jack johnson

frmn

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Not sure of the spelling but whatever happened to Jack Johnson. He was the guy that put on "The Last Call for Nineball" in Atlantic City with a forty thouuuuuuusand dollar first prize. I used to see him playing one pocket in vegas at Cuetopia. He wasn't to bad of a player. Did he just run out of chips?
 

NH Steve

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frmn said:
Not sure of the spelling but whatever happened to Jack Johnson. He was the guy that put on "The Last Call for Nineball" in Atlantic City with a forty thouuuuuuusand dollar first prize. I used to see him playing one pocket in vegas at Cuetopia. He wasn't to bad of a player. Did he just run out of chips?
I believe he was the friend of Weenie Beenie that got Beenie the casino job, which led to the Last Call for Nine Ball. With Beenie having passed, was Jack in the same generation?
 

wincardona

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frmn said:
Not sure of the spelling but whatever happened to Jack Johnson. He was the guy that put on "The Last Call for Nineball" in Atlantic City with a forty thouuuuuuusand dollar first prize. I used to see him playing one pocket in vegas at Cuetopia. He wasn't to bad of a player. Did he just run out of chips?
Jack Johnson is a crook, I would never say that about a person unless I had a strong reason to say it. His real name is Butch something or another, Freddie probably knows it, his memory is much better than mine.

Ten years ago I had a deal with Jack involving large money $$$$$ which I personally gave to him to invest, he took the money and I haven't seen nor heard from him since. I do realize it was my fault for trusting him with such a large sum of money, that's on me. But that doesn't change the fact that he's a scum bag.

I believe he's in Asia working in the casino industry.

Billy I.
 

fred bentivegna

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I forgot too

I forgot too

wincardona said:
Jack Johnson is a crook, I would never say that about a person unless I had a strong reason to say it. His real name is Butch something or another, Freddie probably knows it, his memory is much better than mine.

Ten years ago I had a deal with Jack involving large money $$$$$ which I personally gave to him to invest, he took the money and I haven't seen nor heard from him since. I do realize it was my fault for trusting him with such a large sum of money, that's on me. But that doesn't change the fact that he's a scum bag.

I believe he's in Asia working in the casino industry.

Billy I.

I cant think of the guys name either. I think you told me the story but I have forgotten the details. Wasnt he from Florida?

Beard
 

wincardona

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fred bentivegna said:
I cant think of the guys name either. I think you told me the story but I have forgotten the details. Wasnt he from Florida?

Beard
I believe he lived in either Atlanta or the Carolina's, not sure which.

By the way i'm back in Dallas and I brought you back some olive oil from Italy, pm me your address and i'll send it to you. I was going to stop in Chicago on my way back but I had some hip pain issues and decided to go straight back to Dallas. I'm doing better now and will start to play a little pool today.

What happened to Artie? Haven't read any of his books/post lately.

Billy I.
 

Grady

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Here's some help

Here's some help

He's from Augusta, called Butch and he weighed 300 lbs.When Atlantic City opened up he and Joe Veasey got jobs in management. Augusta spawned several lowlifes, including David Sizemore.
Jack "Butch" Johnson was a decent pool sucker and he played at one of the two small downtown rooms.
 

fred bentivegna

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Open to the public

Open to the public

wincardona said:
I believe he lived in either Atlanta or the Carolina's, not sure which.

By the way i'm back in Dallas and I brought you back some olive oil from Italy, pm me your address and i'll send it to you. I was going to stop in Chicago on my way back but I had some hip pain issues and decided to go straight back to Dallas. I'm doing better now and will start to play a little pool today.

What happened to Artie? Haven't read any of his books/post lately.

Billy I.

My address is an open book. (In case anyone wants to write and beg forgiveness.)

Fred Bentivegna
445 W 27th St
Chicago, IL 60616

Talked to Artie this morn. He is going to visit the BCA Trade show today -- with the guy that got him a show badge -- Eddie Robin. He said he cant wait to pump Eddie for some new 1pkt. moves. Not. Not. JK. JK.

Beard

I forgot to mention that y'all miss him
 

beatle

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cadillac joe veasey made steve the whale look like a saint. but i am biased as i have had a lot of fun messing with the whale in his younger days
when toby sweet helped him with his pool game. the whale was a fun guy and veasey wasnt one to be within a mile of.
 

wincardona

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Grady said:
He's from Augusta, called Butch and he weighed 300 lbs.When Atlantic City opened up he and Joe Veasey got jobs in management. Augusta spawned several lowlifes, including David Sizemore.
Jack "Butch" Johnson was a decent pool sucker and he played at one of the two small downtown rooms.

