HISTORIC TABLE FOR SALE: Earl Stickland/Million Dollar Challenge

CJ Wiley

CJ Wiley

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I am currently making a documentary of Earl Stickland's run of 11 racks in a row to win the Million Dollar Challenge at CJ's Billiard Palace in 1996....He DID get his money (minus legal fees) after a 2.5 year legal battle and the details will be included in the documenary along with some great excerps from a 2 hour interview with Earl on how he prepared to win the challenge to run 10 racks of 9Ball in a row....I am selling the BRUNSWICK BLACK CROWN table, balls and rack signed by Earl Strickland and CJ Wiley (I hosted the Challenge and ended up beating Earl in the finals of the tournament). Please contact me with any serious offers starting at $7500. or Best Offer on AZbilliards by PM: CJ WILEY www.cjwiley.com cj@cjwiley.com

I NOW HAVE A PHOTO SHOOT INCENTIVE FOR BIDS OVER 15k...check this thread for the extra offer ONLY GOOD UNTIL AUGUST 3! This table was also used to make my ULTIMATE POOL SECRETS VIDEOS, 3 in 97, and 3 being made NOW....I've had it set up in my home since 1996.

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This is awesome. A real piece of pool history! Good luck with your sale, I wish I could buy it!! :thumbup:
 
Atlatlien said:
This is awesome. A real piece of pool history! Good luck with your sale, I wish I could buy it!! :thumbup:
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Yes indeed....I have every reason to believe what Earl did on this table was not only the most impressive thing ever done in pool, but in any sport/game.....the odds were 7.8 Million to 1 (calculated by a statistics professor at SMU Dallas for the Insurance Co.) that anyone ever do it and he did it on the FIRST DAY! Everyone seems to agree this was an extraordinary feat and what's even more impressive to me is the interview with Earl.....he actually training to be about to do it and told his wife on the way to Dallas "I'm going to do this thing, I'm going to run 10 racks at this tournament"....that's just insanely confident...only Earl (imho) would have enough confidence to say something like that.....AND MEAN IT! :eek:
 
cjssecrets4u2 said:
Yes indeed....I have every reason to believe what Earl did on this table was not only the most impressive thing ever done in pool, but in any sport/game.....the odds were 7.8 Million to 1 (calculated by a statistics professor at SMU Dallas for the Insurance Co.) that anyone ever do it and he did it on the FIRST DAY! Everyone seems to agree this was an extraordinary feat and what's even more impressive to me is the interview with Earl.....he actually training to be about to do it and told his wife on the way to Dallas "I'm going to do this thing, I'm going to run 10 racks at this tournament"....that's just insanely confident...only Earl (imho) would have enough confidence to say something like that.....AND MEAN IT! :eek:
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+100 Prob not the first time you have said " only Earl could/would ___" lol. Stuff legends are made of! What a killer table!
 
cjssecrets4u2 said:
Yes indeed....I have every reason to believe what Earl did on this table was not only the most impressive thing ever done in pool, but in any sport/game.....the odds were 7.8 Million to 1 (calculated by a statistics professor at SMU Dallas for the Insurance Co.) that anyone ever do it and he did it on the FIRST DAY! Everyone seems to agree this was an extraordinary feat and what's even more impressive to me is the interview with Earl.....he actually training to be about to do it and told his wife on the way to Dallas "I'm going to do this thing, I'm going to run 10 racks at this tournament"....that's just insanely confident...only Earl (imho) would have enough confidence to say something like that.....AND MEAN IT! :eek:
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CJ,

I don't disagree that it was an extraordinary feat, but the I can't agree with the odds. I believe they were based on history. Figuring how often someone has done so in the past, when the the "Million Dollar Carrot" wasn't hung out for the players. Having the "Carrot" dangling obviously gave Earl more of an inspiration, and of course a different plan of attack than he would have had otherwise. I'm certain that in a normal tournament situation Earl would have had more than one occasion where it made more sense to play a good, available safety rather than go for the "TV shot" in order to keep his run alive.

Looking forward to seeing the match.

Sherm
 
cuesmith said:
CJ,

I don't disagree that it was an extraordinary feat, but the I can't agree with the odds. I believe they were based on history. Figuring how often someone has done so in the past, when the the "Million Dollar Carrot" wasn't hung out for the players. Having the "Carrot" dangling obviously gave Earl more of an inspiration, and of course a different plan of attack than he would have had otherwise. I'm certain that in a normal tournament situation Earl would have had more than one occasion where it made more sense to play a good, available safety rather than go for the "TV shot" in order to keep his run alive.

