Live (Barely) from the Derby

[iusedtoberich]

Sadly it’s not like that now Jay.

Not going for you-you didn’t miss anything. For those who didn’t have the EW days or Reno etc. the current version of Derby is cool. But it’s very vanilla compared to the past. Milk drinkers and over priced casinos, no food.

Which leads me to my idea. It’s just a dream with a name right now

Fatboy’s Hustlers Jamboree

Rules:

We gamble! It’s only a 10 day event so we don’t need rooms! Hustlers welcome, no milk drinkers allowed. Our 5 balls are orange, money is green. No casino to distract you, but if ya want to bring a keno board, please do. 3 card Monte and backgammon too!

Fatboy

I went to a "hippy convention" a few years back. Everyone camped, smoked, had fun... All on a private farm. Could set up a place like that with a bunch of tables. No kids, no rules, no cops.

 

[Nick8400]

Sadly it’s not like that now Jay.

Not going for you-you didn’t miss anything. For those who didn’t have the EW days or Reno etc. the current version of Derby is cool. But it’s very vanilla compared to the past. Milk drinkers and over priced casinos, no food.

Which leads me to my idea. It’s just a dream with a name right now

Fatboy’s Hustlers Jamboree

Rules:

We gamble! It’s only a 10 day event so we don’t need rooms! Hustlers welcome, no milk drinkers allowed. Our 5 balls are orange, money is green. No casino to distract you, but if ya want to bring a keno board, please do. 3 card Monte and backgammon too!

Fatboy

Save me a seat.

 

[Biloxi Boy]

I went to a "hippy convention" a few years back. Everyone camped, smoked, had fun... All on a private farm. Could set up a place like that with a bunch of tables. No kids, no rules, no cops.

We should get with the Burners!

 

[Nick8400]

We should get with the Burners!

Welcome to the party, pal!

 

[Poolplaya9]

I'm actually pleasantly surprised this is even being allowed. Can't imagine it would be if it was Joe Schmo amateur doing it. Actually, I'd bet he won't be able to continue doing this at large events with other streamers present. If I'm not mistaken Railbirds wasn't allowed to stream their matches live from the Derby the past couple years. They could only record them and release them later. I do think this will come to a head at some point, until then -- I'll watch.

Yep, as soon as "side streaming" matches gets a little more common, events are going to put an end to it if they are doing any streaming of their own or working with any streamers. And knowing how Matchroom is, pretty good chance they will be one of the first to put a stop to it.

 

[skogstokig]

Yep, as soon as "side streaming" matches gets a little more common, events are going to put an end to it if they are doing any streaming of their own or working with any streamers. And knowing how Matchroom is, pretty good chance they will be one of the first to put a stop to it.

they already have, i think predator did to. molina mike did some guerilla streaming there before

 

[jay helfert]

reno was great. the best was the one in eastern oregon inn of the seventh mountain run by richie and ronnie and i think bobby lambert had a piece of it

you put one on ill come. only if to get in the door you need to show xxxx dollars cash of your own.
and ill help you.

You have a great memory. The World Eight Ball & 9-Ball Championship was held in Bend, OR in 1976. The promoters were Ronnie, Bob Lambert from Texas and a prominent local businessman named Ben Tracy. Ronnie enlisted my support and I ended up spending the better part of two months up there. I produced the souvenir program and acted as TD.

Almost all the top players were there for the two week long extravaganza, and it was non stop action the entire time. My best memories included partnering up with Weenie Beenie to run a Blackjack game. He asked me how much money I had and I told him 600. He said to give it to him and I did. Beenie threw in 600 and that was our starting bank. I was all in and quite a bit nervous, but Beenie brimmed with confidence. He was right as usual and we chopped up 12K at the end of the night, my lifetime biggest score at that point in time.

After the smoke cleared Dan Louie was the big winner, defeating Mike Sigel in the finals. He won 9,000 total, a big score back then. Right after the match ended, the double doors to the tournament were thrust wide open. There stood Denny Searcy, who had not played in the tournament. In a booming voice he shouted out, “I’ll play anyone here a set of 9-Ball for 10,000!” And in a roomful of champions there was silence. To this day the most powerful Call Out I ever saw.

Louie Roberts, being Louie, couldn’t stand it. He begged and borrowed 5,000 and played Denny Ten Ahead for all of it. Denny shot him down like he was a puppy dog! There were no other takers for Denny’s challenge.

Some things you never forget.

