The Pearl's Amazing Feat

W

wahcheck

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
One of the most amazing things (imo) ever done in pool was Earl Strickland's feat of running 10 racks in a row at a tournament for 1 million dollars.....
Although some say it wasn't that big a deal because, during the run, he made quite a few 9 balls on the snap...well, I still say it was amazing....My question to any or all out there in the pool world is...did Earl get the million after all? I heard that the insurance company was trying to escape having to pay on certain technicalities? This was similar to the idea of a stipulated hole-in-one in golf for bonus money, or a 300 game in bowling on a TV match, but I'm not sure where each of these would rank on the "degree of difficulty" issue.
 
Bobby

Bobby

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
wahcheck said:
One of the most amazing things (imo) ever done in pool was Earl Strickland's feat of running 10 racks in a row at a tournament for 1 million dollars.....
Although some say it wasn't that big a deal because, during the run, he made quite a few 9 balls on the snap...well, I still say it was amazing....My question to any or all out there in the pool world is...did Earl get the million after all? I heard that the insurance company was trying to escape having to pay on certain technicalities? This was similar to the idea of a stipulated hole-in-one in golf for bonus money, or a 300 game in bowling on a TV match, but I'm not sure where each of these would rank on the "degree of difficulty" issue.
Click to expand...

He actually ended up running 11 racks. I believe
he ended up settling for a lesser amount than the
$1 million. I would say that running 11 racks of 9
ball is much harder than bowling a 300 game, all top
bowlers have made 300's whether in practice or in an
actual game. But how many players have run 10 or 11
9 ball racks? Earl himself said that he tied his
previous record of 11 racks, he did it once when he
was 19 years old.
I know Feijin and Archer have each done 15 racks.
I also know quite a few pros who have never run 10
racks in their whole lives, including practice.
Anyone know what Efren's best is?


Bobby
 
P

poolguy24

Guest
Most amazing is when Reyes came back from behind to beat Earl in the color of money match.
 
Jimmy M.

Jimmy M.

Insomniac
Silver Member
poolguy24 said:
Most amazing is when Reyes came back from behind to beat Earl in the color of money match.
Click to expand...

I think Earl's 11 racks was more "amazing" than Reyes' comeback. Reyes just played like he always plays. If Earl could win enough consecutive games to get that far ahead of Efren, then certainly Efren could do the same thing back to him. Efren just did it when it counted the most! ;)
 
Joseph Cues

Joseph Cues

Cue Nut
Silver Member
Bobby said:
He actually ended up running 11 racks. I believe
he ended up settling for a lesser amount than the
$1 million. I would say that running 11 racks of 9
ball is much harder than bowling a 300 game, all top
bowlers have made 300's whether in practice or in an
actual game. But how many players have run 10 or 11
9 ball racks? Earl himself said that he tied his
previous record of 11 racks, he did it once when he
was 19 years old.
I know Feijin and Archer have each done 15 racks.
I also know quite a few pros who have never run 10
racks in their whole lives, including practice.
Anyone know what Efren's best is?


Bobby
Click to expand...
Efren ran 9 racks against Bustamante in Cardiff back in 99.
Jay Halfert said that run was better than Earl.
Earl made the 9 on the break, I believe 3 times in his 11 rack-run which he did not get paid near the 1 million as advertised.
 
mjantti

mjantti

Enjoying life
Silver Member
No one mentioned here that if you have a bonus of $1m waiting if you run 10 racks, there is definitely a change in tactics. No one would be stupid enough to play safe on the 8th / 9th rack to keep the opponent cold, but would rather attack on some ridiculous shot just to get the break going and at the time aiming for the bonus instead of giving a chance for letting the opponent back to game. Therefore, IMO, it's more frequent to have more racks strung together if there is a bonus, and therefore the probability of running the magic number of 10 or whatever is much greater with top players.
 
Cardinal_Syn

Cardinal_Syn

Julz
Silver Member
isn't there a bonus in snooker if you make a century or the first century or something like that? well at least before i don't know about now in the embassy
 
L

LAMas

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Pay double on the one cue or runout.

mjantti said:
No one mentioned here that if you have a bonus of $1m waiting if you run 10 racks, there is definitely a change in tactics. No one would be stupid enough to play safe on the 8th / 9th rack to keep the opponent cold, but would rather attack on some ridiculous shot just to get the break going and at the time aiming for the bonus instead of giving a chance for letting the opponent back to game. Therefore, IMO, it's more frequent to have more racks strung together if there is a bonus, and therefore the probability of running the magic number of 10 or whatever is much greater with top players.
Click to expand...

