Any Dan Louie War Story?

X Breaker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have met Dan Louie many times, he is really down to earth and never brags about anything. Nevertheless, everytime we were in a tournament, lots of really well known players would come up to him and showed him a lot of respect.

I have heard that he was a world champion; I have also heard that he was one of the most feared player for the money in the 80's; I saw his picture in Robert Byrne's book as the only picture in the whole book showing him breaking in a tournament in Reno...

Could anyone please share with us some war stories of Dan Louie? He is just too modest to really talk about his victories.:)

Thank you so much.

Richard
 
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jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
X Breaker said:
I have met Dan Louie many times, he is really down to earth and never brags about anything. Nevertheless, everytime we were in a tournament, lots of really well known players would come up to him and showed him a lot of respect.

I have heard that he was a world champion; I have also heard that he was one of the most feared player for the money in the 80's; I saw his picture in Robert Byrne's book as the only picture in the whole book showing him breaking in a tournament in Reno...

Could anyone please share with us some war stories of Dan Louie? He is just too modest to really talk about his victories.:)

Thank you so much.

Richard

He won that World Championship in 1976 in an epic battle with Mike Sigel. Danny didn't travel extensively due to family and work commitments, but I think anyone from the Northwest will tell you he was the best player up there for many years running.

Danny was not a high roller, but he also wasn't one to turn down a game. If you showed up in his neck of the woods, you would get a game. He would gamble at 9-Ball, One Pocket or 14.1 And he was a terror on those 8' bar tables that are all over up there.

Still plays pretty sporty by the way.
 

X Breaker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
jay helfert said:
He won that World Championship in 1976 in an epic battle with Mike Sigel. Danny didn't travel extensively due to family and work commitments, but I think anyone from the Northwest will tell you he was the best player up there for many years running.

Danny was not a high roller, but he also wasn't one to turn down a game. If you showed up in his neck of the woods, you would get a game. He would gamble at 9-Ball, One Pocket or 14.1 And he was a terror on those 8' bar tables that are all over up there.

Still plays pretty sporty by the way.
Jay,
Thank you.
You know, a lot of players would brag about their wins and so on, but Dan Louie strikes me as such a low key and modest guy. I remember he ran into Mike Sigel in the IPT in Reno. Mike Sigel started talking about their matches in the World Championship and so on, Danny just stood there and smiled very politely while Mike Sigel kept going on and on. Everywhere I see Danny, I would see players going up to him and say hi, and he is always very polite.
He reminds me of the saying, "respect is to be earned." He certainly is one who has earned that by letting his cue do the talking.
I consider it very unusual (in a good way) to see a World Champion as humble and down to earn as Dan Louie. Since he does not really like to talk about his wins, I am just hoping someone else might share some stroies with us.:)
Happy holidays to you and yours,
Richard
 

UWPoolGod1

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The only thing that I witnessed him do I was at the old 211 Club in Seattle a few months before it closed. I was playing a friend of mine one of the tables. Dan walked in with an up-and-coming Asian girl player and her boyfriend and the grabbed the table enxt to us. Dan was showing them some stroke shots using the boyfriends cue. Dan shoots a shot with so much english/stroke/strength that the tip popped off of the cue. Now it could have very well been tip applicator error but that was pretty funny. Tip goes bouncing all around the table and Dan looks at the bar end of the ferrule and the got another cue to show the shot.
 

SpiderWeb

iisgone@yahoo.com
Silver Member
Dan Louie

Many years ago he beat Bernie in the finals in Kelowna, BC and then we headed downtown to a bar. They locked us in at closing time eh entered a Tit Squeezing contest and won that too. Harold Danielsen was the TD at both events.
 

Pinocchio

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Amazing!!!!!!!!!!

Well Dan is multi-talented then great player an great squeezer!!!
Pinocchio
 

Ktown D

Neverwuzzz
Silver Member
SpiderWeb said:
They locked us in at closing time eh entered a Tit Squeezing contest and won that too.
Does anyone know of any more of these events that might be taking place? I would be willing to travel the circuit if necessary. I'll be getting my squeezing hand ready. (don't ask how):D :eek:
 

hemicudas

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
jay helfert said:
He won that World Championship in 1976 in an epic battle with Mike Sigel. Danny didn't travel extensively due to family and work commitments, but I think anyone from the Northwest will tell you he was the best player up there for many years running.

