I'm here now! In all the years I've been coming here I never played pool on the base at Clark. There used to be some decent small stakes action in the bars along walking street. Like in Margaritaville (now closed and relocated) they had two challenge tables where they played Eight Ball for a drink or 50-100P a game. The challenge board might be six to eight names long, but once I got on that table I would often hold it until the last man (and woman) quit. I would play for free (loser pays the 15-20P charge per game) until the last player quit and there were no more names on the board. Good memories from ten to fifteen years ago. I might make 500-1,000P when it was all said and done, ha ha. It felt good to win anyway. Somehow validating that a 60+ year old man could still beat all comers.
Even back then there were a few spots (in hotels) further up Fields toward Korea Town where the real pool players hung out. I would often find guys (foreigners) who liked to play One Pocket. Here we often played for 500 or 1,000P a game. I did okay but the level of competition was much higher. A couple of times they brought a Filipino in to play me. These guys didn't really know the nuances of One Pocket but they were real players and I had trouble with them, usually losing a few games before giving up. They never missed on those tables and had enough pool sense to not leave me a good shot at a bank or anything else. Roland Garcia was one guy who I played before he became known in the USA. Another short chunky Pinoy guy (name ?) took me down at One Pocket. I told him he was a very good pool hustler.
Nowadays pool is experiencing a revival here with several new poolrooms opening up in the last year or two. The most significant are Capito's which now has two locations, one by Checkpoint and one in Dau. You will see some of the best Pinoy hustlers (many who played in the recent Philippine Open) gambling in there. Old time guys like Lining, Alcano and Gabica may show up to challenge them. Efren plays in here too (he lives in Angeles). The game is always Ten Ball, races from 15 to 30 depending on the size of the bet. A typical game has 50,000P in the middle ($1,000), and the crowd is betting game by game (500-1,000P bets). I've seen bigger games here too, much bigger! It's a lively atmosphere to say the least.
No, I don't play anymore. I still have my trusty Predator cue but no motivation to put in the practice required to find some semblance of my stroke. Maybe one day I will feel like trying to get halfway in stroke again. That's good enough to bang them in playing Bank Pool!
