Hustlers of today know well the name Jack Foreaker. It is a name that has provided fright for some. There is every reason to be frightened if one meets this man at the pool tables. Foreaker hails from Detroit. He is a player that often hustles three cushion billiards.
For those who do not know what three cushion billiards is, it is a “trapezoid” game. It involves parallelograms. The idea is to make the game complicated so that the average player who just shoots to hit a pocket with their ball would not be able to understand what is really going on.
The average person is going to play by trying to put their ball in the pocket that makes the most sense. If you have a straight shot with the ball and cue then it means you can get the ball in and win the game. Foreaker is not like that. Instead, he uses three pockets to put his balls into. Watching what he does and how he sets it up can probably give you a migraine given the complexity of it.
The hope of a game that stands out the most for Foreaker is the one against Willie Hoppe. Willie Hoppe and Foreaker could have played for $510,000. Unfortunately, Hoppe would not take the bet. It was because by that time Jack was known by all. Everyone knew what a hustler he could be, so it means that no one wanted to play and lose against him. In fact Foreaker was finding it harder and harder to get someone to play against him. It was also an issue for Jack to get games in regular games. Tournament and official matches were off limits. Since he began hustling and grew a name for himself, Jack was told he could not be in any competition for money.
This turned him back to hustling the gullible. Given his name being rather well known he had to create situations of handicaps. For instance he would have to play with his non dominant hand. He would play with his left hand or provide other handicaps in order to play. Harold Worst wrote about Jack stating that at 17 he was taken to a match with Foreaker as the main player.
Worst was given money to make a play with it. Worst was told he could play any guy at the tables, except for Foreaker. Worst tells the tale that someone thankfully walked by telling him that he just agreed to play Foreaker for $25 in which Foreaker would play both right and left handed. Worst has said that he left immediately not playing the legend. It was certain that Worst would have lost half the money given to make the bet. The fact is that you might not find when Foreaker was born or much about his personal life, but you will certainly hear a lot of why you do not want to play against the man. Jack Foreaker unfortunately had such a talent that it became his handicap in his profession.