Taken from JRE #2034 w/Jeremy Jones:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1D1e8nCqFmxTxI0ZaVGs03?si=1a9a1062045a4fa4

Was there the fear that you entering into professional tournaments would knock your gambling?

By this time people everyone knew I mean, you know, it didn't take long before a few few trips I went by my middle name.

Yeah, because there were magazines that you could see what's going on around the country.

You just might not get a picture or a video of it or whatever, so you start to hear names.

So like first time I went to California, I did that actually.

Well It's a funny story and I think he can laugh about it now, but you know Marcus Shamada is right from Sweden.

So So There was a guy that was staking him and a lot of other great players and he was big action, the guy was.

And I knew Marcus was out there, and so I'm in hard times.

I think I told you about this the other day with Keith, but the only 2 people in the hard times that knew me, all right, was Keith and Jose Perica, all right?

So everyone else didn't know who I was So Marcus Shimon is standing next to 2 other guys that I know play but won't play kind of thing So I go up and I asked those 2 guys I was like, you know, what do y'all want to play some, you know, 50 $100 sets of 9 ball, you know, no 1 Marcus is gonna just jump right on me, you know what I mean?

Like, he's right next to him, so, long story short, that happened.

But I introduced myself as Tyler, my middle name, you know, like, I just did, you know?

So, we start playing, He beats me a set for a hundred playing even I quit he offers me the 8 Beats me a set for 200.

He offers me the 7 So now his stake horse starts coming over near me Because Marcus is just stealing this little 4 or 500, ain't got nothing to do with a stakehorse, you know what I mean?

So now his stakehorse comes over and he's kind of interested in the game.

He says, he'll give you the 7, but you gotta bet everything you got.

So me and my buddy, we just talked for a second, so we end up pulling out like 4,500.

So we play for a little bit, and now we're playing 7 ahead.

We were playing a race of 7 for the 100 and 200, right?

So now he thinks he's stealing, Because I mean the way I played in the other 2 sets, you know what I'm saying?

So he just comes out like Gangbusters, he's got me like 4 games down.

I'm like, man, this is sick We're gonna get beat in this spot right here.

I'm getting the 7, you know So finally I get a shot and I start to run out Now I'm starting to run out and so his steak horses there and he says man ain't this something, you know I mean he says we thought we were stealing it looks it looks real bad now.

So so I beat him that set So now at hard times you've been there right now, right?

yeah, so they got the player side right with the tight tables, and they got the looser tables Well, he had me on the looser tables thinking you know I'm just a sucker you know So he says the stake horse says double the bet and we'll give you the 8 on the tight tables Right so this is like really good for me, you know now I'm getting a spot on even a tougher table So I beat him that set but during that second set a Friend of mine had built me a cue and sent it out to the guy that ran the tournaments in LA, right?

So I'm going by Tyler and this guy walks up and he says, real loud, he says, are you Jeremy Jones?

He says, if you are, I got a cue for you, you know?

Cause I'm in the middle of this $9,000 set playing, you know?

So I said, no, I ain't Jeremy Jones, you know?

And then the next day when I came in, Mark knew who I was, and everyone spilled the beans kind of thing.

I had to go tell the guy, all right, that's my cue and everything.

It's kind of like a Funny story around there now, I think but Marcus was mad at me for a little while.

Oh, yeah, because he was European, you know, and it was just kind of like, you know, if someone got me like that You know, I'm gonna it's gonna sting but it's gonna be more like all right touche kind of thing You know later on you know we're gonna laugh about it and stuff, but it took It's almost like if you first be different he walks by you, but he'll say much to you for about a month or 2 Really, oh yeah, he's gotta Let that wear off a little bit, but took it Marcus probably about a decade before It was bad.

So when when he beat you the first 2 sets even were you?

well, I might not have put forth my best effort, but he played real good You know what I mean?

Well, I thought I you know I'm definitely not trying to win for 200 You know what I mean like his steak horse who now is actually after that trip became real good friend of mine You know at that time he was known you could beat him out of, you know, 40 and 50, you know, thousand, right?

