You're in Arkansas? When will you be in Dallas?
Archer & Varner Southern Tour first day, getting ready
- Thread starter bfdlad
- Start date
You're in Arkansas? When will you be in Dallas?
I don't have any major reasons to go to Dallas, except that I do miss TX a lot. I lived in Houston for several years.
What did you have in mind, CJ? I'd probably need the wild 4 and out from you. Oh yeah, and the breaks. Lol.
What did you have in mind, CJ? I'd probably need the wild 4 and out from you. Oh yeah, and the breaks. Lol.
Hey CJ, were were just at Billiard Den tonight for the show. We will be at the Billiard Den tomorrow from 6pm to 10pm if you are around stop by I think we would all like to see you and catch up.
Billiard Den / Dallas Texas
Yes, I just found out you were here tonight....I wasn't able to get there this evening, but should be able to stop by tonight....glad you guys are doing well and I'll see ya soon:smile:
Yes, I just found out you were here tonight....I wasn't able to get there this evening, but should be able to stop by tonight....glad you guys are doing well and I'll see ya soon:smile:
Wow, 11 racks in a row, that’s amazing, maybe you guys can do a Deep South tour during the winter. Keep the updates coming.
Thanks:grin-square:
Thanks:grin-square:
Wish I was there, all of you in one place at the same time.:bow-down:
The turn out was low last night at the Billiard Den, not sure why though. Maybe leagues since it was a Tuesday? Who knows. However the people who were in attendance were great and big fans of JA, Nick and the game of pool and so that always makes things fun. After we got done with the show Nick and I were hungry and so we stayed behind and had something to eat. Guess what I had? YEs I am on this Chilli diet for some reason and I just don't feel like anything else. I think I may have discovered a new diet for those who want to lose weight. It works on the same principal as the "Bran Diet" commonly known as the "Shit yourself thin diet" Just fyi for anyone who don't like bran but like chilli.
So we are planning on going to our lunch with Don and Anita around 1pm and to the Billiard Den for athe clinic at 6pm its a small clinic and so JA will take the group for 2hrs and then Nick will take for 2 hours or vis versa. So we will have chance to hang out with CJ for a while and it will be good to see him again.
So we are planning on going to our lunch with Don and Anita around 1pm and to the Billiard Den for athe clinic at 6pm its a small clinic and so JA will take the group for 2hrs and then Nick will take for 2 hours or vis versa. So we will have chance to hang out with CJ for a while and it will be good to see him again.
Were you there last night?? If so you should have told me who you were.
I was and I did ! I came up and introduced myself as Steve, the guy with the BBQ recommendation.
Big thanks to Ken (Okie) for helping arrange a session with Nick and Johnny that my son could attend. Another big thanks to Mark, Nick and Johnny for getting up early to accommodate us, and to Jessica and Shane at Jamaica Joe's for providing a great venue.
Our session was fantastic. Both guys are great to be around. Nick is a MASTER; he's like the Yoda of pocket billiards. ANY player, no matter how advanced, can learn something beneficial from an hour with Nick Varner. My son's technique is pretty solid, so Nick played him some racks of 9-ball and "thought out loud" while he was at the table. Really insightful to get in the mind of a champion like that. There's no one on the planet, living or deceased, that knows more about how to play pool than Nick Varner. His injured finger sure didn't seem to slow him down, either.....
Johnny's more jovial and has a completely different approach than Nick. Much less methodical (no surprise to most of us who've watched these guys for years) and much more interested in getting into rhythm on the table. Had some really interesting tips/observations on how he "triggers" his pre-shot routines. VERY impressive to watch at the table. Just observing how he moves around the table and sets his body up for shots is a lesson in-and-of itself.
I've never been a big fan of instructional clinics in general, but I can't imagine anyone being sorry they spent a few hours with these guys. We're very grateful we got the opportunity to do so.
Our session was fantastic. Both guys are great to be around. Nick is a MASTER; he's like the Yoda of pocket billiards. ANY player, no matter how advanced, can learn something beneficial from an hour with Nick Varner. My son's technique is pretty solid, so Nick played him some racks of 9-ball and "thought out loud" while he was at the table. Really insightful to get in the mind of a champion like that. There's no one on the planet, living or deceased, that knows more about how to play pool than Nick Varner. His injured finger sure didn't seem to slow him down, either.....
Johnny's more jovial and has a completely different approach than Nick. Much less methodical (no surprise to most of us who've watched these guys for years) and much more interested in getting into rhythm on the table. Had some really interesting tips/observations on how he "triggers" his pre-shot routines. VERY impressive to watch at the table. Just observing how he moves around the table and sets his body up for shots is a lesson in-and-of itself.
I've never been a big fan of instructional clinics in general, but I can't imagine anyone being sorry they spent a few hours with these guys. We're very grateful we got the opportunity to do so.
Ah crap thats right. I just didn't put your name together. Thanks man and it was cool to meet you.
Well thank you very much for your endorsement also. We all love to hear that we are out here doing something good. I am also glad that Jess and Shane were able to accomodate you and your son. He he seems like a well grounded young man. Also thanks to Ken for being persistant in making it happen too. Hopefully we will see more of young Mica *SP in the future.
