I Have similar "scratches" stories. In Oklahoma City at Truelove’s, One Eyed Tony Howard played me 8 to 6 and I played him that his scratches don’t count. I won with the game and about a month or so later Tony was killed in a car crash.
One other time, I had been saving the scratches hustle for a key spot and so I had never exposed it in the Billiard Café of Chicago, a poolroom I had been hanging out in for a few years.
I was in there one afternoon when Dr Bill and a contingent of pool players came in, just returning from an all night gamble at another pool room. Dr Bill and his crew had been gambling against a high rolling “dealer” (he did not work in Casinos) named Chino, and had come out on the short end for many thousands.
Chino was not ready to go to sleep and he hit on me for a game that I had offered earlier. He was a weak player and I had offered him 10 to 7, break apiece, and his scratches don’t count. The line was open and I could have bet whatever I wanted. I only had $200 on me and so I went to Dr Bill and told him I had been saving this game for a special occasion and this sure looked like it. Chino had at least $25,000 on him in cash.
For whatever reason Billy thought that I had made a bad bet, didn’t want anything to do with it, and wished me luck -- on my own. I don’t think Dr Bill was well versed in the scratches don’t count angle at that time. Everybody thought that I was in a trap – and that is exactly what you want everybody to think if you are going to take off a lemon score – and if I was going to proceed I would have to take a shot with that meager $200 -- one barrel.
We started playing $200 a game, I could have started at $2000 a game. Was I a little shaky? Damn right I was. With every roll going for Chino, I won the first and lost the next 2 and got broke. All the told-you-so’ers were now content with their decision to not support me in that game. (Even tho they had lost about 14k betting on a pool moron against Chino the night before)
As fate and fortune would have it, about a week later I am in the poolroom in the early afternoon, all by myself, and Chino comes in and is hot to play. Now, I have only got $40 as my bankroll. Chino was so eager to play that scratches game that he agrees to play for $10 a game. Now with me holding four barrels for protection, Jesus couldn’t have provided enough bad rolls to overcome how much of the nuts that I had in the game.
Bottom line is, I kept winning and we kept raising the bet. When the smoke cleared Chino had went for about $4500 off of that original $10 bet. You can only imagine how many games ahead I must have come.
Like Androd suggested, scratches-don’t-count has a hypnotic effect on the victim/recipient and they have a tough time quitting.
Beard
Later in the match, many of the people who were there the first time Chino and I played came in, and when they seen the carnage, started betting on me. It is another interesting story what I did to punish those that were unbelievers in my first encounter with Chino. But, that is another story.
Here is "another story" of how to handle the "outside."
We played the same game and I won a million in a row and he kept raising it. People started filtering in and when they smelled the blood they started betting Chino on the side, Cardone included. Not one to let the outside steal my score, especially since they thought I was too dumb to beat him the first time when he had the 25k, I made my declaration, 15% of the side action goes to me every game or I promised to go into the tank. They initially refused until I broke the balls wide open and then they reluctantly made the concession.
No telling how many games I won that way, he couldnt figure out why he was losing. I ended up with about $4500 and he blew anothe 5k on the side.
Beard