if it was 9-ball, or straight pool, i never ever would have even entered,there is no way i could hold my own to the pros in those games, but i figured 8-ball,i'll give it a go, cause when i'm on, MAN i'm on!
november/december 2005 the orlando convention center orlando florida,the "king of the hill" tournament. ,, from my left side appeared kevin trudea, i reconised him and said hi kevin, i'm Bernie Friend, he said hello bernie,let me show you around, at this moment my heart was beating a little faster, it was a great feeling being the only ipt player there and being escorted persoanlly by kevin himself,between the great fancy scenery,and him explaining everything to me persoanlly, i was in pool heaven! "and over here the players have their own private entrence to the green room" here we have leather chairs with a masus girl, they have food spread olut,internet access,and could still watch the pool action from these plasmas in the green room. my head was swimming, i was more in awe of the stuff then being with kevin trudea, it was what i was looking at that was the big deal!!!!!!!! kevin was kind, but a little on the "cold and business side" he politly dissmissed me, claiming"i'm very busy and have to run, nice meeting you" as his voice trailed off, i thouight, shit, this is how you do a pool tournament!
down stairs on the main level i reconised a bloke from az billiards,reddish hair,tall,it was colin colensso, i went up and said,hey colin,it's bernie,"we got along real well, his dry sense of humour,fit me well,having thoughts of grandour who knew? you know? was this the start of something big? could be we didn't know,you know? but we wer'e high on life at that moment,being in orlando in decmember,80 degrees, , i mean i was digging the whole scene,man! then the players starting coming in,buddy hall was holding court,with several other pros, jim rempe came up and said to buddy, "look at you sitting there holding court like the king" buddy just smiled. this was a warm feeling that the pool world has never ever witnessed before!!!!! the world is ours!
soon, it became apparent, that everyone had their groups, and no one excpet me,Bernie Friend ventured out of their groups. meaning, the phillopeenos, only hung out with the philopeenos,the british only hung out with the british,the women only hung out with the women, the ledgends, of the past,the old timers only hung out with themselfs, and the newbies and unknowns,colin,bernie,linda,etc, hung out witrh eachother.
the time was getting close to the meeting and everyone went downstairs to the conference room and took seats.
i figured, let me sit next to efren reyes,hell he is the god of pool,may as well make the most of this ipt thing,right? RIGHT! the spirit,and atmosphere at this point was reaching a climax, the excitment in this conference room with the 150 ipt players was at an all time frenzy! music was coming through the speakers in the confrence room from K.C. and the sunshine band,everything was "up" diane hoppe was flashing away pics, as was every other billiard mag in the world, this was huge! i was really digging the moment,and so was all the seasoned pros, everyone was there, you name it, they wer'e there!
at exactly 5:00pm the music went off the doors locked,and ipt staff one at a time spoke. you could hear a pin drop, oh yeah, before the meeting came to order mike massey was heard saying to kevin, "if you wer'e a women i'd kiss you" yes, this was BIG!
the meeting went on with the different people at the ipt, and then they introduced "the founder of the ipt kevin trudeau" we all stood up, he got up to the podium and told us all to sit, there is a lot to discuss,(as i said,business like) we sat and he talked. being a top salesperson myself, i really liked his talking style, after the meeting we wer'e about a foot off the ground! we wer'e high,floating on the possibilitys! , i went up to allison and said, looks like your gonna need a new accountant, she laughed.
if ever there was "HOPE" the this was it, this was IT!
the next several days was , pool, pool pool and more pool, now i don't know about you, but i get sick of just watching pool, and believe you me there was more pool to be watched, than at any other tournament in history!!!!!!!!! 12 hours a day from 8am to 10pm non-stop every freakin day!
i tried to go out a lot to eat, see some sights,and just get the hell away from pool! i met rebecca grant,see www.rebeccagrant.com she wanted me to stay with her in the auidence for the week, and give her the run down of all the players and details,after seeing her site, you'll know why i said "sure" she looks like a sexy version of carmen electra!!!!!!!!!!! yawwwww!!!!!!!!
anyhow, we became friends to this day,and that was fun.
well the day of the finals came around and as you know sigel got his ass handed to him,we all had fun, and it was a wrap.
