Cornbread Red: Pool's Greatest Money Player [Paperback]

Bob Henning (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1995

Cornbread Red is based on the true life of Billy Joe Burge. Built on the bones of truth, the imagination of the author, and the creative memories of others, it is intended to be read as a biographical story. "Born to a sharecropping family during the Great Depression, Cornbread Red's early talent for pool was encouraged and his passion to win made him a favorite of betting men. In a fast, thrilling, and sometimes dangerous culture, Red learned the "rules of the road" from hustlers, gamblers, con-men, and champions. This book takes the reader into the life and mind of pool's greatest money player. Taste the excitement of high-stakes gambling as you go head-to-head in competition! Be there when the cues are chalked, the stakes are raised, and the nine-ball rolls into the corner pocket."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...elaborately depicts the guile, daring and cunning necessary to scratch out a living in this rapidly-dying form of gambling." -- National Billiard News, November 1995

"Exceptionally easy and enjoyable to read...an action-packed life story told in a thoroughly entertaining style." -- Pool & Billiard Magazine , November 1995

Henning performs magic in the telling of this hustler's story...I found it difficult to lay the book down." -- The American Cueist, December 1995

About the Author

Bob Henning was a combat infantryman in Vietnam when Red first became famous. Today, Bob lives in Michigan with his wife and devotes most of his energy to the study of advanced tournament billiards. He is also deeply involved in the development of training techniques and methods for the competitive pool player.

Product Details

• Paperback: 229 pages
• Publisher: Bebob Publishing; Rei edition (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887956344
• ISBN-13: 978-1887956345
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #798,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A priceless portrait of "pool's greatest money player", October 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Cornbread Red: Pool's Greatest Money Player (Paperback)

"Cornbread Red" is the biography of Billy Joe Burge, one of America's best known pool gamblers. It isn't always a glamorous story, and much of Red's life couldn't be considered wholesome, but he undeniably earned his place in the history of pool.

Henning traces Burge's life from the small Kentucky town in which he started playing pool, to a few road trips in which he honed his game, to his tenure as carnival worker in which learned to read and "work" people, and on to one of the hottest gambling spots in the US. Whether it was in a small pool room behind a barber shop, or under the lights of Las Vegas, Red was there giving people a run for their money.

Although Red knew how to control the table, the heat of the gamble or the looseness of the gamblers' fraternity sometimes got the better of him. At a few points in the book, I cringed as Red allowed tens of thousands of dollars in recent winnings slip between his fingers. But Red's world isn't the one we live in, where such a loss would put us on the streets; Red had a talent for setting up matches and a support network that kept him on his feet. As Henning makes clear, these talents aren't to be underestimated. Red made his living and distinguished himself in a world that most of us have neither the skill nor the guts to enter.

This book could've easily been written as a condemnation of gambling. Red made some bad decisions along the way, as would anybody who lived in a world where people bet thousands of dollars on anything from one-handed pool games to cigarette tossing contests. Henning chooses, however, to focus on the grit that typified Red's experience. In fact, honest grit is what this book is about. It doesn't have the excitement, panache, and detail of "Playing Off the Rail" or "Willie's Game," but it paints a vivid picture of the everyday money player's experience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read on the life of a pool hustler, March 8, 2008

By 

Marty Beam (Augusta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cornbread Red: Pool's Greatest Money Player (Paperback)

In 1974 I meet Cornbread Red in a bar in Kannapolis, NC. I had the table when he came in the package store, he looked a little disheveled but most everyone in the room knew who he was but I had never heard of "Cornbread Red". He had just got through with some heavy money matches in Charlotte and was just trying to unwind with some beer and pool before calling it a day/night. I got 1 shot during our game; I broke and ran 7 balls off the table, before he shot. He ran the table out.
This book gave me a good insight on this man's life and was a very enjoyable read. If you have every played pool in a pool hall or bar room you can related to this man's life. He used simple tools to make himself into a legend.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Red's Ruin, February 21, 2007

By 

Larry Colby (Kelso, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cornbread Red: Pool's Greatest Money Player (Paperback)

This book is an easy read, but a difficult review. If you want to read about Cornbread Red's association with unknown gamblers playing for huge (unnamed, split-seven-ways) stakes, this is the book for you. If you want anecdotes about other greats he encountered, forget it. Danny Jones and Fats get brief mentions. The rest is mostly about Rubie, Bones, Al, and a host of other household names. Not really a bad book, but it could have been much better.