Guile, menace and ruthlessness were always thought to be the hallmarks of pool hustlers, occupational requirements for a dark art. But then came Danny Basavich, who applied some reverse English to the archetype and took a different angle.
Doing business as “Kid Delicious” starting in the early 1990s, he killed with kindness, leaning into both the table and his weight … and leaving the joint as the rare pool hustler who made money and friends in equal measure.
There is, of course, no official stats bureau or reliable metrics for pool hustling. But Kid Delicious, who died Wednesday at age 44, was by any measure among the most successful pool hustlers in pool’s flavorful history. He made hundreds of thousands of dollars lining up action and then winning.
