Greatest Hustler of all time.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Earl 'the Pearl' Strickland hustled in North Carolina and Texas in his early years at nine ball pool. He had about fifty different allises's

'Titanic Thompson' is another famous hustler, he never turned pro, he also hustled golf, once beating Ben Hogan in matchplay. He lived the real hustle life and was openly involved with organised crime. He killed 5 people in his life and never caught a murder conviction or any sort of punishment.


Any other famous cue sports hustlers out there.

Monkeybonkers

Danny 'Kid Delicious' Basavich was another hustler whose book I read a while ago. He's now a pro pool player but hustled a good bit when he was younger. There was a hustling 'school' where players used to go to learn how to play and also other hustling tricks. Interesting read. Not sure if he was one of the GOAT but he seemed to do OK for himself.

Spiderpig92

Fast Eddie Felson

JohnFalstaff

Cliff Thorburn, who in 1980 became the first non-British player to win the world championship, learned his craft crisscrossing North America - hitchhiking, hustling local hotshots here, there, and everywhere.

Excerpt from his 1987 autobiography: Playing For Keeps

I'd go into town in this old mechanic's uniform, which was absolutely filthy. I'd stop by a gas station and stick some grease over my hands. I'd remember the name of the gas station so that I could say I worked there, and go into town into a pool room.

In Odessa, Texas, once I beat a guy for $700 and he says to me, "Where are you from, boy?"
"Seattle Washington"
"You work around here?"
"Yeah."
"Where?"
"At the Mobil Station down the road."
"Yeah? Which one?"
I said such and such on such and such a highway.
He said, "No, you don't."
I said , "Yes, I do."
He said, "No, you don't. I own the place."

When interviewed by Mordecai Richler later in his career, Richler asked him why he became a professional snooker player in the first place.
"There was nobody left to hustle," replied Thorburn.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Some of the stakes guys played for in 9 ball were unbelievable, 30k a rack in some cases. In the Strickland interview I watched he said things could turn very nasty at those games. The hustlers would usually have one or two shady customers in their party at least one of whom would be packing a gun. Trying to pull a fast one would get you killed

This probably still goes on in American cities, it's probably the only way to make money in pool these days since the arse fell out of the pro game in the recession.

cack_handed

Once asked who was the greatest snooker player he'd ever seen, Jimmy White replied without skipping a beat his fellow south londoner, Patsy Houlihan. Although blessed with mesmerising talent Houlihan was happiest on the match making circuit, earning cult status as the best hustler around, never making it in the pro ranks because Joe Davis, Mr so-called snooker at the time, didn't approve of such antics. A wonderfully entertaining character by all accounts

mr lee

effren reyes,richest ever pool player and the greatest,closely followed by mike sigel