Pool hustling is one of the less clean parts of billiards. Yet, pool hustling and pool playing seem to be inseparable. Some of the world's top billiard players have started out as pool hustlers (see Minnesota Fats for example) and the best billiard movies are dealing with pool hustlers (The Hustler, Color of Money, The Baron and the Kid and more).
Pool hustling, sometimes referred to as pool sharking is the dubious art of fooling an innocent pool player into playing pool for money. In order to be a pool hustler, you must have excellent pool skills in addition of having some acting talent. Moreover, you should find some stakehorse who would supply the money for your bets. However, even if you meet with all these requirements, pool hustling is not recommended by us.
How can you recognize a pool hustler? Well, since pool hustlers are busy deceiving and hiding their intentions, spotting a good pool hustler may be a bit confusing. However, if you happen to run into someone who hustles by the book, he would simply follow these guidelines:
Pool hustler would never use their private cue stick not to give the impression of taking pool playing seriously. He would also usually start out with a few low-stakes games in which he may even lose some money intentionally and miss out on easy shots and at the same time perform amazing trick shots. In order to look like a recreational pool player, the pool hustler would often look drunk, stoned or plain stupid.