Danny was not a high roller, but he also wasn't one to turn down a game. If you showed up in his neck of the woods, you would get a game. He would gamble at 9-Ball, One Pocket or 14.1 And he was a terror on those 8' bar tables that are all over up there.

Still plays pretty sporty by the way.

Like, Jay, said. Dan didn't travel much but he did make a trip to my part of the country in 76. He had won a ton of cash in Jackson, MS, my home. One of the losers phoned Memphis and in 3 hours Louie Roberts walks in. Louie Roberts played the bar box well but his long suit was big tables. We were in a bar that only had 7' United bar boxes. These United tables had the heaviest cue balls in the business which Dan Louie played better than anyone with maybe the exception of Keith.

Louie Roberts wanted to go to a big table but Dan refused. Louie Roberts just wanted action so they kick it off, race to 5 on the bar box for $200.

One of the locals I gambled with tells me, "I'll take Louie Roberts for $100 a set". Only having $50 on me, I take the bet for $20 a set.

They flip a coin and Louie Roberts wins. Five games later I am paying my guy $20. Louie Roberts ran the set out. Dan Louie pays off, wins the flip and finally gets to the table. My guy wants to raise the bet to $100. I tell him to bet $30, My case $30.

Long great story short, Louie Roberts never wins another set. Dan Louie just annihilates him and Louie Roberts ends up losing all his cash plus a car is lost by Louie's stake horse. I agree to raise the bet every time my guy wants to and turn my little nubbin into a semi-bankroll.

Why was I the only guy in town that knew Dan Louie's speed? Because I happened to be in Baton Rouge the prior week and watched Dan Louie beat Buddy Hall and the entire town playing on the 8' table using a heavy United cue ball. Some times they roll your way.
 
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jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Ok, one more small one. I couldn't resist. Danny came to Dayton in 1973 after he won the Collegiate Championships. He wasn't quite the player he would become yet. He was in a den of hustlers, and was very careful about getting in action. A few guys woofed at him because he had some notoriety for winning the college thing.

He did win his first couple of matches in the 9-Ball Division and so did I. In the third round we were to meet. I introduced myself to him and congratulated him on his college win. First time I ever met him. At that time I was a serious Shortstop, in action always. He had won his title in 14.1 and most of us didn't think these college guys were that good (although we were to find out different when Nick rose to fame).

A few of my buddies (I grew up in Dayton) came in to the tourney room to root for me (and gamble). I caught my highest gear and demolished Danny 11-5. He was a perfect gentleman throughout the match and warmly shook my hand afterward. We've always been friends since then. Okay, okay, so I'm bragging. I didn't get far anyway.

Jersey Red was watching and he was my next opponent. He comes over to me and says "Jaybird, you're in dead stroke. I've got no chance tomorrow. I may not even show up". Right! He knocked me to the losers side 11-7. Then I was late for my match with Lisciotti, and he drilled me too. I finished 13-16 for $200. Whoopee! The entry fee was $125.

I did lay one on Danny though. LOL
 

JC51534

JC
Silver Member
Dan Louie owned Alberta for many years.
He won everything, but was painful to watch sometimes. I have never seen anyone take as many strokes before they pull the trigger as Dan Louie.
Always very humble in his wins and loses. Hard to tell the difference most times.
Dan Louie is someone you want at your tournament!
 

Handsumm

Banned
I watched Mike Zimmerman pull his hair out trying to come up with a way to slow him down last year in Portland at the Nite Hawk. It was the finals, and Dan was breaking perfectly every time with the wing ball and one ball going in literally every time with the cue ball squatting like a duck.

Every time he came up (after running out another rack) to inspect the rack, he would find a hair-line space in the rack and make Mike rerack, just to snap and run out again. He was amazing. When he is ON; You can't hook him, You can't loose rack him, you can't out run him.

Probably one of the nicest pool players I have EVER met. He sat down next to me and offered me to share his chips and salsa. We talked for only a little while, but when I saw him again about six months later at the Cadillac Island Casino, he immediately recognized me and walked right up to me. I was about to ask if he had remembered me, and he says "Hi Micah, how are you?"

When a world champion remembers my name and talks to me like a friend, yeah, he gets mucho props.

Later on, at the same tourney, I met some guy and he asks me my name. He then says "Oh OK, Dan Louie was telling me about you, says you're a very strong young player."

I almost shit.

Even though I don't know him as well as others do, I could call him a friend.
 

