The Sneaky Pete Pool Cue, also known as the hustler cue, was designed to look like a basic, run-of-the-mill house cue. In reality, it’s a top-of-the-line pool cue.
Opponents see the cue and underestimate your abilities… hence why it’s also called a hustler cue.
It looks like a standard billiards hall cue stick. When using it, no one will know you have a professional pool cue. To everyone around, it looks like you’re just using one of the bar or billiards hall cues.
A sneaky pete cue will effectively disguise itself to look like a cheap house cue, while maintaining the professional features that give you an advantage.
The primary advantage is the low deflection, since high deflection displaces the ball more and makes your shots less consistent and predictable.
The name originated from Peter Anthony Crisafi, aka Sneaky Pete. Born in 1919 in New York and an accomplished pool player, he went around town playing pool for money. Legend has it he chose billiards because he was terrible at cards.
However, he had a secret. He had a pool stick that appeared to be a standard billiards bar stick.. but in reality he had stolen his fav cue from a place called Flambonis.
He had the pool stick cut in half and customized to be able to easily screw the two pieces together. He then snuck it into pool halls, so it appeared he was using the same bar cues as everyone else.. and no one was aware he had an advantage.
Nowadays, these cues are rarely used for that purpose.. but they remain a classic style.
Who are Sneaky Pete Cues for?
These cues are both for beginners who want better shots from the get-go, and veteran players looking for an edge.
So what are the best sneaky pete cues on the market right now?
There are plenty of excellent options available, but here are our current top picks:
Best Top-of-the-Line Pick – LUCASI Custom Hybrid Cue w/Spliced Low Deflection Shaft, Kamui PRO Tip, Uni-Loc Joint + Travel Case
Everything on this cue is top-of-the-line. It’s a custom hand-crafted cue with technology upgrades.
With 4-piece cue butt construction for a solid hit and increased durability, the hybrid model features a ten-piece radial spliced shaft (laminated in pie-shaped segments), a top-of-line 10 layer Kamui Pro tip for maximum control and consistency, a quick-release uni-loc joint, and engineered low deflection ferrule.
Its appearance is absolutely stunning.
This Lucasi sneaky pete cue features premium embossed elephant leather wrap, mystic black forearm and butt sleeve with six-point imitation bone inlay points, blue recon stone & silver crush inlay accents, white windowpane inlays with blue recon diamond & silver crush dot accent inlays.
The LHC98 comes stock at 19 ounces with a 12.75mm shaft, but can be customized.
This is a beautiful cue and would be worth the price as an art piece even if it were not a great shooter, which it is! Very solid and sound feel, perfectly balanced.
Best Budget Pick – Players Technology Series HXT15 Two-Piece Pool Cue
This cue features a classic and stylish walnut-stained Birds-eye Maple forearm and butt with traditional black & white divided diamond and pincher-style graphic points, and stainless steel joint collar.
All Players cues feature a glue-on tip, and the HXT (Pure X) Series comes with a premium quality Kamui Black Soft Layered Tip, which is considered a Pro Level Tip. These tips generally cost upwards of $20.00, so you are getting a great value having this tip pre-installed on the HXT series.
The HXT Low Deflection shaft drastically reduces cue ball deflection, and the Kamui Black Soft Tip provides. superior grip, spin and durability. It has a 1” HXT High-tech low deflection ferrule with a special lightweight polymer core.
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