 

[lfigueroa]

Welcome to the real world. Society always wants to build up a hero, just so they can tear them down in the end. That's the nature of the humanity unfortunately. Does that mean you shouldn't do it? Does that mean you shouldn't even try? Does that mean you should only do the status quo? Of course not. We need more men and women who have to courage to stand up to the public criticism and scrutiny and do what they believe in, what is right. They will come whether you are a saint or a sinner, it doesn't matter. They will come for you whether you shoot lights out or dog it...they will come. Get used to it, toughen up, or step to the rail.

Side story: I was sitting at a black jack table in Vegas with Mike Dechaine, who I have a lot of respect for, and I made a comment to him after having several "pops" at the table. I said to Mike, "Mike you really sucked in the Mosconi Cup." Not knowing Mike before then, I didn't mean it to be insulting, just honest. I looked over at him and his head almost dropped to the table and he said, "I know." His humility was apparent. I felt really bad and remorseful for saying that. I could only hope and dream to have his skills and the opportunity to screw up for my country on the biggest stage in the world. He is not alone in that event for having a pressure on them including Shane and recently Shaw. The Mosconi Cup is a different beast in terms of pressure. I learned a little that day.

Yes, I'd agree with most of that.

You just have to step up when the opportunity presents itself. I know that sometimes, when I'm playing a big match and I'm confronted with the choice between a tough shot or ducking I'll ask myself, "Are we men or are we mice?" Then I happily go off and fire away, lol.

Lou Figueroa

 

[jsp]

And another oddity occurred in Game 4 of the Reyes/Labutis match. At a score of 1-(-2), Efren took an intentional foul to take the score to 0-(-2). An adjustment was then made to the score, increasing each player by one point to 1-(-1). This appeared to be in the nature of the adjustment that is supposed to be made when both players reach a negative score. But 0-(-2) would not qualify for that adjustment. And the scoring of the game prior to that point appeared to me to be correct. The game ended with Efren winning 8-1, so, if what I saw as an adjustment was a mistake, it's likely that it did not affect the outcome of that game.

Just read the explanation of this in the AZB article. Apparently Efren knew he had one more ball to go, the ref goofed, and Labutis simply conceded...

Soon, tied at 2-2, Efren showed his ability to run 8 to find himself stuck on the remaining cluster. He still need one ball as he was -1 when he begun the run.

While Efren was considering his next move, the referee approached the table and told him he had won.

Efren, confused, questioned, “But I need one more ball?”

The ref had forgotten that Efren owed one.

Pijus, respectfully, in a kind of, “Oh, whatever,” moment, honored the ref’s decision and offered Efren his hand.

Pijus, showing true sportsmanship, had observed the current pattern of Efren’s of play, probably concluded that there was no way he was getting a look at another ball.

 

[maha]

jay ,, was there and done that. saw most of what you said. except i took beenie off for all that and more playing him up in the room cards.
he wasnt one to quit when he couldnt win. after that he stopped the blackjack for the rest of the time i believe.

bobby lambert got shot and killed down in texas in a safeway food store during a robbery. bad luck.
black guy killed him and got 100 bucks but didnt get the thousands he had in another pocket.
but he did get injected a bunch of years later for the murder.

 

[jokrswylde]

After the smoke cleared Dan Louie was the big winner, defeating Mike Sigel in the finals. He won 9,000 total, a big score back then. Right after the match ended, the double doors to the tournament were thrust wide open. There stood Denny Searcy, who had not played in the tournament. In a booming voice he shouted out, “I’ll play anyone here a set of 9-Ball for 10,000!” And in a roomful of champions there was silence. To this day the most powerful Call Out I ever saw.

Louie Roberts, being Louie, couldn’t stand it. He begged and borrowed 5,000 and played Denny Ten Ahead for all of it. Denny shot him down like he was a puppy dog! There were no other takers for Denny’s challenge.

Some things you never forget.

Awesome story and sounds like an awesome call out! I remember hearing about UJ walking into a random pool hall with his entire bankroll in a greasy paper sack, walking to an open table, tossing the sack on the table and saying "come and get it if you want it"

Don't know how true that is, but you gotta have balls big enough to come in a dump truck to do that.

 

[JusticeNJ]

Crazy good comeback by Woodward against Filler in the hill/hill game. Down 0-6, he won 8-5 with runs of 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2 with some superb banks.

That was a great rack. Liked having Billy and Nick too.

 

[jay helfert]

jay ,, was there and done that. saw most of what you said. except i took beenie off for all that and more playing him up in the room cards.
he wasnt one to quit when he couldnt win. after that he stopped the blackjack for the rest of the time i believe.

bobby lambert got shot and killed down in texas in a safeway food store during a robbery. bad luck.
black guy killed him and got 100 bucks but didnt get the thousands he had in another pocket.
but he did get injected a bunch of years later for the murder.

