The other day we went back to Side Pocket again, since One Side is pretty slow because of the Qatar-tournament. (It's still possible to get all the games you need at One Side, but not so fun without all the pro's hanging around).
Side Pocket was packed, and every table was taken. We got asked immediately if we wanted games, and I declined a one-pocket offer from an old guy, and just wanted to wait and watch some of the action. Chris decided to play the guy he lost to the other day.
After maybe one hour I got in action against a guy called Allan, and we played 9-ball for 1000 pesos race to 11. I got the 7-9. I lost 11-5, and didn't want more of that action. In the meantime Chris had lost the first set, and was now winning the second set.
I headed over to Jharome and negotiated, and we decided to play one set of one-pocket even, and one set of 10-ball race to 9, with me getting 7-8-10. I lost the one-pocket match, but won the 10-ball match hill-hill, so we broke even.
Chris lost the third and last set in 10-ball, and decided to play one set of one-pocket with Jharome before we went back to the hotel. Jharome won that match, so 500 pesos for him, plus 200 pesos from me. (Sidebet).
On the table next to Chris and Jharome there were some heavy action going on, between 2 players playing 10-ball. Maybe 30-40 people were standing around the table, making lots of noise, and doing sidebets before each rack. When I say standing around the table I mean standing next to the table, leaning against it. So when the player has to move himself around the table, the people will have to move back a foot or two to make room for him to shoot. When he goes to another part of the table, the crowd goes right back to the table. It?s pretty amazing to watch, and you can understand why they can handle pressure so well. Especially when you know that before each rack the guy who is breaking has to wait till every side bet on next rack has been made, before he is allowed to break.
The way they do these sidebets is quite amazing. In this match one of the player were called Maki, and if you want to bet on this guy you have to shout out loud Maki, Maki, Maki, Maki and wave with your hands till someone wants to bet against you. Then you show with your fingers how many hundreds of pesos you want to bet, and when the shouting and waving around the table disappears, the next rack can start. Those 30-40 people around that match made so much noise between every rack, and you could hear people cheer and laugh after every shot, fluke or miss from the players. I joined the sidebets for 2 racks, 100 pesos each time. Won and lost. Felt pretty stupid when I waved like crazy and shouted out Maki for 30 seconds before I got the approval from a guy in a yellow t-shirt. lol
Imagine what it looked like when Alex and Dennis played race to 21 in rotation for 200 000 pesos at Side Pocket. I wish I was there! Alex won 21-20, by the way...
Another interesting part of the life in a poolhall in the Philippines is that you will notice that there are a "spotter"/referee on every table, even for money matches as low as 500 pesos.
The spotter's tasks are to rack the balls, keep the score, be referee on shots, and clean the balls and the table when necessary. And it is often necessary to clean the cloth. Here they only play with cueball-foul only, so the spotter is using chalk to mark the balls around the table, just in case they get moved by your hand during a shot. Then he will just put the balls back on its original spot. After a couple of racks the cloth is more white than green if you don?t have a spotter to keep it clean. The spotter is normally paid 10 % of the bet, (200 pesos if the bet is 2000), if not the amount is agreed on before the match. This is more common on bigger matches. (Spotter will not get 2500 pesos on 25000 matches).
A job as waitress at for example One Side is paid with 250-350 pesos, so being a spotter for a 3,5 hours match can be worth the same as a 12-hours shift for the girl who serves the drinks to the players.
When talking about the waitresses, I have to mention the tipping policy here in the Philippines. I don?t know if it is normal everywhere, but I have noticed that it's not like at home. At one restaurant/hotel it was not allowed to tip the waiters and waitresses. You had to tip in the reception if you wanted to tip. I didn?t tip at this place then, because of what I had heard of the tipping policy at One Side.
At One Side the entire tip goes to the Japanese owner, and he will then decide what the workers will get, if they get any at all. So if you are very pleased with the work of one of them, and would like to tip some extra for good service, it's pointless. Vanessa, who used to work at One Side during my first visit to Philippines, told me about when she worked almost 2 days straight, with no breaks, because the boxer Manny ?Pacman? were playing heavy actiongames against another rich guy. So One Side didn?t close for 2 days, and she worked all the time. Pacman was happy about her job and tipped her 3000 pesos. She had to give the tip to the owner, and she never saw it...
Well, now I am finally back home. Been 3 weeks in the Philippines, and I have enjoyed most part of it, as usual. But I have really missed Norwegian food the last 1,5 weeks. My stomach has not been well, and I am not feeling too good now either. I am really looking forward to eat normal food again
JoeyInCali; No, I never tasted Balot (sp?). It looks everything but delicious, and the sound the people make when they suck that little dead grey animal out of that egg is just terrible!!!
(Later in that evening Alex and Gomez entered the scene and song Guns N'Roses songs)
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