My First Trip to The US Open 9-Ball

W

wahoo bob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'll make this post as short as possible but it was quite an experience. I had arranged to purchase the "TV Table" from Diamond Billiard Products Inc. I'm building a new room at my home and I'll post pictures when it is finished. I met so many fine people, players and spectators. The table was signed by Shane Van Boening, Dennis Orcollo, Efren "Bata" Reyes, Jose "Amango" Patrica, Earl Strickland, Darren Appleton, Jay Helfert,and Pat
Fleming. To all of you I thank you for taking the time to make my trip very special. To the players that agreed to sign the table and then did not, I suppose it just was too much to ask. Shane and Dennis even signed the players chairs that I also purchased. Shane even made sure I got the balls that were uses in the finals. Pat Fleming and his staff, Jullian, Carol and others I can't remember your names assisted me in getting the table signed and it was such an honor to talk to Pat after the match when they were packing up. I almost forgot Alex "The Lion" also signed the table and also did a couple of shot of tequila with us, what a great pool player and fun person! All in all it was 90% great and 10% not so great but I'm 63 and I wanted to go this year. Thanks to everyone that made it so special and if you are ever in Charlotte, NC, pm me and we will have dinner and shoot a few racks. Bob Baker
 
Congrats on buying the table. Nice report. It's great to hear when top players are nice enough to follow through and do some things that added to your purchase/experience. You picked a great year to go, with most of the top names coming through with some great pool!!
 
Glad to hear that your first US Open experience was so positive. Thanks for sharing.
 
Congratulations Bob! You now have a great pool table that will last you for the rest of your life! May I recommend that once you get your room built, and your new table set up (get a VERY good mechanic to set it up), you should contact pooltcher (Steve Jennings) here for a lesson. He lives in Charlotte. It will be the 2nd best money you spent...after going to the Open and buying the table! You can PM me for his phone number, if you like!

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

wahoo bob said:
I'll make this post as short as possible but it was quite an experience. I had arranged to purchase the "TV Table" from Diamond Billiard Products Inc. I'm building a new room at my home and I'll post pictures when it is finished. I met so many fine people, players and spectators. The table was signed by Shane Van Boening, Dennis Orcollo, Efren "Bata" Reyes, Jose "Amango" Patrica, Earl Strickland, Darren Appleton, Jay Helfert,and Pat
Fleming. To all of you I thank you for taking the time to make my trip very special. To the players that agreed to sign the table and then did not, I suppose it just was too much to ask. Shane and Dennis even signed the players chairs that I also purchased. Shane even made sure I got the balls that were uses in the finals. Pat Fleming and his staff, Jullian, Carol and others I can't remember your names assisted me in getting the table signed and it was such an honor to talk to Pat after the match when they were packing up. I almost forgot Alex "The Lion" also signed the table and also did a couple of shot of tequila with us, what a great pool player and fun person! All in all it was 90% great and 10% not so great but I'm 63 and I wanted to go this year. Thanks to everyone that made it so special and if you are ever in Charlotte, NC, pm me and we will have dinner and shoot a few racks. Bob Baker
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pool lessons

Thanks Scott
I actually took Randy G's 3-day class for certified instructor 6-7 years ago down at Livingston's Billiards In Bradenton, Fl. Great course only I guess I could never break my bad habits. SPF is beautiful to watch (Buddy Hall, Allison Fisher, etc.) I have heard alot of good things about Steve's teaching and I may try one more time.
Best Regards,
Bob
 
What a

great experience you had!!! and getting the TV table to boot, with all the signatures. It will always be something you will remember ...

Good shooting on the 'new' table ...
 
I'm extremely jealous. Sounds like you did it the way we all wish we could.

Definitely post pics of the table after it's set up and especially the autographed portions of it. Someday I'd like to try to get a Diamond in just the manner that you did.

Good luck and have fun with it!
 
Sounds like Shane went out of his way to help out.
Of course, one would expect nothing less from a good guy, right?

You got some good names on there, the most important ones anyway. Don't worry about the ones you didn't get Bud.
 
sounds like a keeper here, great trip report S'Bob, i hope you enjoyed everything in it.
enjoy your new table
 
Even if it was just a plain ole Diamond it would be world class but now.... That's just very cool.
 
When Barry first announced that it was purchased he said it sold for 450,000.00. I looked at my brother (we were in the VIP seats) and said, "NO TABLE is worth that much money..."not even with Megan Fox sitting on it! You could buy a mansion for that money. But until he announced...the next day I think....the real price I actually thought you paid that much.

Congrats on the table. The peroson I most wanted to meet (as it was my first trip as well) was Efren. But over the course of the days we crossed paths with SVB a number of times. I felt like such a goober asking to get a picture with him...its something kids at disneyland do when they stand next to Mickey Mouse. But alas, I don't know when I'll go again. So he actually let us get a picture with him before he was in the finals, and then afterwards on the floor with his trophy.

I left there with a new impression of pool. Appleton with the drunken black eye was odd. Strickland lived up to his repuation...with the best rant being. "They need to get rid of the side pockets...it's too easy." And moments later...when his object ball needed to go into a side pocket and a fan called out, "what would you do now?" He...without skipping a beat...replied, "I'd play for position on the corner pocket ya idiot!"

CLASSIC! And that was on the table you bought. lol

But SVB proved to be such a class act. So many people pulling him in so many directions....and yet he took the time to take a picture with my broter and I...and continued to mingle with fans long before the finals. Just a great guy. it's nice to see such a standup guy win that thing. Barry kept squaking about the Philippines players dominating the game...and then Shane just won it all. Class, dignity, humility, and grace. Any one of the top 4 would have been worthy of that trophy...but the better player did win that tournament. SVB never lost a match the entire tournament.

