Manila musings
- Thread starter jay helfert
- Start date
Thanks Buddy. For the record I am twice divorced and a confirmed bachelor, or so I thought. I've been playing the field over here for years and this took me totally by surprise. She is one in a million and I don't want to let her get away. She's had a few suitors including one very famous author who lavished her with gifts, but we just clicked. I guess she never met a "rounder" like me before.
I heard about this tournament a couple of days ago from an ex-pat named Jeff Elliott, a damn good player originally from San Jose. Jeff will be playing up there. I'm heading to Gensan for the Manny Pacquiao event, a major pro event that runs Sept. 2-6 (Singles) and Sept. 8-12 (Doubles). Many of the top players will be here including Shane and Earl teaming up.
I found my way back to the poolroom here in Gaisano Mall and as soon as I walked in, a guy says to me, "You're Jay, aren't you?" Last time I was there was like three years ago when a big earthquake hit. He's another ex-pat named Art, who hangs out in this place every day, looking for marks like me :wink:. I ended up playing Art some cheap Rotation, just trying to get in stroke. It's a real drag coming here totally out of stroke. Doubtful I've played more than an hour of pool in the last four months. It's no fun trying to find your game again. Nothing feels quite right. I know you all can relate. I'm probably at about 60% my top speed right now, just good enough to beat a sucker. Meanwhile the sucker is me and Art got me for 400p, but at least I got to play four hours of pool. By the end I started to get a little rythmn (?) to my stroke but not that sweet feeling where you know exactly how to aim, and everything becomes second nature.
The next day I played Jeff a couple of 1000p sets of One Pocket. That's only about $25, but I would compare it to playing a $100 set in the US. A sociable game of pool with a little bet to make you try harder. I did play better, winning the first set easily 3-0, but in the second set Jeff woke up and beat me 3-1. He definitely shot better than me. I'm still missing balls that I should never miss. Usually it takes me about a week of playing to find my game. Funny thing is I can still swish those Banks. But that's about it for the highlight reel. Tomorrow is another day.
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Thanks for the kind words Jay. It was nice meeting you and getting to play some one pocket; the game I love but haven't had a chance to play in almost 3 years!
It was nice meeting you and your Fiancé as well!
--Jeff
Thanks Mike, I haven't felt this good about anything or anyone in years. We're apart now for the next week and then she's coming to meet me in Gensan. Happy Days! I'm a very lucky guy.
Thanks Buddy. For the record I am twice divorced and a confirmed bachelor, or so I thought. I've been playing the field over here for years and this took me totally by surprise. She is one in a million and I don't want to let her get away. She's had a few suitors including one very famous author who lavished her with gifts, but we just clicked. I guess she never met a "rounder" like me before.
If you luck into a good one don't let her go.
That's like making the second nuts on the river card and paying off.
Congrats Jay !!!
Took a three hour ride to Daanbantayan, a small city on the very far north side of Cebu Island. Doubtful I will find any pool here. Beautiful beaches, warm and friendly people and a beach cottage for $23 a night. Fresh fish daily, right from these pristine waters.
Last night we went to a festival where it seemed the whole town turned out. Authentic Filipino dancing, great talent with superb singing and acting. The place/gym was jammed to the rafters with people (maybe 3,000 in a gym with a capacity of 1,000). We left there and headed to the carnival going on nearby. The place was packed with gambling booths. I guess there are suckers everywhere and the Filipinos love to gamble. One interesting game that I played - A large board/surface with depressed rectangles, each one signifying the Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, King or Ace. You can bet on any card you like and when all the bets are in, they throw three ping pong balls in a chute above the board with a funnel at the bottom. The balls fall out and roll around, eventually stopping on different cards. If they land on your card you get paid even money (you're actually a 2-1 underdog). People were betting from 20p to 500p a throw and the house was raking in the cheese. If the balls miss all the cards bet on, they sweep the board clean of all money. Pretty sweet little game. Of course they badgered me to play, being as I was the only foreigner there (you rarely see an Anglo face in this remote locale). I bet 20p a few times and actually won 60p before quitting.
