$10,000 One Pocket Challenge: Lou Figueroa vs John Barton

To Freddie:

In the first and/or second game Ed was commenting on the table, that it had "straight cut pockets". Did he mean parallel pocket openings of 135 deg angle (like the bonus ball table)? Or was he maybe mistaken in the term?

JB Cases said:

As well the promotion I got for JB Cases was immense. I couldn't have spent 10k on anything else that would have kept attention on our logo so intensely for some many months.

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I actually purchased a JB case because of all of this hoopla and I am glad I did.. I threw away my It's George.




I enjoy watching the video and I think the commentary is fantastic. I learn as much from watching these games as the top tier pros. (it doesn't really do me any good to try to learn from shots I do not have the skill level to pull off)

iusedtoberich said:

To Freddie:

In the first and/or second game Ed was commenting on the table, that it had "straight cut pockets". Did he mean parallel pocket openings of 135 deg angle (like the bonus ball table)? Or was he maybe mistaken in the term?

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You’ll need Lou to confirm, but the facings looked nearly parallel to each other. I’ve heard the term “straight cut” to mean this (parallel).

iusedtoberich said:

To Freddie:

In the first and/or second game Ed was commenting on the table, that it had "straight cut pockets". Did he mean parallel pocket openings of 135 deg angle (like the bonus ball table)? Or was he maybe mistaken in the term?

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Sometimes I wish all pockets were like this!! We could say goodbye to rattling balls.

JB Cases said:

.......

I stepped up with the worst of it against a hundred ball runner and bet my own. Regardless of whatever anyone wants to say I have heart and it took a literal hustling team to make this match happen - people pretending to be my friend to pump for information, antagonists keeping me occupied online, people making comments like calling me a coward if I didn't accept the challenge...they had it coordinated. But regardless I had the opportunity to be better and do better. While I would have liked to have won I wasn't prepared to win and that's all on me.

All that said I enjoyed myself and from the conclusion of that match my business has increased beyond my wildest dreams. We have eclipsed the best years with instroke many times over. So I am a shitty player with too much heart for his skill level but in pool cue cases I am a world champion. And in life I hit the lottery with my wonderful wife and awesome daughters and good friends. So I don't mind being the butt of your pool jokes. I clearly earned it. I wear my heart on my sleeve and don't have to lie to make money or hustle anyone and I can be very proud of that.


.......

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Love this. It says a lot about character. It makes me wanna order a case from you! Lol

pt109 said:

Lou wasn’t in as high a gear when JB started shooting back...nobody is...you don’t get
as many shots.
JB started out looking like a deer caught in the head lights...
...he showed a lotta heart coming back.

And I thought he handled the loss reasonably well...he smiled and shook hands.
He was a better loser than Lou was a winner.

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It was more or a surprise how JB acted after the match than Lou. There was so much unnecessary venom by everyone involved coming into the match that I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a fight break out. That would’ve really been entertaining. Pulled muscles everywhere.

BC21 said:

Love this. It says a lot about character. It makes me wanna order a case from you! Lol

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Good cases. Can't go wrong with one.

It almost seems that the Money John Lost is coming back to him in case sales. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money , a famous Philips said one time in Memphis. People are feeling Sorry for him and now buying his cases, I do hear they are nice.

BC21 said:

Love this. It says a lot about character. It makes me wanna order a case from you! Lol

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See my post above. JB has a 90's something run in straight pool. (which occurred pre his CTE days). He wasn't outclassed by a mile as he alluded to in his post.

cookie man said:

Good cases. Can't go wrong with one.

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I'll have to save up. :embarrassed2:

Been using the same buffalo instroke case for about 20yrs now.

I watched the first two games thus far. The main diffenrce I saw was execution. In both games total, Lou had two missed executions. One sold out, and JB ran 3 before stumbling. The other mistake by Lou he took care of Whitey and left it up table, and John missed the long shot and sold out the rack to Lou afterwards. Every other shot of Lou's was very good execution.

JB on the other hand, it seems almost every single shot/move he attempted was off by a mile, in both game combined.

