"ask The Pros" Section

9BallBust-O said:
Oh yeah and play safe and they freak on you.
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20 years or so ago I was playing in an 8-ball tournament in a bar in El Paso, TX. It was a place that was well known as a hangout for off-duty policemen and most of the players were of that description.

Well, I had just recently come back to town from my freshman year of college and was quite used to the BCA / ACUI rules of the day and I played a perfectly legitimate, legal safe on my opponent during the finals.

The place went dead quiet and my opponent said, "We don't play like that in here." I wasn't sure what to do so I stepped away from the table and said, "Okay, your shot. Ball in hand." That made things worse and after some very colorful language on his part he slammed his ball after which I ran out to win the tournament.

Then the fun started. As I was being paid this guy (a policeman) and all his officer buddies started in on my real good. Definitely not looking for a fight I told the guy, "If you think I cheated I'll trade you prize money, I'll take the second place money." Once again that pretty much made things worse with the guy having to be restrained (by the police, no less!) from attacking me.

The TD gave me my money, told me to get the hell out of there and mentioned that ever returning would be a bad idea.

Moral of the story: ASK WHAT THE RULES ARE BEFORE YOU PLAY!
 
McKinneyMiner said:
20 years or so ago I was playing in an 8-ball tournament in a bar in El Paso, TX. It was a place that was well known as a hangout for off-duty policemen and most of the players were of that description.

Well, I had just recently come back to town from my freshman year of college and was quite used to the BCA / ACUI rules of the day and I played a perfectly legitimate, legal safe on my opponent during the finals.

The place went dead quiet and my opponent said, "We don't play like that in here." I wasn't sure what to do so I stepped away from the table and said, "Okay, your shot. Ball in hand." That made things worse and after some very colorful language on his part he slammed his ball after which I ran out to win the tournament.

Then the fun started. As I was being paid this guy (a policeman) and all his officer buddies started in on my real good. Definitely not looking for a fight I told the guy, "If you think I cheated I'll trade you prize money, I'll take the second place money." Once again that pretty much made things worse with the guy having to be restrained (by the police, no less!) from attacking me.

The TD gave me my money, told me to get the hell out of there and mentioned that ever returning would be a bad idea.

Moral of the story: ASK WHAT THE RULES ARE BEFORE YOU PLAY!
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LOL!!!

No, I wasn't one of those El Paso cops, lol... the name of the bar is Joe, John & Mark's... they still have the same crappy tables in there as 20-25 years ago.

For a long time I have wondered why this forum does not have a section for instructors. There are many of us that post here and lurk regularly, and questions can be directed at different instructors that deal with different aspects of the game. I'd be willing to volunteer to do that, and I would hope RandyG, Freddy, Scott Lee and Joe Tucker would also be willing to provide their expertise.
 
I played in a bar about two weeks ago that had one bar table. Friend invited me to the tourney. Race to 1 8-ball. The rules as told to me were... "Play one rack, call everything. No jump shots, but you are allowed to make the cueball go in a circle around the ball in your way, and no playing safe, but if you want to scratch on purspose because their balld are below the second diamond that is okay. Just don't play safe."

The best player in the tourney was the guy running it. Who is the one who told me those rules.
Needless to say I won that tournament. Am now a God in that room. They had never seen someone run 5 or more balls before.

I just loved the way he described the masse. Thought that was great.

Mike
 
Hey David, this is Jeff Georges.

Actually I have been to JJ&M in El Paso, but the place I am talking about is Graham's Corner on the Westside of town.

I was there with Kyle Powell and Javier Gonzalez.
 
Since the thread has already been hijacked, I'll chime in. Once a month at the local rec center they have something called the Mature Men's Billiards Club which is just a bunch of retired guys getting together. If there is a ball in the way of your shot, just move it over a couple inches. If you are shooting over a ball, put your hand on the ball and use it as a bridge. If you miss a really easy shot, shoot again because you probably miscued.

I wouldn't want to do it every day but once a month it's good for a lot of laughs.
 
alstl said:
Since the thread has already been hijacked, I'll chime in. Once a month at the local rec center they have something called the Mature Men's Billiards Club which is just a bunch of retired guys getting together. If there is a ball in the way of your shot, just move it over a couple inches. If you are shooting over a ball, put your hand on the ball and use it as a bridge. If you miss a really easy shot, shoot again because you probably miscued.

I wouldn't want to do it every day but once a month it's good for a lot of laughs.
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HA!...I went to a thing like that once with my dad at the local senior center. He went there a few times, and was bragging that I was moving down here and could play. They have 4 pretty nice tables, play 8ball, and the losers rotate every game. I went in and played opposite handed and pretty much broke even for wins and loses. I could tell the old guys took it seriously so I didn't want to go in and start running racks. Afterward my Dad said, hey those old guys play good huh? I saw you lost a few games. I told him what I did and he laughed forgetting I was left handed!....then the dumba** went and told all the old guys what I did....2 weeks later I"m in the convenience store getting coffee and I hear a voice say...opposite handed huh?.....I just winced, turned and saw one of the old timers eyeballin me:D....He was cool about it, and invited me back...

Gerry
 
Bar Rules?

The people who spend the most money in the bar rule!

And of course the people who spend the most money are usually drunk.

And you expect sense from a Drunk?

So the next time you go to the bar sit down and have six beers before you start to play pool. You will be surprised at how much sense the rules then make.

Jake
 
Damnit, what happened to my thread!!

Just kidding, I couldn't care less if people change the topic.

As far as the pro bashing goes, Putnam definately took some flack. I was one of the people who fired back on the jerk-off for doing it. Putnam won a couple events after that anyway so he doesn't need me to tell people he can play, his cue does enough talking.

The real reason I started the thread is because I started a post in the Deno Andrew section and noticed he didn't respond even though he was on the site checking out cues ( I was going to log off but checked to see if he looking at his section and might respond. )

I guess my only point is that if the section are dead for Putnam, Hillbilly,or any others, maybe we can get a section for someone like Helfert who seems genuinely interested in posting. Besides, anyone giving Helfert crap might get fired back on by him. His IPT thread about not getting paid shows he can dish it out pretty good,too. Jay has contributed a ton of great stuff since he began posting here.

A section for Grady or Freddie would also be awesome but I get the sense that they might not like the idea of being flooded with questions and expected to respond.

Oh yeah, a fat little brat who plays at my pool hall threatened to beat up a kid half his size yesterday. Reason? They were argueing about whether or not you lose at eight ball if you shoot at the eight, but don't hit it. :p
 
bud green said:
Besides, anyone giving Helfert crap might get fired back on by him. His IPT thread about not getting paid shows he can dish it out pretty good,too.
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A local cuemaker here in South Florida was pretty hot about Jay's posting on the IPT monies. Just what he said, and I have no first hand knowledge of what is the truth, but this cuemaker was telling me that Jay has long since been paid by the IPT and has yet to post anything about that.

I absolutely agree though that Jay, Freddie and Grady are three of the best posters on this board.
 
Jay posted he received the check the day he got it in the mail. Its on page 7 or 8 of the "IPT SLOW TO PAY" thread in the IPT section.
 
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