Share a Hustle or Two

[thedorf]

I'm not much of a hustler myself but have heard some good ones. I'll list the ones i know. I'm sure most of them are fairly well known as will a lot of the hustles that people post. Should be fun anyway.

By the way, just in thinking about this post, i'm pretty convinced that the most important part of a hustle is the setup. If you just go in and offer someone the terms of whatever hustle you know, they're bound to see that things are too good to be true(mainly because you're the one doing the offering). I don't have much set up advice myself but feel free to share that too. Also, any detailed street hustles, like the actual ins and outs of three card monty or the shell game would be interesting. Anyway...

1)Golf: "I can beat you throwing the ball."

You bet someone that you can beat them in a round (or hole by hole, whatever) where they're playing with clubs and you're throwing the ball. You have to get them to play you on a par 3 course and they have to agree that, for you, the hole size is the edge of the hole plus two hand spans. This is key. You get to put the pinky of your left hand on the edge of the hole, open your hand as far as possible, touch your left thumb to your right thumb, open your right hand as far as possible, and if your ball is inside the span of your two hands, YOUR BALL IS ALREADY IN THE HOLE. I say this is key because victims don't realize how big the hole becomes when you do this (about 4 feet in diameter if youre 6 feet tall). Youre gonna be "chipping in" a lot.

2. Chess: "I can beat you with just a king"

WARNING: The hustler actually loses this game but only if the victim knows the hustle.

You just have a king (take white) on its natural starting square while the victim has his entire setup.

The victim must agree that your sole king can move two spaces per turn in any direction and that it can move in and out of check on a single turn. Practice with a friend and you should be able to figure out soon enough that you're a big favorite against an unsuspecting opponent. By the way, you could beat an expert like this if he didn't know about it, but most experts do.

By the way, the way to beat the sole king is to move out your rook pawns and queen right away and just go for mate by marching the king down to the back rank.

3)Craps. I don't remember this hustle exactly but it's in Sklansky's Getting the Best of It. You just bet someone that you can role a 6 OR 8 I believe before they role a seven. That's it, you're a favorite. Someone confirm. Is it the six and eight?

4) Tic Tac Toe. This is super lame, but could work for the under 18 2p2 crowd looking to pick up a couple extra bucks. You just play tic tac toe with people (provided you know how to win or draw every time). Most people will play you for a few bucks even though they don't know how to win or draw every time. I made gas and lunch money in high school like this when i had the energy to do it. Winners go first, alternate on draws worked well for me. Freeroll!

5)Food. "Bet you can't eat six saltines in a minute."

No water during the one minute. They can drink as much as they want before but mouth has to be empty when the minute starts.

This is just plain difficult to do.

WARNING: I know people who can do it. I'd be surprised if more than 5% of population can pull it off though.

6) Chess. "White mates in one."

You're white, victim is black (doesn't really matter). Put a white rook on h1, another white rook on g2. Put a white king on e1. Put a black king on b1 (no other pieces should be on the board). Then announce, "white to move mates in one." I'll put this result in white just below for those of you who want to try and figure it out.
<font color="white">White Castles. </font>


Alright, that's all i can think of for now. Your turn.

[superadvisor]

I really think I can do the saltine one.

[Homer]

#3 -- 6 or 8. 10 total ways to roll one of those versus 6 ways to roll a 7.

[grando]

[ QUOTE ]
I can do the saltine one.

[/ QUOTE ]

I did it twice in 2 successive minutes

[almostbusto]

1 i have a very hard time believing anyone would ever go for this. especially with all the caveats.
2 is very very -EV
3,4,5,6 definitely nobody will ever go for.


also this thread has been done several times in the past.


to contribute something non negative. best hustles are hustles that actually require talent or prey on people's over assessment of their own talent.

ie

wine taste tasting. there are a million ways to formulate it, but basically everyone thinks they have a great palate though very few actually do. similarly pepsi vs coke vs generic cola taste testing: apparently if you frame the tasting method correctly, you can make it pretty hard to better than random (i can't remember the trick).

also, straight up chess, poker, backgammon, pool, golf, horse, gin rummy etc. if you are actually really good at them have potential.

[CaptUnlucky]

I think eating a spoonful of cinnamon is much more difficult than the crackers.

[NU Star]

Get someone to roll a di with you where you get $6 if you pick the number, and they get $1 if you don't.

[mak15]

OP,

the fact that you present playing straight up tic tac toe as a hustle is ridiculous.

[.Alex.]

I don't get how you're supposed to win the chess match with just a king.

[Ikonoclast]

Buy Oz of marijuana (No more than 300$) Break down into grams or 8ths, profit$$$, re-up, repeat