We had a wonderful afternoon with Don and Anita, they really are great hosts. It was great to just be again in a real home and relax and not be in the hotel. Don and Anita have a fabulous home an we spent quite a bit of time on their patio more like an outdoor living room by the pool. Don wanted to show Nick his collection of cues and so we headed upstairs to his pool room and on the way to the stairs Don say "Oh lets go this way" with a cheeky grin on his face and takes us up in the elevator. Yeah thats right, pretty cool to me. When we get up to the pool room he had some of his collection layed out on the table for Nick to look at as Nick loves cues. Now I a m not really a cue enthusiast and I don't know very much about them but it seems just latley we have found our selves in a position to view some great cues and the more I see them the more I appreciate the imagination, creativity and craftsmanship that goes into building these cues. Last year we spent a couple of days with Richard Black and he shared all his personal masterpieces we have spent time with Pete Tonkin who I believe has won cue of the show 2 or 3 times back to back. just on this trip we spent time with Bob Hoffman in Alabama who has a great collection that I enjoyed and now with Don and I am beginging to really like this stuff I am afraid. I am afraid because I am not in any kind of a position to own one of these let along have a collection. Seems like a very expensive hobby.
So we then ordered som e sandwiches from a local place and Don went and picked them up. I DID NOT have chilli this time but I did have a meatball sandwich and it was delicious, Ja had Lasagna, Nick had shrimp linguini. All enjoyed what we got. Do n had a Gabriel table that has magnets that hold the rails on, its a trip and very strong magnets and he has the rails for snooker and 3 cushion and he says he can change to any table it like 4 mins. Non of us have ever seen anything like it. I would be interested to hear how many others have even heard or seen one of these.
Well after a little more chatting on the patio we had to leave as we have the clinic tonight at 6pm. If Don or Anita read this post, thank yuou very much for your hospitality and we all really enjoy your company. Even Digger the dog was ok
If I think of anything I missed I will be back otherwise it will be after the clinic tonight.
So we then ordered som e sandwiches from a local place and Don went and picked them up. I DID NOT have chilli this time but I did have a meatball sandwich and it was delicious, Ja had Lasagna, Nick had shrimp linguini. All enjoyed what we got. Do n had a Gabriel table that has magnets that hold the rails on, its a trip and very strong magnets and he has the rails for snooker and 3 cushion and he says he can change to any table it like 4 mins. Non of us have ever seen anything like it. I would be interested to hear how many others have even heard or seen one of these.
Well after a little more chatting on the patio we had to leave as we have the clinic tonight at 6pm. If Don or Anita read this post, thank yuou very much for your hospitality and we all really enjoy your company. Even Digger the dog was ok
If I think of anything I missed I will be back otherwise it will be after the clinic tonight.
It was a treat watching Micah soak it up from those guys...and watching you watch him!
Let's don't let so much time pass before getting together again!
Ken
Jumping backwards a bit, to the group's swing thru Russellville, Arkansas.....
I've contacted Mark on here a few times about different things and he's always been a nice guy. We exchanged some texts last Friday before I made it to the event and it really had me excited to see the guys.
After what seemed like an unending drive, I pulled into Beezer's and a vehicle happened to pull in behind me. I looked over and it appeared to have 3 guys in there, so my sneaking suspicion was that it was Mark, JA and Nick. I went on ahead inside and Jeff, the houseman at Beezer's, said the group wasn't there yet. I told him that I thought they had just pulled in behind me. I walked outside and here comes this tall drink of water headed toward me. Maybe 6'4" or even 6'5". I'm only 5'5", so everyone is generally taller than me. I didn't recognize the guy, but he was carrying 2 armfuls of stuff that I quickly realized were cue displays, etc. "Are you Mark?", I asked. "Yeeeeeah.", he replied. Immediately I was caught off-guard by an odd accent, but quickly grabbed the door and directed him inside. I turned around to find 2 World Champion Hall of Famer's lugging rather large, heavy looking cases up the sidewalk. It's the Scorpion and the Kentucky Colonel. I asked them if they needed help or if they had gotten everything. They said they were good and I warmly welcomed them to Beezer's Fine Billiards of Russellville, Arkansas.
After following them back inside, the room was abuzz, as people were milling around JA and Nick, so I tried to play it cool and just grabbed a seat and sat down. I knew they'd be around for a few hours that night, plus I was signed up for lessons the next morning, so I figured I'd have my time to pester the guys later.
A few minutes later, Mark walks up to me and says,
Mark: "Hey, are you Justin?" (At this point it hits me)
Me: "Yep, that's me."
Mark: "Holy $hit, man, I didn't realize that was you earlier. I'm sorry I blew you off! I just walked right past you......."
Me: "It's ok, Mark. I didn't realize you were British!" :grin-square:
Then I gave him a big slap on the shoulder and we were good as gold after that. Cantrill is somethin' else. In jolly old England, they might call him a bit of a "cheeky fellow". Maybe. I know that here in the South, we'd call him "a character".....to be nice.....or perhaps a bull$hitter. :grin-square: But, in a GOOD way. It always seemed like no matter what came out of his mouth, it would initially sound somewhat serious, but always ended up being a joke that apparently JA and Nick had heard 1000 times. I think Mark enjoys having a new audience to entertain every night, much like the other guys do. Nick and Johnny shoot pool. Mark keeps you laughing. It's makes for great chemistry.