as i flew back from the 80 degree weather of orlando,and landed into a snow storm in new york, there was one thing that stood out about orlando and that whole experience, it was the british players. ti'l then no one saw british 8-ball players, let's face it, the pro pool world was dominated with everyone except the british,at orlando this guy phil harrison, screwed together his predator and proceeded to make me naucious!!!!!! this son of a ***** played at 80 million miles an hour and never missed! it really scared me half to death,
in may of 2006 i moved to raleigh north carolina, for a better life,brown's pool hall of raleigh sponsered me,and BW cues are now sponsering me as well, july was coming up fast, and i needed to hit the tables, again i went into my strict practice routine, i was feeling real good about my game but couldn't help wonder about how the IPT eqipment would play. being the salesman that i am i had the local news ch.14 of raleigh come to brown's and inteerview me and they had me doing trick shots, and put me on the evening sports edition, it was fun.
colin had contacted me and asked if i had an extra bed, for the first night, i said sure,so we roomed together, this was one crazy muther town, where else can you see a lady waiting for a limo wearing a $25,000 dress, and right behind her is a $10 hooker waiting for her next trick?
VEGAS baby!
i was smoking cigars like crazy, while colin was smoking his chinese cigerettes,
the day of the players meeting came, and colin discovered his suit cases lock was jammed,and he couldn't get it open and his pool cue was stuck inside!!!! we called for security and a lady,came up with a mini hack saw, and sawed his damn case open! it was funny,for me yet pathetic for him,
colin and i took a bus down the strip we got into the venitian,and went to hang out again with all the players,once again, k.c. and the suinshine band played through the p.a. system,
same story,meeting~~ here he is the founder of the ipt kevin trudeau, he pumped us all up again,the meeting was too long in my opinion,then we all went up to the room where 60 tables were. it looked like the last scene in the color of money,excpet i was in it! i went to an empty diamond table, this guy comes up and say's can we play? i figured, he has to be good,shit, he's an ipt player, , i said sure, i noticed he had the hardest most powerful break ever!!!!! this guy has the best break ever, it was charlie bryant,"the hillbilly"
the next day, colin played, he played in fong pang chao fashion.
the next day, i was up, i noticed the eqipment was like looking in a fun house mirror! it was a nightmare!!!!!!!! the balls and cloth wer'e so slippery,slow napped cloth my ass! it might have just been ice! this stuff was slippery! i played well, but lost like crazy, i just made too many mistaskes,combined with foreign crazy equipment, i was lost!
once again avoided watching most of the matches because too much pool is BORING!
i hung out at the toppless pool at the stratosphere,smoking my cigar in my suit! in the pool girls played topless volleyball,and when the ball came outside to me, i said which side gets it? and they said me, me , me and i said no, whichever side gets the ball, you must jump up and down!,they obliged, and yes, i was in VEGAS baby!!!! it was fun!
a few days later thorston hoemann into the finals, all got paid,had fun in vegas, and i flew back to north carolina happy.
i looked back on the venitian as dipping my feet in the pool,
reno came up fast! by chance i met allen hopkins and the fusco brothers at the airport from pheonix to reno, i said to allen i think efren reyes is gonna win the whole thing, he said no way, his break is too weak,
the players meeting was getting old by this time, the meetings ran too long and the once exciting newness of orlando vanished,it was now "in the way" of our practice.
new players on the scene, remember the british? well, they wer'e invading reno, like world war 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! chris melling, mick hill,brian selah,boyle,and the best british player jayson shaw, this 18 year old kid is the greatest shotmaker the world has ever known, loud rude and obnoxious is he, but with shotmaking skills that makes earl strickland in his heyday loook blind! billy incardona came up to me and said "Bernie you wer'e right about the british" for those of you that didn't see these british players play yet, do not miss VERSUS starting november 27th. you gotta see it to believe it! they get down shoot,and never miss, regardless of how difficult the shot is, it's downright scary,and if the ipt continues,fingers crossed, the british will dominate!
at night all the demons came out, let's just say, between the ipt staff and the british players, you never saw so much drinking in your life!!
there is a lot of dirt, that went on that i saw first hand, that edyie can fill you in on, but i refuse to touch it now. let's just say i rather have been at another location so i didn't see this "stuff" go on first hand.
