Win yourself one of my great hitting cues

deanoc said:

cubswin, I liked your story too,you deserve a prize but i think I sold the other "junk cues"

there are some other good stories on here

This has been a good thread, i hope you guys keep up the stories

I might have another good hitting cheapo cue,but it must be an exceptional story to win my player

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Well I'd of just turned it around and gave it to a kid anyway.

Congratulations H. E.

Congratulations HawaiianEYE. I was mopping around around yesterday
and my wife said what's the matter with you. I told here Dean did a contest
for best story and declared HawaiianEYE the winner before I posted mine.
He won a great hitting cue. I could tell by the look on her face that she was
just as hurt as I was, but then she says, "You big cry baby, Dean sends you
a cue or two every week, cases, Bob Dylan, and Ali stuff, when we go visit
Dean and June we can hardly shut the car doors for all the stuff he gives
you." But wait I won bonus prize and get a great hitting cue also. I'm okay
now.
EYE, I knew Jack Taylor, from my Cotton Bowling Palace days. He was
a good player but stayed under the radar. The few times I saw him play
he was stalling and had a sucker trapped, He was, from everything I heard
very good at going some place he was not known, spending a long
time there and then taking everyone off playing pool and golf. Jack was
very personable, and a great story teller,and very funny. Like Puckett
and Fats, he would have a crowd around him when would start telling
a story. In the early 60's you could get arrested for vagrancy,and this
used to happen quite often at the CBP. Georgia Slim a regular there
got busted for it on Easter for crying out loud. One day Alf Taylor, myself
and a few others were sitting around and Jack comes in sweating shaking
and white as a sheet. Alf jumps up and says "what's the matter Jack".
Jack says I'm busted right now and that cop that arrests everyone for
vagrancy got me in the parking lot, I thought I was gone for sure,whew.
I told I was working full time, he says Bulls--t Taylor where are YOU
working. At the Domino factory putting the dots on dominoes, and the
only reason I'm not there is today is they're making double blanks.
jack

One day many, many, many, years ago in seventh grade we moved from a small town to a city. Out exploring one day I walked into a pool hall with a pocket of nickels to play pinball. The guy looked at me
and told me I shouldn’t be in there. Two men at the back table said “Pops” leave the kid alone. He told not to bother the players. I watched him rack and break, rack and break, then he told me he almost had the 8 on the break mastered. I racked a few for him and when he had to go to the counter he left his cue on table and told me to hit a few. He would let me play for awhile after school. One day the two guys from the back table came to the counter to pay. One of them reached in his pocked and pulled out a wad of money and peeled off a few singles to pay table time. Then he pulled out a $100 bill and gave it to the other gentleman. He still had more in that wad of money. First time I ever saw a $100 outside of a bank. Pops told me not bother to any of the players when I’m in there. Later during Christmas break they installed an 8 ft. pool table in our cafeteria. Played constantly and one other kid could beat everyone.
They decided to have a tournament over the course of a few weeks. I ended getting second giving the hot shot a good run. He kept saying, “nice leave” after I would shoot. He got a small trophy and after I asked him what he meant when he said “nice leave”. He said you don’t know what means? I told him no, I’m not from around here. To this day I want to go back to that building and see if the ghost of Pops is still there trying to make the 8 on the break…..

I have a video story (from my son), this was his end of school Senior project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOlK-iYrYpU&t=14s

deanoc said:

that my friends on Az have spoken of in a nasty way

Win a free cue by writing an interesting story ,post in here

if it is the best you win a cue

I have 5 of these cues
I like the play very much

Your story will be judged on interesting,if it is about balance point,deflection .Mosconi cup,or high tech dull stuff,pro pool, or any American pro player

you might as well not enter I hate hearing about that stuff

I like an interesting action story

I like to hear about Efren,Eddie Taylor,Billy Stroud,Billy Incardone,Jersey Red,
Boston Shorty or even about you winning some money provided it has warmth,humor etc

I might send a nice kid a free cue if he can tell me about himself and plans for the future,not pool future