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Then we went in the Horror House ride and it was a little scary at first with guys dressed up like wild beasts jumping into your car. Scared me the first time when he dropped from the ceiling. Next was the motorcycle barrel ride, where two guys ride motorbikes around a large cylindrical drum. Centrifugal force keeps them going. It looks cool and gets a little scary when they ride along the top rim of the drum. One mistake and a bike would be launched into a crowd of spectators lining the rim. I stayed back a few feet when they did this. They were highly skilled riders, but accidents happen. We all know that.
I am using a borrowed 100cc motorbike to get around here, everyone rides these little things. The traffic is all motorbikes and trikes (bike with a sidecar used as a taxi). No large trucks and only an occasional bus up here. I have been the designated driver and often have one or two passengers behind me. Three on a bike is common here and you will see whole families (husband, wife and kids) all piled on one small motorbike. Helmets are optional and I don't wear one. I don't like riding at night though, as some drive without lights! Also people are walking on the sides of the road, seemingly impervious to the bikes rushing by (it's pitch black with no streetlights, just the stars for light). We went to visit someone last night to pick her up for Videoke (lots of these places here, they love to sing!). I parked the bike and we walked through a warren of little houses along dirt trails until we reached her house. It reminded me of walking the trails in the woods when I was a kid.
I return to Cebu in two days and will get back in action. Something about these islands makes me want to play. I will look for a kid named Anton (only 19 or 20) who has already taking down Alcano and Gomez for the cash. He's the hot youngster hustling the circuit now. I'll play him some Banks if I find him. Nothing else though! After that it's off the Gensan and the Manny Pacquiao Open. That should be fun, I may even get a job there.
Last night we went to a festival where it seemed the whole town turned out. Authentic Filipino dancing, great talent with superb singing and acting. The place/gym was jammed to the rafters with people (maybe 3,000 in a gym with a capacity of 1,000). We left there and headed to the carnival going on nearby. The place was packed with gambling booths. I guess there are suckers everywhere and the Filipinos love to gamble. One interesting game that I played - A large board/surface with depressed rectangles, each one signifying the Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, King or Ace. You can bet on any card you like and when all the bets are in, they throw three ping pong balls in a chute above the board with a funnel at the bottom. The balls fall out and roll around, eventually stopping on different cards. If they land on your card you get paid even money (you're actually a 2-1 underdog). People were betting from 20p to 500p a throw and the house was raking in the cheese. If the balls miss all the cards bet on, they sweep the board clean of all money. Pretty sweet little game. Of course they badgered me to play, being as I was the only foreigner there (you rarely see an Anglo face in this remote locale). I bet 20p a few times and actually won 60p before quitting.
.
Then we went in the Horror House ride and it was a little scary at first with guys dressed up like wild beasts jumping into your car. Scared me the first time when he dropped from the ceiling. Next was the motorcycle barrel ride, where two guys ride motorbikes around a large cylindrical drum. Centrifugal force keeps them going. It looks cool and gets a little scary when they ride along the top rim of the drum. One mistake and a bike would be launched into a crowd of spectators lining the rim. I stayed back a few feet when they did this. They were highly skilled riders, but accidents happen. We all know that.
I am using a borrowed 100cc motorbike to get around here, everyone rides these little things. The traffic is all motorbikes and trikes (bike with a sidecar used as a taxi). No large trucks and only an occasional bus up here. I have been the designated driver and often have one or two passengers behind me. Three on a bike is common here and you will see whole families (husband, wife and kids) all piled on one small motorbike. Helmets are optional and I don't wear one. I don't like riding at night though, as some drive without lights! Also people are walking on the sides of the road, seemingly impervious to the bikes rushing by (it's pitch black with no streetlights, just the stars for light). We went to visit someone last night to pick her up for Videoke (lots of these places here, they love to sing!). I parked the bike and we walked through a warren of little houses along dirt trails until we reached her house. It reminded me of walking the trails in the woods when I was a kid.