one day before the finals rodney morris played like god. he played like a straight pool player from the 40's, instead of very slowly like the european surgeons,and instead of carless like strickland, he was right in between and playing like god! inside english, behind the back, he was in the groove, most impressive,man to watch him play 8-ball was poetry in motion!
the day of the finals i showed up to get paid,and walked into the mothership,(the finals arena),and mike sigel was mumbeling "i can't believe the checks didn't show up" i figured well that was for him, but not us, then i walked out into the main room and players wer'e standing around, and i said i don't think the checks showed up, and they said we heard, it was at that moment, that all the good, all the hopes all the dreams were falling crashing to the ground, just then a cameraman said bernie do you want to give your predicition, i said yeah, i said i think rodney will win because he's playing better than efren even though i pegged efren before this whole thing begun, after that short interview, i was pissed, gerry watson was cursing almost wanting to start a fist fight with anyone of those ipt staff members!
half of the players wer'e saying look, it was a simple mistake, fed ex messed up, and will get paid, i distinctly remember keith mccready saying calm down don't bad mouth the ipt, while myself and gerry watson wanted blood!
i sat front row for the finals sniffing my black and mild cigar, while the camera panned me,like i was a celebrity or some shit, we wer'e all confused and pissed,hey, no money??? rodney scratched 3 freakin times off the break! while efren kept his wits,rodney choked a lot,efren made an obscure shot into the corner for the heart attack win, but was he told? did he know? i don't know,i flew back to north carolina, and that's where you guys came in, lot's of posts of sueing and threats and dirt, and etc. etc. i was an emmotional roller coaster and decided to quit pool! i couldn't stand it,there was nothing to shoot for, i was at least supposed to go to chicago, i felt awful,then i read alex lely quit, i'm sure others layed off as well, then something interestuing just happened to my game i played without caring, and lo and behold, my game soared!!! so now, with being paid a little and having faith that the ipt will pay in full and who knows, maybe there will be a masters after all, my game is back,i guess i can say looking back on it now, i had fun, all the pros know me and most think i'm funny,i made friends,colin, rebecca,luc salvas,and my game is back, i hope the ipt pays us in full and the masters commence and i am there shining, one last time, hope you enjoyed the ride, i know i did, let's keep the faith,Bernie Friend IPT player.
november/december 2005 the orlando convention center orlando florida,the "king of the hill" tournament. ,, from my left side appeared kevin trudea, i reconised him and said hi kevin, i'm Bernie Friend, he said hello bernie,let me show you around, at this moment my heart was beating a little faster, it was a great feeling being the only ipt player there and being escorted persoanlly by kevin himself,between the great fancy scenery,and him explaining everything to me persoanlly, i was in pool heaven! "and over here the players have their own private entrence to the green room" here we have leather chairs with a masus girl, they have food spread olut,internet access,and could still watch the pool action from these plasmas in the green room. my head was swimming, i was more in awe of the stuff then being with kevin trudea, it was what i was looking at that was the big deal!!!!!!!! kevin was kind, but a little on the "cold and business side" he politly dissmissed me, claiming"i'm very busy and have to run, nice meeting you" as his voice trailed off, i thouight, shit, this is how you do a pool tournament!
down stairs on the main level i reconised a bloke from az billiards,reddish hair,tall,it was colin colensso, i went up and said,hey colin,it's bernie,"we got along real well, his dry sense of humour,fit me well,having thoughts of grandour who knew? you know? was this the start of something big? could be we didn't know,you know? but we wer'e high on life at that moment,being in orlando in decmember,80 degrees, , i mean i was digging the whole scene,man! then the players starting coming in,buddy hall was holding court,with several other pros, jim rempe came up and said to buddy, "look at you sitting there holding court like the king" buddy just smiled. this was a warm feeling that the pool world has never ever witnessed before!!!!! the world is ours!
soon, it became apparent, that everyone had their groups, and no one excpet me,Bernie Friend ventured out of their groups. meaning, the phillopeenos, only hung out with the philopeenos,the british only hung out with the british,the women only hung out with the women, the ledgends, of the past,the old timers only hung out with themselfs, and the newbies and unknowns,colin,bernie,linda,etc, hung out witrh eachother.
the time was getting close to the meeting and everyone went downstairs to the conference room and took seats.
