GLYNN WASHINGTON, HOST:
Now then, I want you to meet somebody. His name is Nasson Smith. He grew up the son of a bookie. And when his dad took bets, Nasson, he had to find a way to pass the time.
NASSON SMITH: You know, I had a father who was a bookmaker, you know. So his gambling was just, like, you know, every Tuesday night the house was a casino. We had a pool table, and so I played pool from 6:00, 7:00, you know, on. And I played every day. I mean, I played pool. And I remember going to a place - 12 years old - this is explained that we were just going to this place to look at a camera. And so - so we got to this guy's house, and I just remember it being packed with electronics - although, at that age, I'm not even sure if I knew the word electronics - but things your neighborhood junkie brought you. And so they were, I guess, negotiating some sort of a deal. And I remember he was saying to the guy, like, do you want to play pool against my kid, for everything in his house. And the guy, like, looked, and was like, what do you mean by everything in this house? And the guy said, like, what is your kid, like, one of these hustler kids or something? I remember the old man saying he's 11 years old. He's a cripple. He limps. And then he said, walk across the room for this man.
And I just assumed that I probably needed to limp. And I limped. I limped across the room. And - I don't know - the guy had a few cocktails down him. And this is how this stuff goes is that, you know, eventually, he's, like, you know, I can beat an 11-year-old. You can't. It's a hustle. I mean, I was pretty good, and I was going to get to Taco Quickie after we got out of there and get three or four tacos or something for 35 cents apiece - whatever they went for those days. So this to me was the big payoff. And this is not a lot of pressure to an 11-year-old. And when you're playing an 11-year-old and you realize you're playing for everything in the house and the 11-year-old's playing for three tacos, there's a whole different set of rules. The balls get smaller. They just - the 8's becomes the size of - I don't know - a little kernel of corn or something.
Well, of course, I won. I was good until I was in my 20s. And then I remember being in this bar in Lancaster. I was living out in Lancaster and working on a ranch. And I was shoveling [bleep], and we'd go to this bar after and drink beers. There was (unintelligible) here and there. There was a 14-year-old girl in there playing pool. Her dad brought her in there. And I drank a bunch of beers or something. And one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I'm playing this 14-year-old girl for - I think it's 50, 75 bucks a game, one or the other. And she just wiped the bar up with me because the balls got smaller.
WASHINGTON: Thanks to Nasson and our boy David Weinberg for producing that story for SNAP. Now you've invested a full hour into SNAP goodness and that - well, these days, that and $30 maybe - is that what it is - can get you a cup of coffee. But rest assured, there's plenty more SNAP where this came from - movies, pictures, stuff, right now, on snapjudgment.org. Join the SNAP JUDGMENT nation on the Facebook. Get behind the scenes and all up into the action on some of the stories you're hearing right now. Our Twitter is SnapJudgmentORG. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
