BILL CADY Word Count: 149,227 - At My Friend's Place

Bill Cady, The Early Years … by Bill Cady 269
Not a problem, really, unless I was ever stupid enough to play Jim for money.
The only way I‟d‟ve done that would be if it was your money, „cause I knew he‟d whip
my sorry ass nine ways from Sunday. Still, you can‟t play regularly with a great player
and not learn something.
In pool hustling, it‟s not just being the best player that makes you money. It‟s
knowing who to play, and how to beat the guy. Those guys you see come into a bar with
a cue stick in a case aren‟t hustlers, they‟re showoffs. Any real hustler never wants you
to know how good he is, or isn‟t.
I had a day of glory, and I refused to expose it to any risk after I got it. Jim
Mataya married a woman who would probably be insulted if you told her she was
beautiful. She‟d be offended because she‟s a lot prettier than just beautiful. Her name is
Ewa, and she‟s an ABSO, (Absolute Fox). She‟s also a pretty damned good pool player.
Up until I left Michigan in 1990, I used to go visit the VFW post in Grand Ledge
on Tuesday evenings to drink beer and shoot pool. There was a tournament starting at
seven, lasting until somewhere between ten and eleven. It was fun, and a chance to see
some guys I knew, plus a guy I really liked named Dave Marion, whom I called DW.
Ewa was there one night and DW told me she was ranked third in the world
among women pool players. Hell, I knew she was at least third if they based it on her
looks, but I saw why she was ranked that way when she played. That woman was kickin‟
ass and takin‟ names. She beat around eleventy-six guys in a row.
They started calling, “Whose turn is it to lose now?” after she whipped each guy,
and my name was finally called. Everyone thought it was pretty exciting, since I was
considered pretty good and Ewa was about to kick my ass badly.
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