i figured, let me sit next to efren reyes,hell he is the god of pool,may as well make the most of this ipt thing,right? RIGHT! the spirit,and atmosphere at this point was reaching a climax, the excitment in this conference room with the 150 ipt players was at an all time frenzy! music was coming through the speakers in the confrence room from K.C. and the sunshine band,everything was "up" diane hoppe was flashing away pics, as was every other billiard mag in the world, this was huge! i was really digging the moment,and so was all the seasoned pros, everyone was there, you name it, they wer'e there!
at exactly 5:00pm the music went off the doors locked,and ipt staff one at a time spoke. you could hear a pin drop, oh yeah, before the meeting came to order mike massey was heard saying to kevin, "if you wer'e a women i'd kiss you" yes, this was BIG!
the meeting went on with the different people at the ipt, and then they introduced "the founder of the ipt kevin trudeau" we all stood up, he got up to the podium and told us all to sit, there is a lot to discuss,(as i said,business like) we sat and he talked. being a top salesperson myself, i really liked his talking style, after the meeting we wer'e about a foot off the ground! we wer'e high,floating on the possibilitys! , i went up to allison and said, looks like your gonna need a new accountant, she laughed.
if ever there was "HOPE" the this was it, this was IT!
the next several days was , pool, pool pool and more pool, now i don't know about you, but i get sick of just watching pool, and believe you me there was more pool to be watched, than at any other tournament in history!!!!!!!!! 12 hours a day from 8am to 10pm non-stop every freakin day!
i tried to go out a lot to eat, see some sights,and just get the hell away from pool! i met rebecca grant,see www.rebeccagrant.com she wanted me to stay with her in the auidence for the week, and give her the run down of all the players and details,after seeing her site, you'll know why i said "sure" she looks like a sexy version of carmen electra!!!!!!!!!!! yawwwww!!!!!!!!
anyhow, we became friends to this day,and that was fun.
well the day of the finals came around and as you know sigel got his ass handed to him,we all had fun, and it was a wrap.
as i flew back from the 80 degree weather of orlando,and landed into a snow storm in new york, there was one thing that stood out about orlando and that whole experience, it was the british players. ti'l then no one saw british 8-ball players, let's face it, the pro pool world was dominated with everyone except the british,at orlando this guy phil harrison, screwed together his predator and proceeded to make me naucious!!!!!! this son of a ***** played at 80 million miles an hour and never missed! it really scared me half to death,
in may of 2006 i moved to raleigh north carolina, for a better life,brown's pool hall of raleigh sponsered me,and BW cues are now sponsering me as well, july was coming up fast, and i needed to hit the tables, again i went into my strict practice routine, i was feeling real good about my game but couldn't help wonder about how the IPT eqipment would play. being the salesman that i am i had the local news ch.14 of raleigh come to brown's and inteerview me and they had me doing trick shots, and put me on the evening sports edition, it was fun.
colin had contacted me and asked if i had an extra bed, for the first night, i said sure,so we roomed together, this was one crazy muther town, where else can you see a lady waiting for a limo wearing a $25,000 dress, and right behind her is a $10 hooker waiting for her next trick?
VEGAS baby!
i was smoking cigars like crazy, while colin was smoking his chinese cigerettes,
the day of the players meeting came, and colin discovered his suit cases lock was jammed,and he couldn't get it open and his pool cue was stuck inside!!!! we called for security and a lady,came up with a mini hack saw, and sawed his damn case open! it was funny,for me yet pathetic for him,
colin and i took a bus down the strip we got into the venitian,and went to hang out again with all the players,once again, k.c. and the suinshine band played through the p.a. system,
same story,meeting~~ here he is the founder of the ipt kevin trudeau, he pumped us all up again,the meeting was too long in my opinion,then we all went up to the room where 60 tables were. it looked like the last scene in the color of money,excpet i was in it! i went to an empty diamond table, this guy comes up and say's can we play? i figured, he has to be good,shit, he's an ipt player, , i said sure, i noticed he had the hardest most powerful break ever!!!!! this guy has the best break ever, it was charlie bryant,"the hillbilly"
the next day, colin played, he played in fong pang chao fashion.
the next day, i was up, i noticed the eqipment was like looking in a fun house mirror! it was a nightmare!!!!!!!! the balls and cloth wer'e so slippery,slow napped cloth my ass! it might have just been ice! this stuff was slippery! i played well, but lost like crazy, i just made too many mistaskes,combined with foreign crazy equipment, i was lost!