After everyone settled down and the guys had set up their displays, Mark took center stage and gave the crowd a run-down of the schedule. He turned it over to Johnny, who proceeded to talk for a bit and encouraged people to ask questions. He ran a rack of 8-ball and then 9-ball on the Diamond Pro Am 8-footer, all the while explaining exactly what was going thru his head. Very interesting stuff.
After a while, JA turned the table over to Nick. Now, Nick has a bandage on his bridge finger, so I had been wondering how much it would affect him. Turns out it didn't affect him at all that I could see. Varner put on a great trick shot exhibition, all the while talking to the crowd. There was some audience participation on a few occasions and it was just a treat to see a guy like Nick at the table. He's a guy that can really put you at ease.
Eventually Johnny came back to the table and played a good, local player (Craig McKenzie, I believe) in a 9-ball set, race to 9, for bragging rights. Craig jumped up 2-0 pretty quickly, but dogged a crucial 9-ball to allow Archer to grab his first game. After that, it was a bit of back and forth for a while, till Johnny pulled ahead around the 6-5 mark. Eventually the Scorpion stung the local to a tune of 9-7 (I believe) and everyone was entertained. I wondered throughout the match how hard it was for the pro to stay on the competitive edge in a set like that. There's no stakes, and obviously you always want to win, but if he ran over the the local 9-0 then the entertainment value goes way down. As it is, Craig is pretty good, so I think he kept Johnny on his toes. The whole time I was thinking, ".....damn, I wish that was me playing Archer." Well, I'd get my chance the next day.......
Oh, somewhere along the way, they held a raffle for a variety of prizes. I think there were chalkholders, some autographed CB's, a Nick Varner cuestick from his company's product line and even a chance to play Scotch Doubles with one of the pro's, against another lucky local and the other pro. I ended up winning a chalkholder and 2 chances at Scotch Doubles. I opted to take one match and passed the 2nd one on to someone else who might otherwise never have the opportunity. Don't ever think it's what I wanted to do. It wasn't. But, I felt like it was the right thing.
I saddled up with Varner, while the local from Johnny's team opened a rack of 9-ball for us. He broke dry and the 1 was laying kinda funny. A long, difficult cut down the rail into the corner. Nick just looked at me and said, "Soooo, you wanna take that shot?" It was one of those things where I think he didn't really wanna shoot it. Lol. I said sure and proceeded to drain it and gave him shape. I realized it was the first ball I had hit in a week. For some reason I wasn't that nervous. Nick gave me a tap, tap, tap and said, "Now that was a heckuva shot. Nothin' easy about that one at all....". Can't lie. I was glowing inside. He dropped the 2 and set me up ok. I knew I was gonna have a problem getting shape after pocketing the 3, as I'd have to bump a ball, and sure enough the traffic forced me to leave him long. He said it was fine, but ended up missing the table length cut. Johnny and his partner ran a few and finally missed. I then had a table-length bank on the 8, that was a pretty straightforward shot, but I was damn near froze on the rail. I took a deep breath, gave it a stroke, but came up short and Johnny's team got out. In my mind I was confident on the bank, but I dogged it. That's how it goes sometimes, I suppose.
Post is getting too long.......to be continued on the next post.......
I've contacted Mark on here a few times about different things and he's always been a nice guy. We exchanged some texts last Friday before I made it to the event and it really had me excited to see the guys.
After what seemed like an unending drive, I pulled into Beezer's and a vehicle happened to pull in behind me. I looked over and it appeared to have 3 guys in there, so my sneaking suspicion was that it was Mark, JA and Nick. I went on ahead inside and Jeff, the houseman at Beezer's, said the group wasn't there yet. I told him that I thought they had just pulled in behind me. I walked outside and here comes this tall drink of water headed toward me. Maybe 6'4" or even 6'5". I'm only 5'5", so everyone is generally taller than me. I didn't recognize the guy, but he was carrying 2 armfuls of stuff that I quickly realized were cue displays, etc. "Are you Mark?", I asked. "Yeeeeeah.", he replied. Immediately I was caught off-guard by an odd accent, but quickly grabbed the door and directed him inside. I turned around to find 2 World Champion Hall of Famer's lugging rather large, heavy looking cases up the sidewalk. It's the Scorpion and the Kentucky Colonel. I asked them if they needed help or if they had gotten everything. They said they were good and I warmly welcomed them to Beezer's Fine Billiards of Russellville, Arkansas.
After following them back inside, the room was abuzz, as people were milling around JA and Nick, so I tried to play it cool and just grabbed a seat and sat down. I knew they'd be around for a few hours that night, plus I was signed up for lessons the next morning, so I figured I'd have my time to pester the guys later.
A few minutes later, Mark walks up to me and says,
Mark: "Hey, are you Justin?" (At this point it hits me)
Me: "Yep, that's me."
Mark: "Holy $hit, man, I didn't realize that was you earlier. I'm sorry I blew you off! I just walked right past you......."
Me: "It's ok, Mark. I didn't realize you were British!" :grin-square:
Then I gave him a big slap on the shoulder and we were good as gold after that. Cantrill is somethin' else. In jolly old England, they might call him a bit of a "cheeky fellow". Maybe. I know that here in the South, we'd call him "a character".....to be nice.....or perhaps a bull$hitter. :grin-square: But, in a GOOD way. It always seemed like no matter what came out of his mouth, it would initially sound somewhat serious, but always ended up being a joke that apparently JA and Nick had heard 1000 times. I think Mark enjoys having a new audience to entertain every night, much like the other guys do. Nick and Johnny shoot pool. Mark keeps you laughing. It's makes for great chemistry.