Congrats on that table. The final match was definitely one to remember. And there is a number of Accustats DVDs that feature that table too! lol

Too bad about the other signatures...but not everybody was in a signing mood. You figure they are all working, not just banging balls in a man cave. And the losers probably didn't feel too keen on signing anything. Nevertheless, you got some signatures. I think I remember seeing Strickland sign it.

Good show...maybe we'll see ya next year if I go again. Barry better get his act together though. What a trainwreck. At least the games were great.
 
wahoo bob said:
Efren "Bata" Reyes
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I read your post from start to finish ...every word, and yet Efren's name rings so loud in my head that everything else is drowned out.

Once you pay a professional to carefully remove Strickland's name, your table will be a thing of beauty to be treasured forever. :grin:
 
To both Soulweb & Bob

If y'all ever do come again keep an eye out for me or pm me. I'm friends with several of the pros: Johnny Archer, Rodney Morris, Tommy Kennedy, Tony Robles, Raj Hundal, just to name a few. I would happily assist you in getting photos with them or autographs. They get so busy sometimes but always try to take time with fans whenever they can.


Soulweb said:
When Barry first announced that it was purchased he said it sold for 450,000.00. I looked at my brother (we were in the VIP seats) and said, "NO TABLE is worth that much money..."not even with Megan Fox sitting on it! You could buy a mansion for that money. But until he announced...the next day I think....the real price I actually thought you paid that much.

Congrats on the table. The peroson I most wanted to meet (as it was my first trip as well) was Efren. But over the course of the days we crossed paths with SVB a number of times. I felt like such a goober asking to get a picture with him...its something kids at disneyland do when they stand next to Mickey Mouse. But alas, I don't know when I'll go again. So he actually let us get a picture with him before he was in the finals, and then afterwards on the floor with his trophy.

I left there with a new impression of pool. Appleton with the drunken black eye was odd. Strickland lived up to his repuation...with the best rant being. "They need to get rid of the side pockets...it's too easy." And moments later...when his object ball needed to go into a side pocket and a fan called out, "what would you do now?" He...without skipping a beat...replied, "I'd play for position on the corner pocket ya idiot!"

CLASSIC! And that was on the table you bought. lol

But SVB proved to be such a class act. So many people pulling him in so many directions....and yet he took the time to take a picture with my broter and I...and continued to mingle with fans long before the finals. Just a great guy. it's nice to see such a standup guy win that thing. Barry kept squaking about the Philippines players dominating the game...and then Shane just won it all. Class, dignity, humility, and grace. Any one of the top 4 would have been worthy of that trophy...but the better player did win that tournament. SVB never lost a match the entire tournament.

Congrats on that table. The final match was definitely one to remember. And there is a number of Accustats DVDs that feature that table too! lol

Too bad about the other signatures...but not everybody was in a signing mood. You figure they are all working, not just banging balls in a man cave. And the losers probably didn't feel too keen on signing anything. Nevertheless, you got some signatures. I think I remember seeing Strickland sign it.

Good show...maybe we'll see ya next year if I go again. Barry better get his act together though. What a trainwreck. At least the games were great.
Click to expand...
 
Hey Bob I was wondering who bought that table. I cleaned that thing all week after every match with the Quick Clean. I noticed the signed names on it. I was careful not to erase any of them. I did notice most were signed on the legs and thought that was a good idea to keep it from rubbing off while playing. We didn't stay for the last match but I made sure it was cleaned good before it started. I wish I could have met you. If you would have come by the booth I would have you a can of quick clean to take with you. Anyway enjoy you new toy and post us some pics when you get time.
 
Hey Bob, you got a great table there and now one with some real history. You can do what I do, whenever a top player (Allison?) is in town, invite them by your house and have them sign the table. So far I've got Shane and Dennis, so you're way ahead of me. Johnny come back, you forgot to sign my table! :grin:
 
wahoo bob said:
All in all it was 90% great and 10% not so great...
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Was the 10% because you didn't win the open?
J/K :grin: congratulation.

mr8ball said:
Hey Bob I was wondering who bought that table. I cleaned that thing all week after every match with the Quick Clean. I noticed the signed names on it. I was careful not to erase any of them. I did notice most were signed on the legs and thought that was a good idea to keep it from rubbing off while playing. We didn't stay for the last match but I made sure it was cleaned good before it started. I wish I could have met you. If you would have come by the booth I would have you a can of quick clean to take with you. Anyway enjoy you new toy
and post us some pics when you get time.
Click to expand...

Man-o-man, if you somehow cleaned off all the autographs and then spent the next hour trying to "forge" them back on! :eek:
That would've been a real classic Mr. Bean moment.
 
Man-o-man, if you somehow cleaned off all the autographs and then spent the next hour trying to "forge" them back on! :eek:
That would've been a real classic Mr. Bean moment.[/QUOTE]
:grin: Yes that would have been a good one. Good thing about the spray its such a fine mist it would have not have done anything anyway. I just hope none of it got rubbed off when they delivered it.
 
Efren was the only one who signed on the skirt... I think I'd try and figure out how to put a clear coat over that skirt asap =) Glad the table is going to a good home....

I am pretty sure we got introduced but in the scramble to tear down, everything became a blur....

I am betting they put new cloth on it before you had the chance to master Shane's break from the box =)

Good shooting,
Chris
 
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