Million Dollar Challenge Documentary

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
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pots and kettles

The reason is very simple - to reconstruct what happened in that match (beyond a simple "Earl ran 11 racks for $1m"). There are so many people with different recollections as to what in fact happened so I felt in need to do so.

This thread does not mean to discount any other achievements in pool. I have a DVD of Efren's semis and finals matches from DCC 2006 - this is 90 minutes of pure awesomeness. Any student of the game should have it to see what perfection means.

However, I think this belongs to a different thread, e.g. "What is/are the greatest achievement/s in pool history?" which you are more than welcome to start if you wish so.

This thread is about The Million Dollar Challenge only.



Looks like you need to edit this post with a full paragraph about the DCC and the post you made about Johnny Archer and Bustamonte. This thread is about The Million Dollar Challenge only, or is that except when you are the one wandering off topic?

Hu
 

Z-Nole

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Looks like you need to edit this post with a full paragraph about the DCC and the post you made about Johnny Archer and Bustamonte. This thread is about The Million Dollar Challenge only, or is that except when you are the one wandering off topic?

Hu

Speaking of that, has anyone been fishing?
 

Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Looks like you need to edit this post with a full paragraph about the DCC and the post you made about Johnny Archer and Bustamonte. This thread is about The Million Dollar Challenge only, or is that except when you are the one wandering off topic?

Hu



I was just answering a question. Perhaps, I shouldn’t have. Point taken


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Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Which disc has "Extras"? I've got the set of three and don't know what/where you're referring to. UD:found it and am watching now. Hard to watch, quality is pretty bad.



I agree quality is less than perfect but it’s hard not to see the nine going down on the break!


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jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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I agree quality is less than perfect but it’s hard not to see the nine going down on the break!


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VERY interesting. I just watched the video on the "extras" section of the DVD and something seems to be missing. I remember Angela complaining about her video camera but I was only paying attention to the match at that point. It appears to me that she did not get video of all the final racks.

In the beginning where everyone is cheering that was rack #5 where Earl may have made the nine on a combination. We can't tell from the camera point of view if it was the break shot or not. That was the point where I got called in to rack the balls. In rack #6 where you see Earl cleaning all the balls and then racking and breaking he wouldn't let me intercede. He did make the nine ball off his break that rack.

Finally CJ and I convinced Earl that if I wasn't allowed to rack the balls the run wouldn't count toward the million dollar prize. I began racking in rack #7 and you see the nine does not go in, but stops about a foot above the pocket. Then the video skips to rack #10 where Earl breaks and leaves the nine ball close to the pocket for the combination that follows. What happened to the video of racks #8 & 9 I don't know. I do know he didn't make the nine ball on the break in either of those racks.

You might have heard me asking people before rack #10 who had been there to see the entire run. I asked them to stay and make sure they attest to being witnesses to all ten racks if Earl is successful. I have a feeling that the eye witness testimony carried some weight in the legal process that followed.

I can also tell you this video shown here is not complete for all five racks from 6-10.
 

Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
VERY interesting. I just watched the video on the "extras" section of the DVD and something seems to be missing. I remember Angela complaining about her video camera but I was only paying attention to the match at that point. It appears to me that she did not get video of all the final racks.

In the beginning where everyone is cheering that was rack #5 where Earl may have made the nine on a combination. We can't tell from the camera point of view if it was the break shot or not. That was the point where I got called in to rack the balls. In rack #6 where you see Earl cleaning all the balls and then racking and breaking he wouldn't let me intercede. He did make the nine ball off his break that rack.

Finally CJ and I convinced Earl that if I wasn't allowed to rack the balls the run wouldn't count toward the million dollar prize. I began racking in rack #7 and you see the nine does not go in, but stops about a foot above the pocket. Then the video skips to rack #10 where Earl breaks and leaves the nine ball close to the pocket for the combination that follows. What happened to the video of racks #8 & 9 I don't know. I do know he didn't make the nine ball on the break in either of those racks.