After everyone settled down and the guys had set up their displays, Mark took center stage and gave the crowd a run-down of the schedule. He turned it over to Johnny, who proceeded to talk for a bit and encouraged people to ask questions. He ran a rack of 8-ball and then 9-ball on the Diamond Pro Am 8-footer, all the while explaining exactly what was going thru his head. Very interesting stuff.
After a while, JA turned the table over to Nick. Now, Nick has a bandage on his bridge finger, so I had been wondering how much it would affect him. Turns out it didn't affect him at all that I could see. Varner put on a great trick shot exhibition, all the while talking to the crowd. There was some audience participation on a few occasions and it was just a treat to see a guy like Nick at the table. He's a guy that can really put you at ease.
Eventually Johnny came back to the table and played a good, local player (Craig McKenzie, I believe) in a 9-ball set, race to 9, for bragging rights. Craig jumped up 2-0 pretty quickly, but dogged a crucial 9-ball to allow Archer to grab his first game. After that, it was a bit of back and forth for a while, till Johnny pulled ahead around the 6-5 mark. Eventually the Scorpion stung the local to a tune of 9-7 (I believe) and everyone was entertained. I wondered throughout the match how hard it was for the pro to stay on the competitive edge in a set like that. There's no stakes, and obviously you always want to win, but if he ran over the the local 9-0 then the entertainment value goes way down. As it is, Craig is pretty good, so I think he kept Johnny on his toes. The whole time I was thinking, ".....damn, I wish that was me playing Archer." Well, I'd get my chance the next day.......
Oh, somewhere along the way, they held a raffle for a variety of prizes. I think there were chalkholders, some autographed CB's, a Nick Varner cuestick from his company's product line and even a chance to play Scotch Doubles with one of the pro's, against another lucky local and the other pro. I ended up winning a chalkholder and 2 chances at Scotch Doubles. I opted to take one match and passed the 2nd one on to someone else who might otherwise never have the opportunity. Don't ever think it's what I wanted to do. It wasn't. But, I felt like it was the right thing.
I saddled up with Varner, while the local from Johnny's team opened a rack of 9-ball for us. He broke dry and the 1 was laying kinda funny. A long, difficult cut down the rail into the corner. Nick just looked at me and said, "Soooo, you wanna take that shot?" It was one of those things where I think he didn't really wanna shoot it. Lol. I said sure and proceeded to drain it and gave him shape. I realized it was the first ball I had hit in a week. For some reason I wasn't that nervous. Nick gave me a tap, tap, tap and said, "Now that was a heckuva shot. Nothin' easy about that one at all....". Can't lie. I was glowing inside. He dropped the 2 and set me up ok. I knew I was gonna have a problem getting shape after pocketing the 3, as I'd have to bump a ball, and sure enough the traffic forced me to leave him long. He said it was fine, but ended up missing the table length cut. Johnny and his partner ran a few and finally missed. I then had a table-length bank on the 8, that was a pretty straightforward shot, but I was damn near froze on the rail. I took a deep breath, gave it a stroke, but came up short and Johnny's team got out. In my mind I was confident on the bank, but I dogged it. That's how it goes sometimes, I suppose.
Post is getting too long.......to be continued on the next post.......
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........continued from last post............
At the end of the night there was a lot of picture-taking, hobknobbing and the like and everyone got their chance to mingle with these 2 great players. The local that played Johnny got staked to a quick, single game of 1-pocket against Nick on an old Connelly table that has to have 3 3/4" pockets or something. They're TINY. I've watched Craig play 1-pocket on that particular table every single time I've seen him at Beezer's. So, I wasn't particular surprised when he walked thru Nick to win that 1-pocket game for $50.
I got a picture together with Johnny, and as we were jostling for position I whispered to him, "Would you like to play a quick set for $20?" Heck, I knew I'd lose. But, even a quick race to 3 would be a memory I'd never forget, plus, I don't mind a small donation to the guys for the road. But, alas, Johnny politely declined, as he said he was beat and heading to the hotel. I was mildly disappointed, but totally understood. The guys did look like they were worn down from the road.
Fast forwarding to the next day, I was pretty excited about the Saturday lesson and it couldn't get there fast enough. There had been one slot left before the exhibition on Friday night, but it immediately sold out, so we had a full group of 12 eager students. I think there were about 9 guys, 2 gals and one young player that was about 12 years old or so. He and his Dad (who's a heckuva nice guy) took the class together. I don't think there were any shortstops in there, but also no real bar bangers either. A few were newbies to the sport, others were your typical B-C type players, but all were people genuinely interested in learning the proper techniques of pocket billiards. A decent mix of players altogether.
I was in Archer's first group and he was in disbelief that 2 of us were lefties (me being one of them). He said he generally only gets about 1 lefty per every other group and he'd set up the table the opposite way for the southpaws. JA told us that he'd look at everyone's stroke/technique and try to work on our fundamentals. We were free to ask whatever we liked and he'd go over any specifics that we were curious about. At the end, we'd all get our shot at the Scorpion.
