Bank Pool Vids?

mohrt

Student of the Game
Silver Member
I'd like to watch a lot of bank pool action, past and present. Where do I find that? I found a few things on youtube, and that was about it. TIA.
 
I'd like to watch a lot of bank pool action, past and present. Where do I find that? I found a few things on youtube, and that was about it. TIA.

All you have to do is a search on "Gary Spaeth". He ruled the world of Bank Pool for many years! If he was still alive I'm sure he would still be top dog. John Brumback, a contemporary of Gary's is another great banker who deserves a lot of respect for his bank pool game.

Sherm
 
Yep, found that and watched it. Good stuff! Youtube has a very limited amount of bank pool videos. I'd really like to learn more about bank pool strategy. The bank pool forum at onepocket.org is helpful, as are these few videos. Just looking for more. Thanks.

Here you go:

http://www.1vshop.com/Accu-Stats/store.cgi?CMD=007&DEPT=1013616624&BACK=A0007A1B0000005B1

Check out some of the ones with Jason Miller, especially the final from DCC 2004...At one point he runs two racks of 9 ball banks. :eek:
 
Grab a cup of coffee, this story is a bit long!

Here you go:

http://www.1vshop.com/Accu-Stats/store.cgi?CMD=007&DEPT=1013616624&BACK=A0007A1B0000005B1

Check out some of the ones with Jason Miller, especially the final from DCC 2004...At one point he runs two racks of 9 ball banks. :eek:



Yes, Jason is a great banker when you can get him to play. He own's a bar now and never plays. He used to run around with Gary and I and was like a little brother to us.

I don't think anyone has it on tape but the best bank pool match I ever watched was at the Clyde Childress Memorial Tournament in Lexington, 1985 I believe. The previous year

Gary had come in second to Truman Hogue. When we arrived everyone was wanting to see Truman and Gary match up. Truman was a hometown favorite and was holding court!

We talked about matching up when we were all settled in but as luck would have it, they drew each other in the second round of the bank pool division.


This tournament had a 9-ball and a short rack bank pool division playing simultaneously. They announced the second round of play and alternated tables down the row, 9-

ball, banks, 9-ball, banks etc. down the line. Turned out that Earl Strickland was playing a nine ball match on the table next to Gary and Truman. Truman was all puffed up,

feeling his oats. He figured he had a lock on the tournament again this year. They lagged for the break and Gary froze the cueball on the rail winning the first break with a

winners break format. When Truman finished racking he asked Gary if we wanted to bet anything on the match. I had already made about $7-$800 in side bets with the crowd of

people there to watch Truman win! Gary looked to me to see if I wanted any more action. I felt we had enough for now and I didn't want Truman to have any more incentive to

win anyway so I said sorry we're good. Gary got up and broke the balls making a ball on the break leaving himself good position on some easy cross side banks. He started firing

balls in from everywhere and ran 5 & out the first game of the race to 5. Truman got up with all of his confidence and said "good shooting Gary" and racked the balls for game 2.

Again Gary made a ball on the break and proceeded to run 5 & out again! Truman got up again without saying anything this time and racked the balls without all the confidence

we were used to seeing. Wham, Gary broke the balls again and the last ball rolling found a pocket just before it ran out of speed. I looked over at Truman and saw him slump

down in his chair a bit and move the cue stick he'd been holding, ready to get into action, against the table and crossed his arms kinda steaming a bit! Gary walked around the

table an chose his first victim and banked it cross side. Then he banked the next 2 balls across corner. It looked like his run was over because the rest of the balls were sitting

badly or in clusters. He spotted one ball that was close to being frozen to another ball but it had a chance to go a long cross corner to the other end of the table. He was free

wheeling by now and drilled that ball in leaving the ball it was close to open for a cross side shot which he drilled in. I looked at Truman who slowly got up after watching Gary

bank 3 games in a row, 5 & out. He looked like someone ran over his dog or something! He slowly racked the balls again for Gary who got up and crushed the balls in making 2

balls on the break. He then banked 4 more balls in before missing his first shot of the set just barely catching the tit on the side pocket. The ball shot down the rail and went

into the corner pocket like you'll sometimes see. It was spotted leaving 3 balls on the spot but the cue ball was left on the other end of the table in line with the spotted balls.

One other ball was on the side rail across from the spotted balls leaving no shot on it and the final ball was near the end rail opposite side. Truman slowly walked to the table to

shoot for the first time in the match being down 3 games and 4 balls to nothing in the 4th game. He managed to bank the ball near the end rail calling "Straight back" with his

gravelly Kentucky accent. He made the ball but the cue ball went into the spotted balls opening them up leaving him only an off angle cross corner shot that he would have

normally made easily. He hung that ball up leaving Gary an easy cross side shot for game 4. Again Truman slowly got up and walked to the table to rack the balls for Gary. Gary

broke the balls hard but ended up with a dry break this time. Truman got up a little faster this time hoping it was his turn to string some racks but he was just broke down at

this point. He tried a simple cross side shot that was normally a hanger for him but he hit it so hard it shortened up a little and missed. Gary got up and ran 3 balls since Truman

had played position for some easy cross corner shots down table and then chose to play his first safety of the match. Truman tried a long rail straight back shot that he hit so

bad it almost hit the side pocket. He was disgusted with himself by now. Gary banked the last 2 balls he needed to finish off the match. He's beaten Truman 5 games to 1 ball.

Remember me mentioning Earl Strickland playing on the next table? Well anyone who knows Earl knows that he plays a pretty fast game of 9-ball. His matches are usually

the first ones completed each round he plays. Well Earls opponent was just racking the balls for the second game of 9-ball in their match! Earl told me later that he played slow

that game because he spent more time watching Gary fire in banks from everywhere, than he did playing his own game. The entire match lasted about 10-12 minutes! He had

another match years later that lasted only 8 minutes but it was a race to 4 instead of 5. Gary was my road partner, house pro at my pool room and my best friend til the day he

died. I've seen some great bank pool over the years but this was the best match I ever saw anyone play! Period!




Sherm

P.S. Truman had no interest in matching up with Gary after that. Gary won the bank pool division, Jose Parica won the 9-ball. Earls 2 losses came from first Jose Parica, then to

Efren Reyes on the losers side starting his rivalry with the Filipino players!
 
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Sherm, that was a fantastic story! Those are the kind of stories that drew me to AZ all those years ago. Rep for ya.
 
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