I came to the match in-person about when JB was mounting his comeback. I actually thought he was going to pull off the win, as the mood of both players was changing. Lou's body language was getting tired and weaker, and JB was coming on super strong, and super confident. This was evident by me as a spectator in the audience. I'm curious to see if it this change in each player's headspace will come across in the recording of this match (which I have never watched before now, save for a minute or two).

iusedtoberich said:

See my post above. JB has a 90's something run in straight pool. (which occurred pre his CTE days). He wasn't outclassed by a mile as he alluded to in his post.

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Copied that. My high is 78. But one hole and straight pool are in two different worlds as far as I'm concerned. It was obvious to me that Lou had the experience and was supposed to win.

The "straight cut pockets" comment made no sense to me. If the facing angles are 135° they'll accept balls easier, not spit them out. You'd have to hit a shot very poorly or with lot of spin on it to keep the ball from dropping into the pocket.

Cornerman said:

You’ll need Lou to confirm, but the facings looked nearly parallel to each other. I’ve heard the term “straight cut” to mean this (parallel).

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I have no idea about the terminology but they played reasonably tough.

Lou Figueroa
this is a pocket
on the table we played on

iusedtoberich said:

. I'm curious to see if it this change in each player's headspace will come across in the recording of this match (which I have never watched before now, save for a minute or two).

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It was super obvious in the booth. And I'd like to hear Lou's take on it, but it sure looked like the agreement to end at a certain hour on the first night saved him from a huge comeback and overtaking.

iusedtoberich said:

I watched the first two games thus far. The main diffenrce I saw was execution. In both games total, Lou had two missed executions. One sold out, and JB ran 3 before stumbling. The other mistake by Lou he took care of Whitey and left it down table, and John missed the long shot and sold out the rack to Lou afterwards. Every other shot of Lou's was very good execution.

JB on the other hand, it seems almost every single shot/move he attempted was off by a mile, in both game combined.

I came to the match in-person about when JB was mounting his comeback. I actually thought he was going to pull off the win, as the mood of both players was changing. Lou's body language was getting tired and weaker, and JB was coming on super strong, and super confident. This was evident by me as a spectator in the audience. I'm curious to see if it this change in each player's headspace will come across in the recording of this match (which I have never watched before now, save for a minute or two).

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I seem to recall that Large posted stats post-match.

Lou Figueroa

Cornerman said:

It was super obvious in the booth. And I'd like to hear Lou's take on it, but it sure looked like the agreement to end at a certain hour on the first night saved him from a huge comeback and overtaking.

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I was tired.

I never sleep well when traveling. And with all the falderal around the match it was worse. What is difficult to appreciate, now, is that at the time that match was really a big deal on the group. There had been months of woofing and insults. Not even the pros were matching up then for streamed matches for $20K in the middle. There were countless threads, many of them locked up or deleted because things were getting out-of-hand. Then, being in the Accu-Stats Arena, with a live audience, commentators, lights and cameras and the DJ, and knowing the stream was going out, I'll admit -- it got to me.

But no, I don't think there was going to be any come back. If I recall right that last game the first night just got away from me.

Lou Figueroa

lfigueroa said:

I have no idea about the terminology but they played reasonably tough.

Lou Figueroa
this is a pocket
on the table we played on

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That makes more sense. Those aren't straight cut facings, not parallel. They look more like a good rattle waiting to happen.

John is like a lot of guys , he enjoys the battle and overcoming his fears, and likes the adrenaline rush he gets, from being near the edge. {He just happens to have a little more money than most}
What he doesn't get ,{ or refuses to acknowledge} is that there are thousands of guys out there he can't beat, that almost never play a game of pool , unless they know they are supposed to win, with just enough of a struggle to keep them interested.
He should have learned his lesson from this one.
I don't blame Lou for taking him off , I don't think it was about the money at first, I think John did the same thing here, he did in the other situation.
It started out as one thing , then he made the conditions right financially, to take him off, and that's what happened.
He took the blame for the latest one at least , not sure about this one , did damage control for his business, and hopefully he will stay within his means in the future.
I wish him good luck.