Looking forward to seeing the match.

Sherm
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I don't know that the odds were that off. Here is why, first insurance companies are pretty darn spot on with their actuarial tables and calculations. Secondly, the simply computation off times one breaks:
Makes a ball vs not making a ball
Ball leaves the table
Player has a direct makeable shot on the 1
And is presented without obstacles that can be overcome.
So I think the percentage of being able to do that one out of one times for pro players is 1 out of 3. I mean pros break and run 1 out of 3 three racks on average right?
The ability to do it 2 out of 2 times (not 2 out of 10 times or 3 out of 10 times which is the average) but in a row, the odds decrease exponentially. By the time you get to 10 racks in a row the odds must be insane. But ask yourself this:
If the odds are indeed 7.8 million to 1, there has been 7.8 million racks ran in billiard history and only one time this was done. Hmmmm…
 
other than this being the table that Earl won a million dollars, is there anything that makes this table more difficult, or special?
 
prewarhero said:
I don't know that the odds were that off. Here is why, first insurance companies are pretty darn spot on with their actuarial tables and calculations. Secondly, the simply computation off times one breaks:
Makes a ball vs not making a ball
Ball leaves the table
Player has a direct makeable shot on the 1
And is presented without obstacles that can be overcome.
So I think the percentage of being able to do that one out of one times for pro players is 1 out of 3. I mean pros break and run 1 out of 3 three racks on average right?
The ability to do it 2 out of 2 times (not 2 out of 10 times or 3 out of 10 times which is the average) but in a row, the odds decrease exponentially. By the time you get to 10 racks in a row the odds must be insane. But ask yourself this:
If the odds are indeed 7.8 million to 1, there has been 7.8 million racks ran in billiard history and only one time this was done. Hmmmm…
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You certainly don't think that it's the first time anyone ever ran 10 racks of nine ball, in a row, do you?
 
Very Cool

Where has the Brunswick table, balls and rack for sale been for the past 16 years if I may ask? Where they autographed in 1996 or recently? Serious bidders would most likely need to know these things.

Best of luck with your sale!

Wedge
 
Odds - prewarhero

If your 1 out of 3 probability for running out on a 9 ball break is accepted as true then the odds for running out 10 consecutive times is (1/3) raised to the 10th power which turns out to be 1 chance in 59,049 tries. This is approximately 132 times more likely to happen than the one chance out of 7.8 million tries which was mentioned in one of the above posts. I think 1/3 is probably an over simplification of the probability and I believe the probability can only be calculated by keeping careful historical records of actual pro tourney 9 ball matches. The is no method for doing a theoretical probability in this instance so only and experimental probability is possible. Hope this helps the discussion.
Red
 
red stevens said:
If your 1 out of 3 probability for running out on a 9 ball break is accepted as true then the odds for running out 10 consecutive times is (1/3) raised to the 10th power which turns out to be 1 chance in 59,049 tries. This is approximately 132 times more likely to happen than the one chance out of 7.8 million tries which was mentioned in one of the above posts. I think 1/3 is probably an over simplification of the probability and I believe the probability can only be calculated by keeping careful historical records of actual pro tourney 9 ball matches. The is no method for doing a theoretical probability in this instance so only and experimental probability is possible. Hope this helps the discussion.
Red
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Your numbers are correct, Red, but it's also instructive to observe how quickly these odds/probabilities change if the initial assumption is changed a little.

As you say, with a break-and-run probability of 1/3 for each game, the odds against 10 in a row are about 59,000 to 1.

With a B&R probability of 1/4 (25%) for each game, the odds against 10 in a row are about 1,000,000 to 1.

With a B&R probability of 1/5 (20%) for each game, the odds against 10 in a row are about 10,000,000 to 1!

For odds of 7,800,000 to 1, the B&R probability for each game would be .2045, or about 20 1/2%.

But also, as Red observes, using this straightforward sort of calculation may not really be appropriate for circumstances like this. It would be neat to hear how the insurance company was thinking about it.
 
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CJ -- don't sell that table!!!! What a great item to keep for your new pool room. Think of all the interest, discussion, and business (maybe?) it might generate in the future in your pool room. And it's such a great part of your own personal history, too.


Edit -- whoops. We're in the W/FS Forum, so I should not be bumping this thread with my comments. Sorry.
 
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Is there going to be full footage of Earl breaking and running these racks?


