $100 a point. If you sold out that five then it cost you $500.

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In 'Playing Off The Rail' there was a chapter called Liability. It was the highlight of the book for me and David McCumber's writing was excellent in describing the action, and especially Big Bertha.. Annigoni jumped in there with Francisco Galindo, Ismael Paez and Ernesto Dominguez in a $100 per point, regular snooker rules, using three red balls. He got down $14,600 and got it all back. Grady jumped in and lasted 3 games and lost 3k. Parica got in also...LOL .Jose had a ball bounce out of the golf one hole pocket and line up for Tony A. in the side. Tony ran a 34. That was right near the end of their 13 hour session. Parica had robbed the game for thousands, weeks earlier, but not that day.. It sounded pretty rough....Tally for Tony and The Author (backer). $160 to the good. Table time $140. Tough action..

The only time I ever played against Keith McCready was a liability game on a very tight snooker table at a place called Players in L.A. The owner Ferrell was the other person in the game. I was up several hundred, Keith was about even and Ferrell was losing. Suddenly, McCready caught a gear and started making balls I had never seen made on that table. Fortunately, Ferrell went busted and I escaped the game about even, McCready went from even to big winner.