No, that wasn’t a mistake — “tres bandas” is “three cushion” in Spanish, so it’s 3B.
Gail and I were down in Puerto Vallarta and there’s a pool room there called Los Molcajetes where I try and play 3C a few times whenever we're down there. It’s the only time all year that I play billiards. So I wander in one day with my three-piece travel cue to play some 3B and see on the board that a few days later, on Sunday, they’re having a handicapped tournament on their six billiard tables
What are the odds?
Well, when it comes to 3B I’m about as handicapped as they come. So after I practice I ask Thomas, the desk man, what the deal is and I learn that it’ll be RR groups of three, 150 pesos entry and the house adds another 1000 pesos. So I tell him I want to play and he says to come in again and play one of the guys so I can get a handicap.
Saturday I go in and play Jaime, who is one of the better players in the room. He beats me like 25-16. No one says anything and I leave, and that is that until Sunday night for the tournament when go in and I learn I am rated an 18.
There are about 15 guys, including a crew from another room downtown, and in my flight I get two of these guys who are both rated at 22. So my first match I play Marco. Marco comes up to me to introduce himself and says in Spanish, “Hola, I’m Marco. They call me ‘Tank’ but I don’t know why.” Well, Marco is built like an NFL linebacker and I tell him, “I don’t see it” and we have a good laugh.
So Tank tells me that we’re going to 22 because that’s his handicap and he’s giving me 4 points on the wire because I'm an 18. To make a long story short, I beat Tank like 22-12. And though I’m sure Tank wanted to: A, throttle my sandbagging ass after he; B, called the Mexican Billiard Federation to file a protest, what really happened was that I completely and totally shat-out during the first few innings of our match. I run four my first inning, then a three, making some ridiculous billiards that I might shoot at all night and never make again like a five-rail bank and another shot where the first ball twice threaded itself back and forth across the table between the end rail and the red, while my CB goes around the table to come back and score.
For the rest of the match I settle down but I think Tank was so shocked by what the “Americano” was doing, a supposed 18, that he never recovered. The second guy I played was also a 22 and the universe properly realigned itself and I received a proper drubbing, losing 22-17. So I escaped being taken out back and having my thumbs broken or whatever the Mexican equivalent is for hustling the locals.
All in all it was a lot of fun and everyone, including Tank, was extremely nice and friendly and Tank told me about his home room and invited me to come by for their weekly tournament but I never made it. Gail, who sweated my matches, enjoyed it all and took a couple of photos.
A couple of interesting things for the 3C fans here:
While there’s a lag in tournament play, for casual play, the first shot is determined by one guy raking all three balls around the table and, depending who has claimed which CB, the CB that ends up closest to the foot rail gets the first shot from where they stop.
At this particular room there are no spots on the tables. So while an attempt is made at properly spotting the red and your opponent's CB for the break, I was surprised to learn you could basically position your CB anywhere behind the line.
Guys will ask if you want to play a game to 25 or 30 with the automatic assumption that the loser pays time.
If two ball end up frozen, the shooter will drop a piece of chalk on the frozen balls to separate them, kind of like a golfer taking a drop.
Lastly, while the pool tables in this particular room are not the best, the billiard tables are kept up and heated and the balls are in great shape, always polished. In fact, if you’re practicing and get a game you get a freshly polished set brought to your table.
I played several pick-up games while I was there and won all my games except to Jamie and "El Maestro." El Maestro is probably their best player and he gives formal billiard lessons. My informal lesson came in during a 30 point match which he won 30-7. At 50 pesos an hour for time, it was a great 100 peso lesson.
Lou Figueroa
Gail and I were down in Puerto Vallarta and there’s a pool room there called Los Molcajetes where I try and play 3C a few times whenever we're down there. It’s the only time all year that I play billiards. So I wander in one day with my three-piece travel cue to play some 3B and see on the board that a few days later, on Sunday, they’re having a handicapped tournament on their six billiard tables
What are the odds?
Well, when it comes to 3B I’m about as handicapped as they come. So after I practice I ask Thomas, the desk man, what the deal is and I learn that it’ll be RR groups of three, 150 pesos entry and the house adds another 1000 pesos. So I tell him I want to play and he says to come in again and play one of the guys so I can get a handicap.
Saturday I go in and play Jaime, who is one of the better players in the room. He beats me like 25-16. No one says anything and I leave, and that is that until Sunday night for the tournament when go in and I learn I am rated an 18.
There are about 15 guys, including a crew from another room downtown, and in my flight I get two of these guys who are both rated at 22. So my first match I play Marco. Marco comes up to me to introduce himself and says in Spanish, “Hola, I’m Marco. They call me ‘Tank’ but I don’t know why.” Well, Marco is built like an NFL linebacker and I tell him, “I don’t see it” and we have a good laugh.
So Tank tells me that we’re going to 22 because that’s his handicap and he’s giving me 4 points on the wire because I'm an 18. To make a long story short, I beat Tank like 22-12. And though I’m sure Tank wanted to: A, throttle my sandbagging ass after he; B, called the Mexican Billiard Federation to file a protest, what really happened was that I completely and totally shat-out during the first few innings of our match. I run four my first inning, then a three, making some ridiculous billiards that I might shoot at all night and never make again like a five-rail bank and another shot where the first ball twice threaded itself back and forth across the table between the end rail and the red, while my CB goes around the table to come back and score.
For the rest of the match I settle down but I think Tank was so shocked by what the “Americano” was doing, a supposed 18, that he never recovered. The second guy I played was also a 22 and the universe properly realigned itself and I received a proper drubbing, losing 22-17. So I escaped being taken out back and having my thumbs broken or whatever the Mexican equivalent is for hustling the locals.
All in all it was a lot of fun and everyone, including Tank, was extremely nice and friendly and Tank told me about his home room and invited me to come by for their weekly tournament but I never made it. Gail, who sweated my matches, enjoyed it all and took a couple of photos.
A couple of interesting things for the 3C fans here:
While there’s a lag in tournament play, for casual play, the first shot is determined by one guy raking all three balls around the table and, depending who has claimed which CB, the CB that ends up closest to the foot rail gets the first shot from where they stop.
At this particular room there are no spots on the tables. So while an attempt is made at properly spotting the red and your opponent's CB for the break, I was surprised to learn you could basically position your CB anywhere behind the line.
Guys will ask if you want to play a game to 25 or 30 with the automatic assumption that the loser pays time.
If two ball end up frozen, the shooter will drop a piece of chalk on the frozen balls to separate them, kind of like a golfer taking a drop.
Lastly, while the pool tables in this particular room are not the best, the billiard tables are kept up and heated and the balls are in great shape, always polished. In fact, if you’re practicing and get a game you get a freshly polished set brought to your table.
I played several pick-up games while I was there and won all my games except to Jamie and "El Maestro." El Maestro is probably their best player and he gives formal billiard lessons. My informal lesson came in during a 30 point match which he won 30-7. At 50 pesos an hour for time, it was a great 100 peso lesson.
Lou Figueroa
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