Inaugural DC 1-Pocket Tournament Results

[Cory in DC]

We had as good a final match, as I could have hoped for: DC local Bus Driver Ronnie vs. up and comer Brandon Shuff playing even up. The format is a race to 15 balls, with the score from the first rack carrying over into the second rack. Ronnie won the break and left Brandon stuck, pretty bad. I didn’t see Brandon’s shot, so the following is based on the shot as described by Joey Ryan: Ronnie left Brandon on the stack. Brandon kicks two rails into the 12 ball, sends the cue up table and leaves the 12 hanging in his own pocket!

It was something like this:

CueTable Help

In the first rack, Brandon also made the kick-bank shot that Pagulyon made against Scott Frost (I think) in one of my Accustats tapes. Long story short, Ronnie won the first rack 8-7. Brandon had the break in the second rack, needing 8 balls to Ronnie’s 7. Brandon won by about 15-11 or 15-10. It might have been closer, but Ronnie cut his finger pretty good late in the first rack.

Also, of note:

* AZB’s own Andrew Manning came out and gave it a whirl, but had the bad luck of drawing Brandon, who was pretty hot tonight (see, e.g., the above 2-rail kick).

* Strawberry Brooks came by and watched for a while. He also showed me, Joey, and Brandon a couple of shots. A woman who is writing a biography about Strawberry also came tonight and took a lot of pictures and videotaped the finals match between Brandon and Ronnie. Hopefully I can get the pictures and video of the match from her and post some highlights here.

Overall, it went pretty well. The only downside is that only 7 players showed up (this is why I ran singles instead of blind-draw doubles), but given the caliber of players that showed up tonight, and the number who say they'll show up next time, I think I can build on that.

First Sunday of every month at Cue Bar, on U St. NW, in DC. Practice starts at 4:00 p.m. 100% payout.

Cory

P.S. Hat tip to Ronnie: I had never met him, though I knew him by reputation. He introduced himself as “Ron” and asked how the handicaps get set. I said I’d watch him play and then use my best guess to handicap him. His answer was “just make me whatever the highest guy here is.”

P.P.S. For some reason, the cue ball doesn't show up in the above image. Here's the wei code: START(%AN7O5%BL7P8%CI9T5%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%ID4V2%JK6M5%KH4O3%LH3X2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%PO5N3%Up8W3%VI9X6%WI7D4%XO7N3%YD2M8%ZI2C6%[H7W5%\D0P0%]D0E6%^H3X6)END

 

[JAM]

Local D.C. pool smut

Thanks for the update! You had some excellent competition within the walls of the Cue Bar, not to mention the appearances of Bus Driver and Strawberry, two of D.C.'s legendary one-pocket phenoms AND action men; that is, when the action was prevalent.

I remember the first time I ever saw Strawberry Brooks. I was working graveyard shift at Champion's in Silver Spring, MD -- the FIRST and only "Champion's" at that time. It was a Saturday night, and the joint was rocking. Every table was going, and the action players patiently sat on their perches, hoping for the right game to walk in the door.

In walks Strawberry, sporting a velvet paperboy's cap with a matching velvet suit, followed by an entourage of friends, fans, and followers. Now, not too many a player wanted to tackle with Strawberry, unfortunately for him, as his reputation was notorious, especially in the game of one-pocket. The only way he could get any action was to grant huge spots, and Strawberry could make a game with just about anybody and would proceed to lure in the prey with an attractive offer.

The stakehorses and players began to huddle because they knew Strawberry would be a good score if you could get him down, but it was going to be tough, tough action. Finally, Korean Lee (USA Billiards' Mr. Lee's brother) stepped up to the plate and challenged Strawberry, and the game was on. Korean Lee was a regular shooter at Champions and had the home-team advantage, knowing which table would be best to play him on. He got a small spot from Strawberry. The local railbirds stood by their homeboy Korean Lee, liking his end of it, and proceeded to get some side bets going with Strawberry. All seats in the house were taken, and it then became standing room only. What a show!

Strawberry moved on the table smooth as silk, looking mighty comfortable on foreign turf, and Korean Lee to me seemed a little shakey, with about a hundred eyeballs staring at his every move. After a miss, you could hear the disappointed whispering side-betters, and when Strawberry would make a good shot, the crowd would "ooh" and "aah," witnessing a master at work. Strawberry dominated several games in a row, looking like a well-trained thoroughbred on a morning run. Korean Lee, always the fighter, knew he was out-classed and pulled up.

Even today, Strawberry still exudes his own sense of style. Last time I saw him, he was driving a 7-ball-red Cadillac SUV wearing a matching 7-ball-red sports suit. A man of faith who gives back to the community, he will always be one of D.C.'s most beloved pool players.

This is my only Strawberry picture, posing with Keith at a local regional tournament, taken a few years ago.

JAM

 

[jay helfert]

Thanks for the update! You had some excellent competition within the walls of the Cue Bar, not to mention the appearances of Bus Driver and Strawberry, two of D.C.'s legendary one-pocket phenoms AND action men; that is, when the action was prevalent.

