There was a poker player used to come around known in Los A as Steve Mizerak lol. Always went off - just liked to burn money.
Did you win or lose the biggest match of your life?
- Thread starter sammylane12
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I remember him from Tropicana Bowl. He played pool too. Was a decent player but went off at pool too.
Yeah, was talking about the pool. AFAIK he played cards well enough.
yea i knew steve. that was his real name i believe. he played fair pool and loved to gamble. tough to get down though.
dont know where he got money but would occasionally pump up to 50 k or so then blow it off.
i won a 1000 dollar bet one day i saw steve standing around and told this guy hey thats steve mizerack the pool player.
of course he said no and i said yea. he said bet i said pick your price. he said a grand. i said you ask him if he is, and if he says yes i win.
dont know where he got money but would occasionally pump up to 50 k or so then blow it off.
i won a 1000 dollar bet one day i saw steve standing around and told this guy hey thats steve mizerack the pool player.
of course he said no and i said yea. he said bet i said pick your price. he said a grand. i said you ask him if he is, and if he says yes i win.
Real name? Hilarious.
My biggest game money wise was with Archie the Greek. On day one I gave him a big spot (One Pocket) for 500 a game and won $5,500. He came back a week later and I gave him a bigger spot for 1,000 a game and he beat me out of 9,000! My second biggest game spectator wise was at the last Stardust tourney. I played Jimmy Fusco in front of a big crowd with many people betting against me to win two games (That was the line. He needed to beat me 4-1 or worse). I won that match 4-2 and everyone wanted to congratulate me afterward. I felt like the King for a day.
The most people to ever watch me play was at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. I played Delbert Wong (owner of Family Billiards) in the finals of the San Francisco Bar Table Championship, which was part of a big festival going on there. They kept announcing the upcoming match over the loudspeakers for at least an hour before the match, and the bleachers were packed with over 500 people there to watch it (free admission). I was nervous as hell, but managed to channel that energy and win the Race to Five match. The only shot I remember was banking the eight ball to win the last game. I felt like I had to make it or I would lose. If Delbert won that game it would have been hill-hill. Swish!
$1,000 for first and a new Heubler cue, which I gave away.
The most people to ever watch me play was at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. I played Delbert Wong (owner of Family Billiards) in the finals of the San Francisco Bar Table Championship, which was part of a big festival going on there. They kept announcing the upcoming match over the loudspeakers for at least an hour before the match, and the bleachers were packed with over 500 people there to watch it (free admission). I was nervous as hell, but managed to channel that energy and win the Race to Five match. The only shot I remember was banking the eight ball to win the last game. I felt like I had to make it or I would lose. If Delbert won that game it would have been hill-hill. Swish!
$1,000 for first and a new Heubler cue, which I gave away.
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True that. I tried to get him in a game but he just blew me off. He liked playing name players like Richie Florence and Ronnie Allen. They gave him big spots.
i played archie once. got him to give me a few balls and was stalling and getting the bet up. at about 800 a game. some guy i never saw before came running up to him and said i was a friend of cole. yea i was. but that doesnt make me a good player i said. it shut archie down right there and then.
he had maybe 100 grand then. i was after it. mostly trying to get him to play 300,600 razz. which we played once in awhile. that didnt happen.
right after he went on his dice spree and won 45 million. i was next to him at his box at binnions. he had all of binnions 5000 dollar chips.
i think i told him to buy some bonds with a bunch of it and have a big income for life. he said im a gambler and its all in action.
he lost it all. stayed empty and ended going to jail for cheating an indian casino in the desert in california. he never recovered.
he had maybe 100 grand then. i was after it. mostly trying to get him to play 300,600 razz. which we played once in awhile. that didnt happen.
right after he went on his dice spree and won 45 million. i was next to him at his box at binnions. he had all of binnions 5000 dollar chips.
i think i told him to buy some bonds with a bunch of it and have a big income for life. he said im a gambler and its all in action.
he lost it all. stayed empty and ended going to jail for cheating an indian casino in the desert in california. he never recovered.
Ike is very cool.
We've played several times, occasionally warming up playing cheap. I usually start off by saying, "Ike, why don't I just open up my wallet and you take what you want," lol. The time I beat him was on a crazy bank shot playing 1pocket. For reasons I don't recall now I had actually been practicing this very shot a few days before. Normally it's a totally safe position and he had purposely laid the balls down there. Basically the OB is at about the middle diamond on the head rail with the CB also on the head rail close to a pocket. All you have to do is play the CB, drawing it up past the side pocket and the OB goes two rails and inevitably heads to your pocket. I shot it, it went, and he slowly got out of the chair, and semi-smiled saying, "Nice shot."
I don't think he was expecting it : -o
Lou Figueroa
Hard to believe but I have seen a gambler quoted who seesawed millions back and forth that said the best thing in life was winning in action. He said the second best thing was losing in action.
With this action at any cost idea them getting in bad action a lot was just a given. LIke many, he took it playing pool, poker, and golf, gave it to the dice or ponies.
Hu
Not the biggest match of my life, but...
