Congrats Robert Raiford

ELBeau

ELBeau

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Congrats to our own Robert Raiford for making a nice comeback to give Hugo Patino his only loss in the Verhoeven Open 3 Cushion Tournament at Carom Cafe. Down 4 to 10 or 11 after a slow start, Robert began scoring- including a run of 10 to win 25-18 in around 19 inns on the live streaming table!
 
Thanks, guys! Hugo is playing really well right now and came in 4th overall in the event, so that was a good win for me. The run of 10 came at just the right time :)

Since it was on the TV table where I'm usually talking instead of playing, Ira Lee thought there might be some interest in a player review version of the match. So it looks like I'm going to go back and add commentary for it, and it'll be available soon once the video-on-demand site with all of the 14.1 and 3-cushion tournament recordings is up and running.

The Patino win was nice, but the biggest highlights of the week for me were hanging out with my pool and billiard heroes in a way that could only happen in such a unique simultaneous tournament format. Here are a few from my week in billiard heaven:
  • Gambled with Efren Reyes at 3-cushion. He won 25-24, and I'd love to track down the video!
  • Talked with Torbjorn Blomdahl and Corey Deuel at a pool table while they played bank pool (both are STRONG bankers), one pocket (TB at DCC would be fun!) and Corey's "break and run 15 balls in the fewest shots" drill (Corey's record is 9 and I think TB did 11). Afterwards, they started swapping time shots, kiss shots, novelty shots, etc. NYC Grind took some video of this.
  • Discussed 14.1 strategy in the bleachers with Corey while we watched the Efren v. Appleton semi-finals match (Deuel has a very sharp pool mind!)
  • Had dinner with Blomdahl, Efren, Santos Sambajon and Ira Lee - how awesome is that! Among the topics discussed, Efren mentioned that it would be fun to have a "scratch pool" tournament (you score by caroming OBs into pockets off of the CB - kinda like Russian Pyramid). It's a fun pool game that everyone should try!
  • Shared the booth with Torbjorn during the Reyes-Ceulemans balkline exhibition while he explained the game and its strategy with insight and clarity. TB has the rare ability to both play and explain billiards at a high level, and I wish we could get him to talk on every billiard video EVER :)
  • Stood next to Ceulemans while Eddy Leppens borrowed Efren's cue and ran a zillion points in a little impromptu one-cushion exhibition. Raymond says Leppens and Caudron are the two strongest 1C players in Belgium (and maybe the world). Efren is a strong 1C player himself and was very appreciative of Eddy's masterful touch.
I've attached a few pics from the festivities. Many thanks to Ira Lee and everyone at Carom Cafe and Dragon Promotions for making this happen! Carom Cafe is one of the few venues where something like this is possible, and I hope it was successful enough that more multidisciplinary events will be headed our way in the future.

Robert
 

Attachments

  • 20120709 Efren and me after our billiard match.jpg
    20120709 Efren and me after our billiard match.jpg
    42.1 KB · Views: 454
  • 20120802 Torbjorn Blomdahl and Corey Deuel.jpg
    20120802 Torbjorn Blomdahl and Corey Deuel.jpg
    33.7 KB · Views: 396
  • 20120804 Dinner in Billiard Heaven (Blomdahl, Efren and me).jpg
    20120804 Dinner in Billiard Heaven (Blomdahl, Efren and me).jpg
    63.1 KB · Views: 408
  • 20120805 Ceulemans, Efren and me (blurry).jpg
    20120805 Ceulemans, Efren and me (blurry).jpg
    60.6 KB · Views: 428
Shared the booth with Torbjorn during the Reyes-Ceulemans balkline exhibition while he explained the game and its strategy with insight and clarity. TB has the rare ability to both play and explain billiards at a high level, and I wish we could get him to talk on every billiard video EVER

Is this going to end up on a video for sale somewhere?

Robert, there was talk awhile back of you putting out some instructional content - what happened to that?
 
Carom Cafe

Hi Robert,I met you at Carom Cafe,it was a pleasure talking to you. I watched you play not only are you a good player but a great commentater.My name is Eddie Friedman , I'm from Baltimore,MD. It was a great EVENT,I enjoyed every moment except when I lost to Jim Shovak , 25-23 but as you know you never forget the losses.LOL
 
farouk said:
Is [the Ceulemans-Reyes balkline exhibition with Blomdahl commentary] going to end up on a video for sale somewhere?
Click to expand...
Yes! Ira Lee arranged for all of the matches to be recorded in HD as they were being streamed from the 14.1 World Tournament and the Verhoeven Open, including all of the exhibitions. I'm sure he'll be sharing details sometime soon about where to go for video-on-demand and DVDs.

Robert, there was talk awhile back of you putting out some instructional content - what happened to that?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the interest, and yes, that is definitely still in the works! My playing and writing got put on hold for a bit as other life events took precedence, but now I'm starting to play again and am able to devote more time to making the instructional material available. I'll keep you posted!

Robert
 
fasteddief said:
Hi Robert,I met you at Carom Cafe,it was a pleasure talking to you. I watched you play not only are you a good player but a great commentater.My name is Eddie Friedman , I'm from Baltimore,MD. It was a great EVENT,I enjoyed every moment except when I lost to Jim Shovak , 25-23 but as you know you never forget the losses.LOL
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words, Eddie! It was fun meeting and talking with you at the Carom Cafe week in billiard heaven (what an event!) I hope next time we can get on a pool table and talk some one pocket.

Robert

p.s. Shovak Schmovak! ;)
 
FYI, I ran a 10 and a 5 in one game of the prelims at Carom. The 25 point game couldn't have been more than 15 or 20 innings. Is that good enough, Eddie? LOL.
 
Respect?

Jim you want respect, just remember Fredo Corleone. He wanted respect too and look how it ended up for him. You want respect you got it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top