I remember the first time I ever saw Strawberry Brooks. I was working graveyard shift at Champion's in Silver Spring, MD -- the FIRST and only "Champion's" at that time. It was a Saturday night, and the joint was rocking. Every table was going, and the action players patiently sat on their perches, hoping for the right game to walk in the door.

In walks Strawberry, sporting a velvet paperboy's cap with a matching velvet suit, followed by an entourage of friends, fans, and followers. Now, not too many a player wanted to tackle with Strawberry, unfortunately for him, as his reputation was notorious, especially in the game of one-pocket. The only way he could get any action was to grant huge spots, and Strawberry could make a game with just about anybody and would proceed to lure in the prey with an attractive offer.

The stakehorses and players began to huddle because they knew Strawberry would be a good score if you could get him down, but it was going to be tough, tough action. Finally, Korean Lee (USA Billiards' Mr. Lee's brother) stepped up to the plate and challenged Strawberry, and the game was on. Korean Lee was a regular shooter at Champions and had the home-team advantage, knowing which table would be best to play him on. He got a small spot from Strawberry. The local railbirds stood by their homeboy Korean Lee, liking his end of it, and proceeded to get some side bets going with Strawberry. All seats in the house were taken, and it then became standing room only. What a show!

Strawberry moved on the table smooth as silk, looking mighty comfortable on foreign turf, and Korean Lee to me seemed a little shakey, with about a hundred eyeballs staring at his every move. After a miss, you could hear the disappointed whispering side-betters, and when Strawberry would make a good shot, the crowd would "ooh" and "aah," witnessing a master at work. Strawberry dominated several games in a row, looking like a well-trained thoroughbred on a morning run. Korean Lee, always the fighter, knew he was out-classed and pulled up.

Even today, Strawberry still exudes his own sense of style. Last time I saw him, he was driving a 7-ball-red Cadillac SUV wearing a matching 7-ball-red sports suit. A man of faith who gives back to the community, he will always be one of D.C.'s most beloved pool players.

This is my only Strawberry picture, posing with Keith at a local regional tournament, taken a few years ago.

JAM

Very nice story Jam. A fitting tribute to one cool dude.

 

[mapman72]

Just to add to some of the things that Cory and JAM said about Strawberry, and I've eluded to this in a "Strawberry Brooks" thread, he was incredible last night. We hung around for an hour or so after the tournament to soak up some of his knowledge and he was more than willing to share it. Apparently you can find him at Cue Bar every Tuesday night doing work for his book/documentary. The tourney was nice and I'm really excited for the opportunity to learn from some of these great players.

ps. I also showed the actual shot setup for that opening finals shot but without showing what Brandon did. I wanted people to say what they would have done and then post the results later.

 

[mapman72]

Cory,
If Strawberry and Ronnie and other really good shooters want to start coming to this tournament, I will be there everytime. Also, I am not unwilling to spend the entire day in there to have a tournament with players of that caliber. Maybe you could have a time limit on the matches where if it isn't over at a certain point, it goes into sudden death or something???? Just a thought since I know you're worried about the time.
Joey

 

[Cory in DC]

Cory,
If Strawberry and Ronnie and other really good shooters want to start coming to this tournament, I will be there everytime. Also, I am not unwilling to spend the entire day in there to have a tournament with players of that caliber. Maybe you could have a time limit on the matches where if it isn't over at a certain point, it goes into sudden death or something???? Just a thought since I know you're worried about the time.
Joey

At a minimum, Buck promised to make the next one, and I think Jersey Jon is pretty likely to show also. Plus who knows who else might pop out of the woodwork.

The problem with a time limit is that the person who is behind might slow play to get to sudden death. I think I like the current race to 15 format. In fact, I was skimming onepocket.org and found this in the Ronnie Allen interview:

RA: ...They need a scoring system [for one pocket] just like golf, where if you get beat like I did by Billy Palmer yesterday, 24 balls to 2, you could go from 16 th place to here, and if you win 24-2, you jump up here. Then you have a leader board, and every ball is important. I have a format for that tournament, but no one wants to change, everybody likes it. They're so set in their ways with pool – do this; don't gamble; don't do this – it's just ridiculous.

1P: Is that what I have heard called ‘Oklahoma Straight Pool', where you go to a number of balls like 25, and if you finish one rack, you just start another until someone reaches 25?

RA: I never heard of that, but that sounds like what I had for a tournament in St. Louis. I'm sixty-five, and I never knew anyone thought about that except me. I came in second and Raphael Martinez won it. It was go to thirty balls. You just play, and whoever's behind in balls breaks them. You play the whole rack out – it makes a much more skilful game – in other words, you might get lucky and run eight and that's all you get. Well I can still get seven. Now you're only ahead eight-seven, and it's my break, because I'm behind. Yeah, I had a tournament like that, and it was very successful. Now you've got a leader board. Now you can tell people, look, he's ahead. Today you can't tell me – we're in the middle of a tournament here in Sacramento, folks – and I don't even know who's leading the tournament. That's no good for the audience and no good for the news media. I've been hollering about that for twenty years, but nobody wants to hear.​

I wouldn't let whoever's behind have the next break though, because if the score gets to 7-7, both sides might try to make the last ball in the other guys pocket.