When it was my turn at the table for stroke evaluation, JA set up about half a dozen cut shots. Each one a bit tougher than the one before. I took a deep breath and went thru my pre-shot routine. I nailed every one of them, including an extremely thin cut to the right, down the rail into the corner. Johnny said, "Hey, that's great shooting! I don't see anything wrong with that at all." I told him that I had changed a lot of things recently, thanks to the help of John Brumback, and it was starting to work for me. Archer smiled and said that I looked really good and we moved on.
My chance to play Johnny one-on-one came at the very end of the session. No one had beaten him thus far in 8-ball, so my chances weren't looking great. I proceeded to break solid, but dry. Johnny told me that I'm not bringing my left hand far enough back on the break, which is causing me to lose power. I understand what he's talking about and I'm going to work on it. I haven't really been happy with my break lately. I also think I'm crouching down too low. I feel I should raise up a bit higher than my normal shooting stance. Anyway, we went back and forth a bit early in the game. I eventually got BIH twice, as I hooked him once and he hooked himself another time. Each time he was unsuccessful with his kicks, as there was just too much congestion on the table. With the 2nd BIH, I wanted to start with the 5-ball, but Johnny cut me short. He explained that I should go with the 6-ball, because it only had one pocket to go into and that he just felt like it would be trouble. I agreed and took his advice. And I'll be damned if I didn't run the last 7 balls to get out. I even switched up to shoot right-handed to cut the last one in to get on the 8. I actually let out a whoop and got light-headed for a second. I walked over to Johnny who gave me a high-5 and told me that I shot great. I won't ever pretend I got Johnny Archer's "A" game, but he sure didn't give it away to me either. I simply took advantage of the congestion and his advice, so I'm gonna have something to tell my kids someday (if I ever have any, lol).
After that, 1 more player in our group was able to get past Johnny.....the other lefty. At that point the session was over and we thanked the Scorpion for his time and took a break before tackling Nick Varner.
Varner approached his session completely different than Archer. To be honest, none of us hit a ball really. I could say that disappointed me a bit, BUT, the wealth of info we went over more than made up for it. Nick went over banking, kicking systems, the diamonds, his own particular aiming system, theory on cut shots, cling, etc. etc. etc. etc. He answered every question we had. I had him talk a bit about caroms and combos. He proceeded to set up the shots and showed us the way it was all supposed to work. And it DID work.
The day ended way too soon, but I suppose it had to at some point. I milled around and talked to the guys quite a bit more. Asked some questions. Got more pictures and autographs. Basically tried to learn anything and everything I could by osmosis.
One very cool thing was that I noticed Johnny pull the young kid in my group aside at the end and talk to him about the game, practicing, etc. etc. And hey, the kid is REALLY good. Even tho he's still a few inches shy of where the table height will truly be comfortable for him, he doesn't seem to have any bad habits. His stroke looks good and he's got a hammer break. I think JA was impressed with him. I just really enjoyed seeing a HoF'er giving back to the game and passing on that knowledge to the future players of the sport.
Eventually I conned Nick, Johnny and Mark into convoyin' with us to CJ's Butcher Boy, which makes fantastic burgers and fries. I, along with a couple of other players, Jeff the houseman and another Beezer employee, went along and we had quite a crowd. As we wolfed everything down, I talked to Nick about bank pool and Kentucky players. Johnny talked about Bonus Ball and college football. I don't remember Mark talking too much when we were in there, so I'm guessing he had too much of CJ's meat in his mouth. :grin:
At the end.....well, I never wanted it to end. The guys bought those funny, red CJ's shirts and we got some pics in the parking lot before one last handshake. We told them that the pics would definitely be all over Facebook and the internet in general. They just laughed.
I had the time of my life and I'd sign up next year (or whenever they come back) in a heartbeat. I just pity the players who say "it's not worth my time" or "I wouldn't learn anything I don't already know".
There's really no price on some of the things I learned. This weekend just lit my pool fire that much hotter. I hope everyone else on the tour enjoys it as much as I did.
I'll post more pics when I can. Did anyone even read all of this? Lol.
:boring2:
At the end of the night there was a lot of picture-taking, hobknobbing and the like and everyone got their chance to mingle with these 2 great players. The local that played Johnny got staked to a quick, single game of 1-pocket against Nick on an old Connelly table that has to have 3 3/4" pockets or something. They're TINY. I've watched Craig play 1-pocket on that particular table every single time I've seen him at Beezer's. So, I wasn't particular surprised when he walked thru Nick to win that 1-pocket game for $50.
I got a picture together with Johnny, and as we were jostling for position I whispered to him, "Would you like to play a quick set for $20?" Heck, I knew I'd lose. But, even a quick race to 3 would be a memory I'd never forget, plus, I don't mind a small donation to the guys for the road. But, alas, Johnny politely declined, as he said he was beat and heading to the hotel. I was mildly disappointed, but totally understood. The guys did look like they were worn down from the road.
Fast forwarding to the next day, I was pretty excited about the Saturday lesson and it couldn't get there fast enough. There had been one slot left before the exhibition on Friday night, but it immediately sold out, so we had a full group of 12 eager students. I think there were about 9 guys, 2 gals and one young player that was about 12 years old or so. He and his Dad (who's a heckuva nice guy) took the class together. I don't think there were any shortstops in there, but also no real bar bangers either. A few were newbies to the sport, others were your typical B-C type players, but all were people genuinely interested in learning the proper techniques of pocket billiards. A decent mix of players altogether.