So you're not going to start off doing anything like that for 200, so.

So when you first start playing, you play good, but you're not really bearing down.

So you're showing him that you can play a little but you might miss some shots that

Plus I want to see him play right you know I heard the name I kind of wanted to really see because I eventually to beat him out of the real money It's gonna be playing even right you know what I mean because he's another great player so that eventually was gonna happen but Marcus ended up having to leave the country for his visa got shortened up or something like that.

He actually ended up leaving the next day.

In these other countries, is there A lot of gambling going on, obviously in the Philippines there is.

But is there a lot of gambling going on in these other countries where all these players are emerging?

You know, Thailand, like you said, Philippines, Indonesia.

Europe here and there, not a whole lot, not a whole lot at all.

And I think it's more the steakhorse kind of situation.

You know, people aren't just thinking, oh, let me go put somebody else in action for thousands of dollars and give them half.

You know, it's just not your everyday thing.

1 of the fun parts of American pool culture, the steak horses.

Yes, wild, crazy people with tons of money.

Yeah, and they're interested in gambling on pool

Yeah, I've been paid in Buried money quite a few times

Oh, yeah Not nice the whole car stomp Really?

Do you think there's like bodies next to the I

Yeah, I'm talking about, yeah, I think this has been there a long time.

There was a guy 1 time where in South Carolina is another place that I frequented in the summers especially because we gambled at golf but this guy Frank and he was a great great guy and he was coming in overalls didn't know he had a penny but he staked a lot of players and he did a lot for the pool community So he comes in 1 morning because we'd all meet at the pool room about 10 a.m And we'd all make a golf game Then we go out to the golf course gamble golf come back to the pool room and make pool games, right?

So this Frank comes in 1 morning and he looked real upset and he never looked upset.

He said, I Come out my back door and I saw 1 of my bushes dug up today so 1 of his sons that is kind of you know a little detached at times from the family for 1 reason or another He let us stay there and he said he knew it right, it was a $30,000 bush.

He was more, it was kind of like a disappointed father kind of thing, more than upset.

So, But it's amazing what people do with their money.

Oh, I can't tell you probably, maybe the craziest.

I'll tell you later on the craziest ones on here.

So 1 time I was in a tournament in Mississippi and to get on with this, I won the tournament.

Tough tournament, Johnny Archer, all the great players and his bar table so I went like 8,000 so by the time I won the tournament I think I was about 25,000 losers in the casino okay he's like terrible trip I mean I wouldn't even try and you remember Tony Ellen.

so he was 20 minutes late to get a steak dinner at the horseshoe It cost me about 12,000.

I went down there said let me just let me just pitch 300, you know, and they just pounded me, right?

So I got the tournament money after 1 and it was 8,000 Went straight to the cage and cashed it went straight to the blackjack Yeah, I had it about 10 minutes.

So the 8,000 was gone And so this guy that was playing there, his name was Frank seals and he was a legendary steak horse And you steak CJ when he was a kid and a lot of players throughout the years.

And he said, hey, if you're ever bored and you wanna come up to Morristown, Tennessee, I got a kid and I'll let you play if you still wanna play.

He watched me play blackjack blow all my money, right?

Yeah Yeah, so yeah, I told him mess when I said you ain't dealing me no blackjack up there if I go up there So anyways, I go up there so he's got this guy Mark Owens was his name good player and Real high gear maybe not the most steady player, but real high gear.

So we're playing, we start off playing races to 9 or 10 or something for a thousand.

So Long story short, I got him 10,000 loser, okay?

And it's because we raised it and whatnot.

And so now the whole town, this is a small town, okay, just up in the northeast corner of Tennessee.

So the whole town starts coming in and this is their hero.

So my buddy starts taking bets on the side, you know so now we I got him 10,000 loser and He says we want to play a set for 10,000.

This is what Frank says that the steak horse He says but we need to call 8, You know what the call is, of course, right?

So we're betting about 10,000 on the side, okay?

So we're playing a set for like 20, all right?

Because my buddy's got a list of bets this long with all the town people.

Instead of playing safe on the 8, I try to jack up off the end rail and stab it in and draw my ball, you know what I mean?

