Book: Road Player–The Danny Diliberto Story
Road Player by Jerry Forsyth
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Boy, this book gets right to it. Danny Diliberto is a gambler and a pool hustler whose sensational stories fill each of the 231 pages of this volume. Adhering somewhat to chronology, the book focuses on Danny’s exploits and the exploits of his fellow hustlers on the Pro Billiards Tour as well as the Johnston City tournaments. With names such as Cornbread Red, Boston Shorty and the Deacon, the figures described take on legenday proportions. Even Willie Mosconi, the king of pocket billiards, makes appearances.
Although short of a life story, Danny’s past as a lightweight boxer who trained under Angelo Dundee sets the stage for his rough and tumble existence as a road player. The scores were big, the losses bigger and danger always around the corner.
Read the book if you want to hear stories of the hustle–details of the games themselves are often vague, only giving enough detail to spice up the score at the end of the session. For the non-players out there, you’ll need to brush up on your pool jargon to follow some of these sections–but the payoff is worth it.
