Never forget Mike Lebron

lots of sport venues come and go in vegas. some have betting even. but the participants are not allowed to bet on their own sport certainly during the event. as it should be.
especially at the events equipment. unless okayed first.
 
I don’t know all the history of that event and who was in on the take. Every time it’s mentioned, Lebron gets his name attached to it like a patsy. Wouldn’t be more accurate to associate Buddy as the Pete Rose of pool in this story? Threads like this get titled “Never forget Mike Lebron”. Why don’t they get titled “Never forget Buddy Hall”? I’m not trying to tarnish legacies but isn’t that a more accurate framing of culpability?
I would point out one difference in the Pete Rose/Buddy Hall analogy, and that is Pete Rose never bet on his team to lose, big difference. Another questionable win in pool was the 1996 Varner/Davenport final match at the Sands Regency casino. Most of the people sitting around me were convinced that Davenport 'dumped' to Varner in that one as well. This pains me to talk about because I really like Buddy, Kim, and Nick and have a tremendous respect for them.
 
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it was the casino owners and execs. that had bet and lost. so it was a slap in the face for them.
some stayed out of it but then had to lose early on so not to be put in the late play spot.
it was a bad deal and turned out that way as mike couldn't make a ball on his own.

when that happens you need to bite the bullet and just take the win and not the heat.
 
it was the casino owners and execs. that had bet and lost. so it was a slap in the face for them.
some stayed out of it but then had to lose early on so not to be put in the late play spot.
it was a bad deal and turned out that way as mike couldn't make a ball on his own.

when that happens you need to bite the bullet and just take the win and not the heat.
I think you are very mistaken about Mikes skill level, he was not a favorite against Buddy , almost nobody was, but he was not helpless either.
Whatever happened , imo, had very little effect on the future of pool. Why you ask, because it was an inevitability that the players would try some move, that's part of being a pool player. If it didn't happen that week, it would have happened 2 weeks later .
 
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Dumping and sandbagging is wrong but the amount of pressure to dump a match on the professional level is admirable.

Imagine trying your best to miss and make it believable.

Then the winner has to pretend to celebrate and loser starts breaking his stick into 10 pieces. These guys have balls.
 
never mentioned his skill level which by the way was high.

it seems so many cannot read what is written without interpreting what isn't there so they can disagree with a post.
 
One of the more interesting hypocrisies of Emily & MR. In 2019 I made my way to Vegas to see the 1st US Open in MR’s hands. While there I saw Emily rip into a couple of Filipino players after she got wind they were gambling amongst themselves on a practice table, she was right nasty about it.

She had a big problem with that, yet she had just ripped the US Open out of its previous home in Southern Virginia and moved it into a gambling casino in Vegas. So gambling is a problem but she”ll get in bed first with a Casino in Vegas for that event, and then another in Atlantic City where the event is held now. Not to mention deals with Dafabet and BetVictor since then. What a hypocritical clown she is.
I'll bet this had more to do with Matchroom being required to adhere to certain conditions as stipulated by MGM.
 
The only way you know about a dump is if you were in on the dump yourself. Everything else is folly, rumors, and fake news without the facts from the horse's mouth.

Pool purists love to condemn gambling at every turn and continue to bring up this one event over and over and over and over again as if it's the reason pool has one tire in the mud. It's not the gambling. It's the pool purists who would rather watch tournament soldiers play mum pool. Gambling is a sin in their eyes. Pool purists are the very ones who have been and still are keeping pool in doldrums.

Well, somewhere around the mid 19th century, gamblers used to pool their money on horse races at certain betting locations. These locations generally had billiard tables installed in them, which were then called "pool-rooms." Over the time, this term got refined to "pool," which then became synonymous for the game itself.

And without it, pool culture in USA would never have been launched, and entities like Matchroom, Predator, and WPA would have never materialized. USA, USA, USA, all the way, leaders of the pack.
 
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I like to say, "Only the guilty know for sure."

There should be a classification above top secret referred to as guilty only.
 
never mentioned his skill level which by the way was high.

it seems so many cannot read what is written without interpreting what isn't there so they can disagree with a post.

it was the casino owners and execs. that had bet and lost. so it was a slap in the face for them.
some stayed out of it but then had to lose early on so not to be put in the late play spot.
it was a bad deal and turned out that way as mike couldn't make a ball on his own.

when that happens you need to bite the bullet and just take the win and not the heat.
Please don't blame my inabilities at clairvoyance, for your lack of writing skills.
 
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I like to say, "Only the guilty know for sure."

