u12armresl said:
I was wondering if anyone had seen Beryl, is that the correct spelling?
The times I saw him was at the Lexington All stars and he was either playing Shannon, or getting in on action. He always ran around with his wife and seemed to have a lot of gamble in him.
Shannon used to give him the world, so I never really knew how he played.
At the 2003 DCC in Louisville, Berle came and was right in the thick of it. This was the year that Eric Durbin was rumored to have pocketed 50 big ones, and everybody was after him, trying to get a piece of his winnings.
After a 3-hour barkfest with Berle and Eric, trying to get Eric to play Keith McCready for 10 sand bags, Eric finally agreed. He said he'd have to go back to his room and would return. We waited about a half hour, and Eric sent a representative on his behalf downstairs to say he wasn't going to play, that he had, in fact, sent most of his monies home via Western Union.
Then the barkfest started all over again. Young Gun Amar Kang was bellowing out, "I'll play anyone in here for whatever you want." Shannon was trying his hardest to get in on this action, stating, "Why don't we all put up a thousand bucks, play a tournament with ourselves, and then we'll see who the best 9-ball player is in the land?" There was a long pregnant pause, to which Shannon, not missing a beat, responded, "It's so damn quiet in here, you could hear a field mouse pissing on a cotton ball."
Finally, Alex Pagulayan had a backers committee who wanted to put him in the pit against Keith, with Berle backing Keith. The side betting took longer than the match-up itself. When it was all said and done, Alex barbecued Keith in less than a half hour, spotting him the 7, I think, in 10-ball. Here's a picture of Berle directing traffic right before the games began.
JAM
