Just Spoke To Johnny Archer-cool story about what he is doing

Fatboy

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
He is playing in a tournment in the PI, he is in the losers side he lost his 3rd match I think he said 9-7. He said he is playing good but the jet lag on the 3rd day got him, he has another match in 4 hours from now. One guy he played was 17 years old and never missed a ball, he made one saftey error the whole set, Archer wins 9-7, how good is Johnny hitting them???


Johnny said "I aint ever seen anything like it, there are 50 players here, I aint ever seen before and none of them miss, I mean ever miss" with his heavy Georgia accent. He continued to explane it to me that these guys were green as could be and all "Played like Champions"<----his exact description of the players. "They only made mental errors due to lack of experience". He went on and on about how things had changed there over the past 15-20 years since he has been going there to play. I asked him "50 guys you never saw before?" he said "At least". There wasnt one person of the 64 who wasnt a top notch caliber player. I thought that was interesting, he said in the past there would still be a few soft matches here and there at all the tournments, not now he said he was looking at alot of the players not just his draw he said.


This tournment wasnt a Puiat(SP?) production-the guys that Efren has worked with for ever-sorry I cant spell that right either, it's a new group and he thought it was their first tournment that he played in. He said they took great care of him and everything is top notch, they take good care of him there. the fans have been great and lots of them too. Its nice to see a player from America get treated with respect-not a bad check.


He briefly mentioned he is excited about the pool school with Earl too. And asked why wasnt I there in Phoenix. I was suppost to go a couple weeks ago in Phoenix but I couldnt, my back and work got in the way. I dont know whats up the next one or what plans are, its not my business , but he mentioned that he is looking foward to it, and hopes I can go to the next one, I dont know their schedual or mine, i want to. I like Earl alot, and wish them both the best on that plan, what ever it is it will be good.


I asked his permission to make this post as I thought it was interesting about how the pool scene is in the PI is. Must be something in the water for all these guys that are 17 years old playing so good. I asked him if they were like him when he was their age and he said"you hit the nail on the head Fatboy, they are green and full of talent but make mental errors cause they just havent played that much". Which left me to wonder how the hell can someone play so good without playing so much??? I think its in the water.

Its amazing talking to him, he has a huge pool room, a beatiful family, a pro career, travels the world, a pool school with Earl. Wow he has alot of things going on, and he can still play a little ;). Amazing to say the least.

It made my day when he called.I'm glad he said it was cool to share our conversation online. He reads AZ sometimes too!!! Wow this is #4000 post for me.
 
Congrats on 4000! What you conveyed is pretty much what Jay has been saying all along, too, that for every champion here, there are a half dozen 16 year old unknown equivalents there!
p.s. this is my very lucky 777 post.
 
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Thanks for the update Fatboy.

And to think this event doesn't have the BMPAP (<~~ wishes the acronym is shorter than 5 letters) superstars, and you still have 50+ world beaters.

I'm sure the competition in Taiwan is just as scary.
 
Smorgass Bored said:
Wow, 4,000 already and I gave you Rep for all your good posts.
Both of them.
Doug
:)
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Yeah, he's been laying it down for quite some time. I'm waiting for one of the fat cats to challenge him to a game of scrabble or a spelling bee.

When I find out how much the bet is, I may go off like a rocket betting on Fatboy. :D :D :D
JoeyA
 
Johnny needs to take one of them kids back with him and let'em run around for a little while.
 
Nice post Eric on Archer!

Did you sponsor him on that trip or is it something he did on his own for it is quite expense to travel overseas, the airfare alone, housing, food, etc. and to be able to come back with a profit. Was Johnny an invited guest?

It certainly sounds like he is having fun and I am sure we will be seeing some of those young players in the US someday playing our best players.

I think in some of those countries overseas a lot of young guys have very little work available and often with nothing to do except time to gamble and pick up a cue stick, they play day after day for hours, and they end up as great players and good gamblers. Playing pool there is also an honored sport like playing baseball or football here in the USA. The rewards there often lead them to come to the USA where they continue to do what they have come to love in pool and often they end up a champions here in the USA. I would like to give them credit for what they have accomplished! I salute all of the Filippino players for all of their hard work at the game of pool and the talent they have shared with us over the years!