I was in Archer's first group and he was in disbelief that 2 of us were lefties (me being one of them). He said he generally only gets about 1 lefty per every other group and he'd set up the table the opposite way for the southpaws. JA told us that he'd look at everyone's stroke/technique and try to work on our fundamentals. We were free to ask whatever we liked and he'd go over any specifics that we were curious about. At the end, we'd all get our shot at the Scorpion.
When it was my turn at the table for stroke evaluation, JA set up about half a dozen cut shots. Each one a bit tougher than the one before. I took a deep breath and went thru my pre-shot routine. I nailed every one of them, including an extremely thin cut to the right, down the rail into the corner. Johnny said, "Hey, that's great shooting! I don't see anything wrong with that at all." I told him that I had changed a lot of things recently, thanks to the help of John Brumback, and it was starting to work for me. Archer smiled and said that I looked really good and we moved on.
My chance to play Johnny one-on-one came at the very end of the session. No one had beaten him thus far in 8-ball, so my chances weren't looking great. I proceeded to break solid, but dry. Johnny told me that I'm not bringing my left hand far enough back on the break, which is causing me to lose power. I understand what he's talking about and I'm going to work on it. I haven't really been happy with my break lately. I also think I'm crouching down too low. I feel I should raise up a bit higher than my normal shooting stance. Anyway, we went back and forth a bit early in the game. I eventually got BIH twice, as I hooked him once and he hooked himself another time. Each time he was unsuccessful with his kicks, as there was just too much congestion on the table. With the 2nd BIH, I wanted to start with the 5-ball, but Johnny cut me short. He explained that I should go with the 6-ball, because it only had one pocket to go into and that he just felt like it would be trouble. I agreed and took his advice. And I'll be damned if I didn't run the last 7 balls to get out. I even switched up to shoot right-handed to cut the last one in to get on the 8. I actually let out a whoop and got light-headed for a second. I walked over to Johnny who gave me a high-5 and told me that I shot great. I won't ever pretend I got Johnny Archer's "A" game, but he sure didn't give it away to me either. I simply took advantage of the congestion and his advice, so I'm gonna have something to tell my kids someday (if I ever have any, lol).
After that, 1 more player in our group was able to get past Johnny.....the other lefty. At that point the session was over and we thanked the Scorpion for his time and took a break before tackling Nick Varner.
Varner approached his session completely different than Archer. To be honest, none of us hit a ball really. I could say that disappointed me a bit, BUT, the wealth of info we went over more than made up for it. Nick went over banking, kicking systems, the diamonds, his own particular aiming system, theory on cut shots, cling, etc. etc. etc. etc. He answered every question we had. I had him talk a bit about caroms and combos. He proceeded to set up the shots and showed us the way it was all supposed to work. And it DID work.
The day ended way too soon, but I suppose it had to at some point. I milled around and talked to the guys quite a bit more. Asked some questions. Got more pictures and autographs. Basically tried to learn anything and everything I could by osmosis.
One very cool thing was that I noticed Johnny pull the young kid in my group aside at the end and talk to him about the game, practicing, etc. etc. And hey, the kid is REALLY good. Even tho he's still a few inches shy of where the table height will truly be comfortable for him, he doesn't seem to have any bad habits. His stroke looks good and he's got a hammer break. I think JA was impressed with him. I just really enjoyed seeing a HoF'er giving back to the game and passing on that knowledge to the future players of the sport.
Eventually I conned Nick, Johnny and Mark into convoyin' with us to CJ's Butcher Boy, which makes fantastic burgers and fries. I, along with a couple of other players, Jeff the houseman and another Beezer employee, went along and we had quite a crowd. As we wolfed everything down, I talked to Nick about bank pool and Kentucky players. Johnny talked about Bonus Ball and college football. I don't remember Mark talking too much when we were in there, so I'm guessing he had too much of CJ's meat in his mouth. :grin:
At the end.....well, I never wanted it to end. The guys bought those funny, red CJ's shirts and we got some pics in the parking lot before one last handshake. We told them that the pics would definitely be all over Facebook and the internet in general. They just laughed.
I had the time of my life and I'd sign up next year (or whenever they come back) in a heartbeat. I just pity the players who say "it's not worth my time" or "I wouldn't learn anything I don't already know".
There's really no price on some of the things I learned. This weekend just lit my pool fire that much hotter. I hope everyone else on the tour enjoys it as much as I did.
I'll post more pics when I can. Did anyone even read all of this? Lol.
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Justin thanks for your recount of the time we spent in Russellville. Also Thanks again to Okie and Otterman. Always appreciate feedback and to see it through someone elses eyes.
Well C.J never showed up last night, we figured he either found a game or a woman but we had a good time anyway. Marcy at the Billiard Den is a great gal and maybe works too hard on keeping the place up to snuff. We had a good time chatting with her and a few of the local pool players. Met a couple more AZers while in Dallas so that was cool also. TXSlang is a good guy we talked again last night. We tried to leave early but it really didn't happen as good as we thought and ended up about 1am getting to bed.