Young kids, unless they are Filipinos ,have no future in pool

Have you ever done something interesting?
write it down

You got a kid you would like to see have a decent playing cue tell it

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Earth Quake, Earth Quake

At the Cotton Bowling Palace the pool area was to your left as you walked
in the front door.There were bowling lanes on each side and the
cafeteria in the middle. There was a wall about 7 ft tall that separated
the pool area from the bowling lanes on that side. Behind and against the
wall on the bowling lane side was one of the old glassed in telephone
booths. When the action was slow we would sit in the cafeteria and eat
and tell war stories. When someone went in that phone booth we could
see them, we were only a few feet away. Alf and took turns giving them
the earth quake. One of us would run around to the pool area, stand on
a chair and start shaking and rocking the phone booth while the rest
of us watched from the cafeteria. The poor sucker that was in the phone
booth didn't know whether to sh-- or go blind. He could see out of all
three sides, and through the glass in the back just a wall. Alf would
rock it so much sometimes, I thought he was going to turn it over.
They would be bracing themselves with both hands. Once Alf shook
it so bad that it smashed this old guys cigar against the glass and
knocked his hat sideways. He opened the door and dove out not knowing
what the hell was going on.Out of all the people we gave the earth quake
too not one ever knew what happened.
jack

Not here for a cue even though who wouldn't love one lol. I will never forgot the day I discovered pool and fell in love. I was visiting family in Greece and my first night there 8 years ago when I was 15 my cousin asked me to watch him play in a tournament. I said no a few times but he insisted, so finally I gave in..little did I know it was a final to an open over 100 players and I watched my cousin win the whole thing. He really inspired me to learn this beautiful game. I owe so much to pool it saved me from a life of gambling and being miserable. Most players will agree it is the most peaceful thing to do in their free time. Without Pool I don't know where I would be, after 2 or 3 years getting up to 6/7 speed I started looking at a new cue..that is where I became even more fascinated by the custom world of cues. The fact that you can try a stick from all different cue makers and they all have their own unique hit and feel is what also makes this game the absolute best. Hope my story was worth the read lol God bless!!

Cool stories, folks.

Ray martin.

jackpot said:

Congratulations HawaiianEYE. I was mopping around around yesterday
and my wife said what's the matter with you. I told here Dean did a contest
for best story and declared HawaiianEYE the winner before I posted mine.
He won a great hitting cue. I could tell by the look on her face that she was
just as hurt as I was, but then she says, "You big cry baby, Dean sends you
a cue or two every week, cases, Bob Dylan, and Ali stuff, when we go visit
Dean and June we can hardly shut the car doors for all the stuff he gives
you." But wait I won bonus prize and get a great hitting cue also. I'm okay
now.
EYE, I knew Jack Taylor, from my Cotton Bowling Palace days. He was
a good player but stayed under the radar. The few times I saw him play
he was stalling and had a sucker trapped, He was, from everything I heard
very good at going some place he was not known, spending a long
time there and then taking everyone off playing pool and golf. Jack was
very personable, and a great story teller,and very funny. Like Puckett
and Fats, he would have a crowd around him when would start telling
a story. In the early 60's you could get arrested for vagrancy,and this
used to happen quite often at the CBP. Georgia Slim a regular there
got busted for it on Easter for crying out loud. One day Alf Taylor, myself
and a few others were sitting around and Jack comes in sweating shaking
and white as a sheet. Alf jumps up and says "what's the matter Jack".
Jack says I'm busted right now and that cop that arrests everyone for
vagrancy got me in the parking lot, I thought I was gone for sure,whew.
I told I was working full time, he says Bulls--t Taylor where are YOU
working. At the Domino factory putting the dots on dominoes, and the
only reason I'm not there is today is they're making double blanks.
jack

Click to expand...

Do you ever see Alfie or keep in contact with him?

If so, tell him I'd like one of his books if he still has any left. I can send him the money which ever way he likes.

I'd like to hear some more stories about his brother.

Aloha.

Dean,

The cue came into the Post Office today, but I won't be able to get it until Monday.

I'm looking forward to playing with it.

Aloha

deanoc said:

My guarantee is void if you leave the cue at the post office

You are lucky you didn't pay up front

None the less if the cue is not ugly enough or if it doesn't weigh enough
or if you can not make a ball with it

please keep it for firewood

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Ugly cues are fine. They attract people...same as fancy cues.

And, heavy is no problem for me. I played with 21 ounce cues for decades.

I'm sure it will play just fine and everybody in the pool hall will try to buy it from me, like they do with all the rest of my cues.

Once I get it all "tuned in" and firing balls in on "auto-pilot", I'll have to keep a constant watch over it to keep some SOB from trying to run off with it.

Dean,

Picked up the cue at the Post Office this morning and it ain't ugly.

It is actually a damn fine looking cue and seems to be very solid. It also looks and feels like it will make a fine playing cue.

It doesn't seem overly heavy to me, but I'll check the weight next Sunday on the scales at the pool hall and I'll see what kind of weight bolt is installed. It feels about 21 ounces and the balance point is at the 17 inch point on the butt.

I put the calipers on it a few minutes ago and it is 12.85 at the very tip and it has a .850 joint diameter.