He's got the 3 down the rail and he's just got a cupcake on the 4 9.

So I turn to my buddy and I said, man, we ain't got but like 8,000 left, you know?

Because we were a winner, we start off 1,000 a set.

I said, we can't lower the bet, you can't do that.

You know, we'll get more money tomorrow, whatever, right?

Now Frank is the only guy, he's sitting right here on a stool chair, right, like a little school chair.

Everyone else is way back over here besides me and my buddies over here, right, all the people watching.

So he knocks a 3 in, Mark does, and he comes down.

He was kind of 1 of those guys that would fire the 9 in, you know what I'm saying?

He could have just tapped it, and it would have rolled right in the corner.

This ball went down and swirled around in the pocket.

Jumped almost all the way back out to the spot.

Yeah, all the money's on the light, right?

So Frank, he knows about pool and the ball's aimed directly at Frank.

So as soon as he hits it, he knows it's in.

So Frank starts to get up and get the money.

I said, oh Frank, I said the nine's on the table.

You know, Frank's like 75 years old, he's got glasses.

You know, like he didn't realize it didn't go in Well, it did go in it just came back out Yeah, never pocketed another ball the whole set.

I played safe on that first shot I broke a ran played say broke a ran beat him 15 14 Yeah, so now the kid he quits and he's literally crying out on the stairs, okay?

So Frank says, come back the next day, we'll play you some more.

So we come back the next day, we start out playing like for 3,500 races to 11.

So he says, hey, he's gonna take a break.

He said, I'll play you some more in a minute.

I'm like, sweet, man, this is good, good action, you know?

So Frank's sitting in this chair right here, and the kid's practicing a little bit, And he hits a ball in that same pocket it jumps the pocket hits Frank dead in the eye right?

He's glasses and bloods going everywhere Jesus oh yeah, yeah, I was ironically crazy right so we end up having to quit and we never end up playing again So the same pocket they kind of saved me the day before, right?

Kind of got them the next day and we end up never playing.

It was a gold crown, but it had Replacement pockets, you know the big black ones that go in they're kind of bulky.

Yeah, it's old-school pool hall, but That Frankie was something else.

So that I'm playing right and he pulls up his overall And I see a gunshot wound in his leg.

He said, yeah, my wife shot me about 10 years ago.

I said, man, you mean your ex-wife, don't you?

He says, no, he says, I'm still with her, right?

After I played, Yeah, same lady that shot him 10 months before.

I think she did 6 months in a mental place and then she's out.

Mary, I was telling you about that buried money.

I think he was kind of like a numbers guy, you know how they run the lottery out in the country on their own and stuff.

Yeah, I think he did like stuff like that.


Speaker 0: The Joe Rogan experience. Was there the fear that you entering into professional tournaments would knock your gambling?

Speaker 1: By this time people everyone knew I mean, you know, it didn't take long before a few few trips I went by my middle name. Yeah, because there were magazines that you could see what's going on around the country. You just might not get a picture or a video of it or whatever, so you start to hear names. So like first time I went to California, I did that actually. You know, it worked out nice.

Speaker 0: What did you do? You just use a different name?

Speaker 1: Well It's a funny story and I think he can laugh about it now, but you know Marcus Shamada is right from Sweden. So So There was a guy that was staking him and a lot of other great players and he was big action, the guy was. And I knew Marcus was out there, and so I'm in hard times. I think I told you about this the other day with Keith, but the only 2 people in the hard times that knew me, all right, was Keith and Jose Perica, all right? So everyone else didn't know who I was So Marcus Shimon is standing next to 2 other guys that I know play but won't play kind of thing So I go up and I asked those 2 guys I was like, you know, what do y'all want to play some, you know, 50 $100 sets of 9 ball, you know, no 1 Marcus is gonna just jump right on me, you know what I mean?

Like, he's right next to him, so, long story short, that happened. But I introduced myself as Tyler, my middle name, you know, like, I just did, you know? So, we start playing, He beats me a set for a hundred playing even I quit he offers me the 8 Beats me a set for 200. I quit now. He offers me the 7 So now his stake horse starts coming over near me Because Marcus is just stealing this little 4 or 500, ain't got nothing to do with a stakehorse, you know what I mean?