You might have heard me asking people before rack #10 who had been there to see the entire run. I asked them to stay and make sure they attest to being witnesses to all ten racks if Earl is successful. I have a feeling that the eye witness testimony carried some weight in the legal process that followed.

I can also tell you this video shown here is not complete for all five racks from 6-10.

Where do I start... Best to take your points in turn:
- Rack 5 was never taped. What you say contradicts all of the available accounts of the match (even your own - have a look a couple of posts above). Per CJ, the terms of insurance policy required a player to say "on five" and that's exactly when the play stopped and organisers started frantically looking for a camera as no one expected this to happen. Moreover, all of the balls in that rack are moving so fast that it must have been a hell of a combination on the nine. Further, one can clearly hear a commentary that this is the second rack in a row (and the fourth of the match) that Earl made the nine on the break.
- Per your own recollections (see your post above), rack six was never taped either as Earl was so much in the "zone" that he continued racking for himself and did not wait for the camera to arrive. Moreover, at the end of that rack one can clearly hear "8 down, 2 to go" so this must be rack 8, not 6.
- I've watched the ending of that rack again, again and again and there is no place where the footage interrupts and given all of the above, it wouldn't have needed to as the next rack after 8 is number 9.

Has anyone else seen the video ?
 

jeephawk

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Where do I start... Best to take your points in turn:
- Rack 5 was never taped. What you say contradicts all of the available accounts of the match (even your own - have a look a couple of posts above). Per CJ, the terms of insurance policy required a player to say "on five" and that's exactly when the play stopped and organisers started frantically looking for a camera as no one expected this to happen. Moreover, all of the balls in that rack are moving so fast that it must have been a hell of a combination on the nine. Further, one can clearly hear a commentary that this is the second rack in a row (and the fourth of the match) that Earl made the nine on the break.
- Per your own recollections (see your post above), rack six was never taped either as Earl was so much in the "zone" that he continued racking for himself and did not wait for the camera to arrive. Moreover, at the end of that rack one can clearly hear "8 down, 2 to go" so this must be rack 8, not 6.
- I've watched the ending of that rack again, again and again and there is no place where the footage interrupts and given all of the above, it wouldn't have needed to as the next rack after 8 is number 9.

Has anyone else seen the video ?

Was anyone arguing about this other than Mr. Helfert there?

Seems odd to keep on and on and on when you weren't about things that someone who was seems to have some insights about.
 
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jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Where do I start... Best to take your points in turn:
- Rack 5 was never taped. What you say contradicts all of the available accounts of the match (even your own - have a look a couple of posts above). Per CJ, the terms of insurance policy required a player to say "on five" and that's exactly when the play stopped and organisers started frantically looking for a camera as no one expected this to happen. Moreover, all of the balls in that rack are moving so fast that it must have been a hell of a combination on the nine. Further, one can clearly hear a commentary that this is the second rack in a row (and the fourth of the match) that Earl made the nine on the break.
- Per your own recollections (see your post above), rack six was never taped either as Earl was so much in the "zone" that he continued racking for himself and did not wait for the camera to arrive. Moreover, at the end of that rack one can clearly hear "8 down, 2 to go" so this must be rack 8, not 6.
- I've watched the ending of that rack again, again and again and there is no place where the footage interrupts and given all of the above, it wouldn't have needed to as the next rack after 8 is number 9.

Has anyone else seen the video ?

I can only tell you that the last rack by Earl was rack #6. I took over after that for racks 7-10. You can interpret that any way you want but I was there and you weren't. Good luck with your conspiracy theory. You may have a place on Fox News.
 

KMRUNOUT

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
CJ, I vaguely remember that someone (can't recall his name at the moment) was losing 11-1 or 12-1 in a tournament and the losing player won 10 consecutive racks to tie (or within 1 game) but could not take the win. I guess it was one of your tournaments. Do you remember this feat? It came out in one of the Billiards Magazine of the time (either BD or Pool and Billiards). Anyone remebers this?