I hit the shaft with some 0000 steel wool for a few swipes, then some 1500 and 2000 sandpaper, and then put on a coat of Renaissance was. It is now slick as a whistle and in my case ready to play next Sunday.

Thanks again. I'll let you know how it plays in about a week.

For those who are wondering how ugly it is, here are some pictures of what it looks like.

Aloha

Guy wants to play me 8 ball $10 a game. I break and run out. I hit a gear and run 4 in a row and rather quickly. As I’m racking up the 5th rack I see the fellow walking out of the john. He asked me what happened. I informed him he was down $40 already. Apparently he was in bathroom whole time I put down the 4 pack. He didn’t believe me and wanted to fight since I said I didn’t know he was in bathroom and not my fault he wasn’t paying attention. I was never much of a gambler and that was one of the situations that soured me on gambling. Especially in bars with drunks

Misspent youth

I grew up in a small town in southern Missouri. I was the best pool player I had ever known The typical big fish in a small pond. My Granny used to take me to all the bars along the Missouri Arkansas line and I spent many a late night relieving inebriated patrons of their hard earned money. My lovely girlfriend was always right there beside me (now my wife of many years

Sometime about my senior year (89) we got the idea to road trip to Chicago. I had always heard about Chris's billiards, had seen the Color of Money about a thousand times and I just new I would make it rich. As luck would have it the weekend I showed up they were having a big tournament...I don't remember what it was called, Joss tour? McDermott tour? something like that...anyway my girlfriend and I are walking into this place and I'm taking it all in, looking for the easy money! The thing that caught my eye was this guy on a table without pockets! It only had 3 balls, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what was going on. I started talking to the guy, his name was Dave. He explained the game to me and showed me some shots, he was very polite to both me and my girlfriend, kind of quiet. He asked me if I was going to play the 9-ball tournament or the one-pocket...I said I had never heard of one pocket. So he showed me some shots, and explained the rules of the game. The thing I remember most was the tables were HUGE! (remember I was just a small town bar player, I didn't even know they made table that big! lol) We had dinner together and we traded stories.

I decided to play in the one pocket tournament, with obvious results, but my LOVE of one pocket was born. Over the next 30+ years my wife and I have run into Dave at some different events. We even ran into each other once in Joplin, MO when he was crashing on a buddy of mine's couch. I went over to my buddies to hang out and play some pool and he "introduced" me to Dave. We had a good laugh over that, and how small the world can be.

The last time I saw him was in Kansas City. I was there for work and stopped in at Side Pockets and they had a tournament going on. I thought I would eat something and watch a little pool. I started talking to this kid at the next table. He looked about 17 (course they all look like that to me now)...anyhow, his girlfriend was there. In talking to them both I found out they were from a small town. His girlfriend always went with him, etc. etc. Needless to say it was a very nostalgic moment for me.

A few minutes later, they called the kids name, and his opponents name for the next match. I hear him tell his girlfriend that this should be easy cause he has never heard of this guy.

It's a race to 5, 9-ball on bar box diamonds. They lag for break and the kid loses..his opponent racks the first rack (its rack your own, winner break). 5 games and about 20 minutes later (the kid never got to the table)...he is obviously flustered, comes back to his seat, telling me and his girlfriend "I can't believe it! Who the heck is that old guy!" "I didn't even get a chance to shoot, there was nothing I could do!" I leaned over and told him "You could have lagged better."

He kind of gave me a funny look, his girlfriend looked from me to him like she wasn't sure how he would react. Truth be told I wasn't sure either. Was he gonna be a young hot head? Or was he a student of the game, seeking every opportunity to improve? Well he kind of grinned sheepishly at me, and said "I know right?" Then we all laughed about it.

I told him my story. We were very much alike, I mean he was me 30+ years ago. Then I told him not to let it get him down. "Dave Matlock was the greatest bar table player in the World! and back when it was the mud ball? "frrget abt it!" There was nobody that could touch him.

I bought the young couples lunch and told them that if he did the same for Dave he would be sure to share some great experiences with them. I left as they were walking over to Dave's table to introduce themselves.

I love pool. The word's don't do justice to my feelings for the game, or the people I have met along the way.

Thank you.

Here's my tale of playing Bustamante for $10 bucks a rack.

I heard Bustie was going to be at snookers doing challenge matches and figured i had to get in on the action. I wasn't able to do a whole challenge match, as i was too late, but i did get in a couple games.

I walk into Snookers in Rhode Island and i am getting a rack to practice before the festivities begin. As i walk towards a table, Bustie walks right by me going out for a smoke. I give him a little head nod, he nods back. He know's that i know who he is and he know's that he's the reason i'm here.

