talentforlying: (smug bloody bastard)
John Constantine ([personal profile] talentforlying) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2013-06-05 12:12 pm
Entry tags:

Working the Long Con [Wednesday, Period One]

They kept coming back. John was starting to get weird-ed out by this.

Class met in the Danger Shop today, which was modified to resemble a pool hall. "Welcome to the unofficial Land of the Hustle," he proclaimed, spreading his arms wide. "Today, we're learning how to shoot pool and take the money of idiots and college kids with more money than sense."

"Pool hustlers use deception and misdirection in order to win cash from inexperienced players -- or from skilled players inexperienced with the world of hustling. Now, there's a few different options for a skilled hustler, and some things to watch out for if you don't want to end up the wrong side of the bet."

"A hustler will usually play with a low-quality "house" cue stick provided by the pool hall, or an unadorned but high-quality personal cue that looks like one, known as a "sneaky pete." Or, with the nascence of local competitive league play in recent years, may play with a flashy-looking but evidently low-end personal cue, to give the impression that the hustler is a beginning league player. They will typically play a game or two for "fun" or for low bets -- a beer or equivalent amount of cash -- in order to check out the opponent and give the impression that money can easily be won, often losing on purpose with the intent of winning a much larger wager later against a predictably overconfident opponent. This is known as "sandbagging" or "dumping.""

"They will pocket some difficult and impressive shots or make surprisingly secure safety shots, the ones crucial for winning, while missing many simple ones, thus making early victories appear to be sheer luck and may pretend to be intoxicated, unintelligent, or otherwise impaired. When betting on trick shots, they may intentionally miss the first or several times and lose a small amount, then raise the bet to an amount well beyond the loss and succeed at the well-practiced feat."

"Many of these ploys can easily be mistaken for the honest faults of a less-than-exceptional player. The engendered doubt and uncertainty is what allows hustling to succeed, with the "faults" being dropped when a significant amount of money is at stake."

"Americans are partial to Eight-ball, so we'll start with that," he said, handwavily going over the rules. "So grab a partner, and work on your game."

Re: Sign-In

[identity profile] godgavemecable.livejournal.com 2013-06-05 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Toby Logan
failsatspirit: (Boo-yah!)

Re: Sign-In

[personal profile] failsatspirit 2013-06-06 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Korra
justbeingbay: ([neu] lots of hair)

Re: Activity: Pocketing the 8 Ball

[personal profile] justbeingbay 2013-06-05 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Bay had always liked pool, though she wasn't sure she was good enough to hustle at it. She idly racked the balls and rolled them around until one of the randoms came over for a game.

Re: Activity: Pocketing the 8 Ball

[identity profile] reven8e.livejournal.com 2013-06-05 07:31 pm (UTC)(link)
For someone with her background, Emily wasn't all that experienced in pool. She had played in the past, but never to the point she could fool people the way Constantine wanted. There were other easier, faster ways, she thought.

Still, pool was fun.

"Hey Bay, want to give it a try? I think we might even get to play without bets without making the teacher mad at us," Emily said. "Unless of course you want to bet, I don't mind."
justbeingbay: (Default)

Re: Activity: Pocketing the 8 Ball

[personal profile] justbeingbay 2013-06-06 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not good enough to bet either way," Bay said. "But I'm up for a game."