This is just like pocket money. So now his stakehorse comes over and he's kind of interested in the game. He says, he'll give you the 7, but you gotta bet everything you got. I got like 25 or 30,000 on me. You wouldn't know it, but I do.

So I can't pull out 25 or 30,000. They're gonna know something's up. So me and my buddy, we just talked for a second, so we end up pulling out like 4,500. So we play for a little bit, and now we're playing 7 ahead. We were playing a race of 7 for the 100 and 200, right?

So now he thinks he's stealing, Because I mean the way I played in the other 2 sets, you know what I'm saying? So he just comes out like Gangbusters, he's got me like 4 games down. I'm talking my buddy. I'm like, man, this is sick We're gonna get beat in this spot right here. I'm getting the 7, you know So finally I get a shot and I start to run out Now I'm starting to run out and so his steak horses there and he says man ain't this something, you know I mean he says we thought we were stealing it looks it looks real bad now.

So so I beat him that set So now at hard times you've been there right now, right?

Speaker 0: Yeah Bellflower

Speaker 1: yeah, so they got the player side right with the tight tables, and they got the looser tables Well, he had me on the looser tables thinking you know I'm just a sucker you know So he says the stake horse says double the bet and we'll give you the 8 on the tight tables Right so this is like really good for me, you know now I'm getting a spot on even a tougher table So I beat him that set but during that second set a Friend of mine had built me a cue and sent it out to the guy that ran the tournaments in LA, right? So I'm going by Tyler and this guy walks up and he says, real loud, he says, are you Jeremy Jones? Oh no. He says, if you are, I got a cue for you, you know? And I was like, no, I ain't Jeremy.

Cause I'm in the middle of this $9,000 set playing, you know? So I said, no, I ain't Jeremy Jones, you know? And I just sent him on his way. And then the next day when I came in, Mark knew who I was, and everyone spilled the beans kind of thing. I had to go tell the guy, all right, that's my cue and everything.

Speaker 0: Was he mad at you?

Speaker 1: No, no, not at all. He understood. It's kind of like a Funny story around there now, I think but Marcus was mad at me for a little while.

Speaker 0: Yeah, that's what I was asked

Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, because he was European, you know, and it was just kind of like, you know, if someone got me like that You know, I'm gonna it's gonna sting but it's gonna be more like all right touche kind of thing You know later on you know we're gonna laugh about it and stuff, but it took It's almost like if you first be different he walks by you, but he'll say much to you for about a month or 2 Really, oh yeah, he's gotta Let that wear off a little bit, but took it Marcus probably about a decade before It was bad.

Speaker 0: So when when he beat you the first 2 sets even were you? Were you hustling a little

Speaker 1: well, I might not have put forth my best effort, but he played real good You know what I mean? He was alright. Let me pick up this

Speaker 0: Honestly trying to set something up

Speaker 1: Well, I thought I you know I'm definitely not trying to win for 200 You know what I mean like his steak horse who now is actually after that trip became real good friend of mine You know at that time he was known you could beat him out of, you know, 40 and 50, you know, thousand, right? So you're not going to start off doing anything like that for 200, so.

Speaker 0: So when you first start playing, you play good, but you're not really bearing down.

Speaker 1: Right, right.

Speaker 0: So you're showing him that you can play a little but you might miss some shots that

Speaker 1: Plus I want to see him play right you know I heard the name I kind of wanted to really see because I eventually to beat him out of the real money It's gonna be playing even right you know what I mean because he's another great player so that eventually was gonna happen but Marcus ended up having to leave the country for his visa got shortened up or something like that. He actually ended up leaving the next day. But I stuck around for about a month.

Speaker 0: In these other countries, is there A lot of gambling going on, obviously in the Philippines there is. But is there a lot of gambling going on in these other countries where all these players are emerging?