once again avoided watching most of the matches because too much pool is BORING!
i hung out at the toppless pool at the stratosphere,smoking my cigar in my suit! in the pool girls played topless volleyball,and when the ball came outside to me, i said which side gets it? and they said me, me , me and i said no, whichever side gets the ball, you must jump up and down!,they obliged, and yes, i was in VEGAS baby!!!! it was fun!
a few days later thorston hoemann into the finals, all got paid,had fun in vegas, and i flew back to north carolina happy.
i looked back on the venitian as dipping my feet in the pool,
reno came up fast! by chance i met allen hopkins and the fusco brothers at the airport from pheonix to reno, i said to allen i think efren reyes is gonna win the whole thing, he said no way, his break is too weak,
the players meeting was getting old by this time, the meetings ran too long and the once exciting newness of orlando vanished,it was now "in the way" of our practice.
new players on the scene, remember the british? well, they wer'e invading reno, like world war 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! chris melling, mick hill,brian selah,boyle,and the best british player jayson shaw, this 18 year old kid is the greatest shotmaker the world has ever known, loud rude and obnoxious is he, but with shotmaking skills that makes earl strickland in his heyday loook blind! billy incardona came up to me and said "Bernie you wer'e right about the british" for those of you that didn't see these british players play yet, do not miss VERSUS starting november 27th. you gotta see it to believe it! they get down shoot,and never miss, regardless of how difficult the shot is, it's downright scary,and if the ipt continues,fingers crossed, the british will dominate!
at night all the demons came out, let's just say, between the ipt staff and the british players, you never saw so much drinking in your life!!
there is a lot of dirt, that went on that i saw first hand, that edyie can fill you in on, but i refuse to touch it now. let's just say i rather have been at another location so i didn't see this "stuff" go on first hand.
one day before the finals rodney morris played like god. he played like a straight pool player from the 40's, instead of very slowly like the european surgeons,and instead of carless like strickland, he was right in between and playing like god! inside english, behind the back, he was in the groove, most impressive,man to watch him play 8-ball was poetry in motion!
the day of the finals i showed up to get paid,and walked into the mothership,(the finals arena),and mike sigel was mumbeling "i can't believe the checks didn't show up" i figured well that was for him, but not us, then i walked out into the main room and players wer'e standing around, and i said i don't think the checks showed up, and they said we heard, it was at that moment, that all the good, all the hopes all the dreams were falling crashing to the ground, just then a cameraman said bernie do you want to give your predicition, i said yeah, i said i think rodney will win because he's playing better than efren even though i pegged efren before this whole thing begun, after that short interview, i was pissed, gerry watson was cursing almost wanting to start a fist fight with anyone of those ipt staff members!
half of the players wer'e saying look, it was a simple mistake, fed ex messed up, and will get paid, i distinctly remember keith mccready saying calm down don't bad mouth the ipt, while myself and gerry watson wanted blood!
i sat front row for the finals sniffing my black and mild cigar, while the camera panned me,like i was a celebrity or some shit, we wer'e all confused and pissed,hey, no money??? rodney scratched 3 freakin times off the break! while efren kept his wits,rodney choked a lot,efren made an obscure shot into the corner for the heart attack win, but was he told? did he know? i don't know,i flew back to north carolina, and that's where you guys came in, lot's of posts of sueing and threats and dirt, and etc. etc. i was an emmotional roller coaster and decided to quit pool! i couldn't stand it,there was nothing to shoot for, i was at least supposed to go to chicago, i felt awful,then i read alex lely quit, i'm sure others layed off as well, then something interestuing just happened to my game i played without caring, and lo and behold, my game soared!!! so now, with being paid a little and having faith that the ipt will pay in full and who knows, maybe there will be a masters after all, my game is back,i guess i can say looking back on it now, i had fun, all the pros know me and most think i'm funny,i made friends,colin, rebecca,luc salvas,and my game is back, i hope the ipt pays us in full and the masters commence and i am there shining, one last time, hope you enjoyed the ride, i know i did, let's keep the faith,Bernie Friend IPT player.
....
Now if you could just find the "Shift" key for some capitalization, the publishers will be knocking down your door! 
