I don't know why John enlisted the help of Dennis Spears, an open level NJ player who calls Sandcastle his home room.
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Somewhere in the latter part of the match I knew something was up. John seemed to be playing different safeties than he had previously and seemed more deliberate about what he was trying to do. So I began to pay more attention to his corner.
I don’t know Dennis Spears but am told that he is a local open level player that plays pros 1pocket, even. He is sitting next to John’s wife, clapping loudly every time John makes a good shot. We progress to the point in the last game of the night where two balls are on the spot and I hide the third ball on the table on my side. John looks at the shot and then goes to his corner and studies the shot from there. That made no sense to me -- studying the shot from that angle. Then, to my surprise, John comes to the table and shoots an intentional foul laying the CB up behind two balls on the spot. The owed ball is spotted and I am now sandwiched between two balls. Now in this situation, taking himself off the hill is actually the wrong shot but nonetheless it's a pretty sophisticated move and I’m wondering what’s going on.
I notice that from my player’s chair, Dennis is sitting out of my line of sight, slouching down behind one of the arena’s wooden pillars. Now, any time I’m near John’s corner, I’m trying to listen in to what Dennis is saying to John. (Gail says I have hearing like a dog.)
Some folks have wondered, “What could anyone say to John in a just couple of seconds?” But it was way more than that. While I was standing at the table figuring out my shot, Dennis was mumbling away to John with plenty of time to assess the table and brief him on options. Dennis was doing this while holding both hands up to his mouth, sort of like you see baseball players with their gloves during a pitcher/catcher mound conference, but I could still hear bits and pieces like, “You gotta protect the four ball” or “Bank the six over to your side.” And no: there was no prior discussion, much less agreement, on cornermen or coaching.
Soon that game is over, we finish the night at 8-6, and I walk over to the far side of the arena where AZers Koop and Jerry are sitting and I ask them if they could see what was going on in John’s corner and one of them says, “Oh yeah. It was totally obvious from here that he was getting coached. We had a clear view of it.”
So then I go up to Ed and we have the following conversation:
Lou: “I got a complaint.”
Ed: “What is it?”
Lou: “John was getting coached by the black guy in his corner.”
Ed: “Oh yeah. I could see it from the booth. I was waiting for you to say something.”
Lou: “It can’t happen tomorrow.”
My crew slept the coaching. To be honest we didn’t anticipate someone would try that. In any case, I know they’ve beaten themselves up enough about it. So that’s the answer to why Lou’s corner didn’t say anything. The next day before John and I start up again, I go up to Ed:
Lou “There cannot be any coaching today.”
Ed: “I talked to John about it and he admitted that Dennis was telling him stuff but claims it was generic things to pump him up and I told him that even that can’t be going on.”
Lou: “He was getting coached and all I know is that I won’t tolerate it today.”
And what Ed does is to talk to Dennis, one of his room players, and tells him he cannot sit anywhere near John, and that was the end of that.
Here is my last comment on this subject: 1pocket is often likened to chess because so much of the game is the knowledge you accumulate over the years and bring to a game, knowing the right move and when to make it. In all my years of playing 1pocket, coaching has always been verboten and, whether it’s 1pocket or chess, it cannot possibly be considered anything but cheating to have a superior player whispering in your ear while playing a match.
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I mentioned at the time, a couple of long time AZers were in attendance at the match. If you'd like I can quote their comments to the effect that John was obviously getting coached.
Let me know
Lou Figueroa