I get my practice table and spread the balls and start doing some power stroke shots, as that's how i get lose when i first get to a table. As i am making some of those power draw/follow shots, Bustie walks by and heads over to the table right next to me where he apparently will be doing all the challenge matches. So i continue to warm up and get ready, as today is the day i am beating Django.

An hour goes by and then a voice comes over the speaker, its time to begin. I am the first in line to play Bustie. I shake hands with him, rack and i find out that its my break. I break, immediately get kicked into the side by the 7 ball from what would have otherwise been a great break. I say out loud, "Uh oh, that's not good." All the rail birds laugh as Bustie replies "It's good for me" in a joking manner. I already love this guy.

Of course, he runs out. Back to the end of the line.

Rack #2: I go up to him and i say, "Let's try this again". I break, make a ball but have no shot at the 1. I play a pretty respectable safety, thinking that is going to get me back to the table, maybe even ball in hand. Django kicks it two rails dead center pocket, runs the rest out. You sly dog, you. I'm not leaving until i beat this guy.

Rack #3: The challenge match is about to start and i don't have much time. There's about thirty people watching now, as the first challenge match is basically waiting for Bustie to beat me again, so they think. I break, make a ball, can see the 1 but there is no out with the two tied up in traffic as it was. I make the one and leave myself a good safe for the 2 (i hope). I play a beautiful lock up safety while freeing the 2 from jail. Bustie starts looking at a 3 railer and i get nervous. He kicks it pocket speed, hits the 2 and it goes within a diamond of the pocket he was intending to make it, leaving me the shot. I make the 2, get good on 3 and pocket it. Steeper cut on the 4 than i wanted, leaving my longer on the 6 than i intended. 3 rail tight position from the long 6 to get to the 7, leave myself an 80 degree cut shot down the side rail having to go three rails up and down for position on the 8 that was on the middle of the side rail. At this point, everyone's watching this shot and i feel the pressure. I take my time, put a little inside on her and slice it center pocket, 1, 2 and 3 rails for perfect position on the 8. Follow it up two rails, 9 in the same pocket as the 8. I shake his hand and my $10 stays in my wallet. I was the only one to beat him in the $10 a rack matches. People in the race to 7 challenge matches won a 1-3 racks against him occasionally, but i was the only one to take money from him (my money from earlier, technically).

I was supposed to have a group lesson with him that following Saturday, but he fell ill. I never got to get anything signed, as i expected to see him again the following weekend, but i did get a picture with him.

I hope to play him again, as well as Efren if he ever makes it this way again.

So I was at Pool Sharks in Las Vegas during BCA Nationals probably a decade ago. Jean Robert Bellande (the poker pro) was trying to work on his one pocket break. He is playing Joey Grey $50 a game. Jean gets all of the breaks and the first person to make a ball after the break wins the game. Chip Compton is there sweating the action.

In walks a high stakes poker player named Crazy Mike. He definitely deserved the nickname because you could just tell something was off with the way he spoke and his mannerisms. He walks over to Jean and says "Let's go play 300-600 HU no limit holdem at the Bellagio. Jean said he wanted to play pool for awhile.

Chip walks up to Crazy Mike and says "Do you want to play some Pool?" Mike says he has never played pool in his entire life. He just wants to play Jean some poker and heard he was at Pool Sharks.

Chip looked skeptical and then offered Crazy Mike a game. Chip would play one handed and Crazy Mike would get ball in hand 6 times before Chip got to shoot and then they would alternate. This was $100 a game 8 ball on a 9 footer.

Crazy Mike might have made 3 balls the first game with his consecutive ball in hands and then Chip ran out. They continue to play with the spot increasing and Chip still winning. Mind you Crazy Mike would make a ball and then take ball in hand again. He never shot from where the cue ball ended up to save ball in hands for later.

This continues until he gets 10 consecutive ball in hands in a row. The next game he is on his 8th ball in hand and the 8 ball is hanging in the pocket. He makes the 8 and follows the cue ball. He looks over at Chip and says what does that mean? Chip says "you lost." Mike says "so I owe you $100?" Chip says yes. Mike peels off yet another $100 bill and says rack em. They ended up going back and forth for a bit at the 10 ball in hand spot. Chip probably won $700. I am sure in Mike's eyes it was entertaining for the cost of barely more than a big blind.

It was funny and amazing to watch those two play each other with Chip running out each game one handed. I still wonder if Crazy Mike ever got Jean Robert Bellande to go to the Bellagio that night for high stakes poker.