Speaker 1: Some of Asia, for sure. Southeast Asia especially, I think. You know, Thailand, like you said, Philippines, Indonesia. Europe here and there, not a whole lot, not a whole lot at all. And I think it's more the steakhorse kind of situation.

It's just not the mentality. You know, there's not steakhorse. You know, people aren't just thinking, oh, let me go put somebody else in action for thousands of dollars and give them half. You know, it's just not your everyday thing.

Speaker 0: 1 of the fun parts of American pool culture, the steak horses.

Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely. They're some of the biggest characters.

Speaker 0: Yes, wild, crazy people with tons of money.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and how they got it.

Speaker 0: Yeah. Yeah, and they're interested in gambling on pool

Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been paid in Buried money quite a few times

Speaker 0: really.

Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, it's things it stinks. Oh, yeah Not nice the whole car stomp Really? Oh, yeah real bad.

Speaker 0: Do you think there's like bodies next to the I

Speaker 1: don't think so Why don't smell

Speaker 0: Just mildew and shit?

Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I'm talking about, yeah, I think this has been there a long time. 30 years. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. There was a guy 1 time where in South Carolina is another place that I frequented in the summers especially because we gambled at golf but this guy Frank and he was a great great guy and he was coming in overalls didn't know he had a penny but he staked a lot of players and he did a lot for the pool community So he comes in 1 morning because we'd all meet at the pool room about 10 a.m And we'd all make a golf game Then we go out to the golf course gamble golf come back to the pool room and make pool games, right?

It was It was awesome. I mean the whole summer was like this. So this Frank comes in 1 morning and he looked real upset and he never looked upset. Always happy. Even if he lost he was happy.

And so I said, Frank what's wrong? You okay? He said, I Come out my back door and I saw 1 of my bushes dug up today so 1 of his sons that is kind of you know a little detached at times from the family for 1 reason or another He let us stay there and he said he knew it right, it was a $30,000 bush. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So he took it like a grain of salt.

He was more, it was kind of like a disappointed father kind of thing, more than upset. He had plenty of money, you know. So, But it's amazing what people do with their money. Oh, I can't tell you probably, maybe the craziest. I'll tell you later on the craziest ones on here.

But let's see. So 1 time I was in a tournament in Mississippi and to get on with this, I won the tournament. Tough tournament, Johnny Archer, all the great players and his bar table so I went like 8,000 so by the time I won the tournament I think I was about 25,000 losers in the casino okay he's like terrible trip I mean I wouldn't even try and you remember Tony Ellen.

Speaker 0: Yes,

Speaker 1: so he was 20 minutes late to get a steak dinner at the horseshoe It cost me about 12,000. I went down there said let me just let me just pitch 300, you know, and they just pounded me, right? So I got the tournament money after 1 and it was 8,000 Went straight to the cage and cashed it went straight to the blackjack Yeah, I had it about 10 minutes. So the 8,000 was gone And so this guy that was playing there, his name was Frank seals and he was a legendary steak horse And you steak CJ when he was a kid and a lot of players throughout the years. And he said, hey, if you're ever bored and you wanna come up to Morristown, Tennessee, I got a kid and I'll let you play if you still wanna play.

I like the way he gambles, what he said. He watched me play blackjack blow all my money, right? Yeah Yeah, so yeah, I told him mess when I said you ain't dealing me no blackjack up there if I go up there So anyways, I go up there so he's got this guy Mark Owens was his name good player and Real high gear maybe not the most steady player, but real high gear. So we're playing, we start off playing races to 9 or 10 or something for a thousand. So Long story short, I got him 10,000 loser, okay?

And it's because we raised it and whatnot. And so now the whole town, this is a small town, okay, just up in the northeast corner of Tennessee. So the whole town starts coming in and this is their hero. So my buddy starts taking bets on the side, you know so now we I got him 10,000 loser and He says we want to play a set for 10,000. This is what Frank says that the steak horse He says but we need to call 8, You know what the call is, of course, right?

So I said, okay, yeah. So we're gonna race to 15. So we're betting about 10,000 on the side, okay? So we're playing a set for like 20, all right? Because my buddy's got a list of bets this long with all the town people.

