I heard about a high run last night...
- Thread starter Blackjack
- Start date
No doubt...GREAT to have you back, BJ!
Barouty is such a good player. I remember when I first saw this guy play. I was like, "Who is that guy?" He looked so unorthodox at the table, yet the guy navigated the muck like a wizard. Definitely one of my favorite 14.1 players (alongside Hopkins, Schmidt, Harriman, Sigel, Lipsky, BJ)! OH, and Jasmine, of COURSE. Loooove you Jasmine! hahahaha
Barouty is such a good player. I remember when I first saw this guy play. I was like, "Who is that guy?" He looked so unorthodox at the table, yet the guy navigated the muck like a wizard. Definitely one of my favorite 14.1 players (alongside Hopkins, Schmidt, Harriman, Sigel, Lipsky, BJ)! OH, and Jasmine, of COURSE. Loooove you Jasmine! hahahaha
I'm glad you're back, Blackjack!!
Great to have you back, David. Stay in this forum - it's much calmer here 
.
We didn't get this one on tape, alas. We only tape on Saturday afternoons because the room is less crowded and it's less of a distraction to have the whole setup (tripod, extension cord, etc...).
The run wasn't even against me, nor did I see it. I still haven't seen a live 200-ball-run from start to finish
. For the record, this is not his high run - he ran a 287 about 10 years ago in another pool room.
I can't describe how lucky everyone in NY is to get to watch him. The humbling thing is that he makes everyone else just look like hacks. I'd say his end patterns are the tightest of anyone alive under the age of 50, and there's only a few of the older gents who might play tighter. I do not give such praise lightly. For anyone who might disagree, you'll get a chance to change your mind when we get all these tapes up.
Anyway, he's totally responsible for whatever game I have, and still, when I watch the videos we've made in the last month, I see just how far I am from playing anywhere near his level. I don't say any of this because he's my friend... I say it because it's absolutely mesmerizing to watch Danny Barouty play straight pool.
- Steve
.We didn't get this one on tape, alas. We only tape on Saturday afternoons because the room is less crowded and it's less of a distraction to have the whole setup (tripod, extension cord, etc...).
The run wasn't even against me, nor did I see it. I still haven't seen a live 200-ball-run from start to finish
. For the record, this is not his high run - he ran a 287 about 10 years ago in another pool room.I can't describe how lucky everyone in NY is to get to watch him. The humbling thing is that he makes everyone else just look like hacks. I'd say his end patterns are the tightest of anyone alive under the age of 50, and there's only a few of the older gents who might play tighter. I do not give such praise lightly. For anyone who might disagree, you'll get a chance to change your mind when we get all these tapes up.
Anyway, he's totally responsible for whatever game I have, and still, when I watch the videos we've made in the last month, I see just how far I am from playing anywhere near his level. I don't say any of this because he's my friend... I say it because it's absolutely mesmerizing to watch Danny Barouty play straight pool.
- Steve
Steve -
That is high praise for Danny as I saw your game at the maryland qualifier and you sure played well. Danny wasn't too bad there either. It is nice to have such a good mentor.
Welcome back David.
That is high praise for Danny as I saw your game at the maryland qualifier and you sure played well. Danny wasn't too bad there either. It is nice to have such a good mentor.
Welcome back David.
Steve Lipsky said:
Absolutely right, Steve, although I'm surprised to learn he's under 50. Danny is, unquestionably, one of the very best technicians of the last thirty years. Part of the reason is he comes from straight pool's "dead ball" era. Those who started in the straight pool era on the slower cloth were under more pressure to get tight shape on the breakshots, as the breakshots had to be hit harder and the balls still didn't spread as well. The way the old masters managed to get the tight shape needed on breakshots was through impeccable pattern play.
The list of living players who play (or played) the patterns better than Danny is a short one indeed. In fact, in my opinion, of the living legends, only Dallas West, Nick Varner and, of course, Jim Rempe (who Mosconi argued, in my presence, played the patterns as well as anyone in history) come to mind as better managers of the table. Perhaps another dozen (Mike Sigel, Allen Hopkins, Dan DiLiberto and Ray Martin among them) living legends played the table as well as Danny in ther primes.