Thanks Grady, by the way we would all like to hear more from you. I took the liberty to speak for others (thought it was a safe call)

Waiting for your streaming with commentary, as many others are. Good luck and drop in more often.

Dr. Billy I.
 

Grady

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Something else

Something else

BTW, that tournament had $50,000 first and $5,000 second, as I recall. That aint' much of a tournament. Sigel won it but he was so "savered" up that he only got maybe 20%.
 

jrhendy

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beatle said:
cadillac joe veasey made steve the whale look like a saint. but i am biased as i have had a lot of fun messing with the whale in his younger days
when toby sweet helped him with his pool game. the whale was a fun guy and veasey wasnt one to be within a mile of.

Veasey and Alibi Al hit California and Five Points Bowling Alley in the mid to late 60's. They had everyone convinced Al was the best player until Veasey booked a few winners. Turned out Al couldn't beat me, but he had me scared for a while.

Al could be fun sometimes and would go off. I learned early to stay clear of Veasey. He dumped one of the locals and when I chided him for it he said "Get busted and 3,000 miles from home and see what you would do".

Buttermilk was also around then and another man to stay away from. I am surprised he wasn't mentioned here. I always got along with him but he was a dangerous man. Grady has mentioned him in some of his tales. He snuck Corn Bread Red in one time and I was the only guy dumb enough to play, but I got off cheap.

Popcorn was always bringing good players in too. Five Points was a treacherous place with plenty of action in those days.
 

androd

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jrhendy said:
Veasey and Alibi Al hit California and Five Points Bowling Alley in the mid to late 60's. They had everyone convinced Al was the best player until Veasey booked a few winners. Turned out Al couldn't beat me, but he had me scared for a while.

Al could be fun sometimes and would go off.

Al told me he had a three story dance studio in NYC. He said he lost it playing Pool. Then he shrugged and said "only one floor at a time" :D :p
Rod.
 

fred bentivegna

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Standard line

Standard line

androd said:
Al told me he had a three story dance studio in NYC. He said he lost it playing Pool. Then he shrugged and said "only one floor at a time" :D :p
Rod.


He told me the exact same line. Plus, my road partner Sugar Shack Johnny said it was a true story. He also used to say that he would give anybody else supporting a wife and three kids the wild eight.

Beard
 

jrhendy

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fred bentivegna said:
He told me the exact same line. Plus, my road partner Sugar Shack Johnny said it was a true story. He also used to say that he would give anybody else supporting a wife and three kids the wild eight.

Beard

He told me the same thing and did give me the call eight. He didn't like it and after that went off several times playing even.

He was the luckiest guy at the race track I ever saw. He could be down a thousand and shit out the last race and come out winner.

After he went up to Oregon to run blackjack games in cowboy bars with Roxy, he would come down to play the horses at Santa Anita. I asked him how he did with the blackjack and he told me it was the nuts. I asked why and he said because the max bet was $10 and you couldn't beat the game with a small limit. I asked him what happened if somebody got real lucky and started winning and he said "Why then we would cheat them".

Al was a real character back then. I had beat him out of a little $$ so would give him action at other games. He taught me how to play Tonk. I did not do well in that one.
 

fred bentivegna

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Sterling Ward

Sterling Ward

jrhendy said:
Veasey and Alibi Al hit California and Five Points Bowling Alley in the mid to late 60's. They had everyone convinced Al was the best player until Veasey booked a few winners. Turned out Al couldn't beat me, but he had me scared for a while.

Al could be fun sometimes and would go off. I learned early to stay clear of Veasey. He dumped one of the locals and when I chided him for it he said "Get busted and 3,000 miles from home and see what you would do".

Buttermilk was also around then and another man to stay away from. I am surprised he wasn't mentioned here. I always got along with him but he was a dangerous man. Grady has mentioned him in some of his tales. He snuck Corn Bread Red in one time and I was the only guy dumb enough to play, but I got off cheap.

Popcorn was always bringing good players in too. Five Points was a treacherous place with plenty of action in those days.

Buttermilk's real name was Sterling Ward. He spent a lot of time around Chicago hustling the bars before he went to CA. He was a great lemon hustler. Often taking days to prime up a working mans bar before taking it off. His Chicago hustling partner was Freddy Parkhill, a decent player.
Buttermilk made the mistake of taking off a bar in my Bridgeport neighborhood. Even I never tried that. They lemoned up the joint good, took off the money friday night and might have even escaped, they had gotten out of the place, except Sterling or Freddy left their cigarettes in the joint and went back in to get them. That cost Freddy and Sterling all the money and two good beatings.