book collector said:

John is like a lot of guys , he enjoys the battle and overcoming his fears, and likes the adrenaline rush he gets, from being near the edge. {He just happens to have a little more money than most}
What he doesn't get ,{ or refuses to acknowledge} is that there are thousands of guys out there he can't beat, that almost never play a game of pool , unless they know they are supposed to win, with just enough of a struggle to keep them interested.
He should have learned his lesson from this one.
I don't blame Lou for taking him off , I don't think it was about the money at first, I think John did the same thing here, he did in the other situation.
It started out as one thing , then he made the conditions right financially, to take him off, and that's what happened.
He took the blame for the latest one at least , not sure about this one , did damage control for his business, and hopefully he will stay within his means in the future.
I wish him good luck.

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I have always been aware that there are thousands better than me and tens of thousands worse than me. Lou didn't do shit. His backer made this match. I offered this game ten years before the match went off. The only reason it never went off before is that lou was scared.

And this match would never have happened if lot didn't get a surprise backer who hated me.

For all my craziness i can play a little. This match was actually the absolute worst form i have ever displayed. But the fact is that i have run 98 in straight pool, five racks of eight ball, five racks of nine ball, i have run 14 in one pocket. I can play a little. But for this match i simply didn't prepare properly, mentally or physically. It was at that time my biggest money match and with a decade of bad blood in the mix i simply dogged it.

I am not afraid of Lou's game. He is an average player like me who certainly has better form. But in no way do he hustle me. If he did then his backer or the "claimed" line of backers would have showed up and figured out how to make match two happen when i was barking to play.

Here is another tidbit for you, i offered to double the bet and freeze up the entire amount three months before the match. Not only once either. They didn't take it, not a single person stepped up to take that bet.

There are a lot of factors here but the fact is that when you have a sucker on a string and you don't get all the money he is ready to bet then you're not as confident as you think you are that you can win.

You all think that i have only ever lost. I haven't. Just because i don't document every time i have won $500, $800, $1500, $4000..... doesn't mean i have never booked a winner.

Guy in OKC Muffler Don owes me 2k, look it up. That night i win 2700. Went to a one pocket tournament and won around $4000 betting $1800 one game. The one thing i can say proudly is that i don't hustle anyone. I go in and play my heart out and yeah i look like a donkey doing it but the fact is that i am pretty sure i have had more fun and cool experiences in pool than lou has had. I guarantee that my wins that i didn't have to share a dime of were more awesome for me than beating me was for him where he had to share and wouldn't have even played if it weren't for others putting him in.

I won 18000 rmb in China one night. Giving weight to someone who beat me a week earlier for 3000rmb. The rmb was about 6:1usd at that time.

I played a guy $600 a game one pocket who came in with a louie vuiton bag full of money. After two days i was 3 games winner.

So yeah i get it that folks on here want to pass judgement based on what they see on here. But i am 52 years old and have a life outside of the internet. I have been to more places ass played more variations of pool for money than most of the people i know. Yeah i am "out there" at times but at no time an ia heartless nit who ducks someone for ten years and then breaks endlessly about one match where i caught them on a bad day.

I have had people who could never care about losing what i have lost in the the"big matches" i have played and the go-off sum from the other night call me up and tell me not to sweat it so hard and that everyone who is in business gambles every day. And that's true. I didn't lose beyond my means, not to Lou, not to anyone else. I simply lost beyond my reason. All this does is motivate me to become smarter and work harder so that no in the future anyone playing me will have to earn it instead of being given gifts all night.

No, i know my place in the pecking order. Lou might be slightly better but only because i don't train. If i put in half the time practicing that he did it wouldn't be close. That i am sure of.

Hell, i beat him when I literally could not spell one pocket. Now maybe he was setting me up for a future 10k match ten years into the future but i doubt it. Anyway, that's the fact of it.

Continue the judgy analysis...... And... Your right about ego, adrenaline etc...