"The Pool Shark" is a song written by

Tom T. Hall Thomas Hall (May 25, 1936 – August 20, 2021), known professionally as Tom T. Hall and informally nicknamed "the Storyteller," was an American country music singer-songwriter and short-story author. He wrote 12 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more ...

and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Dave Dudley Dave Dudley (born David Darwin Pedruska; May 3, 1928 – December 22, 2003) was an American country music singer best known for his truck-driving country anthems of the 1960s and 1970s and his semi-slurred bass. His signature song was "Six Day ...

. It was released in February 1970 as the lead single from the album of the same name, ''The Pool Shark''. The song was Dave Dudley's twenty-first release on the country chart and his only number one. The single stayed at the top of the country charts for one week and spent a total of fourteen weeks on the chart.

Story

The song tells the story of a young traveling man and hard-luck gambler who stops at a roadside bar. After watching one of the regulars, a middle-aged man, play

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

for a while, the two strike up a conversation and agree to play a game. Eventually, the two play a long best-of series of the games, with the regular revealing himself to be a pro at the game who, under the guise of a friendly challenge, frequently hustles unwary opponents out of money. The pro eventually winning all the main protagonist's money -- $187 plus his ring -- and leaves in a Cadillac with a beautiful young woman ("''a blonde built like the rest of that car''"). In the end, the protagonist asks the waitress out; the conversations with her had been interspersed occasionally with the main story.

Chart performance

References

1970 singles Dave Dudley songs Songs written by Tom T. Hall 1970 songs Song recordings produced by Jerry Kennedy Mercury Records singles {{1970s-country-song-stub