So after a number of late nights and early mornings always seems like we had something to do and the road may be catching up to us a little more. I know it seems like we are out having fun til late (well we are) and then just riding in a car to the next stop but man I think unless you have done it for any extended period of time you don't realize how much it can take out of you. I know many of you have been on the road but most of the time you are working at your own speed and can stay in bed and leave later etc. With our trips we have to be somewhere at a certain time and thats what makes it a little more demanding. I am not complaining I could be digging holes in Phoenix in July so I am a very lucky fellow. Anyway, we all agreed to meet at 8am to be ready to get on the road. for what is supposed to be a 6hr drive but with stops for gas, food, bathroom etc we figured more like 7hrs +.
As I walked out of the lobby to the van JA and Nick both looked at me with a vacant expression and from their reaction I must have been looking back at them with the same vacant expression because JA just mumbled "I know man we are right there with ya" We had a small chat about how nice it would have been to get at least another hour in bed and then just plodded on. We listened to the Isral president do his speach and warn of Irans threat to us and chatted about that for a while and I think between the 3 of us we have just about figured out all the problems of the world and exactly how to fix them but I am sure nobody will be asking our advice on these matters. So if Obama and Romney are listening hit me up we got a plan
We stopped just outside the Louisiana border for a smoke break for me and there was a diner there so we decided to grab some thing to eat real quick. The place was half full but all the booths that were open had not been cleared off. So we stood there a minute waiting to be acknowledged and finally a woman says in kind of a stern tone "Just give me a minute hun I will be with you" So we waited another maybe 4 mins. We started looking around and it was kinda like a waffle house where you can see the griddle and it was not looking very clean and niether was the rest of the cooking area, reminded me of one of those kitchen nightmare shows. Nobody had really paid attention to us and we needed to get back on the road and the tables were still not getting cleaned off so we said "Ok, lets just go somewhere else" As we headed for the door we were stopped and told "here you go we we can get you right here" as she cleaned off the table with one hand and held my arm with the other to prevent an easy escape.
We all looked at each other and the place obviously had alot of customers so despite the looks of things it might be one of those little goldmines that just have great food. So we stayed. We were facing the window and across the parking lot I see a young woman and a car parked by her. The passenger side door opened and she seemed to be chatting a minute then she kinda dissapears to her knees with her head inside the passenger side. I thought it was strange enought to keep looking over and a minute later she reappeard on her feet. A guy gets out of the passenger side buttoning his pants and chatting with her some more. Now I am really interested as to what is going on. JA asks me "what are you staring at??" I told him and now he starts staring. Nick asks "What you two staring at?" Now all three of us are staring out the window. The drivers side door opens and the driver gets in the passenger side and the passenger gets in the drivers side. The passenger side is still open and now the young lady is looking around and looking shifty and.... I will let you end this part of the story in your own minds because I believe that they were having some car issues and she was helping them try and correct them.
I ordered my eggs over medium it was about 40 mins before our food came and when it did it looked good and we began eating. 2 bites into my eggs and there was still clear white fluid coming outthe inside of the egg was not cooked at all. So I showed the server and she herself said "Oh my, thats raw" Anyway I got new eggs and all was good. JA got his Gritts and ham and not sure what nick got but we agreed we were not impressed. We finished it off though so I guess it can't have been that bad. All told it took over an hour for a simple thing and maybe its our fault to expect to get breakfast for 3 any faster. So we moved on and got back on the road. I like to sit in the back so I can have my work bag next to me and a little room to do a little work while traveling. JA is driving and all is well until I smelled something horrible, now this can happen sometimes when driving by a sewage works or an oil refinery or even a place like the fosters Chicken farms. So just asking to figure out what it was I said "What is tha F7$cking smell? Johnny is that you?" he has a squirmish look on his face like he don't like the smell either and says no its terrible" Nick says nothing. Ja turns to Nick and say "Nick, did you just shit yourself?" Nick replies "I'm sorry I thought I had it under control but I didn't get the shape I wanted" Oh man now I know what it is it makes me feel ill, I have a bad gag reflex or something and Ja Knows that if I see someone throwing up I am gonna join em. So I roll down my window to get air in the van and I start gaging and cover my nose and put my head between my knees. Thats not working so I decide to stick my head out the window. Shit my window is back up I try to roll it down and guess what? My buddy JA has rolled my window back up and put the window lock on. He sat and laghed as I begged him to unlock the window. I told him he was a heartless, cold blooded POS. He didn't seem to care if he even heard what I said over his laughing. Thank god we had no more episodes like that.
We arrived at the hotel and its a very nice place unfortunatley not enough time to take a nap before the show tonight but I will be pounding some coffee before we leave. If you are in the Lafayette area tonight please stop by Fast Eddie's for the show. We start at 7.30pm and if you are an AZer please come and say hi. Well I think thats all for now hope you are still enjoying these reports although I know some are not very exciting and don't have too much to tell.