Also, didn't Phil Capelle document 500 games of 9 ball with efren and archer? Maybe this information was used to calculate some odds seeing that it's a big number of games documented by two of the greatest pros ever. Just my thoughts.
Tim
 
If I had plenty of money this table would be mine I can promise you that. Running 11 racks for a million dollars is no doubt the biggest feat in pool history in my opinion. 99.9 percent of the advid pool players in the world knows about this feat. Just about everytime a conversation about earl has came up this is mentioned. I started playing pool at Carson Naylor's poolroom in Roseboro, N.C. just like (little earl) did back in the mid to late 70's and I currently live in Roseboro. That was his nickname back then. So needless to say I am a big fan of earl. Jeff
 
Also used in the making of CJ's Ultimate Pool Secrets

jhanso18 said:
other than this being the table that Earl won a million dollars, is there anything that makes this table more difficult, or special?
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It was triple shimmed like all the rest of the tables at the Million Dollar Challenge so it was challenging to say the least....

This table was also used in making all three of my CJ's Ultimate Pool Secrets Videos (three 45 minute VHS now on one DVD) and is being used to film my new series of videos at this very moment.

It has been in my house ever since the event and I am selling it to make room for a new 10' Table that I have in "lay away"....I will be happy to write a letter of authintecity for any collector that wants these things in writing.....and the table will be autographed by Earl and myself where ever the buyer wants it signed.....the rack is already signed and the balls go with it as well. CJ WILEY www.cjwiley.com
 
Where has the MILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGE table been stored since 96?

Wedge said:
Where has the Brunswick table, balls and rack for sale been for the past 16 years if I may ask? Where they autographed in 1996 or recently? Serious bidders would most likely need to know these things.

Best of luck with your sale!

Wedge
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It has been in my house and used to make all my Ultimate Pool Secrets videos (3 made in 97 and 3 being made now)....the rack was signed by Earl at the event in 96, the table will be signed by Earl and myself before the buyer takes possession .... I have pictures of the table AS EARL WAS RUNNING THE RACKS that can be signed as well (1 of your choice)...

This feat was and still is the greatest thing ever done on a pool table.....I know this is still a matter of opinion, and I am willing to debate this in any logical format.....running 11 racks on a triple shimmed table for a million dollar annuity is incredible....it hasn't been done before 96 or after 96...for any amount of money, let alone a million dollar prize.....and the "rest of the story" will be told on the documentary I'm making that comes out in October......this table is certainly a part of history and the pictures, the original filming, the documentary and the DVD's assure anyone of this fact. CJ WILEY www.cjwiley.com
 
Extra bonus if bid goes over 20k (until Aug.3 ONLY)

I'm going to leave this on here for 10 days only!!! If the bid goes over 15k I'll arrange a photo shoot with Earl, myself and the new buyer to take pictures for 30 minutes of the table, new buyer, Earl,and myself playing together or just individual pictures however seems appropriate......everything must be in good taste of course ..... so if you want a certain piece of history and top pool memorabilia you won't want to miss out....August 3 this offer will be null and void ( I have one bid for $9500 without the photo shoot) .....CJ WILEY www.cjwiley.com
 
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Earl was "due to run 10 racks"

AtLarge said:
Your numbers are correct, Red, but it's also instructive to observe how quickly these odds/probabilities change if the initial assumption is changed a little.

As you say, with a break-and-run probability of 1/3 for each game, the odds against 10 in a row are about 59,000 to 1.

With a B&R probability of 1/4 (25%) for each game, the odds against 10 in a row are about 1,000,000 to 1.

With a B&R probability of 1/5 (20%) for each game, the odds against 10 in a row are about 10,000,000 to 1!

For odds of 7,800,000 to 1, the B&R probability for each game would be .2045, or about 20 1/2%.



But also, as Red observes, using this straightforward sort of calculation may not really be appropriate for circumstances like this. It would be neat to hear how the insurance company was thinking about it.
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They used a Mathematics Professor from SMU Dallas to calculate the odds....I'm not sure how they went about it exactly, but it had never been done before this event and it still hasn't been done since....Earl did say he calculated he had played over 8,000,000 games of pool (before he ran the racks) ... I told him "then you must have been due"...;)
 
cuesmith said:
You certainly don't think that it's the first time anyone ever ran 10 racks of nine ball, in a row, do you?
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My information it had never been done before or since in a Professional Tournament (with 4.5 inch pockets) ... I did hear that Danny M. did it one time at a satellite tournament....and it's been done several times in gambling matches on all types of tables and conditions....and for the record Earl did run 11 in a row.
 
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