You know what I mean? So, it's 9 to 8 mean. Instead of playing safe on the 8, I try to jack up off the end rail and stab it in and draw my ball, you know what I mean? And I bobble it. He makes it, he breaks and runs 5 racks.

He's up 14 to 9. So now he breaks, going to 15. And the 4 9 is wired over the spot. He makes an incredible shot on the 1. He's got the 3 down the rail and he's just got a cupcake on the 4 9.

So I turn to my buddy and I said, man, we ain't got but like 8,000 left, you know? Because we were a winner, we start off 1,000 a set. I said, we can't lower the bet, you can't do that. Then they know you're short. You know what I'm saying?

So I'm like, what are we gonna do? You know, we'll get more money tomorrow, whatever, right? So the pool table's here, right? He's shooting to this corner. Now Frank is the only guy, he's sitting right here on a stool chair, right, like a little school chair.

Everyone else is way back over here besides me and my buddies over here, right, all the people watching. So he knocks a 3 in, Mark does, and he comes down. He was kind of 1 of those guys that would fire the 9 in, you know what I'm saying? You've seen him. He rifles this 4-9.

He could have just tapped it, and it would have rolled right in the corner. This ball went down and swirled around in the pocket. Jumped almost all the way back out to the spot. That's how far it went.

Speaker 0: Oh my God.

Speaker 1: Yeah, all the money's on the light, right? So Frank, he knows about pool and the ball's aimed directly at Frank. So as soon as he hits it, he knows it's in. So Frank starts to get up and get the money. I said, oh Frank, I said the nine's on the table.

You know, Frank's like 75 years old, he's got glasses. So I said, the nine's on the table. He says, oh, I'm sorry. You know, like he didn't realize it didn't go in Well, it did go in it just came back out Yeah, never pocketed another ball the whole set. I played safe on that first shot I broke a ran played say broke a ran beat him 15 14 Yeah, so now the kid he quits and he's literally crying out on the stairs, okay?

So Frank says, come back the next day, we'll play you some more. So we come back the next day, we start out playing like for 3,500 races to 11. So I beat him 3 sets. So he says, hey, he's gonna take a break. He said, I'll play you some more in a minute.

I'm like, sweet, man, this is good, good action, you know? So Frank's sitting in this chair right here, and the kid's practicing a little bit, And he hits a ball in that same pocket it jumps the pocket hits Frank dead in the eye right? He's glasses and bloods going everywhere Jesus oh yeah, yeah, I was ironically crazy right so we end up having to quit and we never end up playing again So the same pocket they kind of saved me the day before, right? Kind of got them the next day and we end up never playing. Yeah Funny story.

Speaker 0: What kind of shitty table is that?

Speaker 1: It was a gold crown, but it had Replacement pockets, you know the big black ones that go in they're kind of bulky. They kind of move around a little bit

Speaker 0: shitty job.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's old-school pool hall, but That Frankie was something else. So that I'm playing right and he pulls up his overall And I see a gunshot wound in his leg. I said, dang, Frank, you got shot? He said, yeah, my wife shot me about 10 years ago.

I said, man, you mean your ex-wife, don't you? He says, no, he says, I'm still with her, right? I said, damn. About 3 months later, she killed him. After I played, Yeah, same lady that shot him 10 months before.

Oh my god.

Speaker 0: She shot him dead?

Speaker 1: Dead. Dead. Jesus Christ. I think she did 6 months in a mental place and then she's out. Oh my god.

Speaker 0: Yeah. 6 months.

Speaker 1: 6 months. That was it.

Speaker 0: That's it? She had shot him twice?

Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, I think it was like... Did he

Speaker 0: not tell about more?

Speaker 1: I think it was like 5 of them in the...

Speaker 0: Oh, when she killed him.

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh. Yeah. Mary, I was telling you about that buried money. Yeah.

Frank gave me some of that buried money.

Speaker 0: Did he?

Speaker 1: I think he was kind of like a numbers guy, you know how they run the lottery out in the country on their own and stuff. Yeah, I think he did like stuff like that.

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Pro Pool Player Jeremy Jones Tells His Craziest Gambling Stories