6 minute read
Texas Tony - A Tale of pool
by Daniel Cosper When I was 13, Texas Tony was one of the best 9-Ball players at Red Carpet Billiards. He was wise for his age and had a special rule about never giving lessons for free. I knew if I could ever get him to play me my game would considerably improve. He showed up regularly on Friday nights to play in Desoto Don’s Midnight five dollar 9-ball tournament. On this particular Friday night it was still early yet almost all the players were in attendance, including Texas Tony. Both Poker Paul and Desoto Don had been mentoring me for weeks on how to get him to play me. True, I had strong young eyes and a little talent, yet Texas Tony believed these advanced lessons were not suitable for someone of my young age. After all I was a just boy and these men simply thought I wasn’t quite ready for the brutal reality of a true pool hustler’s game. My plan was to propose some simple action before the tournament started as a warm up session. All the 9-Ball players always gathered together before the tournament to swap stories and tell lies, and with all his brethren gathered around him I spotted an opening and took my shot: “Say TT, how about some 9-ball action for 25 a game?” They all looked surprised to say the least! He cautioned me, “you don’t want to throw your money away Kid, save it for a rainy day!” I said, “Hey, if you’re not up for it, I promise not to tell your girlfriend!” It got laughs from all the brethren who were now each encouraging TT to “Go ahead and play the Kid! Show him what you know!” When he stood up and grabbed his stick he asked me if I was sure I wanted to play for 25 a game? I told him, “Sure! I’m ready! I got a whole pocket full of quarters right here!” All the brethren busted out laughing again and each one insisted he had to play me now! We lagged for break and he won and over the next two hours beat me 88 times for a grand total of $22 bucks! But that’s not the whole story! True, I lost, but every once in a while I’d put him in a spot where he’d actually have to show me what he knows to win! I noticed at those times he’d distract his brethren’s attention across the room at a pretty girl then shoot the tough shot when they weren’t looking, yet I watched and studied every shot he made. To how he analyzed a shot, how he focused, to how hard he concentrated on the tough ones. I studied his stance stroke and bridging and just as Poker Paul and Desoto Don predicted I got a crash course in 9-ball for $22 bucks, which would have cost anyone else hundreds$$$! The very next week I played in Desoto Don’s Race to 5 Tournament and was pitted up against Texas Tony in the very first match. I used every trick he used on me from the week before and I won 5 games in a row! I won the last game with a shot he actually showed me! The 9 ball was hanging in the pocket and I had a three ball combination lining up down the rail, instead I shot the 3 ball around the 8 off the rail and made the 9! A slick shot for a 13 year-old Camino Kid.
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by John Langwig
Being in the pool business and having invented a game that involves the ubiquitous Kelly Pills and shake bottle, I wondered what the pills were originally for and why there are sixteen of them. Players who have seen the bottle and pills a million times donít know much about them. Up until quite recently every new pool table came with a bottle and pills as part of the accessories.
Attempting to track the origin of the pills and bottle brings one back to America in the first half of the 19th century when billiard parlors first began to appear in the cities. We know that the invention of the pills precedes the game of Kelly, and although the exact date and original purpose of the pills is lost in the fog of history, a look at how pool was played yields some possible answers.
These early rooms had tables, but no balls. Players from this era owned not only a cue, but a set of three or four Carom billiards balls. Three balls was the most common, but you can find both kinds of sets for sale today. If you went to the billiard parlor, you would bring the balls with you. These sets most commonly consist of one red ball and two white balls, although some have a red, a white, and a yellow.
When reading periodicals and literary references to billiards from the nineteenth century, mention was often made of a person working in the billiard parlor whose job title was Billiard Marker. References to the Billiard Marker can be found as early as 1800. The games they played in that era were scored on points, and someone was certainly needed to record the scoring. While the Markersí duties are variously listed as collecting money, keeping the peace, and keeping score for the players on a chalkboard, there may have been another job that helps explain the job title.
Picture yourself in 1830 going to the billiard parlor to play. When you come into the room there might be a few people already playing carom billiards and they all have the exact same set of balls that you brought with you. But over at another table are four friends of yours and they suggest that you five players put your balls together and play the new game of the day ìPoolî.
The game called Pool is an old game, with rules first appearing in print around 1820. It is a game that any number of players could play. So, a pool of players would pool their balls, and pool a wager, and play Pool. When colored balls became available, the game was played with them.
The game called Pool has a complex point scoring system and a marker board was regularly used. The Billiard Markersí duties included marking the scores. Pool, and its successor, Pyramid quickly overtook English and carom billiards in popularity, at least in America. But, how did the players ìpoolîù their balls together and still go home with the same ones they brought?
I believe that to solve this dilemma one of the jobs of the Billiard Marker, one of the duties that earned him the title, was to mark numbers on the balls as they were brought in, so that each player knew which balls were his. It is not much of a stretch to postulate that this practice was the origin of numbered pool balls. Russian Pyramid to this day is played with all white balls with numbers on them.