BillYards

Playing Style: Wu Tang Fu
Silver Member
I had the opportunity to not only meet Dan, but to get a string of lessons from him when I lived in Seattle. After the first couple of meetings between us, he suggested that I just drive to his house for the lessons, saving him the trouble of going to a pool room and saving me the green fees.

That was fine with me, so I went to his home and he showed me his living room where his trophies were displayed. I saw the ACUI and World Championship trophies and a virtual army of little brass men atop the other awards.

He had a nice Brunswick off of his kitchen and he gave me lessons there. I ended-up not taking too many lessons because I was having a hard time learning from him. Not sure if he was teaching over my head, or if he was not able to convey what he wanted me to do.

Back then, in circa 1998, he was using a Tice cue. I actually have video that I filmed at a tourney where he runs over the competition that included some heavy hitters from Canada, including Bear, Frenchie, Stan T. and Horsefall, as well as some tough US players. His play is slow and meticulous and flawless.

He has a killer stroke and can easily demonstrate some of the extreme draw shots that most people think only Mike Massey can execute.

I have been around Dan many times and he is a winner in every sense of the word. Shows up for matches on time and prepared, treats people with courtesy and is confident without being arrogant. A class act all the way.
 

BillYards

Playing Style: Wu Tang Fu
Silver Member
You got my curiosity up now... I have not gotten those videos of Dan's matches out for years and actually may have never reviewed what I recorded. I now have a DVD recorder, so I will check and see what I captured and get it transferred.

This is a great thread giving tribute to a guy that is a true ambassador of billiards.
 

rackmsuckr

Linda Carter - The QUEEN!
Silver Member
belmicah said:
I watched Mike Zimmerman pull his hair out trying to come up with a way to slow him down last year in Portland at the Nite Hawk. It was the finals, and Dan was breaking perfectly every time with the wing ball and one ball going in literally every time with the cue ball squatting like a duck.

Every time he came up (after running out another rack) to inspect the rack, he would find a hair-line space in the rack and make Mike rerack, just to snap and run out again. He was amazing. When he is ON; You can't hook him, You can't loose rack him, you can't out run him.

Danny has been everyone's hero here in the NW, including Mike's. It was a big day when he finally beat Danny. Later, I watched an amazing feat where Mike 9-zipped Danny at the Casino Club (where the book "Playing off the Rail"'s Seattle chapter took place) on 9 footers with awesome safety play.

Amazingly, in all the open tournaments I have been in, I have only played Danny once. We giggled so hard during the match because the strangest things kept happening. It was a fun match, even though I got drilled.

When we first met, I told him that someone asked if we were siblings, so it kind of stuck that we were brother and sister for awhile, and people called me Linda Louie. :p

After winning a minor tournament back in the early 80's, I decided to reinvest my winnings and get a lesson from Danny. I was going from big ball little table 8 ball to small ball big table 9 ball and wanted to know how the cueball reacted coming off different rails. His reply? "Just shoot a million of them and find out!" Well, that was what I was hoping his lesson would give me some insight into. Since then, well I guess I have hit a million! :p I think like Mike, it is hard to break down the actions, everything just came intuitively from "hitting a million of them."

When Danny owned the Chinese restaurant in West Seattle, it became a favorite place for players to come get great food. The Ashton twins and I made countless trips there. After a Seattle WPBA stop, everyone packed the place and sang karaoke. Jeanette Lee, Allison, Helena, Belinda - all were there. Here is a pic of Allison and Bonnie Arnold singing karaoke. Sorry, I did not fix Bonnie's red eye. Danny is in the background trying to fine-tune the sound system.

I talked to Danny yesterday because I am trying to put a BCA team together and Danny has committed to playing with Mike Z., possibly Todd Marsh and JD, so that should be the start of a pretty good team. :rolleyes:

I will post a couple more photos for you.
 

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rackmsuckr

Linda Carter - The QUEEN!
Silver Member
Bonnie table dancing...ok, it got pretty wild! Allison and Joanne Ashton singing in the background.
 

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rackmsuckr

Linda Carter - The QUEEN!
Silver Member
Mary Kenniston and Helena Thornfelldt singing. Mary sang "Proud Mary" of course!
 

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rackmsuckr

Linda Carter - The QUEEN!
Silver Member
I've posted this pic before, but now you know the background story on it.

Joanne Ashton, Barry Emerson, Jennifer Chen, Allison, Bonnie and moi.
 

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