In 2013 and 2014, I was working in Saudi Arabia and brought a cue with me. I found an activity center with 7 - 9 foot tables, one of which was an old Brunswick others, I don't know. Tables were actually well taken care of. I mostly played there with a friend from work who also brought a cue, but sometimes went on my own and occasionally played with some Saudis and became a regular. Although they did not speak english and I did not speak Arabic, we all spoke the language of pool and they liked to play with me because they never saw anyone in person play as well as I did. I'm a fair player, but certainly no pro. Nobody gambled, because it was against the law, and for real.
Anyways, they had an annual tournament and the Saudis who worked there coaxed me into playing in it. The format was lag for initial break and then loser breaks. Initial sets were races to 3 and semi and finals races to 5. The first three matches, I mowed down the opponents. I can't claim because of great ability on my part, but more lack of experience on their part. I felt a little guilty, but always ascribed to the notion that you always play your best in tournaments, no matter who you are playing.
The semi-final match, I lost one game. My opponent was a fair player, but never played safe. In the final match, I was up 4 to 0 and my opponent, a bit of an arrogant person was getting angrier by the minute and kept jabbering while I was shooting in Arabic with the crowd of some 30 onlookers, who were definitely on his side and jeering at times when I missed. I ended up sinking two 8 balls inadvertently for losses and also put one in on the break, but scratched. WTF! I eventually ended up losing to the cheers of the onlookers and smug expression on my opponents face.
It was definitely a lesson in humility and also a reminder to bring earplugs. The tournament director was doing a lot of yelling in arabic to my opponent and the crowd afterwards. Later on, I learned he was admonishing them for poor sportsmanship. I wish he had done so earlier, but no excuses. No trophy for second place even.
The following year, I entered the tournament again and won, without much trouble. Although I did not get to play my previous antagonist because he got knocked out in the semi to my final opponent. Surprisingly, the onlookers were much more subdued, but did cheer for my Saudi opponent. I still have that trophy. Does not mean much, except as a reminder of the experience.
Sorry for the lengthy diatribe.
In 2013 and 2014, I was working in Saudi Arabia and brought a cue with me. I found an activity center with 7 - 9 foot tables, one of which was an old Brunswick others, I don't know. Tables were actually well taken care of. I mostly played there with a friend from work who also brought a cue, but sometimes went on my own and occasionally played with some Saudis and became a regular. Although they did not speak english and I did not speak Arabic, we all spoke the language of pool and they liked to play with me because they never saw anyone in person play as well as I did. I'm a fair player, but certainly no pro. Nobody gambled, because it was against the law, and for real.
Anyways, they had an annual tournament and the Saudis who worked there coaxed me into playing in it. The format was lag for initial break and then loser breaks. Initial sets were races to 3 and semi and finals races to 5. The first three matches, I mowed down the opponents. I can't claim because of great ability on my part, but more lack of experience on their part. I felt a little guilty, but always ascribed to the notion that you always play your best in tournaments, no matter who you are playing.
The semi-final match, I lost one game. My opponent was a fair player, but never played safe. In the final match, I was up 4 to 0 and my opponent, a bit of an arrogant person was getting angrier by the minute and kept jabbering while I was shooting in Arabic with the crowd of some 30 onlookers, who were definitely on his side and jeering at times when I missed. I ended up sinking two 8 balls inadvertently for losses and also put one in on the break, but scratched. WTF! I eventually ended up losing to the cheers of the onlookers and smug expression on my opponents face.
It was definitely a lesson in humility and also a reminder to bring earplugs. The tournament director was doing a lot of yelling in arabic to my opponent and the crowd afterwards. Later on, I learned he was admonishing them for poor sportsmanship. I wish he had done so earlier, but no excuses. No trophy for second place even.
The following year, I entered the tournament again and won, without much trouble. Although I did not get to play my previous antagonist because he got knocked out in the semi to my final opponent. Surprisingly, the onlookers were much more subdued, but did cheer for my Saudi opponent. I still have that trophy. Does not mean much, except as a reminder of the experience.
Sorry for the lengthy diatribe.
Goodness, PJ !
I was under the impression that you were utterly helpless, and I was wrong. That's a heck of an accomplishment against a player of the skill level of Mika. Bravo, muchacho.
Before you change your mind about me, though, I gotta say, I still think you are the quintessence of the Dunning Kruger effect whenever you invoke science or physics to antagonize people who express notions that diverge from your hero "Dr" Dave. You're allowed to still hate me, if you ever did, because I'm still going to tease you now and then.
Anyway, running 4 1/2 racks on Mika is nothing to sneeze at. Very well done, amigo.
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Coos Cues
Coos Cues
He ran 4.5 racks the opponent is irrelevant. Good accomplishment no matter.
not many can say they have beaten SVB, I would never forget that either.I think the tendency is to only remember the matches you won (or tied). I'll go with beating SVB in the US Open on the TV table.
14.1, not nine ball.
Yeah, you can say that, but when you're up against a champion, 4.5 racks is a little tougher bro. A champion's presence is typically felt...that's why dead money pays their entry fee, for example. Give Pj his due, cool arrow.
I'd still be trying to get you to bet sum if we ever was in the same room, big dog.
I got a little more respect for you now, nevertheless. Perhaps maybe not as much respect as I ought to have.
As Larry says : imho, icbw.
I'll still try u sum, Mika beater.