We only have one Cory Duel, and Justin Bergman, and a few others, but in the Pilippines they all come from one mold, the Efren mold, and they come out by the dozens. A bunch of little Efrens, so watch out Johnny!
 
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Ron Cook said:
Nice post Eric on Archer!

Did you sponsor him on that trip or is it something he did on his own for it is quite expense to travel overseas, the airfare alone, housing, food, etc. and to be able to come back with a profit. Was Johnny an invited guest?

It certainly sounds like he is having fun and I am sure we will be seeing some of those young players in the US someday playing our best players.

I think in some of those countries overseas a lot of young guys have very little work available and often with nothing to do except time to gamble and pick up a cue stick, they play day after day for hours, and they end up as great players and good gamblers. Playing pool there is also an honored sport like playing baseball or football here in the USA. The rewards there often lead them to come to the USA where they continue to do what they have come to love in pool and often they end up a champions here in the USA. I would like to give them credit for what they have accomplished! I salute all of the Pilippine players for all of their hard work at the game of pool and the talent they have shared with us over the years!

We only have one Cory Duel, and Justin Bergman, and a few others, but in the Pilippines they all come from one mold, the Efren mold, and they come out by the dozens. A bunch of little Efrens, so watch out Johnny!
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i only read he first sentance Ron I gotta go to bed, but no I didnt. I wont go into detail but we go way back and I do the right thing for him and family. I perfer to keep it private at Johnnys request as well. I never talk about him here as it his biz what he does, i got permission for this from him and i liked the story, i;m also working on my writing-except now i'm too sleepy, i'll read the rest later Ron,

God Bless
 
Ron Cook said:
Nice post Eric on Archer!

Did you sponsor him on that trip or is it something he did on his own for it is quite expense to travel overseas, the airfare alone, housing, food, etc. and to be able to come back with a profit. Was Johnny an invited guest?

It certainly sounds like he is having fun and I am sure we will be seeing some of those young players in the US someday playing our best players.

I think in some of those countries overseas a lot of young guys have very little work available and often with nothing to do except time to gamble and pick up a cue stick, they play day after day for hours, and they end up as great players and good gamblers. Playing pool there is also an honored sport like playing baseball or football here in the USA. The rewards there often lead them to come to the USA where they continue to do what they have come to love in pool and often they end up a champions here in the USA. I would like to give them credit for what they have accomplished! I salute all of the Pilippine players for all of their hard work at the game of pool and the talent they have shared with us over the years!

We only have one Cory Duel, and Justin Bergman, and a few others, but in the Pilippines they all come from one mold, the Efren mold, and they come out by the dozens. A bunch of little Efrens, so watch out Johnny!
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I think it's an insult to ask how the trip was paid for. It's nobody's business how Johnny Archer paid for his trip to the PI and I can't believe you are so insentive as to think you have the right to ask that question. Asking a question like that face to face would likely get a guy knocked on his a$$... and it should! What an ignorant jerk!!!
 
Thanks for the story! It is nice to hear what's happening abroad sometimes.

I hope Johnny and Earl reap some financial benefit from the pool school and exhibitions. They are in some ways kind of an Odd Couple, in the funny sense, but the two of them together have decades and decades of wisdom to share. :)

JAM
 
JimS said:
I think it's an insult to ask how the trip was paid for. It's nobody's business how Johnny Archer paid for his trip to the PI and I can't believe you are so insentive as to think you have the right to ask that question. Asking a question like that face to face would likely get a guy knocked on his a$$... and it should! What an ignorant jerk!!!
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You are totally wrong about Ron. He is anything but an "ignorant jerk." I think his point for asking that was that the expenses to travelling to the PI are going to be a major consideration for going over there, and then Archer has to play all these champions there. You need to chill out!! :mad: :confused:
-Alex
 
JAM said:
Thanks for the story! It is nice to hear what's happening abroad sometimes.

I hope Johnny and Earl reap some financial benefit from the pool school and exhibitions. They are in some ways kind of an Odd Couple, in the funny sense, but the two of them together have decades and decades of wisdom to share. :)

JAM
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I got so pissed off over the insensitive and nosey question I forgot to thank you Eric for the entertaining thread.
 