There should be a classification above top secret referred to as guilty only.
I am pretty sure you can see the dump here in this video. The only ambiguity is who is in on it, and how much was splashed around. I am actually genuinely surprised by the sheer obviousness having not seen the video until this thread.
 
I am pretty sure you can see the dump here in this video. The only ambiguity is who is in on it, and how much was splashed around. I am actually genuinely surprised by the sheer obviousness having not seen the video until this thread.
Having been so informed, (AZ - where else?) it seems comically obvious. Had I come across the match independently, I would have dismissed it as old hustlers on overconfidence.
 
Having been so informed, (AZ - where else?) it seems comically obvious. Had I come across the match independently, I would have dismissed it as old hustlers on overconfidence.
I am not sure. A couple of those shots. Just wow. Supposed to be one of the 'great players'
Some of the ones I've seen in snooker needed context added. But If I saw this prior to the info added, I would wonder what on earth is going on. It's like cardboard old movie acting, that 8-ball in the penultimate rack... 'who moved the pocket 5" to the right?'
Watching him try to hand it to the guy on a plate. Scratching on the one in the final rack, trying to do it again from the 2, trying to hook himself behind the 8 for the 6, missing that combo... yikes. Are there any more obvious examples of fixing in cue sports? Whether spot, or match fixing? Curious.
I've seen a fair few in the game of cricket (Amir/Butt/Asif, Hansie Cronjie etc). I think such practices/people who tarnish the reputation of a game need strong penalties/reprimand.
I'm all for people throwing money at whatever they like, but betting on a drugged mule when spectators want to watch thoroughbreds, or people genuinely there for an honest bet, is where it gets very sour.
 
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Bad rolls and lebron doggin the 7 ball in game 8 exposed the dump for the world to see

buddy was suffering from brain freeze when he didn't make the combo in game 9

some peeps would have gotten pisst, however, i'm sure buddy would have survived as would pool's rep in the casino's

gotta deviate from the script as required based on circumstances
 
I am not sure. A couple of those shots. Just wow. Supposed to be one of the 'great players'
Some of the ones I've seen in snooker needed context added. But If I saw this prior to the info added, I would wonder what on earth is going on. It's like cardboard old movie acting, that 8-ball in the penultimate rack... 'who moved the pocket 5" to the right?'
Watching him try to hand it to the guy on a plate. Scratching on the one in the final rack, trying to do it again from the 2, trying to hook himself behind the 8 for the 6, missing that combo... yikes. Are there any more obvious examples of fixing in cue sports? Whether spot, or match fixing? Curious.
I've seen a fair few in the game of cricket (Amir/Butt/Asif, Hansie Cronjie etc). I think such practices/people who tarnish the reputation of a game need strong penalties/reprimand.
I'm all for people throwing money at whatever they like, but betting on a drugged mule, when spectators want to watch thoroughbreds, or people genuinely there for an honest bet, is where it gets very sour.
There's that certainty missing though. The only thing that remotely piques my curiosity is who/what was in play that they made off with it - on TV no less.
 
There is this part of me that’s got to reconcile the speculation, with my admiration for pool’s legends, to my absolute disgust at the possibility of lying, cheating and stealing from my role models. I’ve seen other threads about this over the years trying to shrug it off as a mistake or a poor choice where if it’s true then it’s much worse than that.
 
There's that certainty missing though.
I mean, the only certainty missing is the iron-clad evidence. It's pretty obvious for anyone who has played the game that this reeks.
The only thing that remotely piques my curiosity is who/what was in play that they made off with it - on TV no less.
Agree, probably have your thumbs broken (or worse) trying to find out at the time lol
There is this part of me that’s got to reconcile the speculation, with my admiration for pool’s legends, to my absolute disgust at the possibility of lying, cheating and stealing from my role models.
Can be hurtful, I agree with you. But That doesn't mean we should put up walls, or blind ourselves to reality. These people represent the thing we love. I grew up admiring Amir throwing 90+mph thunderbolts, but I firmly believe he should never have been allowed to play international sport again. We can't justify protecting people who actively desecrate things that we love and enjoy.
I’ve seen other threads about this over the years trying to shrug it off as a mistake or a poor choice where if it’s true then it’s much worse than that.
Honestly, I can't find a part of my brain that allows such high-calibre player to make such fumbles.
 
Bad rolls and lebron doggin the 7 ball in game 8 exposed the dump for the world to see

buddy was suffering from brain freeze when he didn't make the combo in game 9
Maybe he had a minor epileptic episode... 🙃
some peeps would have gotten pisst, however, i'm sure buddy would have survived as would pool's rep in the casino's

gotta deviate from the script as required based on circumstances
The fact there's obvious script should see some level of real investigation/reprimand
 
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