I first want to say that I am a spurt poster because of Slick Willie, self aggrandizing posters like CJ, JB and a few others that use gullible AZB’ers as a sales ploy drives me nuts. I personally think all those advertisements should not be allowed. I found that if I wait long enough, eventually my 2 cents opinion will be stated by someone.
I also want people to know that I am able to respect ones game but that doesn't mean I need to respect the person.
My opinion as to why the 1991 COC has affected the pool that we know today. First some history for you younger folks.
In November 1989, Steve Wynn opened the newest LV Casino, the Mirage. This was the new kid on the block, the casino that would create huge changes in the LV landscape. This was the ultimate casino of all casinos.
Pool had been doing a fair business on ESPN and seemed to be on the spiral upward after the “Color of Money” came out in 1986. This was not missed by the Mirage, Matt Braun, Jay Helfert and others. The Mirage, for relatively cheap, could get their own ESPN 7 episode broadcast featuring the best players lured in by $50,000, winner take all. This would be the largest prize ever given in pool. To further enhance this event, for the first time ever, pool was going to be on the betting board in the Mirage sports book. They were making an all out effort at capturing the railbirds of pool.
There are followers in every sport. I just break it down into two categories, railbirds (the bettors) and the fans (those that enjoy the intrinsic value of the game). The Mirage was definitely after the railbirds to enhance their gambling revenue. We all knew back then that pool players and the railbirds were gamblers. What could be more perfect?
So the 1991 COC happened. I have NEVER heard anyone involved say that it WAS NOT a fix (until this thread where Buddy says that to a third party). I have heard a from a learned and well respected member of the AZ community stating that unequivocally, it was a fix and willing to throw $10,000 behind it. The following year, Matt Braun, at the players’ meeting laid down the fix law. That tells me he knew it happened. Steve Wynn, the most important cog in the wheel, is quoted (sorry, I can’t give you a cite but I did look for it, maybe Jay can back me up?) promised that pool would never ever be on the board or in the sports book of any LV casino that he is involved in. That tells me that he knew business was being done. Yes, in the pool world, business was a normal occurrence at the time. Not so in LV.
Did Wynn want to conjure up all sorts of bad publicity by prosecution? I think not. According to Jay, what the Mirage lost was a drop in the bucket and not worth the negative outcome.
Contrary to the red herrings that CJ keeps throwing out about no events were affected in LV, the real crux of the matter is that pool got to be on the big betting board for one time and removed because there was something “not above board” going on. I agree that the Mirage blew it by putting the 20 to 1 odds on LeBron, or maybe it was just a marketing thing since it was a capped bet. For CJ to say he can’t believe it happened is ludicrous. It was, it happened.
CJ, yes, events kept going on in LV but that isn’t the question here. The real question is; If pool had been allowed to be continued as an entity for betting in the sports book, would it have helped evolve the sport into a viable, money-making professional industry?
Should I be starting this in its own thread?
thank you, for your concise & insightful & corroborating post.