Danny D. vs. Ronnie 1p............
- Thread starter garczar
- Start date
Ronnie would need a huge spot if he was born in 2020! I would give him a small spot myself. I can beat any two year old alive!
Talking to everyone about cloth, different eras. Some of the stuff I played on in the sixties was probably left over from the fifties and I think you could have stretched a woolen blanket on the tables and it would have played almost as fast! By the midseventies we were playing on faster cloth for the most part, definitely would expect the faster cloth by '88. Slow compared to today, faster than snot compared to fifties cloth, or at least some I played on. Add no AC so the cloth fifties and sixties cloth caught a lot of sweat, not just humidity from the air. Sometimes people laid a wet forearm on the table.
Late eighties wasn't early era, and I can't talk about pre WWII but things have evolved. We didn't jump from the conditions young Mosconi played on to today's conditions.
Hu
Ronnie, Danny, and Toupee Jay on the mike! Got to watch this one when I have a little time to kick back and enjoy.
Hu
Hu
I agree. I don't see anyone making those banks and the kicks - oh the kick caroms and kick combos that both guys made.
Chohan is the closest to it but I haven't seen anybody do it like Ronnie. Ronnie was expecting to make them. Expecting it. And playing position. That 3-ball combo that he kicked at where he told Jay to get the camera ready. He not only made the combo but got the cueball to travel across the table for his next shot.
It's hard to say because a lot of the defense was edited out but they kept getting those types of shots. I think today's players are better at defense and maybe wouldn't have given Ronnie those chances. I watched Tony C and Alex a few weeks ago and they were keeping each other from even long banks and kicks. So maybe today's players would shoot them and make them if they had the opportunities. Hard to say.
My take is that these guys played a more I'm going to take a chance shots then today's players.
The current players that I've seen on video play a more conservative game and dont take as many chances.
The current players that I've seen on video play a more conservative game and dont take as many chances.
xX-Wizard-Xx
Well-known member
these guys are definitely more entertaining
The full length match was nearly ten hours long! They played three out of five sets, each set a race to five. I spent two days in a rented editing booth making that heavily edited tape. It is two hours and forty minutes long and could fit on the longest videotape available at that time.
This was a real match against two arch rivals of that era. Danny was the house pro at the Golden Cue and was backed by the owner David Lee. Ronnie was backed by Elliott Robbins, a successful businessman who was a pretty good pool scuffler in his youth. He and I had gambled in a couple of long sessions 20 years before this.
The money was important to both these players, with the winning player getting 50 per cent of the money ($5,000), which was a big score back then.
I was the producer of this match, putting it all together and hiring (and training) the TV crew. I knew the crew from seeing them make commercials for the Bicycle Club casino in L.A.
Danny was still in his prime and Ronnie was at the tail end of his career. He had been considered the best One Pocket player for the last twenty years! It’s probably the last time I saw Ronnie play good, close to his top speed. By 1990 his game had gone down a full ball.
Danny really wanted to win this match on his home court in front of all his friends there. Ronnie wanted it just as bad, as he had many supporters there as well. UJ Puckett was there (I shared a room with him), as was Keith and Weenie Bernie among others. There was a lot of side betting going on every day. They played one set a day for three days.
Harry Platis came down from Seattle and kept woofing at me to play him thousand a game One Pocket. He had been after me for a couple of years since I took him off playing 9-Ball. He didn’t know I was ready for him and brought 8K with me. The most I had ever played for was 100 a game but I was confident I could beat him. We did end up playing and I was a little nervous, and lost the first game. In the second game I forgot about the size of the bet and just played pool. I won that game and every game after that. Made my biggest pool score but that’s another story.
Danny was so upset after losing the match he went in the office and didn’t come out for two hours.
How good was Ronnie at One Pocket? He knew more about the game then anyone else I’ve ever seen play. He kicked like God, and could kick three rails accurately from just about anywhere on the table. He was also the best combination shooter of all time, especially off angle combos. Ronnie had an uncanny ability to shoot or kick Into the bottom of the pack (usually early in the rack) and move multiple balls toward his hole. If one went in that game was over! He was the master of the Eight and Out (often he had to run ten in the games he made), and his runouts might include three or four “circus” shots! He just found ways to keep the run going, often making incredible shots to do it.
There was nowhere you could leave him safe where he couldn’t find a way out by kicking the ball somewhere. He was able to reverse the most dire situations in his favor with spectacular kick shots. You had to see it to believe it and I did for the better part of twenty years. On top of all that Ronnie played with flair and total confidence, no matter how skilled his opponent was. He gained a ball with his conversation alone!
He was a fantastic pressure player also. No bet fazed him and he was at his best the bigger the bet! He rarely if ever missed his “out” ball. At the end of a rack if he got a look at anything it was usually game over.