One final thing, I am missing my Jessica. She is the best and I can't wait to get home to see her. If you are reading this Jess, I love you and will be home soon xxx
Well C.J never showed up last night, we figured he either found a game or a woman
but we had a good time anyway. Marcy at the Billiard Den is a great gal and maybe works too hard on keeping the place up to snuff. We had a good time chatting with her and a few of the local pool players. Met a couple more AZers while in Dallas so that was cool also. TXSlang is a good guy we talked again last night. We tried to leave early but it really didn't happen as good as we thought and ended up about 1am getting to bed. So after a number of late nights and early mornings always seems like we had something to do and the road may be catching up to us a little more. I know it seems like we are out having fun til late (well we are) and then just riding in a car to the next stop but man I think unless you have done it for any extended period of time you don't realize how much it can take out of you. I know many of you have been on the road but most of the time you are working at your own speed and can stay in bed and leave later etc. With our trips we have to be somewhere at a certain time and thats what makes it a little more demanding. I am not complaining I could be digging holes in Phoenix in July so I am a very lucky fellow. Anyway, we all agreed to meet at 8am to be ready to get on the road. for what is supposed to be a 6hr drive but with stops for gas, food, bathroom etc we figured more like 7hrs +.
As I walked out of the lobby to the van JA and Nick both looked at me with a vacant expression and from their reaction I must have been looking back at them with the same vacant expression because JA just mumbled "I know man we are right there with ya" We had a small chat about how nice it would have been to get at least another hour in bed and then just plodded on. We listened to the Isral president do his speach and warn of Irans threat to us and chatted about that for a while and I think between the 3 of us we have just about figured out all the problems of the world and exactly how to fix them but I am sure nobody will be asking our advice on these matters. So if Obama and Romney are listening hit me up we got a plan
We stopped just outside the Louisiana border for a smoke break for me and there was a diner there so we decided to grab some thing to eat real quick. The place was half full but all the booths that were open had not been cleared off. So we stood there a minute waiting to be acknowledged and finally a woman says in kind of a stern tone "Just give me a minute hun I will be with you" So we waited another maybe 4 mins. We started looking around and it was kinda like a waffle house where you can see the griddle and it was not looking very clean and niether was the rest of the cooking area, reminded me of one of those kitchen nightmare shows. Nobody had really paid attention to us and we needed to get back on the road and the tables were still not getting cleaned off so we said "Ok, lets just go somewhere else" As we headed for the door we were stopped and told "here you go we we can get you right here" as she cleaned off the table with one hand and held my arm with the other to prevent an easy escape.
We all looked at each other and the place obviously had alot of customers so despite the looks of things it might be one of those little goldmines that just have great food. So we stayed. We were facing the window and across the parking lot I see a young woman and a car parked by her. The passenger side door opened and she seemed to be chatting a minute then she kinda dissapears to her knees with her head inside the passenger side. I thought it was strange enought to keep looking over and a minute later she reappeard on her feet. A guy gets out of the passenger side buttoning his pants and chatting with her some more. Now I am really interested as to what is going on. JA asks me "what are you staring at??" I told him and now he starts staring. Nick asks "What you two staring at?" Now all three of us are staring out the window. The drivers side door opens and the driver gets in the passenger side and the passenger gets in the drivers side. The passenger side is still open and now the young lady is looking around and looking shifty and.... I will let you end this part of the story in your own minds because I believe that they were having some car issues and she was helping them try and correct them.
I ordered my eggs over medium it was about 40 mins before our food came and when it did it looked good and we began eating. 2 bites into my eggs and there was still clear white fluid coming outthe inside of the egg was not cooked at all. So I showed the server and she herself said "Oh my, thats raw" Anyway I got new eggs and all was good. JA got his Gritts and ham and not sure what nick got but we agreed we were not impressed. We finished it off though so I guess it can't have been that bad. All told it took over an hour for a simple thing and maybe its our fault to expect to get breakfast for 3 any faster. So we moved on and got back on the road. I like to sit in the back so I can have my work bag next to me and a little room to do a little work while traveling. JA is driving and all is well until I smelled something horrible, now this can happen sometimes when driving by a sewage works or an oil refinery or even a place like the fosters Chicken farms. So just asking to figure out what it was I said "What is tha F7$cking smell? Johnny is that you?" he has a squirmish look on his face like he don't like the smell either and says no its terrible" Nick says nothing. Ja turns to Nick and say "Nick, did you just shit yourself?" Nick replies "I'm sorry I thought I had it under control but I didn't get the shape I wanted" Oh man now I know what it is it makes me feel ill, I have a bad gag reflex or something and Ja Knows that if I see someone throwing up I am gonna join em. So I roll down my window to get air in the van and I start gaging and cover my nose and put my head between my knees. Thats not working so I decide to stick my head out the window. Shit my window is back up I try to roll it down and guess what? My buddy JA has rolled my window back up and put the window lock on. He sat and laghed as I begged him to unlock the window. I told him he was a heartless, cold blooded POS. He didn't seem to care if he even heard what I said over his laughing. Thank god we had no more episodes like that.
We arrived at the hotel and its a very nice place unfortunatley not enough time to take a nap before the show tonight but I will be pounding some coffee before we leave. If you are in the Lafayette area tonight please stop by Fast Eddie's for the show. We start at 7.30pm and if you are an AZer please come and say hi. Well I think thats all for now hope you are still enjoying these reports although I know some are not very exciting and don't have too much to tell.
One final thing, I am missing my Jessica. She is the best and I can't wait to get home to see her. If you are reading this Jess, I love you and will be home soon xxx
Justin
Those were some of the best reviews of the Archer & Varner Tour I could ever have imagined.
They should pay you to ride with them and give a recount of each stop.