Back in the 60's before it became fashionable to play safeties, we used to pay double the bet for a one cue (as we called it then) or runout (now). So if you ranout, you would move your penny 2 spots in a race :D .
 
Bobby

Bobby

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Cardinal_Syn said:
isn't there a bonus in snooker if you make a century or the first century or something like that? well at least before i don't know about now in the embassy
Click to expand...

I know that they have a 20,000 pound prize for the
high run in any given tournament. In the Embassy
World Championships, if you run a perfect 147 on tv
you get 147,000 pounds plus 20,000 for the high run,
that's something like $250,000 in US money all for
one run! Last year Ronnie O'Sullivan did it for the
6th time in his career, it was in the first round, and
he ended up losing the match! So he got all that money
and didn't even win a match.


Bobby
 
T

texasexpress

Guest
Earl's run

I ran the tournament along with Texas Express partner .. Robin Adair and Championship Billiard's Jay Helfert.
Earl ran 11 .. made 5 on the snap .. triple shimmed black Gold Crown with Championship cloth .. got $600,000.00 plus ( the principle instead of the 20 year x $50,000.00 annuity ) .. and CJ Wiley/PCA got legal fees .. Jay racked #7,8,9,10 & 11 ( 5 racks ) per the requirement of the insurance company ( SDS Underwriters ) .. Earl had to run 11 due to his failure to stop after 5 to have the last 5 neutrally racked and videoed .. took 2 years to get paid .. however .. the run was never in question .. only the timing of the initial insurance premium payment and binder ..
John McChesney
Texas Express
 
J

jjinfla

Banned
John,

I see you mentioned that it was played on Championship cloth. They have a table covered with it at a pool room here and it plays extremely fast. Faster than 860 or 760.

Can you tell me how well it holds up compared to 860.

Thanks,

Jake
 
T

texasexpress

Guest
Championship cloth

Jake,
I am unsure of the particular Championship blend that was used for the tournament .. but as I remember it .. it was similar to the 860 Simonis ( all wool ) .. but was supposed to wear better ( longer ).
It was embroidered on the break end of the table on top of the rail to read
" The Dallas Million Dollar Challenge".
John McChesney
Texas Express
 
wakuljr

wakuljr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i have the video of efren's run i cardiff. he ran 10 on busta in the semi's, also earlier in that tourny ralf had him down 7-3 going to 13, missed a ball and never shot again. efren ran 10 twice in 1 tourny.
 
K

kyle

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Cardinal Syn,
Most snooker tournaments have a prize for the high break in a tournament, they normally have a lager prize if anyone gets a maximum break (147). I believe Hendry won a Lambrogini for a maximum. As Bobby mentioned these pots are bigger than the purses for whole tournaments in pool. No wonder guys like Steve Davis look so cool under pressure he's shooting at barns for peanuts.
 
W

wahcheck

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
efren's 10 rack runs

wakuljr said:
i have the video of efren's run i cardiff. he ran 10 on busta in the semi's, also earlier in that tourny ralf had him down 7-3 going to 13, missed a ball and never shot again. efren ran 10 twice in 1 tourny.
Click to expand...

Sure, I don't doubt Efren and many other great players have run 10 or more racks at various times, but one never knows when it's going to happen; a player has got to have a lot of things going to do that, primarily have things go right on the break of every game; but what makes Earl's run amazing is that it was like a "called shot"..... it had to be done on THAT day, during THAT tournament.... : :
 
D

DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
perhaps i should not be posting this. who knows.

but i will say that a very, VERY respected TV personality in the Billiards Industry told me that the individual that ran the $million$ had got to his table early, and did a little "cloth training" soes the 9-ball would find the pocket easier.

just thought i would mention this. it might explain the
9-ball falling 5 times during this run.
 
senor

senor

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
DrCue'sProtege said:
perhaps i should not be posting this. who knows.

but i will say that a very, VERY respected TV personality in the Billiards Industry told me that the individual that ran the $million$ had got to his table early, and did a little "cloth training" soes the 9-ball would find the pocket easier.

just thought i would mention this. it might explain the
9-ball falling 5 times during this run.
Click to expand...

.......whatever.......
 
K

Ken in CT

Guest
I'd love to have someone explain how you "train" the cloth to make the nine ball on the break. Did it go into the same pocket each time or did he train it to go in different pockets?

I believe it was 11 racks and Earl racked the first 6. Is that when the nine went in 5 times or was the racker, Jay Helfert, in on the scam?

Sounds like B.S. to me. He might have done a little grooming of the table to enable tighter racks but as far as causing the nine to go in, I don't believe it.
Ken
 
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