The Vietnamese are in the same height range and are not noted for behind the back play.
I have a feeling the Pinoy way arose from rooms that don’t have rests.
...many rooms in the USA handled that problem by allowing players to climb on the tables.
Do we brown-nose the Filipinos about some thing??
- Thread starter Maniac
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The Vietnamese are in the same height range and are not noted for behind the back play.
I have a feeling the Pinoy way arose from rooms that don’t have rests.
...many rooms in the USA handled that problem by allowing players to climb on the tables.
The first time I saw a pro do that was Francisco Bustamante. He’s pretty tall. Can argue with his game.
When I lived in the PI, most of them didn't use a rest...even if one was available...they climbed on the tables.
Bustamante shoots behind the back more often than the other guys because he doesn't shoot opposite handed as well as the other guys.
Luat was the same.
Luat was the same.
Francisco isn't tall. He's about my height.
Freddie <~~~ can't be confused with Francisco
As others have mentioned, it's a Bustamante thing, whose approach and technique then has been proliferated amongst Filipinos. It's not just that he goes behind his back. He goes behind his back on a wide range of shots with every imaginable cuts and position play. When the vast majority of players were going behind their back, the shot almost always is relatively straight forward with minimal cue ball demands.
Every player has obviously done the behind the back thing, and the first pro player I saw on TV do it was Mary Kenniston in the Brunswick World 9-ball Championship (which she won). But, it was a relatively simple shot, as would be expected.
It was really Bustamante more than anyone else that sort of showed that certain shots, going behind the back isn't just a bar room show off maneuver, but actually is the right shot in certain situations, and that those shots aren't limited to simple ones. You'll see Alex (who can shoot left handed pretty well, and can use the bridge very well) will also go behind the back on certain shots.
Freddie <~~~ pinoy with no behind the back skills
I used to see the same thing at Hawaiian Brian's in Honolulu - players would climb up and sit cross-legged in the middle of the table for some shots.
pj
chgo
Why do you care so much. Chinese invented almost everything and you don't see ppl giving us credit. so what if it wasn't the filipinos, they prly popularized it by how much they did it on recorded tournaments...
I haven't seen anybody do it lately, but it is common when some of the locals are gambling. There are a few who refuse to play if they aren't allowed to climb on the table and it isn't, necessarily, because they are short. I think they grew up playing that way here in Hawaii..
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I was thinking this, too..efren is very good with his left hand, while his compadre, francisco busty does shoot behind the back, and well.
personally, I was shooting behind the back as a kid, well before I knew anything about pool, but I honestly don't know where that habit originated.
The first good player I ever saw shoot behind his back was Cornbread Red, and he was damn good at it. He used that shot effectively playing One Pocket on more than one occasion. Boston Shorty was also adapt at shooting behind his back. I never saw Leon Yonders play, but he may have been the best ever.
The first Filipino I saw shoot this way was Filipino Gene from San Francisco who no one could beat shooting behind their back. He was the best of his era in this country, even better than Cornbread. I would have liked to see him match up gambling with Yonders but I doubt it ever happened.
What separates the Filipinos from all the others is not just that they use this type of shot frequently. It is how well they shoot these shots. They are by far the most skillful I've seen shooting behind their backs. It is this high level of skill that makes them stand out for mention when referring to behind the back shots.
Exactly. Sang Lee was doing the behind the back thing 30 years ago, in the 3C world, where it was remarked on as unusual, but no one thought he invented it.
slim and bendy helps!
I first saw somebody shoot behind their back in a pool hall in the sixties. Seemed kinda cool and useful too so I practiced it and used it sometimes. That was fifty or sixty pounds ago! Francisco was shooting behind his back when he was young and very slim. Unlike most, he never stopped. Those shots I used to shoot behind my back, I now put the cue on the left side but reach across my front and use either a soft stroke or a darting motion like a jump shot to shoot harder.
The Filipinos as a group have always had a more flamboyant free wheeling style of play not counting the original invader, Parica, who always seemed low key, so anything seen as flashy or high risk is likely to be credited as Filipino style. I don't care. I have never shot artistic pool and nobody has ever given me or my opponents points for style.
Hu
I first saw somebody shoot behind their back in a pool hall in the sixties. Seemed kinda cool and useful too so I practiced it and used it sometimes. That was fifty or sixty pounds ago! Francisco was shooting behind his back when he was young and very slim. Unlike most, he never stopped. Those shots I used to shoot behind my back, I now put the cue on the left side but reach across my front and use either a soft stroke or a darting motion like a jump shot to shoot harder.
The Filipinos as a group have always had a more flamboyant free wheeling style of play not counting the original invader, Parica, who always seemed low key, so anything seen as flashy or high risk is likely to be credited as Filipino style. I don't care. I have never shot artistic pool and nobody has ever given me or my opponents points for style.
Hu
Anyone that idolizes Philippinos because of pool obviously has not spent time in the Philippines.
Over there, it's not a game..... it's a job.
If something is your job, well..... your gonna be more serious with it since it determines whether you and your family eats or not.
If something is a HOBBY, well.... need I say more.
As for the behind the back, lol who knows who the first to do it was.
Over there, it's not a game..... it's a job.
If something is your job, well..... your gonna be more serious with it since it determines whether you and your family eats or not.
If something is a HOBBY, well.... need I say more.
As for the behind the back, lol who knows who the first to do it was.
I'll also add, I FEEL SORRY for most Philippinos that I've known. Their living conditions AS A WHOLE are WWWAAAYYY below what we call poor.
That is a very good reason to make money in pool, since they can't go to Walmart and get a job....
EDIT: I was watching the MC and posted while watching, and posted off topic..... even if my topic is true... lol..
Sorry,
Rake
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