Ismael Paez

Fast Lenny

Faster Than You...
Silver Member
Where has he been and is he still playing? Always enjoyed seeing him jump through the roof, the dude has hops. :p
 
Morro had the best masse I ever saw .... until Florian Kohler came along.
 
Where has he been and is he still playing? Always enjoyed seeing him jump through the roof, the dude has hops. :p

He beat Mika Immonen the other day at the 1st Sunday of the Month, 9-Ball at Hard Times.

I will see if I can't get him on the stream for the next 9-Ball Tourney on Feb 2nd. He's still got tons of 'spunk' at the table.

:grin::grin::grin:
 
Morro

Besides being a great guy, Morro always has been one of the best to gamble with.

He came to Los Angeles in the early 70's and we mixed it up many times over the years. He always had a little edge on me in 9 ball, but I would fire at him anyway, because when you did win, you won a bunch and I did not lose every time.

I have gambled as much and as high with Morro as any other pool player over the years. $100 a game 9 ball in the 70's, $200 a game golf on the 5 x 10 and 6 x 12 snooker tables and up to $50 a point liability snooker on Big Bertha, the 6 x 12 at Hard Times in Bellflower. He has gambled much higher with others, but I was always a working stiff and bet my own.

He was always jumpy, but it happens after he executes the shot. He has jumped me out of my cash quite a few times.

It was always the action more than the $$. We would sometimes lend each other $$ to keep the action going. I am getting a little old for the action anymore, but still tee it up for a little cheese playing one pocket once and a while. I am sure Morro would come around more if there was more action. He has always loved it.

I hope he makes it to the Markulis Memorial at Hard Times in Sacramento next month. Just to visit with, not to play. He kept getting better and I just kept getting old.:D
 
"Morro" Ismael Paez...

Never forget bettin with Morro down in the ol' hollywood dungeon when he played Chinese Smitty snooker in the back room with scores of Asians and Latinos exchanging wads of cash after every frame. Will try and stop by for the Markulis Memorial but don't know the date?:thumbup:
 
Where has he been and is he still playing? Always enjoyed seeing him jump through the roof, the dude has hops. :p

Morro was always my favorite player in the LA area since the early 90s. I have seen him match up several times and he fights hard to win and never gives up. I remember the world tournament vs Earl Strickland in Cardiff Wales. Earl has him 9-3 and Morro wins 11-9 and finishes runner up in the world finals vs Fang Pang Chow. He at one time ran 9 racks on Danny Medina in a pro stop in Phoenix which is an accu-stats tape I still have!! What an exciting player he is.....I know he's matched up more than once receiving the 8 ball from Earl for 20k and I believe he won one and lost one...
 
Last edited:
I think he's playing on the table behind the feature table in the Thorsten vs Shaw match recorded recently.

Shaw BTW also has a crazy good masse shot that I've seen him pull out in a match.
 
Never forget bettin with Morro down in the ol' hollywood dungeon when he played Chinese Smitty snooker in the back room with scores of Asians and Latinos exchanging wads of cash after every frame. Will try and stop by for the Markulis Memorial but don't know the date?:thumbup:

It is the week before Reno in Feb. $2,000 added in one pocket and $4/5,000 added to 9 ball at Hard Times in Sacramento. I think it starts 2/18 or 2/19 and runs through the weekend. Because it is fairly close to the Bar Table Championships and US Open One Pocket the following week, lots of good players will be there. They told me SVB and Darren Appleton had already signed up and the Filipino contingent with Busty and Efren are usually there.

Smitty was a very underrated player and tough to beat down there. I believe he got the cash that time.
 
Morro as John Henderson aptly stated was an action Junkie. He played snooker, golf and especially nine ball very well. I remember that he played Billy Incardona nine ball many times for serious cash. I don't remember Billy ever winning. This was back in the 80's. He did play Earl Strickland for a really big bet in Las Vegas getting the eight and blew his cash. Morro just liked action and wasn't afraid to bet it up. Like so many of us, Father Time is taking its toll on him. But I wouldn't be surprised to hear about him back in action again and beating up on someone.
 
remember watching Morro, King Kong, Tang Hoa, and others, play liability for endless hours, jeez I often wondered if they marked their bills before they started....
 
There was a McDermott tour event in Norcal one time which Morro entered. At the end, he was in such dead stroke that he was one handing some shots instead of even bothering to get the bridge...it was hilarious.

Great talent. Not quite the freak that Rafael Martinez is overall, but pretty close sometimes IMO.
 
I just had another Morro sighting at Hard Times last night. He was practicing rather diligently. For the Swanee perhaps?

hmmmmm

Next time I see him, I'll take a 'selfie' of us and post it here.
 
There was a McDermott tour event in Norcal one time which Morro entered. At the end, he was in such dead stroke that he was one handing some shots instead of even bothering to get the bridge...it was hilarious.

Great talent. Not quite the freak that Rafael Martinez is overall, but pretty close sometimes IMO.

where is rafael at these days? play much?
 
Smitty was Thai not Chinese and whatever happened to him?

Beat me to it. Smitty introduced me to Thai food in the early 80's. I'll never forget that dinner. After a particularly hot bite of some indescribable dish, I reached for the ice water. Smitty scolded me like the kid I was, "don't ruin your meal" is all he said as he handed me a glass with Jack Daniels from a bottle he had brought in.

That man was pure class, I idolized him.

I remember playing a game called 'ghost' with pills on the 5x10 with Smitty and some other Thai guys as I was coming up. Good times down in the Dungeon on Hollywood and Western.
 
Morro is a really great guy with a ton of heart. Watched him a few years ago playing Kim Davenport Liability on Big Bertha (6x12) for over $30 a point for 3 days. Morro was so sick with either a bad cold or the flu that he wore a heavy jacket the whole time.

There is a room over in the South Gate area that is almost all Mexican and I have heard that both he and King Kong both frequent that room.

They are missed at HT as they always brought action.
 
I remember playing a game called 'ghost' with pills on the 5x10 with Smitty and some other Thai guys as I was coming up.

The Thai and Laos guys used to play ghost all the time on a 9'er. My buddy that is Laos that used to steer action taught me to count to 21 in Thai so that I could hear them telling their buddies what numbers they had (trying to trap the bacow (white boy)). The bacow did okay.... Lol
 
Back
Top