Running the Table - Tapa blanda

Danny 'Kid Delicious' Basavich's intoxicating tale is a true story... and L Jon Wertheim tells it beautifully here, getting right under the skin of pool's darker subculture without overly romanticising its past... A fine twist on the sports biography. (Metro)

Pro sportswriter Jon Wertheim has painted a fascinating picture of the pair and the modern-day underground they trawled in search of easy money. (Jon Wise Daily Sport)

Forget the "sport" side of pool, this book is about burly guys in small-town America betting large sums of money... the humanity of the betting sharks amid a dying breed of old-school pool hustlers is vividly portrayed. (Stanley Pignal Financial Times FT Magazine)

Entertaining. (Tony Hodson Sport)

In most sports athletes want to see their name in lights. But in the world of pool, notoriety is the last thing a hustler desires. Such is the dilemma that faces one Kid Delicious, aka Danny Basavich, a heavyset, bipolar, and endlessly charming Jewish kid from New Jersey, who flounders through high school until he discovers the one thing at which he excels - the felt - and hits the road. "Running the Table" spins the outrageous tale of the Kid and his study - if less talented - set-up man, Bristol Bob. Never was there a more entertaining or mismatched pair of sidekicks - the generously proportioned, easy-going Kid is the complete antithesis of his uptight, clean-cut pal - but together they go underground into the seamy world of pool to learn the art of the hustle and experience the highs and lows of life on the road.Their four-year odyssey takes them from run-down pool halls to slick urban billiard rooms across America, one night taking down as much as $30,000, the next losing so much that they lack gas money to get home. With every stop, the action gets hotter, the calls get closer, and Delicious' prowess with a cue stick becomes known more and more widely. "Running the Table" is a book about friendship, hustling and an America that you didn't know existed. Wertheim evokes a subculture full of nefarious but loveable characters and illuminates a country's fascination with games and gambling. He also paints a lasting portrait of an insanely talented and magnetic hustler, who is literally larger than life.