I'm not available (I kid! I kid!)
Thanks for the report and just a couple of quick questions, Jay:
How is the equipment over there, tables and balls -- and
when they're ribbing each other, are they talking in English or is your Tagalog that good?
Lou Figueroa
Thanks Lou and all of you who who said I'm not so bad
. I'm sure Billy and I will have a good time sweating the match and talking about it, AND MORE! We rarely agree on anything anyway :smile:
The equipment here varies widely, from pretty good to downright awful. Some of the best tables (Brunswick Metros) are at One Side. They are well maintained with fairly tight pockets. A few other places have similar tables, maybe not so well maintained though. You will find locally made tables (Kangaroo, Star, Puyat etc.) at most rooms. Some of them look like Gold Crown copies. Due to the hot, humid climate and lack of air conditioning, they typically play super slow (with some funny rolls). It takes some getting used to and many foreign players will not play in these small rooms which abound over here. For me I view the adjustment required as a challenge. I like going into new rooms and making friends and playing the invariable Rotation game for small money (usually 50 or 100p a game).
That said, I always carry a tip tool and some scotch brite to smooth out the shaft on a house cue. For a bigger game (500-1,000p) I want to have my own cue. I really like the Tony Bautista cue I just got, the best cue I've ever had over here - BY FAR! Last night I went to One Side to meet Lalong to play some Banks for 5,000p (a race to five or seven). He had challenged me the night before at Pan Pacific. He is already playing when I get there, accompanied by Bob Guerrero. He tells me he will play shortly, so we grab a table so I can practice. I hit balls for maybe 30 minutes and I'm really getting zeroed in on the banks. I'm banging them and anxious to play. Now Lalong comes over and asks me if I'm ready. I tell him yes and ask him to put up his 5K. There will be no "owesies" on this match. I tell him to give it to Bob (a well known filipino) to hold. Maybe I am too confident because he now says he will eat first.
I go back to practicing and next thing I know Lalong is in a game with Chris Melling from England, a top player. Chris is giving him the eight in Ten Ball and two games on the wire to 15. They are betting 10,000p. Nothing I can do except wait or leave. I'm done practicing so I just watch the action until Lalong finishes. Jeff De Luna and Darren Appleton on one table playing Ten Ball, Huidji See and Wong Kang (a 17 year old Chinese wizard!) playing Ten Ball and the Melling-Lalong game. Typically these "practice" sessions can be anywhere from 5-15,000p (about $350) a set. After beating See the youthful Kang takes on Carlo Biado, a top rated filipino money player next. They are playing Rotation and Kang has already beaten Luat at this game the night before. John Morra is there with his straight shooting filipina girl friend Anna in tow. She is practicing with Guerrero and giving him a workout. Tony Drago is waiting in the wings for someone to get out of line, and Jundal Mazon hovers around the action pit too. It's like a filipino version of Hard Times, with more good players. An ordinary night at One Side though.
It takes over two hours for the Lalong match to end, going double hill naturally. I know if Lalong wins, I'm next. He screws up and misses a combo on the eight and Chris gets out. Lalong immediately begins to negotiate a new game. I get shut out, and I'm not a happy camper. I was fired up and ready. Jake-Jake, another local hustler approaches me to play. We have played before with me winning the Banks and he the One Pocket. I was psyched up to play Lalong who mouthed off to me the night before, so I decline to play Jake now. No game for me, so I head back to my hotel at Midnite.