Watching Danny play 14.1 is watching a genius at work. I'm proud to say I saw him shoot in the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and 2000's, and hope to soon say that I saw him shoot pool in five decades.
Fnally, to note Danny's excellent play only is to shortchange him. Danny is probably the greatest ambassador for straight pool in the Northeast United States today.
Yes, we New Yorkers are very lucky!
Always regretted not asking Danny if he wanted to practice some straight pool with me when we we both played in the same nine ball tournaments in Queens during the 90's.
But, not being close to his speed, plus being twenty years out of practice, I just couldn't bring myself to ask him.
But I really loved watching him play. Although he didn't particularly like nine ball, he was still always a factor in the tournaments.
Really nice guy, as well.
Jim
But, not being close to his speed, plus being twenty years out of practice, I just couldn't bring myself to ask him.
But I really loved watching him play. Although he didn't particularly like nine ball, he was still always a factor in the tournaments.
Really nice guy, as well.
Jim
sjm said:
What a nice post, SJM. Considering how much I respect your opinion, I was so happy to see you agreed with my sentiments on Danny's game.
And you're right, he's over 50 (though not by much). I just used that age as a fairly arbitrary cutoff to separate the older players from the newer generation. Sorry, I should have phrased my original post better.
- Steve
I didn't see the whole run, but managed to catch the last 140 or so. I'll echo the other comments about how danny just plays his patterns so well. It's a joy to watch, rarely does a ball even hit the rail on the way in (unless it's a shot that has to go that way) to a pocket.
Of course, like most good runs, many of the shots are "easy" after his perfect position, but he still had to fire in a number of tougher shots, all of which go just as clean.
What amazes me is how he almost never gets in trouble after a break, he almost always has a ball to shoot at no matter what angle he's attacking the stack from. Notably around 210-220 he did not get a good break and had to find a dead ball in the stack to continue the run.
Unfortunately ball number 246 wasn't even that hard a shot! Side pocket, hit the point instead of going in. I had Tony run 153 and out on me in a league match once and the same thing happened he continued and very anti-climatically missed number 158 on a fairly straightforward side pocket shot.
Of course, like most good runs, many of the shots are "easy" after his perfect position, but he still had to fire in a number of tougher shots, all of which go just as clean.
What amazes me is how he almost never gets in trouble after a break, he almost always has a ball to shoot at no matter what angle he's attacking the stack from. Notably around 210-220 he did not get a good break and had to find a dead ball in the stack to continue the run.
Unfortunately ball number 246 wasn't even that hard a shot! Side pocket, hit the point instead of going in. I had Tony run 153 and out on me in a league match once and the same thing happened he continued and very anti-climatically missed number 158 on a fairly straightforward side pocket shot.
What separates Danny from everyone else I watch these days is the fact that he is so good at shooting the balls off and leaving the end pattern that he wants. He just sees it earlier than most people. I need to shoot off 6 balls or so until I see the pattern, Steve might shoot off 4 or 5 (he can chime in on this of course) and Danny sees it right away. This is my opinion as to why Danny doesn't get into trouble as often as the rest of us and can run a lot of balls. He's a monster.
Chris_Lynch said:
Very good post. Danny's vision is, indeed, what makes him so special. I think part of seeing the end pattern is recognition of what kind of configurations offer the most possibilities in the end pattern. Danny Barouty, much like my first straight pool mentor Jack Colavita, does a good job of identifying and saving these balls, while some less accomplished players are not as refined in doing this. I'll use a pattern that Colavita used to often play to demonstrate the point.
Opponent misses a break shot and leaves this. There are many ways to run out here and save a breakshot, but Jack would never shoot the fourteen in the side in a position like this. His reasoning, as he related it to me when I was a teenager, was that , leaving both the thirteen and fourteen ball on the table along with the seven offered a huge number of possible end patterns, and if the position is examined closely, his point is easily understood. You never really knew whether he'd play the thirteen before the fourteen or not, but those would be his last two balls, and the number of ways to get right on one of them to complete the pattern, which offers nice, tight shape on the seven as a break shot is astronomical.
I know Danny, like me, counts Colavita among his influences, and has similarly high regard for the way Jack played the table.
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