Anybody want to play Alex….

I played for seven weeks one handed only. My weak hand shoulder needed a complete rebuild. More than I realized or maybe the doc found more than expected but my arm was almost completely off laying on the table judging by the scar 3/4 the way around it. Being a teenager and bullet proof I tried to sneak out of the hospital the night after the surgery to play pool. Shouldn't have let them give me a shot of sodium pentanol if I wanted any secrets!

For the time my arm was in a sling I played one-handed. One handed no jack-up didn't do me terrible harm, I could generally get by. One handed jack up I was pretty awful! I was better after seven weeks and lots of forced play but I wouldn't tackle anyone that could shoot a little bit with me playing one handed jack up and that was the best I ever got. I started upping the weights on my left arm in therapy and at home. I figured if it was going to be stupid it might as well be strong!

Hu
 
jay helfert said:
True that! I probably saw Ronnie play as much as anyone who's still alive. Ronnie would play top speed One Pocket players his one hand to their two, if he got the break. That's all, just the break. He told me once that the break was worth four balls to him. Monk was one of the only guys who could stay with Ronnie playing One Handed One Pocket, and Ronnie gave him 10-8, 8-7. It was close. At that game, Ronnie frequently ran ten and out! Yes, you heard me right, ten and out one handed! Harry the Horse was a very strong shortstop, in fact I would rate him above that speed. He was capable of beating anybody on a given day, the bigger the bet the better. Harry rarely played tournaments but he won a big one put on by Richie Florence in Irvine, CA at the Registry Hotel in the late 1970's. Almost all the top players were there. I watched Harry bust the Mexican champions on a bar table at Daisy Mae's back then too. He never missed a ball and broke like Godzilla.

I played Monk one time in my prime in the early 1970's. I took my GF on a "Bike" ride on my Honda 880 Chopper from Bakersfield to Las Vegas, about 300 miles. We cruised in early in the afternoon and I was looking for a gas station and saw a new pool room in a recently constructed strip mall. I parked my bike and walked in and saw this guy with white hair practicing 9-Ball by himself. I scoped him out and could see he could play. Just what I was looking for, a game, any game. I asked him if he would like to play and just like that I had a $10 game of 9-Ball. I was already tired but never liked to pass on a chance to play back then, so I found a house cue and off we went. I could play good tired, because I relaxed and saved my energy. We went back and forth for several hours with neither of us getting more than two games ahead. I finally had enough, was feeling tired and hungry. I told Monk it was my last game and he just nodded his head and said okay. I doubt we spoke more than fifty words the whole time we were playing, paying off every two games ($20).

I won that last game and honestly didn't know if I was ahead or not. I knew it was close. I just loved to play back then and the money was almost secondary. Monk was cool about me quitting but one of his buddies went off on me, saying I was quitting winners. He picked up the butt of Monk's cue and threatened me. Little did he know that my girl had my little .25 in her purse and she was a very dangerous gal. That's what I loved about Linda, the most celebrated topless dancer in all of Bakersfield and a little beauty. But she came from a poor family in Taft, CA and didn't take any shit from anyone. Lucky for this guy Monk was able to cool him out. Linda had her hand inside her purse and that gun was always cocked and loaded. Bang!

Monk and I never played pool again, but we remain friends to this day. I have played in a robust 20-40 Hold'em game at the Peppermill in Reno with Monk several times years back. Last time has to be over ten years ago. I hope you like my little memories. It was fun for me back then.
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Jay great story and I remember reading about Bakersfield Bobby in Buddy Hall's book did you ever play him any?
 
jay helfert said:
True that! I probably saw Ronnie play as much as anyone who's still alive. Ronnie would play top speed One Pocket players his one hand to their two, if he got the break. That's all, just the break. He told me once that the break was worth four balls to him. Monk was one of the only guys who could stay with Ronnie playing One Handed One Pocket, and Ronnie gave him 10-8, 8-7. It was close. At that game, Ronnie frequently ran ten and out! Yes, you heard me right, ten and out one handed! Harry the Horse was a very strong shortstop, in fact I would rate him above that speed. He was capable of beating anybody on a given day, the bigger the bet the better. Harry rarely played tournaments but he won a big one put on by Richie Florence in Irvine, CA at the Registry Hotel in the late 1970's. Almost all the top players were there. I watched Harry bust the Mexican champions on a bar table at Daisy Mae's back then too. He never missed a ball and broke like Godzilla.

