Playing Off the Rail: A Pool Hustler's Journey

Good read !!!

If you're into playing pool and hearing the stories behind old days pool hall journeys, this is a must read. Written very well, tons of situations and stories, almost as if your grandfather was telling you about how he hustled and play pool 60 years ago. Great book and held up great!

Having found this book in a WSJ review on the top 5 gambling books, I elected to order. I had spent two high school years in "small town america" in the 60's, where one of the major local activities was "Drew's pool hall". Looking back, I see alot of similarities in McCumber's book. The "stale cigar smoke, the stale aspirations of old men,the rebellious 8th graders slouched eating slim jims"....and the 9 ball table at the front near the bar where all the real action was. What other game gives you colorfull names like Bucktooth (the "Tooth"), Kamikazie Bob, Waterdog, among many others? McCumber takes us on a whirlwind tour of the U.S. and Canada with one pool player (hustler?) and one money staker, McCumber himself. The locations and pool games are timeless and one has to wonder if this tradition continues today.

I found the book to be really a quality read. I am a big pool player at heart so I am biased for sure but it was a great collection of stories. The author does a fantastic job of describing people and places throughout the book. Definitely worth reading!

I have read four other stories about pool players and their experiences. All were very interesting and hard to put down, but this one. He tries to use words that are not often used and refer to subjects that an ordinary pool player might not be familiar with. Makes the book hard to read, understand and keeps me looking in the dictionary to get the specific meaning. When of course he could have used a word most people would be familiar with and that would mean the same thing. But to be honest I enjoyed the book and it is worth reading.

I loved this book twice. I play pool so it has personal interest. But I also read and the writing is great. It is really like a memoir, a diary, an autobiography and a biography rolled into one. It depicts a dying world of pool road hustling. One of the best books on this subject. Lots of the characters are still around ( and at the Derby City Classic right now, today).

GREAT ROAD STORIES PLAYING FOR BIG MONEY ASK FOR A SPOT THE EIGHT BALL AND OTHER THINGS LIKE RIDING THE TRAIN TOO A HUSTLING PLACE TOO MAKE MONEY GREAT BOOK I LIKE IT ERIC ROBERT MOREMAN FROM AKRON OHIO 44314. AND HOME TOO THE OLD AKRON OPEN TOURAMENT HUSTLERS AND PROS.

A bit slow at the beginning, seems to be getting better though