Sterling was a red-neck slob. He would drink all the cream at everyone's table in a restaurant and steal as many tips as he could on the way out. But his worst suit was that he was a real deal pedophile. He would go to Mexico and marry a 13 yr old, and get rid of her when she left her teens and go back and get another 13 yr old. That was bad enough, but he got caught molesting his best friend's little girls. They were like 8 and 9. His friend was Bill Gibbs, another country boy hustler from Chicago. John H should probably remember him.
Bill would have killed Sterling if he could have gotten to him But he was arrested and out of Bill's range. He went to jail and I dont know what happened to him after that.

Beard
 

SJDinPHX

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fred bentivegna said:
Sterling was a red-neck slob. He would drink all the cream at everyone's table in a restaurant and steal as many tips as he could on the way out. But his worst suit was that he was a real deal pedophile. He would go to Mexico and marry a 13 yr old, and get rid of her when she left her teens and go back and get another 13 yr old. That was bad enough, but he got caught molesting his best friend's little girls. They were like 8 and 9. His friend was Bill Gibbs, another country boy hustler from Chicago. Bill would have killed Sterling if he could have gotten to him

Beard

Good story Mr.______:)

If I may, the word "pedophile" reminds me of a short war story. (may have told this before, but it is worth a re-tell)...During one of our more memorable battles, RA was not having a good day...He had given up on his 'mild sharking and distracting' method of operation,.. and had gone into full insult mode. (which usually meant last barrell, as I have learned more than once)

We were playing in Phx. and had the usual crowd of rail-birds... I had just gotten a game winning, good roll, and he erupted into a string of profanities directed at me, which went way beyond, "lucky MFer", or c**cksucker !...In my usual calm [sic] response, I replied "Oh yeah, well you're a pedophile, you ass**le."

RA, as clever and sharp, as he is in his world, does not have the greatest grasp of the english language...So, within earshot of me, he sidled up to a quick-witted friend of mine, and said "What the f**k did he just call me ? " My friend said "Oh he just called you a pedophile....Thats a person who works in a pet shop, and does all the filing"....RA thought a second, and said..."What the f**k does that have to do with me ?"

Shortly after, some busybody called him over, and told him what "pedophile" really meant....and here he come, swinging away ! Fortunately, the peacemaker's stopped it quickly, so we just dusted ourselves off, went next door to the bar, and got drunk.

PS..So he saved his case money, and I furnished the drunk...(plus a large bite)...Am I smart, or what ?...:rolleyes:
 
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beatle

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alibi al was an any thing goes type hustler. but after he met roxy in coos bay oregon, she was about twenty years younger than him and a good looker, he changed over more to cards than pool. he mostly played 5 or 10 limit around oregon, blackjack and poker.

he even became pretty honest and okay to deal with. i put him in a few spots and he could take off the money against weak players just fine. good talker and likeable to everyone. he changed his nickname to international al to make it all smoother. i dont know if he is still alive or not, as i havent heard his name in a long time.
 

jrhendy

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fred bentivegna said:
Sterling was a red-neck slob. He would drink all the cream at everyone's table in a restaurant and steal as many tips as he could on the way out. But his worst suit was that he was a real deal pedophile. He would go to Mexico and marry a 13 yr old, and get rid of her when she left her teens and go back and get another 13 yr old. That was bad enough, but he got caught molesting his best friend's little girls. They were like 8 and 9. His friend was Bill Gibbs, another country boy hustler from Chicago. John H should probably remember him.
Bill would have killed Sterling if he could have gotten to him But he was arrested and out of Bill's range. He went to jail and I dont know what happened to him after that.

Beard

I knew Bill well. Later on (70's) he hung around the Golden Cue where we played quite a bit of cards. Bill had quite a temper but picked his spots.

He had heart problems and had a pacemaker installed. The day he got out of the hospital he sat in a 24 hour card session. He thought he was good to go and ended up right back in the hospital getting a bypass operation. He passed a little while after that.

Buttermilk came around again after Bill died and hung around Hard Times in Bellflower. I saw him from time to time but he did not play anymore, but did have a young oriental guy he steered around that played ok. I saw them more at the action bars then than the pool room.
 

CaliRed

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wincardona said:
Jack Johnson is a crook, I would never say that about a person unless I had a strong reason to say it. His real name is Butch something or another, Freddie probably knows it, his memory is much better than mine.

Ten years ago I had a deal with Jack involving large money $$$$$ which I personally gave to him to invest, he took the money and I haven't seen nor heard from him since. I do realize it was my fault for trusting him with such a large sum of money, that's on me. But that doesn't change the fact that he's a scum bag.

I believe he's in Asia working in the casino industry.

Billy I.

Billy,

I take it this is the dirtbag that brought on this paragraph in the article by George Fels?
billy4.jpg


http://www.onepocket.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5482
 
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