DaveK said:
I get the impression that it was not the well known player, rather the thug doing the pressing. That of course leave the question, did the player condone the alleged activity.
Dave
I don't know who Elliot is but I can vouche for the gist of what he alluded to. The Canadian player is
NOT Luc Salvas but is indeed Alain "Frenchie" Boutain.
But Frenchie is not the
guilty party. His backer/muscle-man Tom Coady is the 'thug' that went unnamed. I was at the Calgary tourny and witnessed a fair bit of that strong-arming. The only reason I was not on the receiving end of that as well was I run into the duo frequently on the Pacific Northwest tournament trail and Coady knew better to try that on me.
As Frenchie went out one-two at SML Calgary that left Tom Coady lots of time to drum up matchups for him. To my knowledge nothing ever came to fruition. Tom's "muscle man" demeanor and aggressive come-ons were, in my opinion, a big factor.
Frenchie -- having nothing but time on hand -- then entered the amateur Canadian BCA Men's Master Singles which was held at the same venue the Olympic Oval. He sliced through that field like hot knife in butter, winning $1,000 and a few sizeable side bets along the way. But overall it was a dry trip for him and Tom Coady.
For those that are curious about Frenchie's speed, check out:
http://www.azbilliards.com/westerncanadian/index.cfm?storynum=843
http://www.azbilliards.com/westerncanadian/l2.html
While "Machinegun" Luc is renown for his rapidfire style, Frenchie is even faster. The only reason Frenchie stays under the radar is he is strictly a regional big-money player and rarely enters even the local big tournaments.
http://www.azbilliards.com/2000pressrelease.cfm?id=104
One final observation: Tom Coady also tried to muscle in on Shane von Boening, aka the "South Dakota Kid", offering to take him on the road, not knowing the Kid's uncle/backer was with him at the tournament. He did the same thing with Kid Delicious and almost got laughed out of the arena.