Jay, happy to see you still posting away here!
If you would not mind please tell the story about the time you and Louie came to Austin to play in he Sid Mann event at the Villa Capri. If I remember it right you spent more time over at Moyer's Austin Cue club than the actual event! Maybe you have a story about the old Texas Open too?
The short version. I sent Louie airfare and we met up in Austin for the tournament, sharing a room at Sid Mann's hotel the Villa Capri, also the location of the tournament. Sid was guaranteeing 30,000 and all the top players were there. Things were going smoothly and Louie won his first two matches easily. He won't be playing until the next afternoon so we decide to take our rental car out to Moyer's where all the action is.
I just wanted to visit the place and see what was going on, but Louie being Louie he wanted to play someone, anyone! Right away after we get there guys start coming up to Louie, all of them asking for spots. I don't know any of these guys and I'm reluctant for Louie to start right out giving up the seven and eight to unknown players. Not Louie though. He is very accommodating and quickly gets into a game, giving up the seven and eight. He buries the first guy with a barrage of run outs and we win a few hundred. Good enough for me but Louie is just beginning. Over the course of the next four or five hours Louie plows through a few more wannabee hustlers, giving up increasingly large spots. By 1 AM we've won a few thou and I convince Louie it's time to get some rest.
Louie has run out of opponents and he agrees to leave with me. As we are pulling out of the parking lot here comes a big caddy and hanging out the window is Jimmy King. He's flashing a huge wad in his hands and yelling for Louie to stop. Louie starts salivating. He wants all that money. I try to convince him that we need to go back to our room now since he has some important matches later today. Louie demands that I stop and let him out. He tells me he will only play for an hour or two and get a ride back after that. I give him half the money and leave.
Naturally Louie is a no show that night. I wake up at 8 AM and still no Louie. By 10 AM I'm getting worried. Finally at about Noon a completely frazzled looking Louie drags himself inside. He has lost all the money plus whatever he could borrow there. He tells me he gave Jimmy the eight and the break - TOO MUCH to give a good player, and Louie was already tired from playing so long.
Meanwhile he has a match to play in one hour. He lays down for 30 minutes or so and I have to drag him to the bathroom to get ready to play. I walk Louie to the tournament room and he begins the match without hitting a ball. He manages to go two and out that day. We get back zero from the tournament. My share of the winnings at Moyer's is enough to pay all our expenses, but after I give Louie 200 to fly home on, I end up about even for the trip. Another lost weekend with my sweet and sour friend Louie.
I could never give up on Louie. He was so charismatic, more so than anybody ever in the entire pool world. But it was very frustrating to deal with all his eccentricities and addictions. He (and Holly) actually lived with me and my young daughter in Venice, CA for a couple of months some time after this trip to Austin. He may have played pool once or twice in all that time, as he was fighting to overcome his alcohol dependency. I would not let him leave the house without me since there was a liquor store a block down the street. He used to wait until we were all asleep and sneak out the bedroom window and go there to buy some beer. I could never win the battle to reform him in any way.
