Any more stories rich? When did u start gambling? And what did u gamble on?
I started gambling when I was 16 and had just signed as a YTS at Kidderminster Harriers and in the afternoons after training we were down the snooker club, on a golf course or in da bookies as there was not a lot else to do! There was 15 of us who lived in digs in Kidderminster itself and went home Saturday night after the 1st teams match and then travelled back Monday morning for training.
I got involved in the horses and dogs and the occasional footie bet during the week and despite only earning £29.50 per week then £35 when i turned 17 had a few scams to give me some gambling moniezz but i learnt a lesson at the local snooker club when one evening I was challenged to a ££ match against a player who was better than me and he was hustling me but i didnt know it.
He gave me a head start of 40 pts and we played for £10 i thought this was great and he just beat me, so in the next frame we played "double or quits" and he gave me 45 pts start and this time he smashed me anyway after losing that and the next 2 frames i was in for £80 and we played for my nett worth of £160 and he gave me 50pts iirc. Now the owner of the club had realised i was being hustled and was annoyed with the member and as we were playing the game on the TOP table in front of the bar after i potted the first red and a colour I then missed and in full view of my opponent he called me over and whispered to me " pretend i am telling you something and just nod your head " which i did.
My opponent had obv seen this and it threw him off his game and after every other shot of mine he called me over again, eventually i beat the fella and he had the raving hump and went over to the owner telling him he was out of order for coaching me to which he told him that he was disappointed that he would hustle a 16year old kid and that he didnt actually tell me anything just pretended as he knew it would affect his game.
I never played snooker for money again after that...
Haha quality, I made most of my pocket money playing snooker for money when I was a kid and playing pontoon too. The locals used to have a game at the weekends and on the whole were pretty terrible at it. I used to use the money I'd won at snooker in the week to sit in this £2 max bet game at the weekend. I was probably the richest kid at school when I was 13/14
When I got in the navy I didn't use to hustle per se but I used to play people one handed at pool. They all knew I was good at snooker but saw it as a good chance for them if I played that way. On a pool table it's pretty easy though as you can rest on the cushion for the majority of shots. It was handy for bolstering my paltry wages and the other lads used to love it so it was all good fun.
My first real footie bet that i recall winning was at the end of the 1990/91 season when i remember doing a treble on the playoffs and picked all the winners from the outset which was nice but i think I was hooked in those days and being in a bookies everytime they would say "their going behind the traps at monmore" or "at the post at haydock" i would rush over to the form and try to pick the winner in 30secs and then punt on it.
I was a bookies dream!!!
I dont know why but i always loved the price 5/2 as it just seemed great that £40 staked won exactly £100 and in my head this must have cost me loads over the years as whenever i saw a greyhound at the price i was drawn to it
I think my Dad knew i would have a problem though in my early days as when we were on holiday all my pocket money used to go on the arcades in the fruities.
Haha this is ridiculous I used to absolutely love fruit machines from a very early age and was playing them regularly from about 12 years of age. I live on the south coast and Weymouth which is the next town had about a dozen arcades when I was growing up. My brother, a couple friends and I used to go down there regularly to punt away all afternoon. In the summer we would go to Bangor in Northern Ireland for 6 weeks which is another seaside town and full of arcades. We used to save up our pocket money for a few days to ensure we could ride out what I now know is variance and be armed with enough money for a proper punt lol.
As I got older my dad had two jackpot machines in his club and I used to play these frequently too. It wasn't always a case of putting in £50 and being guaranteed a jackpot like the pub ones though and quite a few times I got caught up chasing and drilled 5/600 through them and a couple times even more than that.
I've always had quite an addictive personality in everything I've done, my parents both played them too and my dad was a big game player of all types. He was an exceptional backgammon player when he was younger. His uncle was renowned for his prowess at almost anything he turned his hand too and I remember my dad saying that Uncle Denny taught him to play one afternoon when he was based in Pompey where Denny lived. Dad went away and studied more after they played and he never ever managed to beat my dad again in over 30 years so I know where I get my competitive streak from lol.
These memories your posts bring up are making me want to diarise it all for posterity
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