I played Monk one time in my prime in the early 1970's. I took my GF on a "Bike" ride on my Honda 880 Chopper from Bakersfield to Las Vegas, about 300 miles. We cruised in early in the afternoon and I was looking for a gas station and saw a new pool room in a recently constructed strip mall. I parked my bike and walked in and saw this guy with white hair practicing 9-Ball by himself. I scoped him out and could see he could play. Just what I was looking for, a game, any game. I asked him if he would like to play and just like that I had a $10 game of 9-Ball. I was already tired but never liked to pass on a chance to play back then, so I found a house cue and off we went. I could play good tired, because I relaxed and saved my energy. We went back and forth for several hours with neither of us getting more than two games ahead. I finally had enough, was feeling tired and hungry. I told Monk it was my last game and he just nodded his head and said okay. I doubt we spoke more than fifty words the whole time we were playing, paying off every two games ($20).

I won that last game and honestly didn't know if I was ahead or not. I knew it was close. I just loved to play back then and the money was almost secondary. Monk was cool about me quitting but one of his buddies went off on me, saying I was quitting winners. He picked up the butt of Monk's cue and threatened me. Little did he know that my girl had my little .25 in her purse and she was a very dangerous gal. That's what I loved about Linda, the most celebrated topless dancer in all of Bakersfield and a little beauty. But she came from a poor family in Taft, CA and didn't take any shit from anyone. Lucky for this guy Monk was able to cool him out. Linda had her hand inside her purse and that gun was always cocked and loaded. Bang!

Monk and I never played pool again, but we remain friends to this day. I have played in a robust 20-40 Hold'em game at the Peppermill in Reno with Monk several times years back. Last time has to be over ten years ago. I hope you like my little memories. It was fun for me back then.
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77 yr old love the stories and also love your book
 
ROUND-ROB said:
Jay great story and I remember reading about Bakersfield Bobby in Buddy Hall's book did you ever play him any?
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Yes, but not on a bar table. That was his specialty. He used to come in my poolroom when he visited his family in Bakersfield. He always complained about having cataracts, but he could play just fine. We played a couple of times on my front table (9') and came out about even. I think I might have even edged him out a little because he quit asking me to play. We also remain friends to this day. He lives in Eloy, AZ.
 
gypsy_soul said:
I’ll play anybody in the World if they play one handed , they gonna have to prove it to me ! I’ll go all in on that game 100 !!!!!
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There was a time that I said the same thing.

Well, long story short..... I was relieved of $8,000 in cash and the South West cue I was playing with. I had just bought the SW cue. I gave $1,600 for it. It was a 6 point ebony into maple...

That was a long time ago. That cue would be worth.... never mind. It's depressing to think about it.

Anyways....after he beat me head up WITH ONE HAND, he then offered me a spot.

Thank goodness there wasn't an ATM in rooms back then or I would probably still be paying that debt.

So, to say the least I understand your thought process, but there are one handed wonders that can and will clean your clock.

YMMV....
 
I saw RA’s last action. He played Harry at Best Billiards on the 10’ box in Vegas. Harry won the first 2 games(greatest Harry ever played 8 & out from nowhere and 4 & stick and 4& out)

RA wasn’t too happy. He looked kinda over by me-I was off to the side pretty far from the table. RA said “fuck a pool room” twice in a row. He got this look in his eye. I knew Harry was done. Zero chance RA was gonna lose. No way RA was going out like that. He was a winner in pool his whole life. He got into a trance and Harry didn’t have a prayer.

RA got up and beat Harry 4 in a row in about 45-60 minutes. He sat back down and looked at me and said “Fuck a pool room”. His words not mine. I knew RA, I also knew not to speak to him then-at that moment. So I didn’t respond. I just nodded my head.

After 10 minutes passed Harry walked up to RA and spoke to him and shortly I joined the conversation. Harry and RA were very cordial thr game was over. $500/rack. Harry pleaded with RA to lose some weight and take care of himself better. RA said “I eat like a bird, it’s the damn beer”. He wasn’t lying he liked beer on ice. I didn’t say much.

John Mataya was there and Eddie Robinson and a few other old school guys.

Then RA and someone I can’t recall left the pool room. I knew that was his last action. I told Mrs Fatboy that was a moment in history we just saw. The end.

Sadly I was right shortly after RA passed away.🥲

Best
Fatboy

I have a couple other RA stories for later.