People loved watching him play and he drew a crowd everywhere he went. Enough for now.
This was a real match against two arch rivals of that era. Danny was the house pro at the Golden Cue and was backed by the owner David Lee. Ronnie was backed by Elliott Robbins, a successful businessman who was a pretty good pool scuffler in his youth. He and I had gambled in a couple of long sessions 20 years before this.
The money was important to both these players, with the winning player getting 50 per cent of the money ($5,000), which was a big score back then.
I was the producer of this match, putting it all together and hiring (and training) the TV crew. I knew the crew from seeing them make commercials for the Bicycle Club casino in L.A.
Danny was still in his prime and Ronnie was at the tail end of his career. He had been considered the best One Pocket player for the last twenty years! It’s probably the last time I saw Ronnie play good, close to his top speed. By 1990 his game had gone down a full ball.
Danny really wanted to win this match on his home court in front of all his friends there. Ronnie wanted it just as bad, as he had many supporters there as well. UJ Puckett was there (I shared a room with him), as was Keith and Weenie Bernie among others. There was a lot of side betting going on every day. They played one set a day for three days.
Harry Platis came down from Seattle and kept woofing at me to play him thousand a game One Pocket. He had been after me for a couple of years since I took him off playing 9-Ball. He didn’t know I was ready for him and brought 8K with me. The most I had ever played for was 100 a game but I was confident I could beat him. We did end up playing and I was a little nervous, and lost the first game. In the second game I forgot about the size of the bet and just played pool. I won that game and every game after that. Made my biggest pool score but that’s another story.
Danny was so upset after losing the match he went in the office and didn’t come out for two hours.
How good was Ronnie at One Pocket? He knew more about the game then anyone else I’ve ever seen play. He kicked like God, and could kick three rails accurately from just about anywhere on the table. He was also the best combination shooter of all time, especially off angle combos. Ronnie had an uncanny ability to shoot or kick Into the bottom of the pack (usually early in the rack) and move multiple balls toward his hole. If one went in that game was over! He was the master of the Eight and Out (often he had to run ten in the games he made), and his runouts might include three or four “circus” shots! He just found ways to keep the run going, often making incredible shots to do it.
There was nowhere you could leave him safe where he couldn’t find a way out by kicking the ball somewhere. He was able to reverse the most dire situations in his favor with spectacular kick shots. You had to see it to believe it and I did for the better part of twenty years. On top of all that Ronnie played with flair and total confidence, no matter how skilled his opponent was. He gained a ball with his conversation alone!
He was a fantastic pressure player also. No bet fazed him and he was at his best the bigger the bet! He rarely if ever missed his “out” ball. At the end of a rack if he got a look at anything it was usually game over.
People loved watching him play and he drew a crowd everywhere he went. Enough for now.
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That was a GREAT read. More, please, about Ronnie Allen.
phreaticus
Well-known member
I would love to see you & Keith get together & put the next "Pool Wars"out
Golden 8 Ball ended up being my home room. When I first started playing there that Simonis was tough to get used to at first. When they moved across the street to the new location it really took off as one of the best rooms in the country. I see Terry at Bullshooters when I get to town. Not sure how much or how well he plays now but back in the day he was great.
Any “B” player could have made that combo and most of them would shoot it
It was a good match to watch.You must not get around much. Almost everyone I play kicks and banks like a mad person. Did you see the Jump kick bank Tony made a few years ago? Danny Smith has made some incredible banks and shots against me I didn’t think we’re possible. All those top guys play kick banks, carom banks, combo banks, kicks into the stack. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Those shots aren’t always available, but when they are even I shoot them
I watched that whole Tony/Dennis match in person. It was great.Any “B” player could have made that combo and most of them would shoot it
You must not get around much. Almost everyone I play kicks and banks like a mad person. Did you see the Jump kick bank Tony made a few years ago? Danny Smith has made some incredible banks and shots against me I didn’t think we’re possible. All those top guys play kick banks, carom banks, combo banks, kicks into the stack. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Those shots aren’t always available, but when they are even I shoot them
Now that you mention it, I played a valley tournament last night and had several people make those kind of shots against me.
I don't play 1 pocket as much as I'd like to. I mostly end up watching it on streams.
Well I only had time to watch the first few minutes. Plan on watching then entire match this Wednesday AM, with my Coffee, and a few Cigars.
U-Tube is wonderful platform for archiving and sharing idea, and vintage movie shot on VHS, or Film.
U-Tube is wonderful platform for archiving and sharing idea, and vintage movie shot on VHS, or Film.
I used to play a lot in David Lee’s room in Phoenix in the early 90’s. Was great action.
Great post Jay, hope to see you soon
Yes, jayhelfert.com