I return to Cebu in two days and will get back in action. Something about these islands makes me want to play. I will look for a kid named Anton (only 19 or 20) who has already taking down Alcano and Gomez for the cash. He's the hot youngster hustling the circuit now. I'll play him some Banks if I find him. Nothing else though! After that it's off the Gensan and the Manny Pacquiao Open. That should be fun, I may even get a job there.
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I second that. A reality travel show called Jay Walking would be the NUTS. Follow Jay through the world as he hustles pool and cards while discovering the world's best spots and their gambling habits.
That would be a show I'd love to watch.
Here's how it is over here Joey. You would love it! Maybe 25-30 top speed players here, most of them we know about. Then there are maybe a couple hundred pool hustlers working these islands. They all play good! I would say good shortstop speed or above. After that there must be a couple thousand other guys who will gamble for small stakes. That's my territory for the most part, but I have played some of the better players One Pocket and Banks. If I'm in stroke I can do good here. If not (which is now) I have to be careful. It's easy to blow 5,000 to a good hustler (about $125). :wink:
Never thought about it before, but I would be game for something like that. I've played pool all over the globe already, even in Nepal! Pool is a universal game that supersedes any language barrier. I've never had a problem playing a new game once they show me how. I love the challenge of trying something new. Ten years ago I NEVER played Rotation and now it's my favorite game here. It's pretty satisfying to be stuck 40 points and run out the ten thru fifteen to win!
Well Hollywood Jay, I know you are near Burbank so pitch it. I really think you're the man for that job and actually it seems like it could be done relatively cheaply. You're a published author so just send them a copy of Pool Wars and it's a done deal!
They should start you out each episode with a modest bankroll and see how far you can pump it up by the end of the episode, while you at the same time enjoy all the delights of the spot you are visiting.
I love your trip reports. Makes me wistful for the times I traveled the world and did NOT enjoy the places I went outside of the poolrooms.
Hmmm, sounds familiar Jay.
Scroll down a bit.
http://www.thrillarena.com/Riders1/riders1.html
The first guy that I rode for mentioned to me that I didn't need to be going that close to the Safety Cable. I told him that I wasn't that close. He said, "Yeah, take a look at your front tire".
I did, and sure enuff, there was cable marks on the tire.
The bike won't go over the top. The rider will tho. Centrifugal Force you say. Sometimes, and it hurts a bit when Newton is correct too.
BTW. I like the Jay Walking/ Stick Talking name. Very catchy.
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Jay, will you be at the Bugsy Promotions tournament this week?
here, http://oi57.tinypic.com/yhwlf.jpg
here, http://oi57.tinypic.com/yhwlf.jpg
one question
Always seemed to me it would be a lot harder to get back off the wall than to get on it, seems like you would have a tiger by the tail!
That right or not? Never was a big bike rider but I might have shattered my shoulder riding one around in circles long ago.
Hu
Hmmm, sounds familiar Jay.
Scroll down a bit.
http://www.thrillarena.com/Riders1/riders1.html
The first guy that I rode for mentioned to me that I didn't need to be going that close to the Safety Cable. I told him that I wasn't that close. He said, "Yeah, take a look at your front tire".
I did, and sure enuff, there was cable marks on the tire.
The bike won't go over the top. The rider will tho. Centrifugal Force you say. Sometimes, and it hurts a bit when Newton is correct too.
BTW. I like the Jay Walking/ Stick Talking name. Very catchy.
Always seemed to me it would be a lot harder to get back off the wall than to get on it, seems like you would have a tiger by the tail!
That right or not? Never was a big bike rider but I might have shattered my shoulder riding one around in circles long ago.
Hu