Don’t ban me for quoting RA-thx Fatboy (it’s important to get history accurate)
 
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Kickin' Chicken said:
It does seem hard to believe but I've seen a little bit of it and it can and does happen. It's like how does Earl make those behind the back rolling wing shots with such regularity? I don't know but he does...

Didn't we have an azb member Jesse Allred who did some amazing vids of himself playing one handed and behind the back? Pretty sure I got the name right, maybe not the spelling. He was really impressive and I think he got a Kamui sponsorship.

Wonder whatever happened with him...

EDIT: I found him:


best,
brian kc
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Amazing- I wonder how well he plays in normal matches with 2 hands! Seems like a very skilled player
 
jrctherake said:
There was a time that I said the same thing.

Well, long story short..... I was relieved of $8,000 in cash and the South West cue I was playing with. I had just bought the SW cue. I gave $1,600 for it. It was a 6 point ebony into maple...

That was a long time ago. That cue would be worth.... never mind. It's depressing to think about it.

Anyways....after he beat me head up WITH ONE HAND, he then offered me a spot.

Thank goodness there wasn't an ATM in rooms back then or I would probably still be paying that debt.

So, to say the least I understand your thought process, but there are one handed wonders that can and will clean your clock.

YMMV....
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Yeah, frightening to find out how hard a hammer can hit, isn't it?
 
jrctherake said:
There was a time that I said the same thing.

Well, long story short..... I was relieved of $8,000 in cash and the South West cue I was playing with. I had just bought the SW cue. I gave $1,600 for it. It was a 6 point ebony into maple...

That was a long time ago. That cue would be worth.... never mind. It's depressing to think about it.

Anyways....after he beat me head up WITH ONE HAND, he then offered me a spot.

Thank goodness there wasn't an ATM in rooms back then or I would probably still be paying that debt.

So, to say the least I understand your thought process, but there are one handed wonders that can and will clean your clock.

YMMV....
Click to expand...


It took a few lessons along the way but I learned to never play the other person's game or bet against their proposition. I got in a game playing weak hand against one handed jack up after refusing to both play one handed jack up, never a game I was good at. I knew I was in deep caca when he made some shots that I was probably one in five to make playing strong hand.

He made absolutely ridiculous cut shots, I think he was getting spin jacked up that isn't possible with a level cue. Had to hit the cue ball perfectly to make those shots. Had I taken his supposedly spur of the moment idea to both play jack up to do something different than usual it would have been absolute slaughter!

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
It took a few lessons along the way but I learned to never play the other person's game or bet against their proposition. I got in a game playing weak hand against one handed jack up after refusing to both play one handed jack up, never a game I was good at. I knew I was in deep caca when he made some shots that I was probably one in five to make playing strong hand.

He made absolutely ridiculous cut shots, I think he was getting spin jacked up that isn't possible with a level cue. Had to hit the cue ball perfectly to make those shots. Had I taken his supposedly spur of the moment idea to both play jack up to do something different than usual it would have been absolute slaughter!

Hu
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I donated a good amount until I learned that same thing. Unfortunately, it took me longer than most.
 
jrctherake said:
There was a time that I said the same thing.

Well, long story short..... I was relieved of $8,000 in cash and the South West cue I was playing with. I had just bought the SW cue. I gave $1,600 for it. It was a 6 point ebony into maple...

That was a long time ago. That cue would be worth.... never mind. It's depressing to think about it.

Anyways....after he beat me head up WITH ONE HAND, he then offered me a spot.

Thank goodness there wasn't an ATM in rooms back then or I would probably still be paying that debt.

So, to say the least I understand your thought process, but there are one handed wonders that can and will clean your clock.

YMMV....
Click to expand...
I totally get it , I’m just this way and always will be . I gotta see it man , gotta see it !!!!!!! Please let me play someone EVEN and they play one handed ! It ain’t happening! ID RATHER LOSE THAN DO NOTHING! I’m sure they are reading this right now , and if they are , then read carefully,,,,,, I will play anyone in the world my two hands against them playing one handed on a 41/4 9ft diamond or GC , 9 Ball and OR 1 Pocket ( My Choice ) …..I will also let anyone in the world play the 9 ball ghost on a 41/4 pocket 9ft Diamond or GC . NOT ONE SET EITHER, I’m 52 , I like to play till you bleed 🩸, pool is a grind so let’s grind !!!!!!! I know I’m a sucker and I’m ok with it , come GT$
 
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