You have to be one sharp cookie to take Beenie off at anything! You’ve got my respect. We made a little money together at another tournament and he hustled me to play some Gin out by the pool the next day. Cost me a few hundred.

The way Bob got killed was crazy. The black guy robbed the store and bumped into Bob on his way out the door. Bob was just coming in. They had words and the guy ends up shooting him. I liked Bob. We played some Horse on the B-Ball court at the hotel in Bend for $10 a letter. It was a gas! We were razzing each other on every shot.

 

[jay helfert]

Awesome story and sounds like an awesome call out! I remember hearing about UJ walking into a random pool hall with his entire bankroll in a greasy paper sack, walking to an open table, tossing the sack on the table and saying "come and get it if you want it"

Don't know how true that is, but you gotta have balls big enough to come in a dump truck to do that.

UJ was a very big and very tough guy in his youth. He would announce himself in a poolroom and offer to either fight anyone or play pool with any takers. He told me he had several takers on his offer to fight and only lost once.

 

[maha]

generally the guy offering to fight an unknown usually is going to win.

we had two guys in our poolroom that you wouldnt mind fighting until you fought them.

kind of like your buddy butch.

 

[Dead Money]

UJ was a very big and very tough guy in his youth. He would announce himself in a poolroom and offer to either fight anyone or play pool with any takers. He told me he had several takers on his offer to fight and only lost once.

UJ.................hmmmmmm!

Here is a little treat for those that never saw this:

 

[measureman]

Jack Dempsey as a 16 year old would go into the saloons in the Colorado mining towns and offer to fight anyone for what ever money he had.
He turned out to be a real tough lethal heavyweight champion.
“As a hobo from 1911 to 1916, Dempsey had many ‘fights,’ most as ‘Kid Blackie,’ in various Colorado mining towns. His first fight was at 140 pounds during the summer of 1912, a KO of Fred Wood, the ‘Fighting Blacksmith.’ Later that year he Kayoed his future manager, Andy Molloy; It is possible that Dempsey had as a many as 100 unrecorded fights.”
Though he appeared slight and non-threatening as a 16-year-old kid, according to the legend, Dempsey never lost one of these bare-knuckle brawls.

 

[7stud]

Just read the explanation of this in the AZB article. Apparently Efren knew he had one more ball to go, the ref goofed, and Labutis simply conceded...

I read the az reporting. Doesn't sound very plausible: it said Labutis conceded because he "probably concluded that there was no way he was getting a look at another ball." Huh? Do 1-pocket players routinely survey the table and concede games based on the layout?

 

[fjk]

UJ was a very big and very tough guy in his youth. He would announce himself in a poolroom and offer to either fight anyone or play pool with any takers. He told me he had several takers on his offer to fight and only lost once.

We had two really tough, huge guys hang out in our pool room (they played a little). They both worked off and on for a local loan shark / drug dealer (he played pool too). We all seen them fight at one time or the other. Most of those fights only lasted one or two punches. Anyway, one day I was standing there talking to both these guys when this skinny kid walks up (probably 20 years old, 6'3" and 160). He asks me (right in front of those guys) if I know anyone that scraps for money. I was a teenager and didn't know what that term meant; I thought he was talking about scrap metal. The kid clarified it to me and calmly explained he loves to fight and will fight anyone for money.

Now all three of us knew that kid from the pool room and that kid knew those two guys and their reputation, I believe he just came up to me hoping one of those two guys would offer to fight him. Those guys were so shocked at what they were hearing neither one said a word. Never did see that kid fight. Man, I miss the good old days and gritty pool rooms.

 

[u12armresl]

There were two! JC and the Stardust, which was as good or better. The mob run casino was wide open in those days, anything goes and did. Cheap rooms, good food and 24 hour a day action. I was there!

We had two really tough, huge guys hang out in our pool room (they played a little). They both worked off and on for a local loan shark / drug dealer (he played pool too). We all seen them fight at one time or the other. Most of those fights only lasted one or two punches. Anyway, one day I was standing there talking to both these guys when this skinny kid walks up (probably 20 years old, 6'3" and 160). He asks me (right in front of those guys) if I know anyone that scraps for money. I was a teenager and didn't know what that term meant; I thought he was talking about scrap metal. The kid clarified it to me and calmly explained he loves to fight and will fight anyone for money.

Now all three of us knew that kid from the pool room and that kid knew those two guys and their reputation, I believe he just came up to me hoping one of those two guys would offer to fight him. Those guys were so shocked at what they were hearing neither one said a word. Never did see that kid fight. Man, I miss the good old days and gritty pool rooms.

That fight for money can backfire.
Someone walked in and declared that he fights for money, the guy similar to the person fjk was talking about got in the guys face and there was a fight. No money changed hands.