I remember reading about Allen Hopkins being up 10-0 over Efren and Efren came back and won 11-10. Pretty sure that was much later than this time period though.

KMRUNOUT
 

Hungarian

C'mon, man!
Silver Member
I can only tell you that the last rack by Earl was rack #6. I took over after that for racks 7-10. You can interpret that any way you want but I was there and you weren't. Good luck with your conspiracy theory. You may have a place on Fox News.

Don't you mean CNN Jay? haha
 

Island Drive

Otto/Dads College Roommate/Cleveland Browns
Silver Member
I can only tell you that the last rack by Earl was rack #6. I took over after that for racks 7-10. You can interpret that any way you want but I was there and you weren't. Good luck with your conspiracy theory. You may have a place on Fox News.

I vividly remember Earl Complaining when he had to Wait for the Camera to continue his inning. And since my father passed that weekend, it was odd, I happened to win the cue raffle. Nice $800 cue, sold it, flew back home the next week. Thx....Cj.

The Insurance Co. rules for the payout were specific, they had to record X amount of the last few racks, or no payoff. Was it racks 7-10 or 6-10?
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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Silver Member
I vividly remember Earl Complaining when he had to Wait for the Camera to continue his inning. And since my father passed that weekend, it was odd, I happened to win the cue raffle. Nice $800 cue, sold it, flew back home the next week. Thx....Cj.

The Insurance Co. rules for the payout were specific, they had to record X amount of the last few racks, or no payoff. Was it racks 7-10 or 6-10?

Supposedly they had video of racks 7-11, the five racks that were required to get paid on the policy. All those racks are not shown on the DVD that CJ released. I've never seen the full video to this day.
P.S. I'm pretty sure I racked #11 also, after some prompting from CJ to do so.
 
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Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I can only tell you that the last rack by Earl was rack #6. I took over after that for racks 7-10. You can interpret that any way you want but I was there and you weren't. Good luck with your conspiracy theory. You may have a place on Fox News.

I guess I shall leave it at that. There is no point debating this any further. I'm sure everyone watching the video will draw their own conclusions. I will just post up the remaining articles that I have (from Dallas Morning News and The American Cueist) and that will be the end of the matter, as far as I am concerned.
 

jeephawk

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I guess I shall leave it at that. There is no point debating this any further. I'm sure everyone watching the video will draw their own conclusions. I will just post up the remaining articles that I have (from Dallas Morning News and The American Cueist) and that will be the end of the matter, as far as I am concerned.

WTF -- really.
 

Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The American Cueist - May 1996

There are two articles. This is the first one, plus cover
 

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Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
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The American Cueist - May 1996

This is the second article
 

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Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The Dallas Morning News - 13 April 1996

And the final article I have is from Dallas Morning News. Enjoy!
 

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Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
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Linking in all of the other threads on the topic I could find to have everything in one place. That's me done!

Earl's 11 consecutive racks for 1M - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=285

Earl and the truth about the "Million Dollar Challenge" - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=851

The Pearl's Amazing Feat - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=3757

Earls' Million - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=20576

Highest number of rack run in a row in 9 ball - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=290567&postcount=46

earls million dollar rack? - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=589981

Earl Question! - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=55580

$1,000,000 shot - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=137694

CJ Wiley to make a documentary of the infamous Earl One million dollar run - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=250629

The "Million Dollar Article" by Jerry Forsyth - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=340146

Jay Helfert - 'The Million Dollar Tournament Director" - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=343668

Looking Back on Billiards - Was the $1,000,000 Challenge Pro Pool's BIG Chance??? - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=344928

Pro Player Max Eberle recalls "The Most Energetic & Electric Moment in Pool Times 10" - https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=346832
 

Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
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And the final post since I promised to upload a snapshot of the 1-10 combo. Enjoy guys!
 

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