Thank you all

Heres a quick story maybe Jay will remember. This would have been before the DCC left The Executive West...anyone remember the last year it was there? This might have been the year Bobby Pickle played Kirkwood that drinking game...and one of the years Cliff and Eric Durbin played for days...or maybe the time Alex was gonna do a backflip while holding two beer bottles outside the tournament room...but not the time weak arm John almost trapped himself arm wrestling 😆 I had a sneaky pete cue for sale a week or two before the DCC and Jay wanted it. I took the cue with me and that was our first meet, gotta be close to 25 years ago now. Whoever was taking pics at the time and posting them on here, like the ambiance pics, 25 updates and revamps ago, just happened to walk by right afterwards and theres a pic somewhere on here of Jay setting in the lobby of the hotel holding that cue up on his knee. I believe its black and white, great pic...seems like I remember seeing him playing with it over the course of the event. Could have also been the time Bucktooth had the keno board out. I dont think that was the same year him and Fatboy lit up TAR...which is still on YT.

Good times...
 
Jay describes below what he suspected was a rigged game in his his book Pool Wars: On the Road to Hell and Back with the World’s Greatest Money Players (p.143, iUniverse, Bloomington IN. 2012). Jay was the referee in 1991 of the final game of what would be the Challenge of Champions tournaments. In its first year, it was a $50,000 Winner Take All tournament and was touted as having the eight best players in the world (Mike Sigel, Buddy Hall, Earl Strickland, Allen Hopkins, David Howard, Nick Varner, Jim Rempe, and Mike Lebron).

Jay described how the favorite, Buddy Hall, very likely threw the match to the player with 20-1 odds to lose. The players and Jay figured the odds against Mike Lebron made no sense. At match end, about a dozen $200 bets had been made on Lebron and those gamblers won over $50,000.

Evidence that others agreed with Jay Helfert's suspicions of rigging is the tournament bookmaker's refusal to book bets on subsequent Challenge of Champions tournaments. It was Jay’s guess, too, that the Winner did not Take All in the tournament; the prize money was divvied up instead among the players. In any event, in subsequent years players signed agreements that no deals of any kind would be made else no $50,000 payment.

Jay described the finals between Mike Lebron and Buddy Hall:
“Now [Lebron] had to beat Buddy Hall in the finals. It was an excellent match with good play on the part of both players, although Buddy missed a ball or two that maybe he shouldn’t have. I had the best seat in the house, ringside, racking the balls and refereeing.​
​
It came down to the case game, the winner getting the Fifty Grand! Buddy got the first shot at an open table, ran down to the six ball and played shape for a combination on the nine. He could have just as easily tried to get position to make the six cleanly, but he didn’t choose that option. He was fairly close to the six ball and the nine was maybe a foot or so away, and about a diamond from the corner pocket. It wasn’t a cinch by any means, but was a combo the Buddy was a favorite to make. Except this time he missed it badly, hitting on the wrong side of the nine ball. It almost appeared that he missed it purposely, but like I said, I can’t say for sure. I’m only a witness and you know how eye witnesses are unreliable at best. Mike got out from there and was jubilant in victory, as well he should be.”​
 
Paul Bell said:
Jay describes below what he suspected was a rigged game in his his book Pool Wars: On the Road to Hell and Back with the World’s Greatest Money Players (p.143, iUniverse, Bloomington IN. 2012). Jay was the referee in 1991 of the final game of what would be the Challenge of Champions tournaments. In its first year, it was a $50,000 Winner Take All tournament and was touted as having the eight best players in the world (Mike Sigel, Buddy Hall, Earl Strickland, Allen Hopkins, David Howard, Nick Varner, Jim Rempe, and Mike Lebron). ...
Click to expand...
Strickland did not play in that 1991 edition; the other 7 in the list did. The 8th in 1991 was Davenport. Strickland played the next year.
 
Paul Bell said:
Jay describes below what he suspected was a rigged game in his his book Pool Wars: On the Road to Hell and Back with the World’s Greatest Money Players (p.143, iUniverse, Bloomington IN. 2012). Jay was the referee in 1991 of the final game of what would be the Challenge of Champions tournaments. In its first year, it was a $50,000 Winner Take All tournament and was touted as having the eight best players in the world (Mike Sigel, Buddy Hall, Earl Strickland, Allen Hopkins, David Howard, Nick Varner, Jim Rempe, and Mike Lebron).

Jay described how the favorite, Buddy Hall, very likely threw the match to the player with 20-1 odds to lose. The players and Jay figured the odds against Mike Lebron made no sense. At match end, about a dozen $200 bets had been made on Lebron and those gamblers won over $50,000.

Evidence that others agreed with Jay Helfert's suspicions of rigging is the tournament bookmaker's refusal to book bets on subsequent Challenge of Champions tournaments. It was Jay’s guess, too, that the Winner did not Take All in the tournament; the prize money was divvied up instead among the players. In any event, in subsequent years players signed agreements that no deals of any kind would be made else no $50,000 payment.

Jay described the finals between Mike Lebron and Buddy Hall:
“Now [Lebron] had to beat Buddy Hall in the finals. It was an excellent match with good play on the part of both players, although Buddy missed a ball or two that maybe he shouldn’t have. I had the best seat in the house, ringside, racking the balls and refereeing.​
​
It came down to the case game, the winner getting the Fifty Grand! Buddy got the first shot at an open table, ran down to the six ball and played shape for a combination on the nine. He could have just as easily tried to get position to make the six cleanly, but he didn’t choose that option. He was fairly close to the six ball and the nine was maybe a foot or so away, and about a diamond from the corner pocket. It wasn’t a cinch by any means, but was a combo the Buddy was a favorite to make. Except this time he missed it badly, hitting on the wrong side of the nine ball. It almost appeared that he missed it purposely, but like I said, I can’t say for sure. I’m only a witness and you know how eye witnesses are unreliable at best. Mike got out from there and was jubilant in victory, as well he should be.”​
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why you would bring this up in this thread ?????:unsure::unsure:
 
bbb said:
why you would bring this up in this thread ?
Click to expand...
You are right that only comments should be made as to Jay's health.
I just finished his book, though, and was thinking how the book was good, wondered why hustling was so dangerous, and found it hard to figure how to fit the good and bad of gambling into pool.
I thought Jay's writing was good and thought others might, too, even if it was not about Jay's health.
I don't mean to disparage any player and was more interested in how thrown games --- no surprise here --- were common even in a major tournament. Joao v Haas, of course, is nothing new.
 
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