Hustlers' Holiday In The Lions' Den

"Fat Man, give me two balls and I'll play you four out of seven for $500," suggests Tuscaloosa Squirrelly (Marshall Carpenter, 33, Tuscaloosa, Ala.).

"Look, Junior, I was shooting pool before you knew what popcorn was," Fat Man says. "I'm four times older than you, I been up three days and three nights and you want two balls. You don't wanna play, you wanna stick somebody up."

"Will you play me for $500, Fat Man?" asks Weenie Beenie (Bill Staton, 33, owner of a chain of restaurants in Washington, D.C.).

"I've answered that question yes about 10 times in plain English. You oughta understand, Weenie Beenie. You're supposed to be intelligent. You're a college graduate. Most of these other imbeciles are fugitives from second grade. But if you don't understand English I know several other languages—several."

Weenie Beenie says nothing. He didn't want to play Fat Man in the first place.

"You don't need no backers, Weenie Beenie," the Fat Man says as he strokes off practice shots. "You own some restaurants, but I've put a lot of restaurants out of business."

Ready for another go

Jones, of West Point, Ga., wants a hunk of Fat Man. He challenged Fat Man in Chicago a couple of years ago and lost a wad for his backer. But Jones was driving a public transit bus in Washington D.C. then and playing pool part time. He thinks he can take the Fat Man now. He quit the bus route a year ago. He makes his living playing pool. He won the national snooker title in Macon, Ga. last March. He's ready for another go at Fatty.

"Mr. Cokes, let me play him four out of seven for $500," Jones asks of a well-to-do fellow contestant. Hubert Cokes shakes his head and says, "No, Danny."

Fat Man waits. "Get your backers to put up some money, Sonny Boy," he says. "You guys all gotta have stake horses [backers]. I only got one partner and that's Eva-line [his wife Evelyn]."