He had an army and dead nuts, then he dumped on the on the locksmith good. Real good, see.

books:


	• Hustler Days: Minnesota Fats, Wimpy Lassiter, Jersey Red, and America's Great Age of Pool R. A. Dyer The Lyons Press, 2003 - 296 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Fantastic look at a bygone era of hustling on the road

Reflects the history of American pool playing from pre-Depression days to first resurgence in pool after the movie THE HUSTLER. As an aside, the larger resurgence happened after the sequel THE COLOR OF MONEY when women also entered the game and upscale rooms flourished. Many rooms have closed after the recent popularity of poker on TV.

Back to the book, anyone with an interest in the history of American pool playing, hustling, and the sociology of pool--this is a must own!!!

He had an army and dead nuts, then he dumped on the on the locksmith good. Real good, see.

Who wouldn't want to be a pool hustler, being rich without ever having to work a day in your life? It's an exciting fantasy. To live in Little Egypt during the early 40's shooting pool with Minnesota Fats would've been incredible. Or riding with Sonny Barger in the mid 60's or any other kind of walk on the wild side fantasy one could concoct.

The author clearly feels the same way in a midlife crisis sort of way. The subject matter is definitely fascinating, but I wish R.A. Dyer could've taken himself out of the text more. The book reads like he learned all his tough guy speech patterns from Scorcese films.

Another thing that would've helped the prose is to explain the games more within the text. To an outsider it could get difficult during the game decriptions. It've been nice to not have to constantly check the glossary in the back.

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Wanted to be a professional like these guys!

This is a great book for all the baby boomers out there that loved to play pool (pocket billiards). The book explains where the word pool comes from. Anybody that wants to know the history of the early days should read this book! Really anybody with a interest in pool should read it.
Buy and enjoy. I know I did.

THE REAL FAT MAN

Pool is probably one of the few sports that the general public knows virtually next to nothing on. Ask anybody to name one pool player and the majority will say "Minnesota Fats". Most of the public would be amazed to find out that he wasn't a champion, never won a tournament, probably couldn't even beat half the country. This book explains how he could con a nation into thinking he was "the greatest" and in the process become single handedly the biggest promoter to the sport the game has ever known. Yes, this book is really about the true story of Rudolph Wanderone (Fats) and it is a very good read.

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Great book about a great era

As a pool player, I caught the end of what "Hustler Days" describes as the heyday of the road hustler. I watched two of the three main subjects of this book in action: Rudolph Wanderone (The Fat Man) and Luther Lassiter. Having frequented some of the New York pool joints (McGirrs, 7-11) that figure in R.A. Dyer's vivid depiction of the hustler's life, I can partly attest to its authenticity.

But I was a player not a hustler. What Dyer gave me was the full and colorful history of the era that I saw ending. This is a beautifully written account covering the 1940s through the 60s. The story is told with the steely, merciless attitude of their game, but with a great deal of humor and affection.

Dyer has written about the game in various publications and he appreciates the astounding skills of these men: the hustle was in the fact that if you were not in their world, you had no idea of the abilities that could be brought to bear against you if you went to the table.

Anyone who saw "The Hustler" with Paul Newman has some idea of all this. But Dyer digs deep into their lives, sometimes painfully so. The canvas is not just New York but all the towns, big and small, where the action was. Such as Norfolk, Va., the Naval and shipbulding hub which during WWII was a pool hustler's paradise and a regular stop on the circuit.

Once tournaments began to be televised, another chapter in the hustler's life opened and Dyer has it covered, shot by excruciating shot. Big-time pool is all about pressure, and with Dyer you can feel it taking the air out of the room.

I loved reading this book and look forward to reading it again.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

Minnesota Fats was a brilliant pool player, but he was even better at lying about his past. Wimpy Lassiter, the gentleman hustler, started playing at age seven, and for the rest of his life lived for the rush of victory and high stakes. Violent and determined, Jersey Red made and lost a fortune at the table.

With a passion for the game evident on every page, R.A. DYER takes us through the smoky bars and late nights where a win was just as dangerous as a loss. He captures the game's popularity in the thirties, its dark days in the fifties, and its renaissance and apex in the sixties, fueled by the smashing success of Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason going toe-to-toe in The Hustler. It was an era that culminated in the legendary nationally televised tournaments in Little Egypt, Illinois, where Jersey Red and Wimpy Lassiter went at it for hours. And it was an era that ended in perhaps the most dramatic scene in all of pool. Just as Jersey Red beat Wimpy Lassiter in 1969, after a decade of bitter rivalry, the police shut down the tournament. Cameras in tow, they arrested eighty hustlers--including the new champion!

From Fats's first showdown--in Brooklyn, with a Texas-style gunslinger in cowboy boots and revolvers--to world championship clashes, HUSTLER DAYS is a rollicking portrait of one of our national treasures.

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