Why am I not surprised? Like Ron said, this is the one way these kids have from escaping a life of poverty. They start very young, as soon as they can hold a cue. And play day and nite. Yes, no school, just the school of hard knocks. And it's true, there's always a bet. Maybe very small by our standards but significant to them.

They know that if they can win tournaments and become well known, they have a "chance" to get a visa, and travel abroad. Most of these kids will never leave the PI. It's very difficult to get a visa. Notice, only filipino champions seem to make it over here. Last time I was there, I played a couple of youngsters. One kid (about 18) rarely missed a ball, but had no clue about playing safe in Eight Ball. He quit after a few games and turned me over to the owner of the pool room (Pool Fusion), a Chinese-Filipino man. He was an excellent player, better than me. But I still held my own. I play good in spots like that, always have. I got out some nice racks and made him think twice. :)

I played Rotation with the other kid, very friendly and also an excellent shot on a very bad table. Once I learned the rules they play by, I could hold my own with him. I actually won a few dollars from him, just by outsmarting him at the end of each game. These two kids were not nearly the top young guns. I saw those guys too, but I would only play them One Pocket or Banks. They refuse to play these games over there. TRUE! They will play you 9-Ball, Ten Ball, Rotation or Eight Ball.

For a shortstop speed player, there are a million guys to play in the PI, all for cheap money. I know I got sharpened up in the two weeks I was there. I feel good about my game right now. I'm happy I can still pop a ball in from off the end rail after 40 years of this stuff.
 
jay helfert said:
...I'm happy I can still pop a ball in from off the end
rail after 40 years of this stuff.
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At least you still hit the ball on the end rail. I can't see that far anymore. It gets a little fuzzy. :o

JAM
 
JAM said:
At least you still hit the ball on the end rail. I can't see that far anymore. It gets a little fuzzy. :o

JAM
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Tell Keith he's still young. What a great player he was! He had the easiest, natural stroke I ever saw. And no one ever could make a hard shot look like a hanger better then the "ETHER"! He scared 'em all! I saw the fear in their eyes. No one wanted to draw Keith in a tournament. I don't care who you were (and I mean that), you knew you were the underdog. IF HE SHOWED UP!!! :D
 
jay helfert said:
Tell Keith he's still young. What a great player he was! He had the easiest, natural stroke I ever saw. And no one ever could make a hard shot look like a hanger better then the "ETHER"! He scared 'em all! I saw the fear in their eyes. No one wanted to draw Keith in a tournament. I don't care who you were (and I mean that), you knew you were the underdog. IF HE SHOWED UP!!! :D
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Hey, that's what Keith says, too! :D

He'll be hitting balls this month. We're gearing up for the tournament trail in the summer.

When he came in third at the Open, he hadn't hit a ball in over a month. He still has no fear and seems to believe that his opponents are more worried about him than he is about them! LOL! :p

JAM
 
JAM said:
Hey, that's what Keith says, too! :D

He'll be hitting balls this month. We're gearing up for the tournament trail in the summer.

When he came in third at the Open, he hadn't hit a ball in over a month. He still has no fear and seems to believe that his opponents are more worried about him than he is about them! LOL! :p

JAM
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I have a feeling he's in much better shape now, than he was several years ago before he met you. He ain't too old to terrorize the pool world!
 
jay helfert said:
I have a feeling he's in much better shape now, than he was several years ago before he met you. He ain't too old to terrorize the pool world!
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When I first met Keith -- well, that's a story in and of itself. I sure as heck wasn't looking to get me a boyfriend, and I had been out of this pool racket for 20 years or more.

He was traveling with Jose Parica and Cliff Joiner. What a motley road crew. They had just left the DCC in Louisville and were coming to Maryland for the Capital City Classic. It was in January. Me being at this tournament was a fluke. I hadn't seen a pool table in so long. It was cool seeing my old pool buddies there, though.

Keith didn't have any ID. After everybody left town, Marcus Chamat had to put up his visa for Keith to get a hotel room in Baltimore. Oh, there's a good story there, too, but it's one that will be in Keith's book, if it ever gets finished. ;)

I was so fully of enthusiam when we first began the tournament trail, but everywhere Keith and I traveled, folks kept coming up to me saying, "Wow, I don't know what you've done for Keith, but he sure does look good. And he's behaving so nicely." :D

He must have been hell on wheels, my Keith. :o

JAM
 
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